This post was written specifically for the #AuthorToolboxBlogHop.
First off, I’d like to thank Ari Meghlen and Rachel Poli, since one of the recent questions on their Twitter hashtag game, #TheMerryWriter helped give me the idea for this post.
I’m not entirely sure when the term ‘trunk novel’ first came into being but it seems to have a fairly recent origin. The general idea is that a ‘trunk novel’ is usually a first effort, maybe complete, maybe not; and one that the author has set aside, possibly permanently.
While the term might be new, the notion isn’t. Chances are, any artist (with the possible exception of Mozart) is going to have a potentially embarrassing early work they don’t want to put out. To quote an interview I read years ago:
Every writer has about a quarter of a million words of self-indulgence he has to get out.
Junk Mail by Will Self (p. 144). Grove/Atlantic, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
By most reckonings, that’s the equivalent of 2 to 2 and a half novels. So once you have your trunk novel(s), what do you do with it?
The first, and easiest, answer is to forget about it,. But when do we ever do things the easy way? I’ve said before (on a previous Toolbox post, no less) that I like to have an alternate project to play on if I feel stuck with my main WIP. Maybe your trunk novel can act as the same. Either you can keep going with that story or you can use it as a means of honing your craft.
Even just reading over past work can be useful. If you originally abandoned it due to quality concerns, maybe the time away will have helped remedy that. You can use what you’ve learned since you originally wrote it to identify what wasn’t working before and what you can do better.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to continue with that particular story for whatever reason, you can always cannibalize it. With a few tweaks, you might be able to re-tool scenes for use elsewhere.
For example, my trunk novel (started when I was 18 or so) is a mystery thriller that, to be honest, I don’t see a future for. But there was a scene in there set in a morgue. I just happened to have a need for a morgue scene in House Valerius. So I went back, looked at what I had written previously, and took the bits I thought I could use and were worth saving.
Ultimately, having a trunk novel is both nothing to be ashamed of and potentially a learning experience.
Don’t forget to read the other Author Toolbox blogs, just click the icon below.
I may not have had the skill way back then, but I love emotion that found in my older work. I wish I was that natural today. 😉
Anna from elements of emaginette
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I love this! I had not heard that term, but I definitely have a trunk novel. I’m not sure I’ll ever go back to it, but I hadn’t thought about retooling it for something else. Hmmmm….
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P.S. I’m just making sure everyone is getting my monthly reminder emails about the hop. If you got the one I sent a week and half ago, would you mind shooting me a quick email letting me know? Thanks!
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I hadn’t heard this term, but I definitely have them 🙂 They’re mostly fanfiction, and I’ll probably never post them. I use them as editing practice, to see how much I’ve improved, and I often go back to them when I need to write without pressure! I’ve reused scenes from them in my WIP, never delete anything, and one of my bigger ones may get reworked into an original story 🙂
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