Tag Archives: Book Writing

Time to Plot

4 Feb

So I’ve got this idea for a story …

… isn’t that how it always starts?

I used to be a ‘pantser’.  You know, one of those writers who writes by the seat of their pants; minimal plotting, exploring as they go. But with my current WIP I knew I couldn’t do that.  The story was just too big, too complex, for me to start writing and find out what happened.

So I became a ‘planner’.  For my WIP I wrote a one line synopsis, a one page synopsis and a synopsis from each of the three main characters’ point of view.  From there I planned the scenes, chapter by chapter, until I had a pretty firm idea of who did what when and with whom.  Then and only then did I actually start to write the thing.

But now, with my WIP at completed third draft stage and sent off to my mentor for critique,  I’m feeling rather bored.  I’m actually missing all my early morning writing sessions.

And I’ve got this fizz of an idea.  A wispy, floaty essence of a story that flits across my mind’s eye when I’m not expecting it.  Plus two main characters – one male, one female – who are becoming noisier and clearer by the day.  And there’s a third character, still cloaked by shadows, who I can’t see properly yet.

So I find myself back at the beginning.  Ready to plot out a new novel with a new set of characters and a new set of dilemmas.

I’m going to make a start today.  One line synopsis here I come …

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Summer Writing Routine: what works for you?

7 May
Assorted flowers in Park Seed Company Garden

Image via Wikipedia

Now that the sun’s shinning I’m finding it more difficult to find the time to write.  It’s not just the sun, to be fair.  It’s all the jobs that need sorting in the garden – the weeding, sowing the veg, and watering (lots and lots of watering).  It the winter it seemed easier.  I’d get up when it was still dark, sit at my desk and write until the sun came up.  Now, even though I’m awake by half past five, the sun is already rising.

Perhaps I need to adjust my writing rhythm.  Maybe I need a different writing routine for the summer months.  I’ll experiment over the next week or so and see if I can find a schedule that works.  Any suggestions?  What do you find works for your writing in the summer months?

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Climbing the Rocky Slope of Enlightenment: my writing journey

17 Mar

Whilst working away at the day job a colleague showed me a chart called the Gartner Hype Cycle.  It’s a chart that plots the experience of users as they learn new technologies, but I immediately saw parallels to my experiences as an aspiring author.

My journey as a writer started with the idea that I’d like to use my endlessly overactive imagination to write an actual story.  I’ve always thought up stories – as a child I made up stories about a dragon called Percy and a herd of talking horses, as a teen it was stories about boys (of course!) and then, once I started work, I let that side of myself drift.

Until two years ago.  I got the inspiration for a story and I decided to do something about it.  This was my ‘trigger’ moment.

So, having decided to embrace my inner storyteller, I enrolled on a Creative Writing course.  And it was wonderful, I’d found this amazing new thing, and I loved it.

And that was how things were for a while.  And as I discovered more about this writing lark, the more I wanted to write.  The curve of my journey accelerated upwards as I discovered the magical world of voice and genre and plot and point of view.  I lapped up every scrap of knowledge I could.  I practiced and practiced, and I sought feedback from fellow students and my tutor.

Eighteen months later my course had ended.  I’d got a Diploma in Creative Writing, a boxful of confidence and a truckload of ambition.  I had decided.  I wanted to become a published author [this was me reaching the Peak of Inflated Expectations].

Anyway, I’d got an idea for a novel, so I started trying to plot it out.  But my idea was too big for my apprentice level of story.  The plot seemed scattered and my characters to unruly and headstrong.  I became confused, unconfident in my ability, and disillusioned.  I’d hit the Trough of Disillusionment.  Hard.  And it hurt!

So, determined not to give up, I enlisted some help and got some expert advice from the fabulous Writers Workshop (www.writersworkshop.co.uk).  I discovered just how much I’d yet to learn.  But I was learning again.  And it was super fun.

So where am I now?

Well, I structured my storyline and developed my characters last summer, and now I’ve got my first draft in the bag and am working on a second draft.  And I’m learning as I go.  Every bit of feedback, every page that I revise, is part of my learning journey. And, step-by-step, I’m climbing up the rocky Slope of Enlightenment.

