Just a wee apology that I have not got a lovely novel racers section in my sidebar ~ I have just upgraded my layout and am still fumbling in the dark a little but I'll be getting onto it over the next few days.
I seem to have lost my word counter into the bargain ~ then again, maybe thats no bad thing.....
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Zinnia's list
Zinnia has a fantastic post here for scene summaries. I'll be giving it a go over the next couple of evenings.
Oh, what a beautiful morning......
....oh, yesterday was a beautiful day!
Actually, I've been having a lovely time since Monday evening (yes, sorry, that does sound unbearably smug and "Pollyanna"...). I spent ALL of monday evening reading and writing, which felt extremely satisying and productive. And then yesterday I made an early start as the fiance had to be up unfeasibly early for work, so i attempted some morning pages (ok, morning page, singular) despite the fact that my eyes were barely open. I've never quite got the hang of morning pages, so i wasn't best pleased to see them rear their head in A215: I attempted them previously when I was working through The Artist's Way, but I am really not a morning person so I've never managed to keep them up for very long. Plus, I have a friend who had a very nasty experience where uncensored subconscious outpourings + prying eyes of someone who really shouldn't have been looking = hideous big emotional mess. Hhhmm, might perservere with them a bit longer, as I can see the benefit, but I doubt i'll ever be able to write in a truly uncensored fashion....
Then yesterday evening I went for a lovely run of 5.55 miles. It was intended to be a 6-miler, but I had to snip a wee bitt off the end because I felt like I needed the loo. The only time I suffer from penis envy is when I'm caught short on a run....Anyway I reasoned I desereved the treat of not doing the last half mile as I has broken a personal record over the first 4.5 miles, and was feeling like I'd worked hard enough already. Its lovely now that it stay lighter for longer, and it was just heading into dusk as I set off, which makes everything look mauve and grey and pretty (even if I WAS running through an industrial estate!) Nice hot shower, steak sandwich and chips, Life on Mars on the TV ~ pretty perfect all round!
Fiance is out tonight so I will get a tonne of writing done. Think I've finally got my mojo back now that we're shaking off the cold clamp of winter. I have an assignment for A215 to do, so i'll get that done tonight and see if submission of our first tuorial pieces goes any way towards shaking awake the graveyard which is my online tutorial group...
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Thick & Fast....
No, that's not what they used to say about me at college ;-)
Ideas ~ ideas are flowing thick and fast at the moment, but sadly no ideas for plot development. Over the last few days I have been inundated with ideas for alternative projects: a children's book, several short stories, a few themes that I am keen to develop. I wonder if this is usual? I suppose its always the case that whatever you're in the middle of, everything else always seems ten times more fascinating.
I'm not going to get much in the way of words done until the latter half of the weekend as this has been a week of hectic scoial engagements: last night I even surreptiously scribbled down a few notes on a scrap of paper whilst at a birthday meal for a friend! A tad rude, maybe, but I have learned the hard way that telling myself "I will not forget this brilliant idea and wil write it up the minute I get home" is doomed to failure in 100% of instances.
Ideas ~ ideas are flowing thick and fast at the moment, but sadly no ideas for plot development. Over the last few days I have been inundated with ideas for alternative projects: a children's book, several short stories, a few themes that I am keen to develop. I wonder if this is usual? I suppose its always the case that whatever you're in the middle of, everything else always seems ten times more fascinating.
I'm not going to get much in the way of words done until the latter half of the weekend as this has been a week of hectic scoial engagements: last night I even surreptiously scribbled down a few notes on a scrap of paper whilst at a birthday meal for a friend! A tad rude, maybe, but I have learned the hard way that telling myself "I will not forget this brilliant idea and wil write it up the minute I get home" is doomed to failure in 100% of instances.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Place
I am feeling very energized about my writing right now ~ think the combination of joining the novel race, and thinking about my writing so much more on a daily basis has worked wonders for me.
