@alanr
Active 6 years, 4 months agoForum Replies Created
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@bellam Happy new year to you, too.
Those rifts are very deep and go way beyond mere viewpoints. Because of various issues that I won’t mention here, I don’t expect to see any healing in our society for the foreseeable future.
I wish I could share your optimism, but I can’t.
Good luck with your writing.
@Richardb Regarding politics, I did the same. I joined a party and actively worked for them. Yes, the end result was disappointing, but for reasons that leave the sourest of aftertastes.
Sorry to hear of your disillusionment with the submission process. My own experiences are not exactly inspiring.
I have always written for enjoyment, probably to the detriment of being commercial. I feel now I must get that enjoyment back, because writing in a half-hearted frame of mind simply doesn’t work.As @Libby says, there are other societal issues to fight for.
Quite right.@Bellam, Have you thought of Molly’s slippers?
@Daedalus Many thanks for these posts. It really is a serious warning, and an antidote to starry eyes.
@Philippaeast This is brilliant. I’ve only just caught up with the news. I’ve really been in a self-imposed bubble for the last 3 months.
I’ve read the last few paras of you blog, and can now understand what a strain you’ve been through. But you’ve come through it with honours. So interested to keep following your journey.
Again, congrats and enjoy the moment.Wiki: Procrastination is defined as the avoidance of doing a task that needs to be accomplished.
It’s not the same as lack of preparedness, or planning, or simply taking time out to think, or refresh – it’s creative avoidance. It’s deciding other tasks are more important than the thing you claim to enjoy. And if you do that, you are uncommitted.
Yes, but struggle and procrastination aren’t the same, are they? All committed writers struggle, but (the way I see it) only the uncommitted procrastinate.
@janeshuff I don’t feel guilt at all. Maybe I’m the odd one out?
What does baffle me are writers who admit to not enjoying the actual writing, and that includes all aspects of it, particularly editing. They procrastinate and actually seem proud of it. Or is it all a bluff? If not, Wtf?Yes, @richardb, valid point.
Yes, real life. Obvious. <eye-roll at myself>
So, anything not connected with writing, or that stops you doing it, is ‘real’. Hmmm.
Passed 26k now. Feels really real to me.
This whole novel is based on a falsehood, and I’m having fun seeing how long I can keep it up.What’s RL @Raine? Relaxation? (Genuine question)
My first – Ang Gal – took 8 years, including false starts, numerous rewrites, and a mid-boggling number of edits. I want this new novel to take no more than 8 months. half that, if I can get a good run at it.
My novella-for-novel crisis is sorted now. I was putting a scene that’s integral to the resolution far too early. There needs to be several tension-building stages that lead up to that scene.
It’s a result of being over-hasty. And it’s a result of not being a ‘planner’.
Trust in your characters to show the way …
Now over 21k and possibilities have opened up in the plot.I do have an outline, but it isn’t detailed, and maybe I should have developed it more before starting. I’ll have to stop now, anyway, and fix a couple of plot holes. If I was a true Nano’er, I suppose I would plough on regardless and fix the mess at the end of the month. But I can’t work like that. I see no point in writing that I know will be redundant. I realise for others it’s all about establishing a flow.
I read Susan Hill’s ‘Printer’s Devil Court’ recently. The book has only 95 pages with actual text. The other 20 are start-of-chapter blanks and illustrations. The typesetting is spacious, so the average page contains only 175 words. The total length of the book is therefore about 16.5k words. The price of the book: £9.99
Could any debut writer get away with this?
It’s actually a good story, and doesn’t feel overly short. It’s typical Susan Hill: concise, spare prose and limited description.Thanks for the positive feedback on the title. Still motoring: Just passed 16k. The problem: I’m too far into the plot. Maybe it’s too simple? In danger of being a novella.
@raine that’s even better – assuming 50k is your target. You’re on track.
Like some others, I can’t write and leave mistakes in. It slows me down, but I’m not concerned. I prefer 25k good words rather than 50k error-riddled ones.And now I have a title for this supernatural story: The Never Never Item
Not actually doing this Nano thing in a formal sense, but by a remarkable coincidence, I morphed into creative/productive mode early in November. After a slowish start it’s coming together nicely and I have nearly 12k words down. Done 3k today alone.
Will it last?Good on you, @elle.
Thanks @elle and @philippaeast
I sent it off within two hours. I just had to tailor the letter a little. Interestingly, I’d already sent it to CB, but that didn’t seem to make any difference (I did ask).
I think this has sparked me into starting my 2nd novel. This one will be easy to categorise. I’m going for supernatural horror, with a rather unusual pair of protagonists. Well, it wouldn’t be me to do things by the book. First draft going okay – just passed 3k words, and with a plan.Fairly sure I’m going to ask for the ‘write to the end’ course.
Thanks @raine @janeshuff and @elle.
Good to hear, Elle, that you got something positive from that particular course. I’ve never done a writing course of any description, so I’m keeping an open mind.
Had an out-of-the-blue message from one of CB’s agents today asking for my novel. Now, that is welcome, although it would be truly remarkable if a 280-character tweet … well, let’s not get too far ahead – a tweet and a novel are not quite the same thing.
Thanks @philippaeast @Daedalus @kazg @anna @hilary
I’m inclined to go for the finish and edit as by the time the course starts in January, I (should?) have made a start on another novel. I think not the pitching course, as I feel atm I’ve had my fill of cover letters and synopses.
Has anyone done these courses?Thanks for the link.
The advice that really counts is to ensure you remove all typos, formatting errors etc. as it shows you are concerned with detail.I’m not sure about ‘clean prose’, as everyone will have their own opinion about this, including agents. But if you interpret it as ‘no unnecessary words regardless of sentence length’, then fair enough.
Thanks for this @raine and @philippaeast.
I think there needs to be distinction in the character’s behaviours and internalisations during these phases.I like the word ’tilt’. I use it in my cover letter.
Should a title be specific, or suggestive, or opaque? I think I tend to prefer non-specific.
Some more ideas:The Tilting Girl
T.I.L.T (graphic artists could play around with this)
Time Tilt
Exile’s Tilt
Exile’s Shadowor mirror?
Exile’s Mirror
Tilted MirrorDitto @Richardb
Niggles like an itch in a sensitive spot. Impossible to leave.Thanks for your input @athelstone @seagreen @Janeshuff @kazg @Squidge @elle @Bellam
That 5 of you go towards YA / Children’s and the other 2 suggest SF / Fantasy tells me that the original name is still the one to use, although I will still make a minor tweak to it.
So, yes, it’s a literary-leaning novel about possession, with the MFC split.
To make an adult novel YA? Add -ina.Philippa,
“when desire burns too hot, it destroys” is pretty close to the mark for Angal.
“When obsession takes root, it destroys.” Hmm. Hmmmm.Stories: Also to control … as with one generation instilling fears into the next with stories of the dark and its unseen creatures.
I’ve often wondered what I would say if I was asked about my theme, or controlling idea. I can think of several words, but not a single sentence that I could trot out, and that’s not good enough.
I think it’s easier if you’re writing a specific genre. With genre-bending it becomes more difficult.
Must give this some serious thought.