Novel Writing

If you ever feel like needlessly torturing yourself, write a novel. It's far more effective in bringing about frustration than eating glass or shoving a fork in your eye.

Now, don't get me wrong. There are some great reasons to write a novel, and it's incredibly rewarding to see your words on the page. However, it's an incredibly annoying endeavor for several reasons.

It's hard to know if what you're writing is actually any good. Have you ever tried to get friends to read a novel? It's not easy. A blog? Sure. That takes all of fifteen seconds. But longer form is a little trickier--people are busy, and they have better things to do than reading your novel.

Also, it takes a ton of discipline and patience, two character traits I wasn't exactly blessed with. It's not too difficult to be intrigued (or annoyed) with something and complain about it online. That doesn't take long. I've been writing this for like five minutes. But to develop characters, and continue to be interested in them page after page? Not easy.

This is coming from somebody all of 50 pages into his novel. I'm not sure what I'll be saying 180 pages into it. I may be shoving a fork into my eye.