Tags
autobiography, Bildüngsroman, Israel, nanowrimo, novel, Rabin, scrivener, Writing, Zionism
It is with great joy that I can update this blog with an uplifting post and the news that I am well on my way with writing my first novel (20.000 words and counting) and I couldn’t have done it without ‘nanowrimo’, the national novel writing month event which supports and motivates writers.
To be honest many work has been done before november started, but it stagnated and it is with nanowrimo backing me that I am finally pushing myself further than I ever did, regularly updating my word count and seeing my novel grow day by day.
I had an aborted attempt on a novel last year when I discovered nanowrimo for the first time. That time I had an idea for a coming-of-age novel based on actual biographical events during my exploratory years as a undergrad and graduate student in Leiden featuring many of my ex-girlfriends, friends, lost dreams, failures and successes and still remains shelved for a future attempt.
No, this time my first 50.000 word draft will precede the Leiden years, and it will be more fundamental and dramatic and deal with my years in Israel. Talk – again – about coming of age. It was more falling from grace, or waking up from a pleasant dream after a car crash. Well that’s a bit over dramatic. The words are coming, it’s biography, fiction and non fiction all in one. I had the opportunity of growing up in Israel during the roaring ’90’s, roaring meaning a decade combining hope, peace, assassinations and suicide attacks. These roaring 90’s will provide the background to my personal story and army experiences.
For now I have no illusion of publishing it. It’s foremost a personal story, but it has an ambitious scope. It starts with a foreword about my Jewish ancestors and their Zionism which led them to leave Europe for Palestine, and an afterword/conclusion about my experience and the future of Zionism in general based on my growing political thoughts about the matter and my experiences post-Israel, ever since I’ve come back to live in Europe, and witnessing Europe changed and ever changing and with it the European views on Israel.
I discovered a great novel writing tool which has a free 30 day trial period for the nanowrimo period of november, which I will definitely purchase afterwards because it has already been of great help, it’s called ‘Scrivener’. It helped me bring structure into my story, which helps me focus on specific parts of the story I want to have told.
The writing is keeping the creative juices flowing that much that I felt like posting this update on my blog. I had to take a pause from my novel for a moment seeing I was writing about the murder of Jitzhak Rabin (1 march 1922 – 4 november 1995) which was probably the single biggest tragedy I experienced growing up in those years.
But writing is always therapeutic and thank god I am writing!
This novel will be the novel for which I can use my favorite Hemingway quote as an opening motto;
Let those who want to save the world if you can get to see it clear and as a whole. Then any part you make will represent the whole if it’s made truly. The thing to do is work and learn to make it.