Life's Pressures

As I have started back at my day job after 4 (nearly 5) weeks off I have started to feel the pressure. Of everything. With my day job I found that it is just as busy and overwhelming as it was before my break, which was quite disappointing. And then I began to worry that perhaps I had planned or hoped to achieve too much with my writing this year.

I also hoped to blog more regularly but what time I do have seems to be going to other things, not always productive.  And then of course there is family, friends, uni work and the occasional spot of reading to fit in.

My main writing focus is my novels and I am currently looking at or working on three. You probably agree with me by this point that I am indeed mad.

Novel Number 1 – trying to get it published, so I’m researching agents, refining chapters to send, writing covering letters. (Although it may be absolute rubbish and never get anywhere)

Novel Number 2 – reworking, revising a first draft into something more (I was at nearly 90,000 words by end of first draft and I hope for it to reach around 150,000 – a long way to go).

Novel Number 3 – early planning stages.

I thought that trying to concentrate on three different stories might be bit much but perhaps the pressure will actually help me get somewhere. I have most of what I need for the first one. I have even picked a favoured agency. Part of me is worried that it won’t get anywhere so I’m holding off a little but really it would only take me a couple of days to get the submission finalised and sent.

When I break it down into clear steps and see that it is not only possible but could be done by the end of the weekend I start to feel better about the process. So if it is rejected that’s ok. I’m all that much closer with my next submission. And if it never takes off, I have another book in the works and a trilogy slowly mapping its way around my study walls.

Novel Number 2 needs a lot more love and attention, every day, and I haven’t been giving it the attention it needs. I know what I need to do and I worked well last year, so time to knuckle down, book out that hour a day and go for it.

Novel Number 3 is happily moving all by itself. I am only spending a couple of hours (at most) a week thinking about plot points and characters and mapping out what should happen when. It is a skeleton and although with some ideas a whole scene comes to mind, I can just put down some notes and move on.

The door is covered in an almost complete Book One, some small gaps towards the end of the book, but I know where the main characters need to be at that point. Some of the detail will come once I start writing it, but as long as I get some ideas down it should work well. I have started using a pencil to get my ideas down (that includes in notebooks) so the cards look blank in the photo. Some contain only a short sentence, others are full.

I have bits of Book two and three but not as ordered as book one. By the time I start writing I would like it all mapped out. This is a very new process for me so I’m interested in how it will go. But as eager as I am to start writing it I think I should wait until I am finished Novel Number 2. Or I will be working on bits of books for ever...

Then of course there are the little ideas that keep creeping in and tapping on my brain asking to be written. Whole new worlds and friends calling to shared. They could be next but when looking at the list above Number 3 is really three books...so I have five to complete before I can move to the next project.

I’ll just continue to scribble down small ideas, either on the door, or the board in the study, or an index card, or one of the many notebooks I have stashed around the place, or typed up here to share with you.

Happy Scribbling

P.S. The Kitchen Door has become a learning tool for my daughter who is learning to read...hopefully sometime soon I can win it back for notes of my own.

Starting at the Beginning

Working through my draft I was hoping that the ending would become clearer. But in looking for that I forgot the most important part – the beginning.

I had reworked the first few chapters but in sharing them with my critical friends I realised I was trying to put the beginning into the context of the rest of the story. I had forgotten what was important for the beginning.

The Hook – that instant or event that drags the reader in. I hadn’t started at the right place. I was trying to pull too much back story in too soon.

Compelling Character – introducing the character so that the reader wants to keep reading, wants to know more about them and what happens to them. I know my main character (we’ve been together some time now) but I didn’t have her in the best light.  Actually one member of the group asked if wanted to portray her as mentally disturbed – big problem.

Appropriate Support Cast – those characters that show the strengths and weaknesses of the main character and help move that story along. They help move the plot. My problem here is that the characters are going to change as my story starts in one world and moves to another. These first supporting characters need to be able to explain why she is prepared to leave this world.

Consistent – the writing, the style and the characters need to be consistent throughout the story. But the set up is here at the beginning. If the beginning is no good then the reader won’t read on.

Now my job is to take all the comments made, the knowledge of what does work and the thoughts and visions of my story and pull them together. To rework a beginning that will have my reader eager to turn the page.

Happy Scribbling

Three out of Five

One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was to ensure that I have at least three of the five senses in every scene. In my current reworking of my fantasy novel I am trying hard to ensure I have that.

Why not all five?

There are several reasons for this. It may be that it’s too much, or they just aren’t needed. But you will need at least three to ensure your reader is there with you. It provides a better picture (so to speak) of the scene and what the character is experiencing.

They don’t have to be over the top references either. Sometimes it is the smallest detail that will tell far more about a character and the situation that over describing the scene.

For example:

It was then that the light caught the slender wedding band on her old fingers. (sight)

It almost tickled as he ran his thumb along her jaw line. (touch)

The musty scent of the room as she opened the door was overpowering. (smell)

The constant tapping of the shutter would not let her sleep. (sound)

The strawberry was summer on her tongue. (taste)

Taste is one of the difficult ones that I find I can’t always put in. But putting at least three together you could get a real feel for a place, the interactions of those in it, and it enriches the story. That is where I am now, trying to enrich my story. Trying to give more to the bones of the skeleton I have and hopefully pull my readers into the same place I have in my head, watching the same people I am.

There are some great writers out there who are able to do this really well; much better than I can. But with practice and reading of those great writers then one day I may get close.

Happy Scribbling.

Happy New Year

Another year starts and my main concern is that it is going to disappear as quickly as the last one and there is so much that I want to get done. I am still happy with the writing goals I have set for this year. I am hoping that I haven’t set too much but I know where my priorities are so I can adjust if I need to. I have also taken into account my other goals and commitments.

The last few weeks have been productive, despite the holiday period. I have been trialling some writing software Scrivener. I came across this by accident and it is now available for Windows users. I am playing with it at the moment to see if will work for me, but so far so good. There are a lot of software programs for writers out there but I’m not going to go into them now.

My read through of my fantasy novel is done. There are definite holes and gaps but I'm sure that I can fix them, and I have developed the ending. But the main problem (and it is a first draft) is my lack of description. This is something that has been pointed out before and I’m not really aware of it until I reread my work. I think while pouring out the first draft I am just trying to get the story down. Although saying that some of it is not too bad at all. I even had a little cry in one scene so I’m hoping that means it will work for readers as well.

I have finally reworked my study, clearing out a lot of rubbish and finding alternative storage places for other bits. I have replaced the old table with two long desks and I have much more room. I just need to set up a note-board system and it’s done. Even the cat has her place on the desk.

It is finding the time to escape into it now that I need. Holiday mode means more relaxing time and my body is still repairing from a full year, there are also activities and outings with children and friends. I am still sleeping in a little too often but the drive is still there; that overwhelming urge to write.

Happy Scribbling