How to Write a Novel in Twelve Weeks

It was midsummer 2007. I stood on the convention floor at ICRS, the International Christian Retail Show in Atlanta, signing copies of my debut novel, Providence: Once Upon a Second Chance. I glanced down the queue of smiling faces waiting in line for a signed copy, wondering what they’d think of the new book by a first-time novelist.

I hoped they would like it. After all, I’d worked on Providence for over three years, all those late nights drinking coffee at my writing desk. By Intelligent Design (not mine), the manuscript found its way to Chip MacGregor of MacGregor Literary. He read the story and liked it, wanted to present it to David C. Cook publishing in Colorado Springs, and soon they expressed an interest too. A whirlwind. Providence was scheduled to be on store bookshelves by the first of August 2007.

More good news came along the way. Wholesale retailer Sam’s Club decided to stock the novel in their stores. Eventually, they’d sell one-third of all printed copies of Providence. David C. Cook was interested in a second novel and asked to see what I had, but there was just one small problem: I’d never set out to become a novelist. The only idea I had was a title I thought might be interesting: A Beautiful Fall. I drew up a basic premise and sent it to Chip asking for his feedback. He liked the concept and sent a synopsis to Cook. In September, five weeks after Providence released, publishing contracts arrived for my second novel.

Cook was generous with the contract, suggesting a due date of January 2009 for the finished manuscript. The novel was slated to arrive in stores the following September, but two years just sounded like too long between a writer’s first and second novels. I had the premise. I just needed to attach it to the bellows of creativity and let hard work inflate the story to full size. So I made an offer they could have refused. What if I turned in the new manuscript by, say, January 2008? Would it be possible to have A Beautiful Fall in stores by the following September?

Other writers had done it, written classics in less time. William Faulkner famously wrote As I Lay Dying in a mere forty-seven days. Contemporary author Ann Brashares wrote The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, her breakthrough best seller in just three weeks. And Charles Dickens gave the world the gift of A Christmas Carol after only two months with the quill and ink. How could there possibly be any pressure in having twelve weeks to write a follow-up to Providence? Well …

With Providence, I’d enjoyed the luxury of infinite time for redrafts, writing without the curfew of a deadline as I reworked the manuscript, learning the craft of novel writing through trial and error. With A Beautiful Fall, things would be different. I had a companion with me in the room as I wrote: the sound of sand pouring through an hourglass.

Once the project had been green-lighted, I established a three-creed rule to guide the process. I’d pray before every writing session, remain tuned into the Spirit enough to write down everything that moved me, and keep working, putting words down on paper.

I needed to know at all times I was on the right track, if that were possible. I had twelve weeks to scribe 90,000 words, flesh out characters who were barely stick-figure sketches, construct a believable small-town setting, and fill the in-betweens with emotional themes that could lift the story up, up, and away like a parasailer pulled by a speedboat.

The cursor blinked on the blank page. Like a downhill skier, I pushed through the starting gate and just let gravity take over. I didn’t give myself time to get bogged down in literary navel gazing, or reshooting the scenes from different angles; there was only time to react to the story. It felt like I was making a movie, but the camera I was using held only ninety minutes of film. When filming stopped, I had to have a complete movie ready to hand over to my editor.

I caught a break. The characters and dialog developed quickly in the early days of writing, and story ideas came even while I was away from my Mac. I’d capture those thoughts on the fly, jotting down notes on a pad of yellow legal paper while driving through Nashville.

However, new challenges entered the scene. As soon as the writing on A Beautiful Fall was in full swing, so began the promotional travel I was scheduled to do for Providence. Trips were planned to key cities in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, and South Carolina. Calendar dates were shaded in October for radio interviews, TV appearances, sit-down talks with Web-based media, and phone interviews with magazines. Critical time was eaten up by travel days for bookstore appearances, fund-raising events for my Providence Cares foundation, and a college speaking tour. At the close of November, Thanksgiving brought a much-needed break, but my health still began to fray as I moved from one time commitment to another.

Christmas fell inside the hectic twelve-week writing window. My family urged me to take off a semester from my master’s program at Rockbridge Seminary. I agreed, aware of the passing time, and trying to free up more of it. Meanwhile, my work as host of Soul2Soul radio continued. I’d work on A Beautiful Fall in the morning, then take a break to interview recording artists like Point of Grace, Selah, Jars of Clay, and Diamond Rio for the radio show.

Special opportunities arose that I didn’t want to miss. I got the chance to host thirteen Penn State-Altoona college students on a mission trip to Mississippi. It was the start of thirty-three continual days of houseguests during the last month of book writing. And there were things I would have happily missed, like the ant infestation in my office ceiling vents during the final days of writing.

As new distractions and old obligations mounted, I still felt a sense of perfect peace. Somehow I knew the writing would get done if I kept working at it and believing. I leaned not unto my own understanding but trusted that everything, including rapidly disappearing hours, creeping ants, and the flu, could be overcome through Him.

The more time I spent writing A Beautiful Fall, the more I could see its possibilities. I’d mentally traveled to Juneberry as a visitor, but I was quickly becoming a resident. I liked walking into the small-town coffee shops and bakeries, sitting down with the faith community that met in the old church, and hearing about the picnics where Michael and Emma reminisced to each other on the South Carolina hills overlooking the lake. I discovered that people in Juneberry had stories to tell about the jewel those who live in small towns possess: their vital relationships with one another. Some characters in Juneberry wondered if there was something bigger and better outside the world where they lived, and I realized, so do we all.

The clock ticked, grains of sand swirled and fell through the hourglass, and time ripped pages from the wall calendar, but it happened: A completed first draft of the story was submitted to my editor at 11:59 p.m. on the scheduled due date.

I’ve been a published author for ten years now. It’s interesting, because I never thought about becoming a writer, never thought about deadlines or choosing words to keep or toss away. It was just something I did—like following the three rules: “Pray before every writing session, write everything down, and keep words going onto the page.”

This is how life makes sense to me, and how I spent twelve weeks one beautiful fall, 2007. A writer’s pace may be hectic sometimes, but for readers, it’s a whole different story. Welcome to Juneberry.

CC

April 2008