Having said that, I haven’t updated my word count yes because a) I errrr don’t know how to and b) call me old-fashioned but I write up my first drafts in longhand (and in fountain pen too ~ at least it’s not a quill!). Then when I’m relatively happy that there is something on paper that could stand to be transferred to screen I start the process of typing up, which helps in the editing and rewriting too. I know it is probably not the most efficient way to do it, but I adore the glide of the pen nib across the paper, and seeing the words spill out in lovely glossy ink…
Also, whilst I’ve not been actively pounding out a huge amount of words I have been tussling with a few ideas that will inform the narrative ~ I’m looking to play around with the idea of the unreliable narrator, and as I have a couple of narrative voices in the novel I’m aiming to make the least likely character the most unreliable one. This has thrown up a lot of possibilities, so I’m allowing those to gestate right now. Additionally I have been spending a lot of time thinking about the concept of place, of home ~ how where you are from informs who you are. This is a topic I have always been fascinated by: on holiday I always love the difference in the quality of light in a foreign environment, and how waking up each day of your life under that particular square of sky might impact upon character.
In other news, A215 is a bit of a mixed bag so far: I am enjoying the course, and the exercises certainly seem to be goading me into action, but it is an online course so I am finding the lack of active participation in my tutor group very frustrating. Also, the tutor has yet to post up any of the promised exercises. Hhhhmm, I’ll give it another week or ten days or so, but if it doesn’t pick up I’ll look into requesting a transfer to another group. I want to wring every drop out of this course, and whilst I’m trying not to be too offputting to my fellow students by being too “full on” I’m not going to sit in the corner in silence when that is not the way the course is structured.
Any other A215-ers out there?
Having said that, I haven’t updated my word count yes because a) I errrr don’t know how to and b) call me old-fashioned but I write up my first drafts in longhand (and in fountain pen too ~ at least it’s not a quill!). Then when I’m relatively happy that there is something on paper that could stand to be transferred to screen I start the process of typing up, which helps in the editing and rewriting too. I know it is probably not the most efficient way to do it, but I adore the glide of the pen nib across the paper, and seeing the words spill out in lovely glossy ink…
Also, whilst I’ve not been actively pounding out a huge amount of words I have been tussling with a few ideas that will inform the narrative ~ I’m looking to play around with the idea of the unreliable narrator, and as I have a couple of narrative voices in the novel I’m aiming to make the least likely character the most unreliable one. This has thrown up a lot of possibilities, so I’m allowing those to gestate right now. Additionally I have been spending a lot of time thinking about the concept of place, of home ~ how where you are from informs who you are. This is a topic I have always been fascinated by: on holiday I always love the difference in the quality of light in a foreign environment, and how waking up each day of your life under that particular square of sky might impact upon character.
In other news, A215 is a bit of a mixed bag so far: I am enjoying the course, and the exercises certainly seem to be goading me into action, but it is an online course so I am finding the lack of active participation in my tutor group very frustrating. Also, the tutor has yet to post up any of the promised exercises. Hhhhmm, I’ll give it another week or ten days or so, but if it doesn’t pick up I’ll look into requesting a transfer to another group. I want to wring every drop out of this course, and whilst I’m trying not to be too offputting to my fellow students by being too “full on” I’m not going to sit in the corner in silence when that is not the way the course is structured.
Any other A215-ers out there?
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Ready, Steady, GO!
Kate Harrison has very kindly added me to the Novel Race, so i am metaphorically lacing up my Asics this very minute.
As I said previously, I haven't a hope in hell of winning this race, but then again I had less than no chance of winning the Great North Run but I still entered: my only desire was to finish, and in one piece, and I managed that, so i am transferring that same wish to the novel in hand: finish it, without it finishing me first!
And anyway, it's not the winning, its the taking part that counts, isn't that right?
Friday, February 02, 2007
bits and bobs
Just a few bits and bobs:
1) As of tomorrow the OU's level 2 creative writing course, A215, officially starts ~ I've had the course materials for a while so I'm already immersing myself in it, and I'm happy to say that the first couple of chapters seem centred around engendering a good regular writing habit. This is just the caffeine shot in the arm I need, although I'm slightly concerned that course related matters may nibble into my novel writing time. Still, all time spent writing is good, right?
2) I have just finished reading The Accidental by Ali Smith, and if you haven't read it yet then I urge you too. The narrative style is very fresh, and I found the plays on the nature of constructed story-telling fascinating: we only ever know what we know about a person or situation, and that is never the complete story. I'm intrigued that one of the Amazon reviewers regarded it as "a deeply coded and concealed attack on the values of ordinary people". Really? I thought it presented a highly neutral characterisation, in which no-one character was whooly good or wholly bad ~ I found the characters to each be a complex blend of desirable and undesirable aspects, as indeed we all are.
