Wednesday, December 3, 2014

MOST ASKED QUESTION

by Kathy Cannon Wiechman

Last month, the Highlights Foundation hosted a dinner to celebrate my novel LIKE A RIVER (due to launch April 7, 2015). As I mingled through the attendees, the question I was repeatedly asked was “How long did it take you to write this book?”

 That is not an easy question to answer.

The first spark of an idea entered my brain over twenty years ago when I first heard about the Sultana disaster. I was working on other novels at the time, but I did research on the Sultana and Andersonville Prison. I jotted down notes. I visited the site of the prison and the town of Andersonville. I visited Rome, Georgia, and was introduced to another place that would find its way into my book.

I mapped out a possible storyline and wrote a first chapter. I discarded that chapter, and went back to my other novels. Over the years, I wrote five or six first chapters and discarded them all.

Four and a half years before I finished the first draft, I took a rough synopsis and five chapters to a Highlights Foundation workshop with Rich Wallace. His advice caused me to add a new character and totally revamp my storyline. When I went home, I worked on other projects while I spent time figuring out how to proceed with my new storyline for LIKE A RIVER.

I honestly don’t remember at what point I put all those other projects aside and worked steadily on the novel. And even after I did, I still took time to go back and revise another novel and write several short stories. I also did preliminary research for a new novel. I usually work on more than one story at a time.

I have never gone back and tried to tally up the actual hours (or days or weeks or months) I devoted to LIKE A RIVER, but it has lived inside me for more than twenty years. I am thrilled that it will finally be published and in readers’ hands.
On Thanksgiving, we got together with numerous family members (as we do every year), and the subject of LIKE A RIVER came up. My nephew’s wife asked me, “How long did it take you to write the book?” Maybe I need to make a rough calculation for a quick answer.

     

7 comments:

  1. Kathy, I enjoyed your answer to this oft-asked question! ANd what an honor for Highlights to throw a dinner on behalf of your forthcoming book. From my own (limited) experience it does take a LONG time for a book to gestate, develop, and be written. Congratulations on hanging in there with a story that wouldn't let you go!

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    1. Thanks, Carol. I enjoyed every minute (however many there were) of working on the novel. And it truly was an honor to have it celebrated at the Highlights Foundation dinner. The HF is a wonderful organization that has taught me so much.

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  2. Go ahead and tell them twenty years!
    Hey, our books will release on the same day. That is awesome.

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  3. Sometimes the best projects take a long time to incubate. I can't wait to read it.

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  4. yes, those asking dont usually want the behind the scenes version, just a quick answer... but i liked the story behind the story!! cool! and sounds like a very good book!

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    1. Thanks, Tara. I am afraid that if I say it took 20 years, I will look like the world's slowest writer. Maybe I should just say, "I don't know."

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