What’s the message
Know what you’re trying to achieve with your novel, urges Michael Allen
Michael Allen
GRUMPY OLD BOOKMAN
I don’t have any reliable data for this belief, but I am fairly sure that at least some of the readers of this column are writing a novel, have written a novel, or are planning to write a novel sometime soon – when they retire perhaps. So, for the benefit of those readers, and on the basis of having written about twenty novels myself, here’s a suggestion.
It will make your life a lot simpler if you start out with a clear idea of what you’re trying to do.
This thought was prompted when I recently came across an interview with the American novelist Michael Chabon. Here’s what Chabon said about his own intentions.
‘I read for entertainment, and I write to entertain. Period. Oh, I could decoct a brew of other, more impressive motivations and explanations… But in the end – here’s my point – it would still all boil down to entertainment, and its suave henchman, pleasure.’