When you read about notable authors discussing how they feel about writing, the responses can tend towards the extreme. I suppose writing is something that people have passionate relationships with - it’s a demanding pursuit, it doesn’t allow for casual attitudes. You seldom hear a writer say that writing is ‘just a job’ or that they only write because they've got nothing better to do with their spare time.
Writing may be compulsive and addictive but it’s not an easy, relaxing way to unwind after a hectic day.
For a long time, I did suspect that I was more in the ‘writing is fun’ camp than the ‘woe, I’m such a tortured artist suffering for my work’ one. I’m inclined to think I probably wouldn’t bother to write if every day if felt like I was beating my head against my keyboard until it started bleeding.
Then today happened.
Today has been difficult. Not in a series of earth-shatteringly horrific disasters, just in an I’m tired, grumpy and I desperately want to collapse in bed and sleep for the next ten months kind of way.
Today when the tremendously overdue break from managing the rampaging toddler (and I use the term ‘managing’ loosely here to describe my feeble, sleep-deprived efforts) in the form of a nap, I found myself really not wanting to write. Or rather I should say edit.
I don’t normally think of myself as a procrastinator (well, not for creative things, I’m very good at putting off chores I don’t want to do) but suddenly everything that wasn’t writing/editing seemed exceedingly appealing. I could bake cookies (or better yet, eat cookies), read, watch TV, sleep (ah, sleep, such a wonderfully tempting prospect), muddle around on the internet. Heck, even scrubbing the shower seemed a comparatively appealing notion.
The problem was that if I indulged any one of these options, my writing time for today would be lost. I could pretend that I would some how find another hour or two in the evening to squeeze in writing or I’d work really hard tomorrow to make up but truthfully neither of these would be likely with my current exhaustion levels.
So I made myself a strong coffee and got on with it. I edited a chapter. I wish I could say it was fun and that as soon as I started it was easy or, at least, productive. The truth is that it wasn’t. Every minute felt like a hard slog. I doubted every change or deletion I made. I think I even wasted about five minutes angsting over one word, taking it out and then changing my mind and reinserting it about twenty times. I may well go back and look at today’s work tomorrow and then have to redo a lot of it but maybe not. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be in a better frame of mind and realise that in spite of how I feel about it now, I actually did a good job.
I wish I could say that I fought the good fight over my lack of motivation and emerged feeling satisfied and victorious but I can’t. I just don’t feel that triumphant about it. I feel like I've had a tough day at work and I want to have a whinge and a grumble about my tyrannical, unreasonable boss - writing.
I guess what I’m coming to realise is that I, like many other writers I suspect, am capable of both extremes. There are days when it feels tremendously difficult to write, or, more accurately, to motivate yourself to go and turn the computer on and actually start writing. Some days I really wish that my lifelong dream wasn’t to be a writer but to train goldfish or grow prize-winning geraniums or something. Surely, anything would be easier than this terribly onerous, frustrating task of trying to shape stories out of troublesome words.
However, most days, thankfully, writing is a lot of fun. I enjoy it so much that I wish I could somehow find more time in the day cram in more blissful hours in front of the keyboard.
Fortunately, the ratio is highly skewed towards the majority of writing time being fun but still there are difficult aspects. There are sunny Saturday mornings when the rest of the world seems to be relaxing and I have a story demanding my attention, much like an unpleasant pile of work I'm meant to get done over the weekend. There are times when my inner critic makes bullying remarks about my writing and I start to doubt what I'm doing.
Maybe all hobbies, passions and pursuits are fraught with difficulties. Maybe goldfish can induce all sorts of anxieties in their trainers through temperamental behaviour and competitive geranium growing may have numerous dangerous and hurdles I have not yet considered. Maybe it’s not the harder aspects of writing themselves that give us trouble – it’s that we care so much about our writing and value the pleasure it can give us so highly that the few problems we encounter seem disproportionately immense.
Writing a novel would be a lot easier if you didn’t feel compelled to make as great as you possibly could. Ending a story in precisely the best way possible wouldn’t be something we worried about so much if we didn’t feel that the story demanded to be perfect.
It is the passion and love we have for writing that makes the moments when it doesn’t come easily seem so inordinately hard. In an odd way, how difficult the difficulties seem to be could be a reflection of how wonderful and joyous writing is the rest of the time.
A writer’s struggles may be hair-tearingly frustrating but they are also a celebration of how much they treasure and enjoy their need to write.