3) Still working through Perry's "Writing in Flow" ~ and I'm probably the fartherst into that I've ever got through any writing manuel!
1) As of tomorrow the OU's level 2 creative writing course, A215, officially starts ~ I've had the course materials for a while so I'm already immersing myself in it, and I'm happy to say that the first couple of chapters seem centred around engendering a good regular writing habit. This is just the caffeine shot in the arm I need, although I'm slightly concerned that course related matters may nibble into my novel writing time. Still, all time spent writing is good, right?
2) I have just finished reading The Accidental by Ali Smith, and if you haven't read it yet then I urge you too. The narrative style is very fresh, and I found the plays on the nature of constructed story-telling fascinating: we only ever know what we know about a person or situation, and that is never the complete story. I'm intrigued that one of the Amazon reviewers regarded it as "a deeply coded and concealed attack on the values of ordinary people". Really? I thought it presented a highly neutral characterisation, in which no-one character was whooly good or wholly bad ~ I found the characters to each be a complex blend of desirable and undesirable aspects, as indeed we all are.
3) Still working through Perry's "Writing in Flow" ~ and I'm probably the fartherst into that I've ever got through any writing manuel!
Guess who's back?
(Apologies for the Eminem quote ~ for some reason my mp3 player keeps throwing this up on the "not-at-all random" random option when I'm out running, hence it's a bit of an ear-worm right now)
The novel is still ticking along, but nowhere near as quickly as i'd like, so inkeeping with my new 2007 "seize the day" persona I have elected to join Kate Harrison's novel race. I've been toying with this ever since she first announced it, but kept shying away from some vague paranoia that I would "show myself up". However I have slowly (it takes me a while) come to the realisation that I need a decided kick up the proverbial if I am going to make the desired progress with this book. So from today I am committing to the race. I'll be the one near the back, huffing & puffing with a face the most fetching shade of puce (as indeed will be the case when I take part in next saturday's 10K for muscular dystrophy ~ but hey, i'm used to being near the back, so plus ca change....)
Off to get me one of those nifty wordcount-ometer jobbies now .....
The novel is still ticking along, but nowhere near as quickly as i'd like, so inkeeping with my new 2007 "seize the day" persona I have elected to join Kate Harrison's novel race. I've been toying with this ever since she first announced it, but kept shying away from some vague paranoia that I would "show myself up". However I have slowly (it takes me a while) come to the realisation that I need a decided kick up the proverbial if I am going to make the desired progress with this book. So from today I am committing to the race. I'll be the one near the back, huffing & puffing with a face the most fetching shade of puce (as indeed will be the case when I take part in next saturday's 10K for muscular dystrophy ~ but hey, i'm used to being near the back, so plus ca change....)
Off to get me one of those nifty wordcount-ometer jobbies now .....
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
After a brief hiatus...
I've been AWOL for a while, from both the novel & the blog ~ there's been a deluge of interesting, time-consuming & amazing personal stuff happening over the last few months, and I don't really see my feet touching the ground till after Christmas & the New Year.
I think I've also hit a secondary gestational period with the book: there's a fair bit written, and a fair bit mapped out, but I still don't quite know what's going to happen with some key points and some character relationships. I'm letting it all casserole slowly in my head, so hopefully there'll be some tender meat & rich gravy to feast on in the end.
In the meantime I am reading this: Writing in Flow, Susan K Perry. I bought it a couple of years back (along with the plethora of other writing books which are sucking up space & gathering dust in my house), but I'm working through it steadily and making notes as I go. I'm finding the psychology foundation of it very reassuring (especially as I studied Csikszentmihalyi and "flow" in great depth in the social psychology section of my Bsc, even going so far as to learn the spelling of his name for the exam ~ which I subsequently never used!). I crave the escapism of flow, and get into it so very rarely, but for me it is one of the fundamentals of writing: writing myself into that parallel world where everything is possible if you're brave enough to take the first step and write the first word.
Anyway, normal writing procedure should be resumed soon ~ I'm itching to get back on the page and getting frustrated that the last few months have been too chaotic to allow for much writing. Nice to be back in the blogging saddle, though.
