@theweyman
Active 7 years, 8 months ago-
Philippa East posted an update in the group
December SloMo 7 years, 6 months agoUg. Today I feel like I’ve gone backwards in my editing process. I’ve put in my three hours, but most of that was spent unearthing problems in my “back-plot” (or lack thereof) that have now thrown the other plot threads out of whack.
I feel like I’ve discovered dry rot and woodworm in a house I’m trying to redecorate.
How much backstory…[Read more] -
Philippa East replied to the topic Short Story Publication/Competition in the forum Podium 7 years, 6 months ago
Den get together would be fab. I am in Lincolnshire, but I can travel to London easily
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Philippa East posted an update in the group
December SloMo 7 years, 6 months agoWell, I’m sure glad for this SloMo month… until the start of this week, I had too many distractions to focus on writing and the lack of progress was just making me increasingly panicked. But for the last three days, I’ve managed my plan of a few hours a day. I feel less panicked now, because I feel sort of ‘back in the familiar groove’ and I can…[Read more]
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Sounds good, Philippa. And I think you are right to acknowledge that some days are just not meant to be writing days. I can never write when we are away, even if I have the time. It used to annoy me but now I accept it.
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Yes… I’ve found if I try to write in the evenings (i.e. after work), my brain gets too wired and I can’t switch off to sleep. Also, because I’m like a dog with a bone with stuff, and enforced break from writing is probably good for me, to prevent me getting obsessed and overwhelmed. It also means I make better use of the other days, knowing I…[Read more]
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Not surprised you can’t focus after work! But well done for moving through the panic and getting into things again. Hope the weekend lets you keep the momentum up…
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Philippa East replied to the topic Short Story Publication/Competition in the forum Podium 7 years, 6 months ago
Oh wow @hilary, what an honour!! Congratulations again on your placing. I hope you had a wonderful time at the launch x
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Squidge posted an update in the group
December SloMo 7 years, 6 months agoMy slomo so far has been to draft a Christmas newsletter (rather a Marmite thing, I’ve found, for the recipients), planned a few writing exercises for a group I’m talking to tonight (which I will also be using for NIBS next week), and about 150 words of something I like for Room with a View (although I have no idea where it’s heading or why I’ve…[Read more]
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Well, that’s progress then! Nice work on the Room With a. It’s story. Hope it collaguates soon.
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*Room With A View
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I love it when something insists on being written even if you don’t have a clue where it’s going.
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How did the writing group go @squidge?
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Sorry – been out of sight for a few days. Writing went well – the group of mainly older ladies (70+yrs) seemed to enjoy the exercises I set, and convinced quite a few that they could write after all. Yet to try it on the NIBsers…
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John S Alty posted an update 7 years, 6 months ago
I see we have four new members who could use a vowel or two in their name. What’s that all about?
Anyway, Wlcme!-
Suspected bot. Jules has squished them
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Squidge posted an update in the group
December SloMo 7 years, 6 months agoVery late to this – two days gone already! – but I blame it on an overnight visit to Germany to see friends and celebrate Advent.
SloMo… I jotted a few ideas down for Room with a View, then decided I didn’t like them and another idea popped into my head this morning. Not sure it’ll work, but might play around with it this afternoon. I shan’t…[Read more]
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Good work on the popping. Good luck for the playing too 🙂
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Philippa East posted an update in the group
December SloMo 7 years, 6 months agoOkay, well today has gone well, I think. I managed about two hours, working on balancing the various twists, climaxes and (false) resolutions in the book. I think I’ve managed to pin down the problem more clearly and sketch out a general solution.
I still have to work out the specific details I’ll need to add into the story MS itself to pull…[Read more]-
The turning up at the desk strategy works for me, Philippa.
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Sounds like excellent progress, good work
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Philippa East posted an update in the group
December SloMo 7 years, 6 months agoI’ve been inspired by the goals your guys are setting yourselves. I think I’m going to set myself the SloMo goal of doing (up to) three hours’ editorial work a day (on the days I’m not at work). That, for me, is enough time to get some solid work done, but hopefully not so long that I panic myself with how much I should be achieving. And I plan to…[Read more]
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I think I often try to do too much of that really close editing in a sitting, so start out being really thoughtful and ending up just drifting. So yes, time limits are probably something I need to be better at. Feels funny to limit your own writing time, rather than RL limiting it for you!!