I suppose I shouldn’t worry about having bad days where it all seems immensely difficult; the real danger for any writer (or indeed, goldfish trainer) would be becoming apathetic.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
'Dear Lucky Agent' Contest
There's a great contest at Guide To Literary Agents blog for writers of Young Adult and Middle Grade books.
The first prize is a critique of 25 pages of your work and query letter, plus two books from Writer's Digest Books.
The judge is Jennifer Laughran from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Awesome.
The first prize is a critique of 25 pages of your work and query letter, plus two books from Writer's Digest Books.
The judge is Jennifer Laughran from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Awesome.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Review of The Event at Scary Minds
There's a great review of The Event up at Scary Minds.
My favourite line of the review would have to be 'If Janet Frame had of decided to write a horror novel, and keep the jokes to yourself here, I believe The Event is the novel she would have written.' Heh.
The Event is a available as a free PDF download.
My favourite line of the review would have to be 'If Janet Frame had of decided to write a horror novel, and keep the jokes to yourself here, I believe The Event is the novel she would have written.' Heh.
The Event is a available as a free PDF download.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
My Month of Editing
February is here and this going to be a big editing month for me. I’m working on a final (hopefully) polishing edit of HTBATFG at the moment and then it’s onto my first edit of my genie novel.
I’ve become intrigued in different editing approaches and may possibly explore new editing methods for the genie novel. Previously, I’ve tended to do at least one ‘big picture’ edit where I try to focus on the overall structure, flow of character arcs, relationships, conflicts etc and then a second edit where I go in and tidy up on a chapter-by-chapter, scene-by-scene and then line-by-line basis.
For my current polishing edit, I’m forcing myself to stick to one chapter a day with editing. I’m trying to focus on strengthening the openings and endings of each chapter, pulling apart any scenes or scraps of dialogue that feel flat and generally honing every sentence so that it’s as tight, dense and shiny as possible.
I guess I have my own specific understanding by what I mean with each of these terms.
Tight editing – no unnecessary words or waffling. Every word must pull its weight and be absolutely essential or it goes.
Dense editing – this sometimes can feel like it’s pulling against an edit for tightness at times but it doesn’t in the long run. Density in writing is about packing as much impact, oomph and connotation as possible through word choice and phrasing. You can tighten a sentence just by cutting out what you don’t need. Denser writing comes from seeing a new way to say something better; sometimes you can add a word or a phrase that deftly suggests what a whole paragraph use to explain. Rewriting or adding some dense writing at one point may mean that you can remove a whole chunk later on.
Shiny editing – making the writing sing in its own distinctive voice. Trying to polish the writing so that it’s memorable and enjoyable to read. Shiny writing has every paragraph and sentence buffed to stand out and sparkle like its grandma’s best silver (or a pretty vampire in the sunlight, if you prefer Twilight-based similes).
For me, each of those three qualities is equally important. Writing that isn’t tight drags and feels slow. Writing that isn’t dense lacks layers of thematic impact and can feel like everything is plain and too explicitly spelt out for the reader. Writing that isn’t shiny is forgettable – the writing is bland, lacking flavour and none of it lingers with the reader.
I’ve become intrigued in different editing approaches and may possibly explore new editing methods for the genie novel. Previously, I’ve tended to do at least one ‘big picture’ edit where I try to focus on the overall structure, flow of character arcs, relationships, conflicts etc and then a second edit where I go in and tidy up on a chapter-by-chapter, scene-by-scene and then line-by-line basis.
For my current polishing edit, I’m forcing myself to stick to one chapter a day with editing. I’m trying to focus on strengthening the openings and endings of each chapter, pulling apart any scenes or scraps of dialogue that feel flat and generally honing every sentence so that it’s as tight, dense and shiny as possible.
I guess I have my own specific understanding by what I mean with each of these terms.
Tight editing – no unnecessary words or waffling. Every word must pull its weight and be absolutely essential or it goes.
Dense editing – this sometimes can feel like it’s pulling against an edit for tightness at times but it doesn’t in the long run. Density in writing is about packing as much impact, oomph and connotation as possible through word choice and phrasing. You can tighten a sentence just by cutting out what you don’t need. Denser writing comes from seeing a new way to say something better; sometimes you can add a word or a phrase that deftly suggests what a whole paragraph use to explain. Rewriting or adding some dense writing at one point may mean that you can remove a whole chunk later on.
Shiny editing – making the writing sing in its own distinctive voice. Trying to polish the writing so that it’s memorable and enjoyable to read. Shiny writing has every paragraph and sentence buffed to stand out and sparkle like its grandma’s best silver (or a pretty vampire in the sunlight, if you prefer Twilight-based similes).
