Writing an Epistolary Novel

     I've not written in this genre before. Nor have I read many (any) classic or contemporary novels written in this fashion---a novel of letters. As yet. My plan is to read as many as possible while I flesh out a structure, list of characters and their traits/backgrounds, and a basic theme. Already begun, my novel is not yet titled, and like others I've written before, I expect the title will emerge as the story and characters develop.
     While I have a fairly good notion, at this point, of who the characters are (four female characters will exchange letters, making this a polylogic type of epistolary novel) as with other of my novels, the characters will come more alive as the story begins to take shape. Employing this method in writing a novel, that of not fully knowing the characters at the outset, requires some additional editing after the novel is finished. Nevertheless, my author style is fairly well set in cement at this time; it's the way I work best, so I'll not change it, nor try to change it, with this novel.
     I plan to carry blog readers along on this journey and will post new entries as I take steps toward ultimate completion.....my goal is to complete the novel by year's end. I'm aiming at an approximate word count of 70,000, and my current structure has the novel broken into nine parts, each part containing four chapters (36 chapters in all). With little more than 5 months left in the year, I'll need to write 2 chapters per week (which will allow time to edit at the end), a schedule that is attainable.
     That said, we're off and running . . .