No One Writes A Novel

It's true. No one person that I know of can successfully write a novel by themselves. When I think of the writers I know--from household name bestsellers to self-pub ebook authors, I can't think of one of them who just sat down wrote a book and had it published.

A book starts with an idea--that may or may not come for the author. Even as I'm writing, I'll talk about the characters and the plot with friends and a lot of what we discuss will find its way onto the pages. Then it takes draft upon draft to get it to point where you can have trusted friends read for you. They give you their input and so you add that to the mix. In some cases you go to an outside editor (but that's for another blog!) Then when you think its ready, it goes to your agent who has yet more revisions. When you and your agent think it good to go, it's onto the editor who has--you guessed it--more revisions. From there, it's onto the copy editor who has yet more suggestions. When all is said and done, the book is a composite of input. This is just another reason why it's good to have really smart people around you. They make you look smarter!

Taking all this into account, you can see why I'm standing by my claim that NO ONE (person) writes a novel. It takes a village.