Link and Short Stories

I'm over at the lovely Rebecca Leith's blog here.

I wrestling with another short story at the moment...the word count on this one isn't so restrictive - 1500-5000 but it's still a challenge. I envy those who can work this form with ease...but I am sure that it's a good exercise.

Which do you prefer to write or read - novels or short stories?

Revision Central

My role as Attila-the -mum is working. I feel awful when the boys tell me they want to go to the gym to escape. My body is in revolt...five days in a row at the gym...However it has to be done - both the gym and the revision.

But for me this is a weird time....I know my revisions are coming but I don't know what they are. I have been on a huge high and now find myself in limbo. I don't want to touch A CORNISH HOUSE. I haven't read the script since I completed the changes that my agent wanted. This I think is good because as always before I go in for revisions...distance is good-any distance.

So while the boys are sweating blood around the dinning table I have been looking at story structure. Here's a brilliant link Screenplay Mastery by Michael Hauge. PENDEROWN has balance issues because I am working with two heroines and AUGUST  ROCK is reasonably okay but I need to heighten one of the key turning points. What I need to do is just focus on one of them or begin something entirely new....as suggested on Twitter...It was a dark and stormy night when...

Links

I haven't done a links post in a while and this week have been full of some excellent ones...

First up is Joseph O'Connor sharing his writing tips here. Point number 4 especially spoke to me.

Picked this one off of Twitter this morning from Bob Mayer - Seven Keys To Unforgettable Characters here

There's a great article from the Gulf News here. In it David Hewson says, "Books come out of something that you invent; and writing about what you don't know makes you work to invent it more effectively." It's an interesting and thought provoking article.

That's all for now...

Clean Up

I finished the big rewrite of A CORNISH HOUSE and at the moment I'm still pretty happy with it - this of course will morph into it is total rubbish soon, but I will enjoy the 'it's okay' sensation while it lasts. When doing the sort of rewrite I have just completed, the focus was totally into the emotion and motivation and the plot ...so I didn't look at the small stuff, the niggly stuff which leaves me with a whole lot of cleaning to do....especially as I added nearly 15,000 words to the story.

So I have been cleaning and I thought I'd share with you what that has meant thus far. When I did the last rewrite I did an index card for each scene. On it I list the basics:

chapter
scene number (this is continuous through the book 1-115 in ACH's case)
page numbers
POV
Location or locations
Who is in the scene
Basic point of the scene

These cards have been handy for referring back to - for example I wanted to know when I introduced a character or another thread of the story.

Now in my cleaning up process (aside from crossing the Ts and dotting the Is) I am adding two more things to the cards:

First line of scene
Last line of scene

This is so I make sure that they all don't open with my heroine sitting drinking coffee or something etc (thank you Anita Burgh for this suggestion)

I am looking very closely at dialogue and dialogue tags...thank you to Nicola Morgan for her timely post on the subject here.

Also, now that the story is truly in place I reread a post by Cath Bore reporting on a workshop she attended with Joe Finder entitled A Sense of Suspense which is helping me makes sure that I keep the mystery going....

I am keeping a time line to make sure that it is chronological (as it is important to the story) and as I have chopped and changed things along the way I have found some real humdingers on the time front...

Finally I'm looking hard at each scene again and asking if it really needs to be there...now that the story is totally in place I feel I can be even harder on those scenes I quite liked but....

The last stage will be listening to the story again...my ears are better at spotting awkward phrases and missing words than my eyes will ever be...What do you do when you 'clean up' a manuscript?

The Write Lines and The Heroine Addicts

This week's episode of THE WRITE LINES is a must listen on BBC  here. It's only available for a week so don't miss it. It features the wonderful agent Carole Blake, Nick Hawkaway, Ben Johncock, and the gorgeous Jane Smith of How Publishing Really Works hosted by the brilliant Sue Cook.

Another super post over at BubbleCow

And finally I have post over at The Heroine Addicts on the 'spark'.

Apologies in Advance and Links

I am winding down on time here in Dubai and will be shifting to Cornwall for the summer - so there may be blog silence for a week or so while I re-jig life. I promise I will return to RNA conference posts.

In the meantime I'm struggling with the feel that I can no longer judge my own work. I know this means I'm too close to it. When I reach this point I feel it's crap whether this is true or not. I have a deadline in front of me - NWS and a few personal deadlines writing wise which are making me edgy. I take this writing business very seriously and at the moment I feel I'm not getting it right which bugs the ..... out of me. So I will ask - how do you evaluate your own work? How can you tell whether its good enough?

PENDEROWN update: the first page has changed and changed again (am I getting obsessive? no, don't answer that I am). If I can get the additional blog pages to work I may post the two options on there to kill two birds with one stone - figure out how the additional pages work and two sneakily get feedback...

Finally some longer overdue links...there has been some wonderful stuff in the blog-shpere recently

As always I can't say enough go to Sarah Duncan's Blog which she now has an email feed...
Nathan Brandsford's Page Critique Mondays are superb. Here's the latest.
Encouraging words from agent Jenny bent.
Ten Writing Tips
Good post on pacing

Happy 4th of July and Like Bees To Honey

It's all a bit strange. It really is. It is strange how certain things conspire to make you dwell on things that run beneath the surface of your life- the part that no one sees or to be honest cares about -the inner workings of 'self' that define who you are. Today is the 4th of July and I'm sitting in my beloved HOME in Cornwall. This place is my home as in where my heart lives, but it is not where I am from.

Where am I from? I get asked this question as frequently as once a day. Really? Yes. It's the odd word slipped in or phrase or a slight vowel sound change and someone thinks she's not English. So they ask and my reply is usually - do you mean where do I live? Over the years this of course has meant Massachusetts, London, Englefield Green, Calgary, Gatwick, Moscow, Cornwall, Houston, Jakarta and Dubai...

This leads me to two books that I have just finished - BROOKLYN by Colm Toibin and LIKE BEES TO HONEY by Caroline Smailes (in fact as I write this I have just finished the later and there are still tears in my eyes). Both books deal with some one who has left 'home' and both spoke to me in very different ways. One made me cry and the other didn't. One left me hopeful and the other didn't. Both explored parts of me - one my past and the other my current.

BROOKLYN is a exquisite compelling read. It is a book that you don't stop but flow through and experience but don't feel - if that makes sense. All four of my grandparents left Ireland for a new life in American and although this book relates that experience for a later journey (1950s) I was given a glimpse- an insight into the life in New York and in Ireland. Because of this, I felt as if I had made some connection to my past. The most important aspect for me was in the struggle Eilis had adapting to her new world and then the going home - that peculiar feeling of neither world seeming real for moment and then dream like quality of the world you are away from. The book encapsulates that perfectly.

I don't recall that it captures the haunting dreams that continue (do they ever stop?), but that could be because the book's time frame is short. LIKE BEES TO HONEY deals with so many things...but one of them is that haunting of your past that floats around you reminding you/ taunting you of what you have chosen to leave behind. The book spoke to me of my dreams that reoccur of revisiting the past - past places - past homes that are the same yet different...

Nina's going home is to heal as is Eilis's return trip to Ireland, but Nina's trip is more poignant as her grief is still alive. Eilis's isn't truly real until she returns home. One of the worst parts of being away is when loved ones die. You are not there. You can not see (which is a huge part of my Irish/American experience of death and grief) and therefore you cannot say goodbye or let go. How can you let of something that is still there living as you left them? You haven't seen them so they live on in your thoughts unaltered. This is something that I have struggled with and continue to do so. This forms a huge part of my life - the hold of the past and the one of the present...

LIKE BEES deals with this beautifully. It touches upon guilt, unfinished business - no that word isn't right but I can not find it at the moment. LIKE BEES probes love...and how that doesn't always come out as we would like. It probes guilt - real and imagined.

You are left at times wrecked, in tears but ultimately hopeful and there in lies its gift, its beauty and its strength. Caroline's books in the past have dealt with painful subjects and the beauty of her words aided me through the pain - this time it was words giving me the hope that led me to tears.

So two books both superb in there own right - BROOKLYN is a flawlessly written book exploring the devastating experience of leaving home and having no home - that no man's land but in the end I was left emotionally untouched.

LIKE BEES TO HONEY will stay with me always. I will carry it in my heart.

On a truly personal note I also have to say that LIKE BEES deals with faith - this is a subject that is at the core of me (BROOKLYN does too but only the lip service part of it). I flinched when I began LIKE BEES as it deals not only with faith in general but with the Catholic faith. I am used to it being the punching bag for one and all... yet I felt that faith, the church, God are perfectly portrayed in LIKE BEES... imperfectly - real, as people with faith experience faith by fumblingly blindly led by love.

I mentioned at the start that today is the 4th of July. In past years I would have made sure that blueberry pancakes were on the table for breakfast - that I had dug out the stars and stripes table cloth - in short that I had done something to mark the day as special. This morning I woke to a brilliant blue sky and forgot. It wasn't until I read this from Sue Guiney. Sue, an expat/transplant like me, has captured so many of my feelings. My last proper 4th was spent on Cape Cod in 2001. My youngest was not yet two and the boys were 7 & 9 - too young to really remember the cookout and fireworks. My children recall little of their American experiences....I must try harder. Maybe I should dig out that old table cloth and find some hot dogs and tie the boys together for a three legged race....

P.S. great post on knowing your characters Help I Need a Publisher

Summer in the City and Links

This weather is just glorious - it's truly summer and to celebrate it the other night I was able to go another gathering of twitter people. This one was BookTwicNic in Regents Park. Don't ask me why but I felt like a student again picnicking on a summer's eve with the Pimms freely flowing...which of course led to great conversation and eventually having to clamber over the gate to get out of the park (maybe that's where the student feeling comes in...) Here's a few photos to give you a flavour.

Writing wise I am making progress on Penderown albeit slowly. I'm putting in more scenes at the beginning which I believe deepen the characters sooner and I finally feel I know Demi well enough to properly tell her story. Chapter One is finished and I was about to post it with the other first chapter on my website but then stopped - because of scene two's more adult nature. Have any of you had this issue when posting bits of your work on the web and if so how did you handle it?

Finally a few links....

Here's one from Jennifer Crusie The Basics of Fiction that's not for the faint hearted but good for revision

Another spot on post by Sarah Duncan

Anita Burgh tells How It Is

A good fix for saggy middles from T. Anne

How to add character to your synopsis from Julie Cohen

Lilacs and Links

Surprise, surprise...I'm still in London and I'm enjoying my little bit of garden. I was delighted beyond words to discover this lilac in bloom last weekend. Each time I step outside I am greeted with a scent that transports me to my childhood. Growing up just outside of Boston, May was the month for our small garden to be rampant with lilacs. In fact they were so profuse that once a week I would take a bunch into school for the display of flowers in front of the statue of the Blessed Mother (May being Mary's special month and in a Catholic school that's a big deal). I can't begin to describe for you how this scent fills me with hope and happiness. I am twelve and I can feel the warmth of sun on my face and the promise of the coming summer.

It never ceases to amaze me how powerful the sense of smell is. Lilly of the Valley means my Great Aunt Agnes who lived across the street. Her little garden didn't have any lilacs, but boy did she had a bumper crop of Lilly of Valley every year. What smell for you brings back your favourite memory or dare I ask your worst? Do you use this powerful tool in your writing? I do sometimes but I think not often enough.

I haven't posted any links in a while and as always there are some terribly useful ones out there. So in no particular order :-

For the Twitters among you two links - BubbleCow The Bookseller

BubbleCow comes up trumps again http://www.bubblecow.co.uk/2010/05/three-vital-steps-to-writing-a-novel/

David Hewson's sound advice on when is a book really done http://davidhewson.com/2010/04/30/when-is-a-book-really-done/

Another brilliant post by Anita Burgh on being organizing which is truly helping me at the moment http://anitaburgh.blogspot.com/2010/04/being-organised.html

That's all for now. Back to decorating (yesterday coming back from Ikea in rush hour traffic I looked like I had just savaged the nearest botanical garden - I didn't I promise) and reading Penderown....

Progress, Links and a Party

Life is beyond crazy, but I am writing and only just a little behind on NaNoWriMo. As of last night, my word count for Pilgrimage was 11,294. I am totally enjoying the experience, but just a touch worried that my voice is a bit different in this one. It's early days yet so I will not panic until I finish the first draft.

Here are some fabulous links:-

Author Sarah Duncan has begun a blog and let me tell you each post is a gem... from NaNo tips to how an editor helps a writer to make the story better http://sarahduncansblog.blogspot.com/

Rick over at The Writer and the White Cat (no he didn't borrow Snowy but has one of his own) has been doing a fantastic series on the Dragons of Creativity which has been superb. This post is a summary and please go back on read some of this brilliant insights into the writer's mind and creative process.

The last link for today came from the marvelous JJ. It was on First Acts from the Literary Labbut the whole blog is worth mining for great writing tips.

That's it for now - head back down to catch up with NaNo.

Oh, the big drinks do went really well. There were the deans from Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Barnard, Wellesley, and Bryn Mawr and alums from all the schools except Bryn Mawr. The range of ages (graduates from '58 through '08) and occupations was fabulous and it reminded me again of the joy of a liberal arts education and the freedom of an all women's one

Emotional Scenes

Barrie Summy, tween/teen author, wrote in the comments of last post that she liked the 'come in late and leave early'. I wish I could take credit for that but I can't. I don't know if I read it or heard it. Clearly I'm having a senior moment. If it comes to me I'll let you know.

Now on to the the focus of this post - Emotional Scenes. I want to look at them from two angles - as a writer and as a reader.

This week I struggled. Demi was forced into a corner that had only two options neither which of she wanted. She had to lie or in this case say nothing which when it all came out would make things much worse (and I know sometimes that this what you want as a writer) or speak the truth and suffer the consequences. Now lying for Demi is a big deal. It's never been her thing yet suddenly she finds she's having to lie for various reasons (don't want to give the plot away here). In this situation, by lying she could have what her heart wants, but she would put someone else at risk.

Now this point had to come some time in the story - it is one of those key moments. We have watched her with this issue of telling the truth or lying and I am now beginning to rope things in.....hence my uncertainly if this romantic cliff top scene was the time. I'm sure I could have found some excuse to interrupt the lovers so she didn't have to face her demons but to be truthful (see even I can tell the truth!) - a clench on top of a Cornish cliff is a pretty dramatic location and image for such a face-off. So I bit the bullet and was nasty (which isn't my nature, unfortunately - I think I would be a far stronger writer if I was but I'm learning!)

Because I was uncomfortable with what I was doing I cut pretty quickly to the chase so to speak and I pulled out of there as fast as I bl**dy well could. In fact the words were hardly out of her mouth before I opened the next scene the morning after with a full cast of characters, but not her lover. Time and a rewrite will tell if this was the best way to handle this moment (but at least is is written).

So as a writer do you struggle with such points? Do to keep these moments of high emotional pain short for your characters or do you let them twist in agony (image of Bugs Bunny here saying AGONY) as long as possible?

Now to the second part - as a reader...what do you prefer? (I'm not sure- so over the weekend I will have a think as I have long couple of drives in front of me and I'll let you know.)

Now onto a few links (Twitter is proving to be a brilliant source of info for me - is it for you?):

Tips for Title from The Paperback Writer (the blog in general is worth a visit as there were some other great posts) This clink came via @thecreativepenn

The other link is Answers to the Top 10 Reasons Not to Twitter here and came via @BubbleCow

Where I Work and Links

Two great links today. One for sheer enjoyment - Ben Johncock's blog for The Bookseller had me laughing into my coffee this morning. I had never thought about the comparison of a writer's 'study' to 'the bedroom of our youth' but it's so true.........books, pictures of things that inspire (gorgeous men - for research and inspiration only I hasten to add, exotic locations, words of wisdom..... ). Of course I have a dream study in mind, but generally work on the dinning room table where everything gets swept into a drawer at the end of the day and here in Cornwall I sit in a large red arm chair with my back to the window overlooking the garden as I would never write a single word!

The other link is from agent Jenny Bent on her blog. It's a timely piece (pun intended-see blog) on making your luck by keeping aware of the market, but still writing the book of your heart. Now off to check out if August Rock might not fit the bill that she was talking about with a little tweaking!

Pleased to report that I am writing. It may well be crap but at least the word count is climbing and the plot seems to be moving forward. I haven't yet figured out to tie it all up into the ending I want yet but somehow I'll get there (or at least I have in the last too books!).

Links

The fabulous Cally has posted a full page of wonderful writing links here. I am going to put a permanent link on my side bar so I can tap into it when I need it. She divides them by category - plot, structure and so on. Absolutely brilliant.

On the writing front - well I began reworking August Rock and moved through the first four chapters and thus far it all hangs together. However I also looked at the calendar! I am 30,ooo words into the new book. I have to submit to the RNA's New Writers' Scheme by the end of August. So with summer holidays just around the corner I had better resume writing. My goal is too have the rough draft finished by the time I head to Cornwall for the summer - that translates to the end of June. I feel reasonably confident about achieving this because even though I haven't been working on it, I know my brain has. I also accept that it will be a dirty first draft so there is no pressure to make it perfect. So beginning today even though the house/villa if full of teenage boys I will begin again (have pity on poor dd who never gets a look in with the ps3 now).