For me, each of those three qualities is equally important. Writing that isn’t tight drags and feels slow. Writing that isn’t dense lacks layers of thematic impact and can feel like everything is plain and too explicitly spelt out for the reader. Writing that isn’t shiny is forgettable – the writing is bland, lacking flavour and none of it lingers with the reader.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Prolific Blogger Award
I was nominated by the kind Catherine Mede for a prolific blogger award (despite the fact that I have been somewhat slack of late). Hopefully in February I shall prove to be a little more deserving of the term.
Many of the excellent writery bloggers that I follow have already been nominated by others but here are seven amazingly stupendous blogs to check out if you don’t already follow them:
Talula – a cute, upbeat blog (written by an even cuter, upbeat writer) that features lots of enjoyable posts about many things including, craft, roleplaying, books reviews, weekly writing updates and Things I Love Thursday.
From the morgue – loads of interesting posts on a range of subjects including politics, current events, environment and reviews from a busy chap who also manages to include some writing progress reports in the mix as well. The regular Friday links are always great, frequently mind-boggling and definitely worth a look.
Multi-Dimensional – great analytical and thought-provoking blogging on screenwriting, game design, developing processes and reviews as well.
Podagogue – great reviews from the world of podcasting (something I just started getting into last year) as well as Freshly Ground (a blog of great food that can induce dangerous levels of salivating food envy).
Matt Cowens – the LJ of the Significant Other Writer of the Cowens household. He also does excellent cartoons and sometimes posts them up here.
Sally McLennan – has an totally gorgeous website which includes her blog on a variety of subjects, often with lovely photos.
Books in the Trees – the thinking-writers’ blog by author Tim Jones. Lots of fantastic posts as many topics as well as interviews with writers and reviews.
Prolific Blogger Award Rules | ONE: Every winner is expected to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. | TWO: Each Prolific Blogger is asked to link to the blog from which he/she has received this award. | THREE: Every Prolific Blogger is asked to link back to this post, which explains the origins of the award. | FOUR: Every Prolific Blogger is asked to visit the post listed in rule #3 and add his/her name to the “Mr. Linky” at the bottom.
Edit: I'm going to copy the wise Ripley Patton by adding that I don't expect the above prolific bloggers to list seven bloggers, unless they wish to do so. :-)
Many of the excellent writery bloggers that I follow have already been nominated by others but here are seven amazingly stupendous blogs to check out if you don’t already follow them:
Talula – a cute, upbeat blog (written by an even cuter, upbeat writer) that features lots of enjoyable posts about many things including, craft, roleplaying, books reviews, weekly writing updates and Things I Love Thursday.
From the morgue – loads of interesting posts on a range of subjects including politics, current events, environment and reviews from a busy chap who also manages to include some writing progress reports in the mix as well. The regular Friday links are always great, frequently mind-boggling and definitely worth a look.
Multi-Dimensional – great analytical and thought-provoking blogging on screenwriting, game design, developing processes and reviews as well.
Podagogue – great reviews from the world of podcasting (something I just started getting into last year) as well as Freshly Ground (a blog of great food that can induce dangerous levels of salivating food envy).
Matt Cowens – the LJ of the Significant Other Writer of the Cowens household. He also does excellent cartoons and sometimes posts them up here.
Sally McLennan – has an totally gorgeous website which includes her blog on a variety of subjects, often with lovely photos.
Books in the Trees – the thinking-writers’ blog by author Tim Jones. Lots of fantastic posts as many topics as well as interviews with writers and reviews.
Prolific Blogger Award Rules | ONE: Every winner is expected to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. | TWO: Each Prolific Blogger is asked to link to the blog from which he/she has received this award. | THREE: Every Prolific Blogger is asked to link back to this post, which explains the origins of the award. | FOUR: Every Prolific Blogger is asked to visit the post listed in rule #3 and add his/her name to the “Mr. Linky” at the bottom.
Edit: I'm going to copy the wise Ripley Patton by adding that I don't expect the above prolific bloggers to list seven bloggers, unless they wish to do so. :-)
Monday, February 1, 2010
Podcast of The Death Meter
A podcast of my flash story 'The Death Meter' is up on Every Day Fiction now, read by my lovely husband/voice talent, Matt.
Unfortunately, when our author biographies are placed on the same page, they read as ridiculously similar but then we've lived in the same places, been English teachers and had the same hobbies for many years now. We may in fact be morphing into one strange writer/parent/teacher entity.