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Yes, good point! But I agree, I think there’s a danger that we over-tax the creative subconscious by hammering away at idea-generation for too long.
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John S Alty replied to the topic Monthly competition – Nov 2018 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 6 months ago
Well done, Raine.
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Philippa East posted an update in the group
December SloMo 7 years, 6 months agoHello Everyone, and thanks so much @raine for setting this group up.
Like Seagreen, I have editing work to do over the next month or so, so I am hoping I can make slow and gentle progress on that. I’m currently grappling The Fear / Resistance, so joining you all in this supportive place will be helpful, I hope.
My main panic is that these…[Read more]
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I know exactly what you mean about The Fear, both in general and in the specific form you mention. Encouragement: a few days ago I fixed a problem in my old revived MS that I’d been shrinking from for, literally, years, si if I can do it you certainly can.
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Thanks @richardB. “Shrinking from” – that’s exactly it!! I know I just need to take a deep breath, and step in. Quit worrying about the outcome and just engage with the process.
I have four clear hours tomorrow morning to work, so hopefully I will make some progress. Out of interest, Richard, what was the problem and what was your fix? (if you…[Read more]-
The problem was the one I mentioned a couple of days ago: the bloated chapter full of stuff the reader already knew. I was shrinking from it because there were several threads/issues involved and it was going to be hard work keeping track of them and figuring out what I could get away with losing. I solved it by being bloody ruthless – something…[Read more]
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Oh well done on the ruthlessness! And that sounds like such an important thing to have fixed. I wonder if part of our Fear can come from the sense that if we try to change tricky elements in the MS, the whole thing will fall apart….
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Jules replied to the topic NaNoWriMo in the forum Coffee Shop 7 years, 6 months ago
Well done, Ath 🙂
And well done other fellow NaNoers
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Philippa East replied to the topic Two newses in the forum Podium 7 years, 6 months ago
Excellent! I am so chuffed for you. Well done.
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Jules replied to the topic Two newses in the forum Podium 7 years, 6 months ago
Brilliant, Raine. And very well deserved 😊
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John S Alty replied to the topic Monthly competition – Nov 2018 in the forum Monthly Competition 7 years, 6 months ago
Editing
“Listen to me, Luigi; we’re always on the lookout for new stage plays and this one sounded interesting. Ingenious plot, bit of sex, incest, prostitution, a potential murder and ending up with a suicide.” He put down the cigar he had been waving like a conductor’s baton and folded his hands on his expansive belly. “What’s not to like?”
“…[Read more] -
Philippa East replied to the topic NaNoWriMo in the forum Coffee Shop 7 years, 6 months ago
I so agree that it’s useful to drill down into the actual function of a particular behaviour (e.g. scrolling on Twitter, ironing socks etc.)
It MAY be avoidant procrastination (i.e. continuously putting off something we’re for some reason afraid to face). Or that same behaviour could be a much-needed and healthy break from the keyboard / page -…[Read more]
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Philippa East replied to the topic Twitter thread on literary agents in the forum The Writers' Lifeboat 7 years, 6 months ago
Great thread, Daeds, thanks
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I’m actually reducing the number of words in my WIP which had reached around 50,000 (guess why) and has now shrunk to about 30,000 – rapidly. Work on it has stopped while I think about my Room With A View entry (836 words right now), and I have to get a first chapter in some kind of shape for a writers’ w/e in January (If anybody has a moment…[Read more]
Oh yuck to backstories! Hope you are feeling less yucky about it today @philippaeast. I don’t know. I don’t think we need to know everything about a secondary character’s past, as long as their character and story are ‘real’ to us. Apart from bits of their past that are relevant, obv. I figure I don’t know everything about a friend’s past, but I…[Read more]
That is definitely an issue with launching into an unplanned story: the pain of squashing continuity errors, conflicts and missing detail. I think you can get away with quite a lot as long as there are no bugs. If your MC was two years old in the year 2000 but somehow was in favour of staying in the EEC in 1975 then you have some explaining. If…[Read more]
Hah hah @raine, who said anything about secondary characters?! These are my main characters I’m talking about! But hopefully as @athelstone says, it’s about there not being obvious “bugs” in the writing. Yeah the issue I stumbled into was that, psychologically, a particular character arc made sense if certain events happened when her child was…[Read more]