Now the other problem I have is the title. With the other two books I have begun with a title already. For this one I know what I want but it doesn't work because it geographically is in the wrong place. You see I have always loved the the name of the village - Come-to-Good. However the book is set on the north shore of the Helford River. I may end up calling after the house which as in the other two books is central to the story but I need to finalize the name. I spent hours with mil's old book on the workings of Cornish names to get the right prefix with the correct suffix to capture the essence of the location of the house. However as with all these things it is open to interpretation....

Do you need a title to write? Do you start with a title? Create one as you go? Do you care? Do you leave it to your publisher?

Links

Yesterday I woke to a world surrounded in mist - again not what you expect here in Dubai but I do love a misty/foggy morning. Brings out the romantic soul in me. It's not something that Dubai normally offers for the romantic heart however it does offer wonderful sunsets and blissful sea breezes. One can't have everything.

This leads to one of the links. I have now been an expat for 20 years. I have embraced it with open arms which considering my background may seem strange. However in my travels I have watched people struggle to cope with their new environment especially those who haven't really choosen to take the plunge. The Weekend FT has a great article on the subject today here as many with the current market situation are being given no choice but to relocate for the sake of a job.

Now onto writing stuff. A new agent blog has appeared to shares some useful tips and links... here. In one of her posts Kate directs us to this link which reminds me not to expect too much as far as earning anything from my writing! Finally here's a great all round site with sooo much I can't begin to list (thanks to Zinnia for pointing me in this direction!)

Links and Disclosure

The mystery is gone - the Stig is outed and I for one am sad. The article is here. My Top Gear experience will never be the same now that I know the face behind the helmet that listens to romance novels. Quite frankly my heart is broken.

Another link which I won't comment on but could prove that Mills and Boon have had it right all along with their high earning Alpha Males is here.

Now for the writing stuff:
Invaluable Tips for Would-Be Authors
Q & A How Not to Write A Novel

Great Opportunity for a Free Book Edit

This a fantastic opportunity for a chance at a for a free book edit from BubbleCow.

Here's the details:

On December 01 2008, one entry will be selected and a full edit of a manuscript (up to 100,000 words) (worth £500) will be completed before Christmas.
If any of you would like to enter the draw for a free edit:

1. Simply email IloveChristmas@bubblecow.co.uk by midnight GMT November 30 2008.
2. To avoid being spam, the subject line of your email should read ‘I love Christmas'.
3. Within the email, confirm your name, your manuscript’s final word count and title.
4. The winner will be announced on December 01 2008 and informed by email.
5. The winner then has five days to email the manuscript.
6. The in-depth edit and report will be completed before Christmas.
7. The rules and details can be found HERE

This is already appealing to a number of writers who are currently tackling NaNoWriMo, so please do spread the word amongst your writer friends.

Now to a few links - over on The Writer and The White Cat (yes, I know it looks like Snowy is leading a double life), Rick makes some excellent points about creativity and how its needs to push a few limits. Billy popped by my blog the other day on the prologue issue. His blog is a wealth of information. Too much to link to one item as I am still exploring. It's well worth a browse.

Links and Other Things

I have been lazy. No, not on the writing front. I have to say that is flowing nicely and the word meter is happily being fed most days. I have been lazy about posting some fabulous links......where to start - with the funny, with the writerly, with the warning?

I will start with the writerly just in case you don't have to make it to the end!

Over on Graeme K Talboy's blog he has posted the best and most evocative description of the rewrite/edit process. Here's a teaser but you MUST read the whole post - it's not long but packed.

"Tearing words out of my head that accurately represent the pictures in there is especially difficult, but gratifying. It’s like putting down a heavy suitcase, knowing you don’t have to pick it up anymore. "

The onto to Kate Harrision's posts on commercial fiction here. Sorry I can't seem to link to the individual post but they are not far down - just past the one on the agony of waiting!

Over on Nathan Bransford Blog he's talking about opening a book with dialogue - thinking about it the read it here.

I'm sure there is more but I have forgotten. Now many of you may have seen the YouWriteOn offer. Well before you proceed further visit How Publishing Really Works.

Finally for the laugh drop by Ray-Anne's blog for a writer's view of heaven and hell here.

Finally my own little tale of woe. I have been waiting to hear back on my RNA NWS submission. I didn't want to push as I am happy writing the new thing but I thought I should check. Well, it was posted back on 12 September. So now my script and report are lost somewhere in the post........I am hoping to receive my report at least by email and I am trying not to be cross but somehow it isn't working too well!