Unfortunately, when our author biographies are placed on the same page, they read as ridiculously similar but then we've lived in the same places, been English teachers and had the same hobbies for many years now. We may in fact be morphing into one strange writer/parent/teacher entity.
The Art of Writing a Plot Synopsis
I’ve been reading many tips on how to write a good plot synopsis recently as I’ve been working on refining my own. The general consensus amongst agents and other knowledgeable types seems to be that shorter is better.
For me, the easiest way to get to a short synopsis was to write a long one and to keep cutting it down. It's not always an easy thing to keep it short when you're talking about a novel you have poured hours into and have a great deal of enthusiasm for. However, good query letters aren't about gushing and raving about the brilliance of your own writing.
I’m still not sure I’ve made my synopsis as tight as it could be, so I’d appreciate any feedback anyone has but I thought it might be an interesting process to share.
Original Synopsis
Meg Smith is a normal, sixteen-year-old girl but her life is turning out to be anything but normal. She lives with her Mum who is a successful divorce lawyer in Orlandia, a once traditional and magical kingdom of fairy tales and happily ever afters, but the people of Orlandia stopped believing in that sort of thing years ago. When Meg’s Aunt Cassie shows up unexpectedly one evening, gives her a wand and tells Meg that she is destined to become a fairy godmother, she doesn’t believe a word of her crazy aunt’s story. However, when she accidentally uses magic to get revenge on Josh Knightley, her rival who she considers the most annoying boy at school, things start to go terribly wrong.
Her best friend Sarah blames her for causing her to fight with her boyfriend, and to make matters worse, it looks like her mum is dating Josh’s dad. Then Meg’s dad, Gill Gallant, a famous, heroic knight of the old realm, drops in during his latest book tour and decides he needs to stick around in Meg’s life. Between her father’s disastrous and embarrassing attempts to work in a series of regular jobs, and her Aunt Cassie using magic to pose as a teenager at Meg’s high school, her family are causing more chaos than any girl should have to cope with. As her life seems on the brink of disaster, Meg decides she might have to learn how to be a fairy godmother after all. But when Aunt Cassie decides that Cindy Taylor, the shyest girl in school (complete with an evil step-sister), is the perfect candidate for Meg to help find true love, it turns out being a fairy godmother is more complicated than she thought. If extreme makeovers and staging dangerous situations for Cindy to be rescued by the most handsome boy in the school weren’t difficult enough, Meg then discovers that Cindy has fallen in love with Josh. The problem is that Meg has realised she has feelings for him too. With the Halloween school ball coming up, Meg has to face her toughest decision yet as a fairy godmother. Who should get the happy ending? Cindy or herself?
Word Count = 367
Note: I wrote this one back when the novel was more or less in its first draft form. There has been some heavy editing and rewrites since then so some of the plot and characters have been substantially changed.
Second Plot Synopsis
Meg Smith is a smart, down-to-earth sixteen-year-old girl so when her crazy aunt shows up and tells her that she is destined to become a fairy godmother, she doesn’t believe her ridiculous story. However, when she inadvertently uses magic to get revenge of her arch-rival Josh, things start to go terribly wrong. Her best friend Sarah blames her for causing her break-up with her boyfriend, and to make matters worse, it looks like her mom is dating Josh’s dad. With her life heading for disaster, Meg decides she has to learn how to take control of her fairy godmother destiny. But when Aunt Cassie decides that Cindy Taylor, the shyest girl in school (complete with an evil step-sister), is the perfect candidate for Meg to help find true love, it turns out that being a fairy godmother is more complicated than she thought. If extreme makeovers and staging dangerous situations for Cindy to be rescued by the most handsome boy in the school weren’t difficult enough, Cindy then falls in love with Josh. The problem is that Meg is starting to realise that she has feelings for him too. With the Halloween school ball coming up, Meg has to face her toughest decision yet as a fairy godmother. Who should get the happy ending? Cindy or herself?
Word Count = 219
Most Recent Version of Plot Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old Meg doesn’t believe her crazy aunt when she tells her that she’s destined to become a fairy godmother but when she inadvertently uses magic to get revenge on her arch-rival Josh with disastrous results, she decides she needs to learn to control her powers. If magical makeovers and orchestrated rescue situations weren’t hard enough, the girl she’s supposed to help falls for Josh just as Meg realises she has feelings for him too. Now Meg must face her toughest challenge as a fairy godmother yet – deciding who should get the happy ending.
