*taps mic* is this thing on?

Lakey

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Uh, hello. I've been lurking for a while, and have now stepped out into the light.

I've been a writer by vocation and avocation for a couple of decades. I've done legal writing, technical writing, film criticism, and general essay-writing. What I have never, ever done is fiction. Until the better part of a year ago, at least. Some persistent, unaccountable bee got in my bonnet last summer, and since then I've been working on what I think I can now safely call my first novel. It is completely absorbing (despite a demanding day job), and possibly the most emotionally flaying experience of my life.

The novel is - or rather, I hope it shall be - a literary historical, about lesbians in the McCarthy era.

I have a 22-chapter outline, some of which is fairly rich with detail and some of which is in need of more. I also have a first draft of the first 10 chapters, 50,000 words, give or take. And, I have a list of ideas on how to rewrite, improve, or otherwise change what's already there. But I have pledged to keep moving forward for now, and save those ideas for the first comprehensive revision. Oh, and the research! There is so much lovely research.

As for who I am, and how my brain works, I'll say this: I thought "dilettante" would be an apt choice of screen name, but it was already spoken for. So Lakey it is.
 
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regdog

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Anna Iguana

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Hi, Lakey. See you around the boards. :)
 

Lakey

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Well, thank you folks. Evidently being new to both novel-writing and the forum doesn't hold me back from having opinions and expressing them. :tongue
 

E. Steve

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Welcome to a fellow newbie. You mention all the research. Having tried writing a novel over 30 years ago, and now having just completed the first draft of another, I almost feel like I'm cheating with so much information available online now. Good luck.
 

Lafleche

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That does sound like an exciting project. Are you familiar with Miss Beverly Shaw?
 

Lakey

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That does sound like an exciting project. Are you familiar with Miss Beverly Shaw?

I have read about Beverly Shaw! In fact she inspired a nightclub scene in my book (which turned out to be a useful scene in which to do a lot of things for my story) and a singer named Stevie Shaw who performs there. How do you know of her - and what else do you know that I might not have come across in my research yet? ;-)


Welcome to a fellow newbie. You mention all the research. Having tried writing a novel over 30 years ago, and now having just completed the first draft of another, I almost feel like I'm cheating with so much information available online now. Good luck.

Given my demanding day job (an obstacle I suspect many of us on this forum have to contend with) I don't know what I would do without the internet. I have read quite a few books for research and have many ideas of stuff I'd like to go research in person, but in the meantime the internet has been so invaluable, especially for small details. I don't think I could have done this before the internet.
 
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