Does Anyone Else Feel Daunted?

Kallithrix said:

Am I just crazily ambitious to shoot for the latter? After all, if I never try I will never know, but if it does fail, I've still got the 'inferior' version to fall back on

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I think, if the agent fired you up with her suggestions and made you want to sink your teeth into a revamped novel then you should go for it. Nothing ventured and all that.

Ah!

if you feel it's a good idea and you'd like to do it then get cracking.

firedrake said:

It never occurred to me to feel daunted.

I love doing the research and to make it easier on myself, I tend to write about periods I have some familiarity with and where I know there are plenty of reliable resources. The WW2 stuff was the most fun to write. I could pick my Dad's brain because he was just a boy during the war and has some good memories, plus he is extremely clued up on bus and train services of the time, the planes (one of his friends restores war birds for a living) and music. While I was writing the WW2 book, I listened to the music of the time and that really really helped.

But, as pdr and Puma say, you need a good plot first and, as Donroc says, avoid info-dumping. The latter is easy to do when you get all excited about the research you've done. I was definitely guilty of it in the first draft of the WW2 novel. My first Beta reader brutally pointed out that the hero's letters about his planes were horribly similar to a bunch of blokes sitting around talking about car engines

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When I was writing my WW2 novel I also listened to the music, which really did help me get in to the right frame of mind.

The research part doesn't daunt me so much, as I enjoy research and I've got a fair idea where to find stuff I need, sort of where to start looking at least, but I'm daunted by the prospect of editing, which is in front of me now. I've been researching as I went along, making notes of stuff that I found later that will mean changes to the earlier chapters but the actual writing part of it, seeing what's good and what's not, I have no idea where to start on that.

I, too, write WW2 novels and I become absorbed in the era by listening to the music, reading magazines from the time, and watching movies done in the 1940s.

I was really daunted by my last novel (currently halfway completed) because it was set in D.C. during WW2. I just didn't think I could get all the details right with the resources I had (though they were really, really good)- so I put it aside for awhile, to be picked up again sometime in the future (and besides, the plot needs a major revamp).

I'm currently writing a WW2 novel set in Nebraska, my home state, and that has proved a blessing in disguise. I'm in love with the story and also don't have to do near the research because I've lived in Nebraska my entire life. Plus, the historical archives are right where I live, and we have an amazing exhibit at the state museum just on our state's involvement in World War II.

It's rather interesting, really, considering I used to find Nebraska boring as hell as a youngster. But the more I unearth, the more I realize it's not boring at all, and with the research right at my fingertips, I'm having an amazing, grand ol' time!

Now that I am well into my WIP, I no longer am daunted, as always happens. To be daunted does not mean to be paralyzed to inaction.

The best and most enjoyable parts of research and writing are finding exciting useable material not commonly known or published, and when lesser characters take over the writing for the better.