Playing With Colour - Another Little Revision Exercise

Followers of the blog will know that I am a seat of your pants writer. Once I begin a story (usually with only the beginning, end, my main characters, and location), I write the first draft feeling my way. Not very scientific or organized but that’s how the story teller in me works – I like being surprised.

This slapdash method has huge pitfalls and I have fallen into each and every one of them. However I can’t ever see my writing method changing so I need to tackle how to fix the problems without killing my voice or the life of the story. Herein the difficulty lies.

When I took the fiction mantle back onto my shoulders in 2004, I thought it would be easy. I could write and I could tell stories. Simple. No. I can see with hindsight that from 2004 until today I had to relearn how to write prose again. Now I need to work on the mechanics of making my story better, tighter, and correctly paced. These, with those previously tackled, are the tools of writing. They need to be in shape so that the stories I need to tell are conveyed in the best way they can be.

These past five years have taught me is that this journey is not a race. Finally I have embraced this apprenticeship time. The current state of publishing is also a bonus for the unpublished writer. The pressure is off because things are so bad. Now is the time to fine tune skills and write books for the joy of it.

So yesterday I played again with my highlighter collection. Using Scene One, I looked at exactly what was there – description (pink), dialogue (orange), action (green), introspection (no colour). I wanted to see how the balanced or unbalanced it was. When in the full flow of the first draft, I never consider these things – my only thought is to get the story onto the page. Now ACH has been worked on before and I think the balance reflects this - so it would be interesting to do this exercise on a scene from Penderown which hasn’t been touched to find out whether I naturally balance these things or I am totally unbalanced (my suspicion). I do know that when writing dialogue – I just go for it. I don’t put speech tags or actions in and I need to layer these in afterwards.

So have you looked (visually) at the balance of a scene? And if so has it helped?

Finally a few links....

- a brave and thought provoking post by JA Konrath

- see above The Bookseller reports on Sara Lloyd at Frankfurt - Digital World Is The Present

- This link came via @BubbleCow on twitter Behler Blog gives Tough Advice

New Mantras

Some days you get what you need and JA Konrath's post here
provides a bucket load of what I need but two resonated for today and will become my new mantra. Can you find any on his list that work for you?

"Write when you can. Finish what your start. Edit what you finish. Submit what you've edited. Repeat. "

"There's a word for a writer who never gives up... published "

Friday Despair no Musing and Links

What a week this has been in my head. I have run around in circles. You know that feeling of not making any progress and not sure if you want to either. I am at a loss with my writing at the moment as with quite a few other things in my life. If it weren't for the Dickens Challenge I could say that I wasn't doing any writing at all. I have been thinking about A Cornish House, whose revisions, have ground to a halt but all the solutions I have thought up seem to pat. I lack orginality. I am boring and too easy to figure out. Unfortunately I think that is also my personality these days. What you see is what you get - boring. So I am filled with self doubt. Should I continue on this writing lark? Should I pack it in? Should I just pack in the hope of ever writing anything a publisher will want? To be honest I don't think I could stop writing but maybe I should just do it for myself.

These are just some of the thoughts floating is wreched circular paterns in a deterioating brain. I am also wondering if I should just throw myself into writing the book that is in my head before I lose it. The only deadline I have facing is the Romantic Novelists' New Writers Scheme and that will be ACH. I hadd planned to get that in early but if I am just going to piddle my time away.............

Last night I had a great treat. I forgot to ask her permission to say who but a best novelist came to dinner last night. She is lovely and doesn't look her years. DH said there was no way she was as old as she said she was. She was filled with encouraging words and I guess it helps to hear the great say that they too are still learning and still have doubts. Before falling asleep last night I was going to send August Rock off to who she said was a wonderful editor whom I met at the RNA lunch but then the earthworms of doubt had been busy all night and it no longer seems such a good idea!

I just finished Laying the Ghost by Judy Astley yesterday. It had such a satisfying ending I was smiling and humming for the rest of the day. What was also interesting from my current quandry is how she balanced the mother/daughter story lines in the book................ maybe I'll just go slash my wrists now.

But before I do that some good links....... Over on A Newbie's Guide to Publishing JA Konrath gives some sound advice for attracting visitors to your blog. The BBC Scotland Write Here Right Now has been brilliant this month even if I haven't been following too closely. Yesterday's email was particularlly spot on. I checked out the website here and they haven't put it up yet so I will cut and paste some of it for the impatient! So Senior commisioning editor at Headline, Vicki Mellor says........



"....
As an editor who reads many submitted manuscripts, there are several key elements that I consider when choosing a book to publish.

...
The author should have thought through the plot from every conceivable angle. Most editors can spot a gap in the narrative very quickly...

The writing should be engaging and detailed, and the plot should be original – the book needs a hook. Whether that takes the form of a major new character, an unusual setting or, indeed, historical context, it needs to stand out from the rest of the market.

The opening scene is essential. It gives the editor their first impression of the author’s writing and only the strongest scene will make an editor read the manuscript beyond it.

There are a huge amount of talented authors writing today – be strong and be prepared to face some rejection because the old adage is true. If you are turned down by one editor, then perhaps you just haven’t found the right one for you yet. "



It's worth reading the whole newsletter when they post it.



Finally I will leave you with you a few fun photos of our Wadi Bashing in the UAE last Saturday.