And I’ve decided.  Rather than despair at my novice-ness, I’m treating my experiences as my apprenticeship in writing.  Afterall, in any profession it takes many years to hone your craft.  Why should writing be any different?

Because learning takes time.

And I’m determined to enjoy every step of the journey. Because I bet that the view from the top is breathtaking.

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Jonathan Franzen’s Rule Number 7

15 Mar

Jonathan Franzen’s 10 Rules of Writing.

I came across this list post by blogger ’101 Books’.  Jonathan Franzen’s rules really got me thinking, especially Rule Number 7: You see more sitting still than chasing after.

In this super-busy 24/7 world, there never seems to be enough time to fit everything in.  I find I’m always doing one thing whilst thinking about the next, and it’s rare to have the time to sit and be still a moment.  But when I thought about this rule, I realized it is totally true for me.  I like to write first thing in the morning, before the distractions of the day drain the creativity from me and my focus becomes scattered.

In those quiet hours, alone at my writing desk, I can emerse myself in my writing in a way I can’t seem to do once the sun has come up and the bustle of the day is in play.  I saviour those hours of writing.  They let me see more than all my chasing in the day ever does.

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The Story Detective: unravelling the mystery within

14 Mar
Old postcards and a magnifying glass.

Image via Wikipedia

Now that my WIP is at the editing phase, I’m finding that my mind is turning to my next novel.

It’s not a conscious thing.  After all, I know that my attention really needs to be focused on revising my first draft into a better second draft.  But even so, I find that whenever I’m doing something fairly boring – driving to work, running on the treadmill, or even taking a bath – sneaky peaks of a new story leap into my mind.

And these glimpses of a new idea intrigue me.  It’s one of the things I love about writing; all the puzzling out who these new characters are, what do they want, why do they want it, and how will they try to get it.

The flashes of story tumble around in my mind, teasing me with their secrets, revealing a little and daring me to discover the rest.

And it’s so exciting, spying on these characters and finding out what makes them tick.   Uncovering the strands of the story, working out the relationships and the stakes, and discovering the twists and turns of the plot.

This is my favorite part of the writing process - the intrigue and the thrill of unravelling the mystery.  It makes me feel a bit like a detective, a story detective, piecing together the story within.

I know it will take a while to get the whole mystery figured out.  And I am so going to enjoy it.

What’s your favorite part of the process?

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Filthy-gorgeous Villains: Who’s your inspiration?

5 Mar

My WIP centers around a love triangle. This means one of my challenges has been to create a wonderfully naughty villain who the reader can believe my female lead would fall in love with, but isn’t so fantastic that they can’t understand why she can’t be with him.

This was pretty hard at first.  How could I create a multi-dimensional character that provokes both love and hate?

 

Sylar

One of the exercises I found useful was to reflect on the things I find most engaging (in an antagonistic way!) about my favorite villains from TV and film.  The characters I chose were:

 

  • Sylar from Heroes (for his conflicted mind and need for control)
  • Sawyer and Sayid from Lost (not really villains, but both with a shadow-side at times)
  • James Bond (Yes, I know he’s the hero, but the charming vs killer aspect is interesting to ponder)
  • Patrick Bateman from American Psycho (ditto the charming vs killer stuff!)

Once I’m recognized the type of traits I wanted my villain to have I drew a mind-map of the various aspects of his character, personal preferences and appearance, and free-wrote a paragraph on what it would be like to have a conversation with him.  I then created a character biography, which included everything from his date of birth, family history, education, friends and goals/aspirations.

And, when I read it back, I knew I’d found my villain:  on the outside Leo appears charming in a true-gentleman way – he’s confident, intelligent and, of course, gorgeously handsome.  But, as the story progresses, the reader begins to see other, less attractive, aspects of his character emerge – the manipulative double-crossing of his friend and colleague,  the need to always be ‘in control’, and the rather extreme games he plays to get a power kick.

He’s certainly a filthy-gorgeous villain, and wickedly fun to write too!

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Catapulting out of my Comfort Zone (towards Second Draft Bliss)

2 Mar
human cannon

Image by House Bear via Flickr

When I started writing my WIP I set myself a target – to have the first draft completed by the 24th December 2010.  I planned my time, getting up an hour and a half earlier each morning, to ensure I met my goal.  And I did it.  By the 23rd December I’d got my first draft finished.  The feeling was tremendous.  I celebrated with a glass of bubbly, some pizza and a large piece of chocolate – bliss!

But now, over two months later, the wonderful feeling of rapturous joy has well and truly worn off.

After taking a couple of weeks off from my novel, to let it ‘settle’, I began the second draft.  This was mid-January 2011.  I thought (naively) that the hard part was over, that now I’d got a full draft I was nearly finished.

Oh how wrong I was.

It’s taken me until to realise I’ve not been editing at all.  I have been tweaking and procrastinating,  staying rooted inside my ‘happy place’ comfort zone of the first draft, not daring to change much.  [Note to self - that IS NOT editing!]

Anyway, last night, I was reading some excerpts of my WIP to my partner and a friend.  And, as I read, a mortifying wake up call of reality hit me – my WIP is not as ‘ready’ as I thought it was.

In that moment I discovered that there’s something about reading your work out loud that exposes the prose in a way that reading it in your head doesn’t.  There’s nowhere to hide for a start!  Reading aloud shows up any clunky sentences or clumsy metaphors, it highlights unnatural dialogue, and points out any awkward language. And although my ‘audience’ were very kind in their feedback, I know that I can do better.

But, in order to do better I’m going to have to push myself out of my first draft comfort zone, and into a more fluid and dynamic second draft.  I need to make sure every single word in my novel has ‘earned its place’ and eliminate flow-stopping prose that jolts the reader out of the story.

So, now I’ve recognised the work I need to do, my next five steps are:

  1. Set myself a goal.  For some a self imposed deadline might be a nightmare but, for me, I find I actually work better if I’ve got a target.
  2. Acknowledge that this will take a bit of time, but that my book will be much better as a result.
  3. Stop beating myself up about the fact that my first draft isn’t perfect (I wrote it in three months, there’s bound to be some dodgy prose in there!)
  4. Quit moaning about how I ‘hate editing’, and get on with it.  Sometimes you really do have to ‘Just Do It’!
  5. Report daily progress:  use the WIP page to chart my editing progress.

That sounds like a plan I can follow!  So, with a smile on my face, and a red editing pen in my hand, I’m ready to catapult out of my comfort zone and towards my goal of second draft bliss …

 

 

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Super-sexy Query Letters

19 Feb
And What shall I Write

Image by tomswift46 (No Groups with Comments) via Flickr

It’s official:

I hate writing query letters.

Or to be more specific, “a one page introduction to me and my book”.  But I’ve got to get over my loathing, because next week I need to send one out.

On March 25th – 27th I’m attending the fantastic Festival of Writing at York, organised by the wonderful folks at The Writers Workshop.  As part of the package, unpublished writers like me get to pitch to two agents, publishers or book doctors.  In preparation for the pitch, I have to send the one-page introduction and the first chapter of my WIP.

It’s an awesome opportunity, but it’s also the cause of many hours of soul searching, drafting and deleting as I try to produce the “perfect, knock-em-out, super-sexy query letter”.

So why does one page matter so much?

Well, to start with, IT JUST DOES!  And, secondly, it’s because it’s the first contact I’ll have with this haloed individual, the first piece of my writing they’ll read, and therefore the thing that will create their first impression of me.

So it has to be perfect – the right tone, enough (but not too much) information about me, and a short synopsis of my WIP.  I’ve been working on it for over three hours now and so far I’ve got less than twenty words.  I did have more.  Then I deleted them!

But, I think help is at hand.  I’ve found a wonderful website  http://queryshark.blogspot.com/ On the website there’s all sort of pithy advice on the type of thing that works and that doesn’t work in query letters.

So, that’s quite enough displacement activity on the blog for now.  It’s time to crack on with my “information page”.  Wish me luck!

 

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