Writing A Novel: It's All In The Details

It's been about three days since I've last looked at any reviews for BAND GEEK. I'm sticking with my plan to avoid reviews until my new novel is complete ... though it isn't easy! I'm very tempted to log onto Goodreads and Amazon to see how things are going and it's taking all of my resolve to stay away from the critiques for now.

I am moving forward with my latest work. March 23 marks a year since I was laid off from Soap Opera Digest and I would love to have my draft finished by that date. Plus, I work better with deadlines, so it's forcing me to get going.

I haven't written any new chapters this week, but I've done a lot of work and editing on the first 15. Since my main male character, Griffin, is a runner and is training my narrator, Sadie, I've had to research what goes into running on a track team and running marathons. It's been interesting to learn about different training techniques, etc. Honestly, I'm no athlete so I couldn't just write what I know in this case. I did complete a 20-mile walk a few years ago, but that's not quite the same as running a marathon. I want my information to be as accurate as possible, even if the book is fiction.

There's been a little debate going on between my husband and cousin Tom regarding my book's details. Tom has warned me not to include too many details about running and marathons because he fears that it will drag down my story and make it dull. However, Jon likes the details and feels that they add to the realism of the story. His argument is that if Griffin is training Sadie to complete a marathon, she'd be interested in learning what goes into this -- and in this case, having some details of her training would make sense.

My solution is to go middle of the road. I'm including some notes about her training, but am not writing scene after scene of running stats. Most of the focus is on the characters' friendship and how her training ties into that. I hope that the parts that do center on her workouts are exciting and show how the character is gaining self esteem. I want readers to root for her and in order to do that, they have to see and understand how hard she's working.

Adding details to a story helps make it more realistic, in my opinion. In BAND GEEK, I included a lot of information on playing the flute and flute music so that readers could understand Melinda's passion. And in this book, I want them to be able to place themselves in Sadie's world.

Please read and review REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD.