It is important to remember that my opinions are not law in any way, shape, or form! Not everyone has the same experiences as I do in this field but it is valuable to share opinions on topics to try and help others!
Today I will be discussing how I write such long pieces of prose. It may seem like a random topic but it is one of the most common questions that I am asked whilst at university "How do you write so much" etc. At the moment, my works of prose have been very long - my current WIP will be a five piece series, the first book currently standing at over eighty thousand words.
How did I manage it? One word.
Characters.
I have created so many characters for this series. Admittedly, there are only four central characters in the first book, but that book established the majority of the context before the perspective would shift. For the second book there are nine main characters and an extra eight side characters that have influence on the plot; most of these characters remain as main characters throughout the rest of the series.
With that considered, that means that for the second book I had nine potential plots; every single character has a story that led them to that point - so what are you going to do? You can explore all of them briefly and find out which characters have the most compelling stories that can relate to the prevalent plot thread.
A lecturer of mine once told me that character and plot co-exist, they influence one another and if you are struggling to write enough the issue may be the lack of characters or depth of the pre-existing characters!
When I initially attempted to work out which characters would get the honour of having a book focusing on their stories, I looked to characters that had complicated backstories and interesting lives that could further the plot!
Thank you for reading! I hope this helped you in any way, shape or form!
And remember:
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
Per Ardua Ad Astra!
- Imogen. L. Smiley
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