How I wrote my Novel from start to finish – Stage 1
I’ve always held the belief that a great way to learn how experts succeed at something is to ‘shadow’ them and observe exactly how they do it. This got me thinking that The Indie Tribe could benefit from following a novel’s progress from the germ of an idea to the finished article. Writers of all abilities could study how the novel was constructed piece by piece, how it was altered along the way, how it began to assume a life of its own, and how it eventually ended up as a tangible object for people to enjoy.
I decided to use my own book, Open House, as the ‘guinea pig’, since I obviously have first hand knowledge of the writing process all the way through. Hopefully novices will learn from the series, and better writers than me will be able to compare their methods with mine, and maybe pick up an idea or two. Others may enjoy reading the series purely from an entertainment point of view. Don’t laugh too loud please. What you will find as you follow the various processes is that the original synopsis of the book, reproduced here, differs signicantly from the finished article. Certain things were cut along the way, such as the wildlife park idea, and escaped lion, certain things were added. This is how a book should evolve. It quickly develops a mind of its own and usually leads the author along paths he didn’t intend to take.
Anyway, enough of my warblings, lets make a start by studying the original synopsis, which was stage one in the process after the idea was born.
The original general synopsis of Open House
Cove Castle is a large country estate owned and lived in by the Trentham family. Lord Cove, the 8th Marquis of Cove, is the eccentric patriach, a divorcee, prone to shocking and hilarious actions.
His daughter, Lady Caroline, is the only child and is recently divorced from Laurence Scrivinger, a circuit judge, who is a bombastic, arrogant bully. He is so ruthless that he carries the nick-name ‘The Hanging Judge’. After Scrivinger announced he was staying put at Cove Castle, despite his divorce, Lady Caroline moves to her mother’s chateau in France. Ironically, upon her departure, Scrivinger moves his mother into the castle. She re-arranges everything to suit herself and assumes the self appointed role of Lady of the House.
Lady Caroline’s two daughters are currently residing at Cove Castle, Imogen, a beautiful Cambridge under graduate with a zest for extreme socialising, and Athena, an activist who despises the aristocracy. She has a twelve year old son, Che, father unknown, who runs riot around Cove Castle.
As if being disfunctional is not bad enough, the dynasty is in financial decline, and the house, gardens and estate have suffered greatly from decay and neglect. The long serving butler, in despair, contacts Lady Caroline, who returns and quickly realises that the butler has not exagerated the problems
She applies herself to sorting out the house and its inhabitants. But she is constantly thwarted by Lord Scrivinger’s mother, who she has deposed.
Various money making schemes are set up to save the estate. These include: a shoot, the filming of a period drama, a dog show, the creation of a wildlife park, a ghost hunt and opening the house to the public. Many things go wrong along the way, including a lion escaping.
During the shoot dinner, Lady Caroline meets Alfie Mann and his son, Billy, multi-millionaire property developers, who lack any airs and graces and stick proudly to their working class roots. Mann offers to give Cove Castle a full survey and proposed action plan. He agrees to do this free of charge if she will advise him of suitable country houses as he is house hunting in the area. She insists they move into Cove Castle, which goes down badly with Scrivinger who recognises Barnes face as a miscreant but can’t quite place him. He suspects the free survey is a method for Barnes to ‘case the joint’
Billy is attracted to Imogen but she rejects him throughout the story. An unlikely relationship begins to develop between Billy and Che, the pleasant young man proving to be the only person who can exercise any control over him. Lady Caroline becomes attracted to Alfie during the story, but it is not clear if it is reciprocated.
The climax of the novel comes when the Marquis, unaware the public has been admitted, is caught snoozing by a stream of guests. He is startled, believes they are here to rob him, reaches for his gun and shepherds them towards an anti-room, but as he opens the door, Lord Harbinger can be seen enjoying a game of strip twister with the gay chauffer. At that very moment, the lost lion enters the state room, runs straight into the anti room, the judge and his playmate leg it, pursued by the lion, Weedler, who has been stalking Scrivinger to avenge his imprisoned brother, aims a pistol at the judge, misses and kills the lion. Murphy, the handyman, falls through the ceiling and flattens Weedler. During the mayhem Billy Mann kneels down in front of everyone and proposes to Imogen. Lady Charlotte rushes to them and congratulates them and the paying guests cheer and clap. Inspired by Billy’s success, the chauffer proposes to the judge and is rejected out of hand.
The reversal is that all money making schemes are stopped, Imogen will marry Billy Mann, the Manns will move in and pool their enormous wealth. Alfie Mann will take charge of the fabric of the estate.
The resolution is a new enhanced family residing at Cove Castle and living in harmon…or not! Bring on the sequel.
There are four sub plots which run alongside the main plot and collide with it on occasions during the course of the novel.
Billy’s relationships with Che and Imogen.
Alfie Mann is appalled at the contrasting living standards ‘downstairs’ and constantly seeks to improve it by redistributing paintings, porcelain and various artefacts. This collides with the main plot when he is discovered by Harbinger removing a masterpiece from the grand dining room. He orders him and his son from the house, but is is overuled by Lady Caroline.
Bert Weedler, the brother of a criminal sent down for life by Scrivinger is focused on getting the judge throughout the story. This collides with the main plot during the climax when he shoots at the judge, misses and kills an escaped lion.
Lord Scrivinger, formerly straight, begins a clandestine relationship with the chauffer. The reader is treated to a series of narrow escapes and the secrecy of their relationship is preserved until the climax of the novel when they are discovered together.
You can see by reading the book that things changed significantly from this original synopsis. The next stage – the chapter by chapter synopsis – bears a closer resemblance to the finished product and shows where the major changes were made and why.
How I wrote my Novel from start to finish – Stage 2 will be published shortly