I think I've also hit a secondary gestational period with the book: there's a fair bit written, and a fair bit mapped out, but I still don't quite know what's going to happen with some key points and some character relationships. I'm letting it all casserole slowly in my head, so hopefully there'll be some tender meat & rich gravy to feast on in the end.
In the meantime I am reading this: Writing in Flow, Susan K Perry. I bought it a couple of years back (along with the plethora of other writing books which are sucking up space & gathering dust in my house), but I'm working through it steadily and making notes as I go. I'm finding the psychology foundation of it very reassuring (especially as I studied Csikszentmihalyi and "flow" in great depth in the social psychology section of my Bsc, even going so far as to learn the spelling of his name for the exam ~ which I subsequently never used!). I crave the escapism of flow, and get into it so very rarely, but for me it is one of the fundamentals of writing: writing myself into that parallel world where everything is possible if you're brave enough to take the first step and write the first word.
Anyway, normal writing procedure should be resumed soon ~ I'm itching to get back on the page and getting frustrated that the last few months have been too chaotic to allow for much writing. Nice to be back in the blogging saddle, though.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Back of the van...
Prose extract:
"The smell of sweat mingled with the aroma of stale Brown Ale, vying for supremacy over the lingering fart odour. That there were girls prepared to venture into the back of the van, to allow the stench to assault their nostrils as we assaulted their underwear, was testimony to the tremendous aphrodisiac quality of having your band name appear third from the bottom of the bill next Friday night at the Rex. It was better than Christmas."
"The smell of sweat mingled with the aroma of stale Brown Ale, vying for supremacy over the lingering fart odour. That there were girls prepared to venture into the back of the van, to allow the stench to assault their nostrils as we assaulted their underwear, was testimony to the tremendous aphrodisiac quality of having your band name appear third from the bottom of the bill next Friday night at the Rex. It was better than Christmas."
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Sex, Brown Ale and Rhythm and Blues : The Life That Gave Birth to The Animals
I've been trying to get hold of a copy of "Sex, Brown Ale and Rhythm and Blues : The Life That Gave Birth to The Animals" by George Pearson, but sadly to no avail ~ Amazon emailed today to say that they's been unable to source a copy, and I've tried all sorts of other online searches and come up with squatuntott.
So, if anyone out there knows of a copy going spare please let me know. I'll pay and stuff.
Incidentally, I'm not writing about The Animals per se, but era & area are roughly the same & I was really looking forward to getting the Pearson book to add a bit of depth to the context and background.
Oh well, back to the Google searches I suppose......
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Skirting around the edges.....
....which is sort of what I've been doing with The DeadBeats novel recently. Not a great deal of progress has been happening on it, but I've been working on related matters.
One of which is a short story I'm working on for a competition at the end of September. Now its not technically directly related to the novel, but it does feature a character that I'm developing to be a hybrid of Hendrix & Mozart (trust me, it works really well ~ genre-breaking prodigies, died too young, mythologized to near saint-hood.....) so I'm spending a lot of time thinking about the whys and wherefores of prodigious musical talent, which is useful as both of the two main protagonists in The DeadBeats are brilliantly creative, complicated individuals.
Another rock-related "phenomenon" which has been puzzling me: the smashing of the guitar at the end of - or indeed in the midst of - a show. Why? Is it designed to show a cataclysmic out-pouring of uncontrollable artistic spirit? Because I'm not buying that. It's as much of a cliche as the whole "TV out of the hotel window / car in the swimming pool" malarkey. I saw two bands doing this on the Leeds / Reading coverage over the bank-holiday, and it struck me as being as quaintly out-dated as asking a girl's father for her hand in marriage. It's something that they did a long long time ago, in that foreign country known as the past. And it's horribly wasteful ~ aren't we frowning on the conspicuous consumption/destruction of luxury items nowadays?
Speaking of Leeds, anyone got any feedback/tips? We've just bought tickets for next year's festival (in order to escape the seven hours in stationary traffic which was endured en-route to the V Festival this year. And the fact that the V festival is now over-run by annoying posh 19 year-olds trying to look like Pete Doherty / Peaches Geldof. And the fact that Dick Branson doesn't need anymore of my money. And the fact that I'm 32 and don't need talking down to like an errant schoolchild, thank you patronising "steward" at least ten years younger than me.) But I have heard that it can be a bit rough & your chances of getting your tent ransacked are about 1 in 3. Hhhhmm. It may all be academic anyway ~ the real plan is to get the final draft of the novel finished by June next year, and to hopefully have a baby on the way as well, so with any luck next August will be taken up with sonograms and publishing doo-dahs. Tickets may well end up on ebay instead (open to offers.....)
