Florida, Emirates Airlines Literary Festival and Facebook

The festival was fabulous but in a very different way for me this year. I didn't have moment to call my own and only had the opportunity to sit in on three sessions...But I hosted those three, took the wonderful Michael Palin and other to the top of the Burj Khalifa, cruised the Creek and sorted problems in the green room.

I have experimented and posted all my pictures from the festival on my ....author page...on Facebook. I have mixed feelings about having an author page but I followed Nathan Bransford's advice. So my author page is here. Since I have this now I thought it would make sense to post my 'work' photos there...an experiment if you will... The link for the photos is here here and here.

Almost as soon as the festival was over i was on a plane to Florida to see my parents and this is where I am at the moment. They are well and it has been bliss to have the time to just be me and them...and of course I've managed to squeeze in a bit of shopping.

A Link

Agent Nathan Bransford is doing wonderful things on Mondays...a one page critique. Here's this week's . Last week's was just as good.

I don' t know about you but this type of criticism is so useful because it helps me to train my eye and to see where my instincts match his or violently disagree (this hasn't happened yet). I am planning to take a page a day of my own work and do the same type of crit while I am in research mode. If I'm brave I may show you the results of one of my efforts.

Do you think this type of work is good or would it work against you? I know I certainly couldn't and wouldn't do it during a first draft but as an exercise I think it might improve my writing - time will tell.

Right now back to my women gardeners....oh and I will blog on Thursday about my trip to Slightly Foxed and a surprise.

Links, Editing and Temptation

My editing is progressing slowly, which might not be a bad thing. However I think this is due to the fact that I loathe hard work. I am trying to look at my work objectively and logically (not a strong point of mine). I am making index cards for each scene stating what it achieves - who is in it and so on. This for me is not the fun part of writing and I wonder if I will ever do this for another book. In some ways I hope not. I want to learn these lessons on this one so that I can continue to keep the magic and the fun in the writing but I know I may not be that lucky.

I have stumbled on to some very good links this week. One came from Michelle Styles. She has provided me with many a light bulb in this writing journey of mine. She links to this article by Alexander Chee. I have printed it off and used a highlighter to bring the multiple valuable points out. The one that resonated the most for me was this:

"Very quickly, she identified what she called ‘bizarre grammatical structures’ inside my writing. From the things Annie circled in my drafts, it was clear one answer to my problem really was, in a sense, Maine. From my mom’s family, I’d gotten the gift for the telling detail—Your Uncle Charles is so cheap he wouldn’t buy himself two hamburgers if he was hungry—but also a voice cluttered by the passive voice in common use in that of that part of the world—I was writing to ask if you were interested—a way of speaking that blunted all aggression, all direct inquiry, and certainly, all description. The degraded syntax of the Scottish settlers forced to Maine by their British lords, using indirect speech as they went and then after they stayed. And then there was the museum of clichés in my unconscious.

I felt like a child from a lost colony of Scotland who’d taught himself English by watching Gene Kelly films.
The passive voice in particular was a crisis. “Was” only told you that something existed—this was not enough. "

Now take the Maine out and put Massachusetts in and the same with Scottish and Irish.....I have tripped up all my writing life with a natural syntax that leans heavily on the passive and until I read this article never knew, other than that the Irish use it, why.

Nathan Bransford held a competition recently on opening paragraphs which was amazing. In this post he sums up why he chose the finalists. His insight with the examples on why excellent openers didn't make it to the top ten is brilliant for 'seeing' things that as writers we often hear in criticism. Here is a snippet of the post and do read it and the paragraphs as it is eye opening:

"I don't have any set preferences when it comes to structure and approach. frohock left a great comment that sums up my feeling about first paragraphs almost entirely. Essentially, I think the first paragraph has three important functions: it establishes the tone/voice, it gets the reader into the flow of the book, and it establishes trust between the author and reader.

The concept of flow and rhythm is especially important. It's hard to begin reading a book. The reader is starting with a blank slate and doesn't have much context for understanding what is happening. It takes a lot of brain power to read the opening and begin to feel comfortable in the world of that book. So even if the novel starts with action, or especially if it begins with action, it's very important to draw in the reader methodically, with one thought leading to the next. The flow of the words and a steady building goes a long way toward hooking the reader. Quite a few paragraphs jumped around or felt scattered, and it made it difficult to stay engaged.And on the trust issue: I shy away from anything that feels like a gimmick. A novel is simply too long for gimmicks. Not only do they get exhausting, anything that is clever merely for the sake of being clever comes at the expense of trust between author and reader. To put it another way: if a first paragraph is how an author makes their first impression, using a gimmick in the opener is kind of like going to shake the reader's hand while wearing a hand buzzer. There might be a quick thrill, but they're probably not going to trust you after that. There was a feeling of forced cleverness in many of the entries where I wasn't able to lose myself in the paragraph and forget the hand of the author who was writing it. "

This one from Jane Friedman at Writers Digest is self explanatory.

And the last for today is from Michael Hyatt's blog on 'What It Takes To Become a Master Writer' by guest blogger Mary DeMuth. Hard to read but I think true for most of us.

And finally that brings me to the temptation...as I mentioned above I am struggling with the editing (which to me means I need to knuckle down and just get on with it) so I am sorely tempted by NaNoMo. I have Pilgrimage lurking in my head. I want to do the research and I would love to knock out something that in truth would be nothing more that 50,000 word outline. Oh, the call of the fresh and new....

Is anyone doing NaNoMo this year? For me it would be a bit impractical as I will be doing a bit of travel again....................

Links

Sorry for the silence but between travel, a guest and getting ready for travel I don't know where time goes. Tomorrow I am off to Japan - Kyoto to be precise for DH's best friend's wedding. Mark was our best man and I am really looking forward to being there when he ties the knot in a temple in Uji on Saturday. The only thing I am not looking forward to is the weather. The forecast is terrible. Everyone please keep your fingers crossed that the heavy rain forecast is wrong.

I am behind in everything at the moment but there are two great things I must share the links on. How Do You Know When To Quit? It uses the example of Susan Boyle as part of the discussion and really hit home with me at the moment. Key thought for me from that:

"...but talent, alone, won’t always win out. Timing, opportunity, are the other key ingredients. And you don’t get opportunities if you don’t keep trying. "

And Nathan Bransford has done it again with a great post on concepts here. The key to this is:

"The originality is all about how it's done, not what it's about."

I hope I shall be able to post from Japan but I don't know. If not be prepared for a photo laden post on Monday that hopefully isn't filled with rain drops!

Conflict Two

Sorry for the gap in posting - Conflict. Ds1 and Ds2 are here which means that my time with the 'puter is slashed to the minimum and I'm not complaining but my writing time is in conflict with their time (no guess who wins). I have to confess I not only have a mother's love for them but I seriously enjoy the company of teens. I love the way they look at life and the fantastic discussions you can have with them (when they are awake and not in the state of walking sleep). The only downside is that with my two in tow I look like I have two looming bodyguards with me at all times. In truth I may need them as I left them behind for the gala dinner following another day volunteering on the water and found myself with Dh dancing until 3am. Had they been there they would have told me in no uncertain terms that elderly mothers do not do that sort of thing - it's too embarrassing!

Nathan Bransford continued his discussion of Conflict here. As always there is a huge amount to take away but this sums it up for me :

"Too often though, writers focus on connecting the dots in a way that gives the reader the information they need to know without trying to tie the threads in a fully-realized scene that's interesting and engaging. Almost always it's best to try and introduce conflict to a scene in order to make it interesting and advance other aspects of the plot.

Ultimately, conflict is the reason we read novels. It forces characters to make decisions, it tests their strengths and weaknesses, it reveals what makes people tick. Conflict, ultimately is revealing."

So as I continue to work my way through this rewrite I need to keep that in mind although at this stage I made just push through the finish and rework each scene more closely when I know exactly where the whole is going.

Links Again

If you don't read Nathan Bransford on a regular basis then you must drop by and read this post on character motivation. Today it was one of those hit on the head type of things. I am well back into the rewrite of August Rock and thus far pleased with the new shape and feel. By removing Tristan's point of view - he had become more interesting by being less transparent and much easier to see why Judith struggles with him and his motivations. However so far this has led to a major loss of words, but I feel confident went I tackle the editing I will make them up with filling out the new dimensions of Judith's story.

I am also at that point when I wonder if I am totally deluded and I have wandered off into the far land of writing meaningless tripe. I have taken a fairly straight forward romantic story and twisted it. Nothing is quite clear in it any more. I don't know who if any one Judith will choose - this maybe a good thing - maybe the reader won't either. Toby, my ghost, has remained a constant - what he wants is clear, but in the next edit I may have to shake up his 'current' day activities a bit but not yet. Judith has to reach her goals and I have hit the last third of the story - nail biting time. I wonder if what I had for breakfast will effect which path she takes today or will the film I saw last night (Watchman - which I loved but I have to confess seeing it here in Dubai probably left me with a limited view as I understand the 'full' version is 162 minutes and we were in the cinema a whole lot less than that - more like 120/130!) will reflect in today's production?

The Dubai Literary Festival authors that I listened to gave me much food for thought - especially about my writing.
-Kate Mosse's comment about not having to be the same writer as you are a reader really hit home.
-Rachel Billington's comment about the tension your own values bring to your writing and your characters.
- The vastly different takes on how to work with research.

All of this has bashed around in my skull and I know know what I want to write about and A Cornish House is in the right spot so August Rock is now on the road to becoming more me and I am very clear where the WIP is going once I can put my hand back onto it. I can't tell you the sense of relief to finally know what kind of writer I am. Now my problem is to find a writer in a similar vein - and here lies the problem - I am not the same as a reader and a writer. I know I haven't read him or her yet! So I can't say to agent or editor in the style of .....

Do you know what type of writer you are? Is it the same as your reading voice?

PS- just found this-

You Should Be a Film Writer

You don't just create compelling stories, you see them as clearly as a movie in your mind. You have a knack for details and dialogue. You can really make a character come to life. Chances are, you enjoy creating all types of stories. The joy is in the storytelling. And nothing would please you more than millions of people seeing your story on the big screen!

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

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!

Well, we did have summer ever so briefly over the weekend but it have left us again. I took some wonderful photos of our days on the Helford with water so clear (and cold) and the sky blue but my camera it appears is on strike. It won't focus properly any more. In these days of digital cameras can they be fixed and is it worth I wonder?

I am trying to achieve some routine which is working. I have managed to keep the early rising thing going which means I have a peaceful two hours before any child appears. I should be cleaning the house but I have been getting back into A Cornish House. This has meant beginning again so to speak. So Instead of being on page 285 of the structural rewrite I am on page 160. Having said that this time through I am catching only small things and I am pleased that new additions seem to fit in seamlessly. Now to push on to where the BIG stuff needs to added.

So with my routine back in place I have been trying to catch up on all the blogs I have missed. I am still not commenting much but I am reading them again but before I venture on to what today's blog is about there have been some new additions to RNA conference reports:

Kate Johnson has a great write up of two of the Saturday morning sessions up.
Anna Lucia

Now while catching up on blogs Iwas reading Nathan Blansford's blogblog I clicked through to Rebecca Ramsey who had a great post about encounters with famous people. This had me thinking about my more recent ones. In Rome we were in the same restaurant as Julia Roberts much to the Dh's delight. The sort of sad thing was that we thought it was just a woman who looked like her........(papers confirmed the following day it was her). I have contact encounters (walked into them) with two very tall men - first was Stephen Fry back when the DH and I were first married and lived near Windsor. Fry was so tall I didn't see his face after I walked smack into him and I was clearly so short he didn't see me! The second was at the Jumeriah Beach Club (in our first stint in Dubai when JBC still existed) was Jeremy Clarkson. I had turned to shout at the trailing kids and continued to walk which was straight into him. I realized who it was as I appologized. Probably my most famous encounter after sitting next to Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall in Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons was actually talking to Bob Hope on the golf course. I was about eighteen at the time. Somewhere I still have my golf card that he signed.