Word Count = 93
I think they are definitely improving as they get shorter. I don’t feel that I’ve omitted anything essential in the last one but I’m curious if there are points that people preferred about the earlier versions. I’d be interested if anyone has any suggestions about how I could make the synopsis even tighter or better.
For me, the easiest way to get to a short synopsis was to write a long one and to keep cutting it down. It's not always an easy thing to keep it short when you're talking about a novel you have poured hours into and have a great deal of enthusiasm for. However, good query letters aren't about gushing and raving about the brilliance of your own writing.
I’m still not sure I’ve made my synopsis as tight as it could be, so I’d appreciate any feedback anyone has but I thought it might be an interesting process to share.
Original Synopsis
Meg Smith is a normal, sixteen-year-old girl but her life is turning out to be anything but normal. She lives with her Mum who is a successful divorce lawyer in Orlandia, a once traditional and magical kingdom of fairy tales and happily ever afters, but the people of Orlandia stopped believing in that sort of thing years ago. When Meg’s Aunt Cassie shows up unexpectedly one evening, gives her a wand and tells Meg that she is destined to become a fairy godmother, she doesn’t believe a word of her crazy aunt’s story. However, when she accidentally uses magic to get revenge on Josh Knightley, her rival who she considers the most annoying boy at school, things start to go terribly wrong.
Her best friend Sarah blames her for causing her to fight with her boyfriend, and to make matters worse, it looks like her mum is dating Josh’s dad. Then Meg’s dad, Gill Gallant, a famous, heroic knight of the old realm, drops in during his latest book tour and decides he needs to stick around in Meg’s life. Between her father’s disastrous and embarrassing attempts to work in a series of regular jobs, and her Aunt Cassie using magic to pose as a teenager at Meg’s high school, her family are causing more chaos than any girl should have to cope with. As her life seems on the brink of disaster, Meg decides she might have to learn how to be a fairy godmother after all. But when Aunt Cassie decides that Cindy Taylor, the shyest girl in school (complete with an evil step-sister), is the perfect candidate for Meg to help find true love, it turns out being a fairy godmother is more complicated than she thought. If extreme makeovers and staging dangerous situations for Cindy to be rescued by the most handsome boy in the school weren’t difficult enough, Meg then discovers that Cindy has fallen in love with Josh. The problem is that Meg has realised she has feelings for him too. With the Halloween school ball coming up, Meg has to face her toughest decision yet as a fairy godmother. Who should get the happy ending? Cindy or herself?
Word Count = 367
Note: I wrote this one back when the novel was more or less in its first draft form. There has been some heavy editing and rewrites since then so some of the plot and characters have been substantially changed.
Second Plot Synopsis
Meg Smith is a smart, down-to-earth sixteen-year-old girl so when her crazy aunt shows up and tells her that she is destined to become a fairy godmother, she doesn’t believe her ridiculous story. However, when she inadvertently uses magic to get revenge of her arch-rival Josh, things start to go terribly wrong. Her best friend Sarah blames her for causing her break-up with her boyfriend, and to make matters worse, it looks like her mom is dating Josh’s dad. With her life heading for disaster, Meg decides she has to learn how to take control of her fairy godmother destiny. But when Aunt Cassie decides that Cindy Taylor, the shyest girl in school (complete with an evil step-sister), is the perfect candidate for Meg to help find true love, it turns out that being a fairy godmother is more complicated than she thought. If extreme makeovers and staging dangerous situations for Cindy to be rescued by the most handsome boy in the school weren’t difficult enough, Cindy then falls in love with Josh. The problem is that Meg is starting to realise that she has feelings for him too. With the Halloween school ball coming up, Meg has to face her toughest decision yet as a fairy godmother. Who should get the happy ending? Cindy or herself?
Word Count = 219
Most Recent Version of Plot Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old Meg doesn’t believe her crazy aunt when she tells her that she’s destined to become a fairy godmother but when she inadvertently uses magic to get revenge on her arch-rival Josh with disastrous results, she decides she needs to learn to control her powers. If magical makeovers and orchestrated rescue situations weren’t hard enough, the girl she’s supposed to help falls for Josh just as Meg realises she has feelings for him too. Now Meg must face her toughest challenge as a fairy godmother yet – deciding who should get the happy ending.
Word Count = 93
I think they are definitely improving as they get shorter. I don’t feel that I’ve omitted anything essential in the last one but I’m curious if there are points that people preferred about the earlier versions. I’d be interested if anyone has any suggestions about how I could make the synopsis even tighter or better.
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