Can I Write a Novel?

Several months ago a strange idea popped into my head - I decided that I want to write a novel. I tried to push that idea away - after all I have always been bad at writing. I am a math person - I enjoy logical subjects, where the problem has one and only one solution. No other roots to take, no alternative ways to measure. Simple. Black and white. Writing, on the other hand, is much more different. There is no right or wrong answer. You can write the most amazing story and still some people will love it, while others will hate it.

I follow the maxima The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it in almost everything I do. From that boy I liked over at the disco, through that dress I want so much but I can't afford right now, and finally to the novel I want to write. I resisted the temptation mainly due to the response I met from people around me. Most of them, to be honest, decided this was one of my crazy ideas, which will keep me excited for a few months and then will fade away. Like the time I decided I wanted a dog. Or when I said I was only going to work and study this summer. Or when I was almost ready to give up university and come back home.

However, this time it is different. Writing my own blog devoted to reading has been one of my biggest pleasures lately. I even started opening Read with Style even before Facebook (imagine that). I got excited when someone has been reading or commenting on my posts. So, this time my temptation is for real. And I am going to yield to it.

After all, let's take for example Paolo Giordano. A brilliant physicist, doing a PhD on elementary particles. Nothing to do with literature whatsoever. Still, his novel The Solitude of Prime Numbers (check my review) is indeed very good and inspirational. And what about Jordan Belfort. A Wall Street genius, a fraud, or a junkie, he wrote his autobiographie. Both The Wolf of Wall Street and Catching the Wolf of Wall Street (again reviewed in my blog) became a huge success and even inspired Martin Scorsese and Leo DiCaprio to film it. So, I figured, if a physicist and a financier can write a novel, so can a slightly neurotic, highly ambitious, and cutely weird girl.

I am realistic and I know that it will take me a while to write the novel. But unlike all other aspects of my life, towards which I am highly impatient, surprisingly I do not rush the novel. I write when I want to write and when I feel I want to say something. I do not have a time frame or a dedicated slot of the day when I have to write. Maybe that is how I differ from a real writer, who spends every day pouring his thoughts on a sheet of a paper.

To prepare myself for this task I even started reading some insights on how to become a good writer. I discussed the novel-to-be with a friend of mine, who studies Creative Writing. She gave me one of the best advice - do not try to tell everything you want to. It is simply impossible. Instead choose a topic and stick to it.

Understandingly, we come to the topic. It is still a secret and only a few people know what it is going to be about. I prefer it that way until I have a clear image of what and how I want to write. I just know what my first sentence is going to be. Quite a beginning but I am optimistic. Of course, I do not intend to be the next Carry Bradshaw or some bullshit of that sort. I just want to share some thoughts with the rest of the world. And if I am very lucky, at least one person will take the moral and benefit from my experience. And isn't that why every writer writes? At least, this is a big part of my motivation.

Catching the Wolf of Wall Street - The Sequel

Much less cynical and vulgar. Much more honest and descriptive. Catching the Wolf of Wall Street, the sequel of the famous autobiography The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort is quite different from the first novel.

The Wolf of Wall Street was brutal and shocking, answering the vital question How to spend a billion of dollars on drugs and prostitutes? It described the senseless and corrupted life of a clever man, who used his intelligence to manage frauds with securities. We see Jordan as a ruthless alcoholic and drug addict, who doesn't value any social norms and morals - the only rule he follows is the rule of capitalism - earn as much as you can at the expense of others. The result is a disaster - he loses his family, his freedom, and his self respect.
In Catching the Wolf of Wall Street we meet a different Jordan - not the vulgar and ruthless broker, who stole more money than the GDP of a small country but a Jordan who realizes the degree of his mistakes and attempts to fix them; a Jordan filled with regret and remorse.  I enjoyed the sequel better because it is the agony and the ecstasy of a tragic character - one who became a victim of power, glory, and avarice only to be reborn a sincere, honest, and faithful man.

Catching the Wolf of Wall Street begins where the first novel left us off - excited and impatient to understand Jordan's destiny after he was detained by the police. In the sequel throughout endless interrogations with the FBI crew (including Gregory Coleman, the FBI agent obsessed with Belfort's life and the reason for his denouncement) the protagonist shares his path - from meant to be a dentist to one of the most powerful brokers in history.  In that sense Catching the Wolf of Wall Street is a manual of the destructive power of money, glory, and abundance - Belfort transformed from an innocent, naive, and ambitious boy into a ruthless man, who doesn't value any boundaries; who doesn't express any compassion or sympathy; who sacrifices his humanity in favor of the seemingly ideal and glamorous life of the rich and the successful. Quite familiar, huh?