So fess up - who and how have you encountered famous types?

Links

I regularly read Nathan Bransford's blog - particularly his Friday wrap up. Today doing my catch up read through his offerings this week and I hit gold here. He ends up the post with this nugget:

"But most importantly, your command of words is what you're banking on. It's like musical ability to a musician, athletic ability to an athlete, swinging on trees to a monkey. If you got it you got it. "

However I gained so much from his link in the post to Lee Lofland's interview with Benjamin Leroy, founder of Bleak House Books. There is sooooooooooooooooo much to take away from this interview so please read it all. Here the points that hit me over the head:

"An author’s job is to write something undeniably great from Word One. There are no excuses. There is no wait-and-see policy for things that cross my desk. Either the book has it from the opening Once Upon a Time or it doesn’t. And in seven years of reading submissions I’ve learned that if I don’t get moved on page one, I’m not going to get moved on page one hundred."

"As soon as I see awkward prose on page one, I reject a book. You wouldn’t trust a clumsy surgeon with a scalpel. I don’t trust authors who aren’t in complete control of their environment. Sloppy work is sloppy work. Doesn’t matter the profession, I don’t want it."

"An editor is like a Building Inspector. An author is like a general contractor. The author’s job is to make the best possible use out of the tools accumulated and experience gained to build a sturdy, up to code building. When the author is done with the construction and the clean up, the inspector is brought in to check the big things-is the foundation level? Does the plumbing work the way it’s supposed to? The electricity? After the inspection is over the author receives a checklist of things that need to be fixed before the structure is ready for occupancy. The building inspector doesn’t pound nails or rework the wiring, that’s the contractor’s job."

There's some food for thought! Back to revisions.

Dublin and Posted

Well the submissions went into the post an hour ago......I wouldn't have done both together except that I'm here and its easier. So fingers crossed.

Now to my fabulous weekend in Dublin with my middle son. It was a present for the both of us - time together without the other two interfering. We stayed at the hotel of my cousins which put us in the center of the city. It was easy to explore. The first place ds2 wanted to go was the Guinness Storehouse. DS2 has gift of scent - dh think he should become a sommelier as ds2 can detect the various aromas in wine with a sniff. Well, he loved the tour through the store house with the barely and the hops. He enjoyed the taste of the roasted barely and wondered if they would let him taste the finished product. I thought to myself - this is Dublin, no one will object. So when we reached the tasting room and I grabbed a glass - ds2 stuck his nose in and took a deep breath. He could smell it all. I told him to have a wee sip as no one was looking. He grinned from ear to ear.

After the storehouse we caught up with the wonderful Irish writer Abby Green ( check our her web site - the news section -for a great contest!) and she guided us through the day to finally land at a pub early evening listening to Traditional Music. DS2 felt this was the highlight of the trip (aside from being alone with his mother of course) - in the pub with a shandy and Abby and me. He quickly picked on the Irish ways of flattery - but it is in the blood of course.

Before the weekend was over we managed to squeeze in the Book of Kells at Trinty and a trip to Bewley's - so all in all DS2 had a great birthday.

Now i have been tagged by Leigh which I am looking forward to doing but not today. I need to clean the house!!!!

Here's a great link that set the light bulbs going for me http://nathanbransford.blogspot.com/2007/11/thanksgiving-leftovers-writing-advice.html