My second published novella came about half by chance and half by design. On another writer’s platform, (not Medium) there was a challenge to write the first chapter of your own ‘Next Great American Novel.’ The challenge left it open to the writers to change the subject to their version of the next great British, or any other nationality, great novel if they felt so inclined. This was to prove very fortuitous for me later on.
To start with I wrote the first chapter of a British-based novel called ‘The Mysterious Messenger,’ which was intended to be a potboiler thriller. I did, of course, give a little thought to the story being developed into a full-blown novel further down the line. However, the next thing I did was write another first chapter, this time, to a story called ‘In Pursuit Of The Great American Dream.’
Ever since my university English Literature studies at uni many years ago, I developed a love of American Literature and read almost all the seminal novels, from Mark Twain’s ‘Huckleberry Finn’ to J.D. Sallinger’s ‘Catcher In The Rye,’ and beyond. This may have played a part in my decision to see how far I could develop this second story.
Whatever the reason, this story flowed effortlessly to some sort of halfway point, where I had to sit back and wonder what should come next. I was at a bit of a loss for an hour or two and ended up going for a walk while I mulled it over. Ever since my days as a highly successful freelance advertising copywriter, a relaxing stroll has always been my turn-to method to overcome writer’s block, and that is because it always works. Sure enough, ambling along the leafy lanes near our humble abode, I had what proved to be a great idea.
The idea was a simple solution to make the first chapter of the first book, ‘The Mysterious Messenger,’ the second part of ‘In Pursuit Of The American Dream.’ All I had to do was a little editing of the two parts so far written and add a continuation to the end of the second part, bringing all of the characters and other elements of both stories together and on to a fitting end.
This method of melding two different creative pieces into one is not without precedent, most especially in the art of songwriting. ‘A Day In The Life,’ by McCartney and Lennon of the Beatles, ‘Question,’ by Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, ‘Without You,’ by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger, the list is almost endless.
The book reached what felt like a natural end as a novella rather than a novel. I’m not one for writing to a word count when it comes to books. The story ends where the story ends, period.
I do not suffer under any delusions that the finished book is in any way the ‘Great Anything Novel.’ However, it was certainly a very enjoyable piece to write, and hopefully to read, and as far as action-packed thrillers go, it does tick a lot of boxes.
Click on the Ryan O’Bryan link here to check out some of my other books published on Amazon.