If you thought the first novel too vulgar you will be surprised - we hardly see any of Belfort's typical language in the sequel. Here he is calmer, more patient, and most importantly SOBER. His life proves an important point - you have to hit rock bottom before you start going up. And that is what he does. Even after spending 22 months in prison, Belfort manages to use his intelligence in a constructive way - now he is a motivational orator, teaching businessmen how to earn money without sacrificing ethics and integrity. Sounds ironic coming from the Wolf of Wall Street but who knows better than the man, who lost his family, betrayed his friends, went to federal jail, and still came back?

If you are wondering how he actually looks I posted a picture. Also, I believe the movie by Scorsese will be mainly derived from the second novel, as it will encompass a conversation between Belfort and Coleman, where the former shares his experiences.

@ Amazon: Catching the Wolf of Wall Street: More Incredible True Stories of Fortunes, Schemes, Parties, and Prison

The Wolf of Wall Street - Jordan Belfort

Brutal, cynical, vulgar, shocking, mind-blowing, sincere, honest, and real - this is the world of Jordan Belfort in The Wolf of Wall Street.  Indeed one of the best contemporary novels I have read.

Jordan Belfort was born in 1962 in the USA. He is an American author, motivational speaker, and YES ex criminal. The Wolf of Wall Street, his autobiography, focuses on his rise and fall, from one of the smartest and most powerful brokers on WallStreet in the 90s to a drug, sex, and alcohol addict.

As a 31-year old multimillionaire stockbroker Belfort owned the scandalously famous brokerage firm Stratton Oakmant. His subordinates, hungry and vulgar young brokers, were given a script written by Belfort himself to persuade investors to buy stocks over the phone. The Wolf (his nickname at the time) used the popular "pump and dump" scheme, where stocks are artificially inflated through false positive messages. Once the overvalued stocks are dumped, the stock price falls and investors lose their money. For this fraud, as well as for money laundering and drug abuse he was arrested and spend 22 months in a federal prison. For almost 10 years he lived like a rock star - during the day he managed to earn more money than the average person earns per year. During the night he spent them on drugs, alcohol, and prostitutes. It seemed Belfort was a God's favorite as he miraculously escaped death several times: flying smashed the broker landed his helicopter in the back lawn, he sunk his expensive yacht, he crashed into more than 10 cars, and he sniffed a variety of drugs enough to kill a whale.

Due to his fraud and abuses Belfort separated from his wife Nadine and his children but they are now in a good relationship and share custody. In an interview Belfort claims he lives modestly in a three bedroom house in Manhattan. I don't know about you but this doesn't really sound modest to me. Anyhow, 50% of what he earns now covers his debt to deceived investors. Belfort says he is a clean man using his powerful rhetoric skills to lift the curtain in front of the life on WallStreet in the 90s - avid, ruthless, and brutal. In addition, Belfort travels around the world as a motivational speaker, teaching people to be successful without sacrificing integrity and ethics. There is a popular saying in Bulgaria that a wolf may change its appearance but never its nature. I sincerely hope that is not Belfort's case.

At the beginning, I have to admit I was shocked by the language. It was too brutal and vulgar and I believe I haven't heard that many curses from only person even in the most dangerous ghettos. Still, as the novel progressed, I realized that this brutality is the most appropriate approach to fully understanding Belfort's world. His life was indeed shocking and provocative. When reading The Wolf of Wall Street I kept thinking: I admire his honesty, his courage, and his strength. It takes a lot of manhood to stand up to your mistakes, to share your most embarrassing secrets, to admit to pushing your wife down the stairs or nearly killing your daughter, to falling asleep in a pile of cocaine, and to deceiving hundreds of people for personal benefit. What is more, Belfort doesn't attempt to defend himself, nor to blame others for his failures. He sincerely shares his experience without hiding even the most disgusting and gross events. So if you are repelled by his vulgarity and brutality think again. Do you want a soft, romantic, Holywood-type story or do you want the real thing? Because in life, no one is going to sugar-coat it for you - this is the life of the big money and power.

There is a sequel, Catching the Wolf of Wall Street. I don't have to tell you that I can't wait to finish this post and enjoy a little bit more of Belfort's brutal and scandalous, yet addictive and unique style.


For the sake of fun trivia, you should know that his life-story is being turned into a movie by Warner Brothers and Leo DiCaprio is set to star and Martin Scorsese - to direct. Can't wait!!!