And I've also been indulging myself by reading Zelda's Cut by Philippa Gregory. It's not what I would normally choose to read (I'm not saying I'm a literary snob, but, well, it's the type of thing that strikes me as sort of "housewifely". Dreadful judgement, I know) But it was gripping in a thriller-ish type way. Three reasons why it's relevant to the blog: 1) it pays to read outside your usual zone. See what works, what doesn't, how things can be different, etc., 2) There are some very odd plot developments in it ~ i can't tell if they're brave or foolish, but I didn't realise how daft they were until long afterwards. As I was reading I simply accepted them as part of the story because they were part of the story. Lesson learned ~ you can get away with stuff & 3) one of themes revolves around artistic worthiness vs. commercial selling out ~ something to think about for both myself as the novelist, and my band as they negotiate their way through the music business.
One of which is a short story I'm working on for a competition at the end of September. Now its not technically directly related to the novel, but it does feature a character that I'm developing to be a hybrid of Hendrix & Mozart (trust me, it works really well ~ genre-breaking prodigies, died too young, mythologized to near saint-hood.....) so I'm spending a lot of time thinking about the whys and wherefores of prodigious musical talent, which is useful as both of the two main protagonists in The DeadBeats are brilliantly creative, complicated individuals.
Another rock-related "phenomenon" which has been puzzling me: the smashing of the guitar at the end of - or indeed in the midst of - a show. Why? Is it designed to show a cataclysmic out-pouring of uncontrollable artistic spirit? Because I'm not buying that. It's as much of a cliche as the whole "TV out of the hotel window / car in the swimming pool" malarkey. I saw two bands doing this on the Leeds / Reading coverage over the bank-holiday, and it struck me as being as quaintly out-dated as asking a girl's father for her hand in marriage. It's something that they did a long long time ago, in that foreign country known as the past. And it's horribly wasteful ~ aren't we frowning on the conspicuous consumption/destruction of luxury items nowadays?
Speaking of Leeds, anyone got any feedback/tips? We've just bought tickets for next year's festival (in order to escape the seven hours in stationary traffic which was endured en-route to the V Festival this year. And the fact that the V festival is now over-run by annoying posh 19 year-olds trying to look like Pete Doherty / Peaches Geldof. And the fact that Dick Branson doesn't need anymore of my money. And the fact that I'm 32 and don't need talking down to like an errant schoolchild, thank you patronising "steward" at least ten years younger than me.) But I have heard that it can be a bit rough & your chances of getting your tent ransacked are about 1 in 3. Hhhhmm. It may all be academic anyway ~ the real plan is to get the final draft of the novel finished by June next year, and to hopefully have a baby on the way as well, so with any luck next August will be taken up with sonograms and publishing doo-dahs. Tickets may well end up on ebay instead (open to offers.....)
And I've also been indulging myself by reading Zelda's Cut by Philippa Gregory. It's not what I would normally choose to read (I'm not saying I'm a literary snob, but, well, it's the type of thing that strikes me as sort of "housewifely". Dreadful judgement, I know) But it was gripping in a thriller-ish type way. Three reasons why it's relevant to the blog: 1) it pays to read outside your usual zone. See what works, what doesn't, how things can be different, etc., 2) There are some very odd plot developments in it ~ i can't tell if they're brave or foolish, but I didn't realise how daft they were until long afterwards. As I was reading I simply accepted them as part of the story because they were part of the story. Lesson learned ~ you can get away with stuff & 3) one of themes revolves around artistic worthiness vs. commercial selling out ~ something to think about for both myself as the novelist, and my band as they negotiate their way through the music business.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Well, hello there!
Hi,
Nice of you to stop by. Welcome to the inaugral post in The DeadBeats blog.
I started writing this novel on 11th April 2006, and this blog is a space for me to document my progress, struggle with the sticky bits and share ideas. All comments and critiques (constructive, please!) are welcomed.
Hope you enjoy it.
