Pocket Novels

Posted on by

Today, I will be spending a considerable amount of time reading a pocket novel 🙂

Why? Because I’ll be attending a workshop hosted by Sally Quilford all about pocket novels on Saturday. I’m hoping Sally can help me write stuff that is a bit more lighthearted….a bit more along the lines of my Flash piece I did the other day.

I uploaded my final Reflective Commentary to my Blogspot blog. It’s sad in a way. I’ve spent 11 months studying creative writing and I’ve learnt so much. This final 3000 word assignment will be to show everything I’ve learnt. I’m thinking of doing the story I wrote Tuesday, about the young guy and his boss. Should be able to drag that out for 3000 words 😉

Yesterday I attended my writing group, with my head held high….because….. I now officially have an “out there!” lol. I sent off my Swanwick competition entry, it’s gone, on it’s way to the judges via Royal Mail. It was a good night…..we have some very talented members 🙂

Two very interesting articles I stumbled upon yesterday…..Self Editing and Writers Checklist will be consumed with relish today. I need all the help I can get if I’m going to start submitting lol

Yesterday’s prompt was to write about a lovers pillow. I found it really hard. It brought up/back an old wound thats still smarting, so I only managed about 100 words before I gave up…. Onwards and upwards yeah? 😉

Today’s prompt is it was a lie and all I’m gunna say is ouch lol….not looking forward to this one either lol

A Touch Of Positivity

Posted on by

I was feeling a bit, oh, I dunno…..blah…..on Monday lol. Thank you for your kind and helpful comments 🙂

I’m the kind of person that will always pick myself back up, dust myself down and get on with it, but something really helped me put it into perspective yesterday….. An e mail hit my inbox from Brad Geagleys blog which made me smile……

The exact words that lifted my mood were……

“But the drive to write, the compulsion to report, the urge to arrange words for the simple desire of communicating your thoughts, is natural only to born writers. Really – who would wish to spend their time alone most of the day, locked in your head, trying to accurately describe the visions you see that seem to exist somewhere between your eyes and the computer screen…? Isn’t that like schizophrenics trying to accurately describe the voices they hear?”

I hope Brad doesn’t mind me quoting him, but, his words gave me a great boost 🙂

I do have that desire to write, I’m passionate about it. Honestly, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to write a story a day since the 1st of January! Lol

So now, when Mr Procrastination comes knocking (which he will, I have no doubts on that score) I’m just going to tell him to bugger off, or, better still, leave him at home whilst I go out for a coffee 😉

And then of course, there were all the lovely comments to a piece of flash fiction I posted yesterday. Thank you so much if you commented, you made me smile 🙂

Today’s prompt turned into a story about a young guy being sexually harassed by his older, married, female boss 😉

My First Campaigner Challenge

Posted on by

I don’t normally make more than 1 post a day, but, today is different…..I have to do my challenge lol

The first Writers Platform Building Campaign Challenge has been set.

Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words,

“Shadows crept across the wall”

These five words will be included in the word count.
Write in the same genre you normally write
Make your story 200 words exactly

Here’s my offering. It’s kind of a stand alone piece, but, as I like to write quite dark stuff I can see it developing into a longer story, with quite a bit of nastiness *snigger*

Perfect

Shadows crept across the wall as Sophie made her way down the small alley that ran between the houses.
“Lee? Are you there?” There was no response, so she continued, picking her way through the stinging nettles. Searching her pockets for her torch, she shone the light out and jumped.
“Lee! Don’t do that!”
“Sorry Soph. It’s not far, follow me.” He placed a cold finger across her lips and winked.
Following him across the damp grass Sophie thought of her warm bed and the fact that she had to be up at six for work. But Lee was so charming. All the girls at work fell over themselves to talk to him, even the older married ones.
Suddenly, Lee stopped and crouched down. Sophie did the same, although she wasn’t quite sure why.
“What exactly are we looking for?”
“Shhhhh…..there, look.”
Sophie’s eyes followed his to a small mound of earth a few feet away.
“Oh wow.” She whispered.
“Gorgeous aren’t they?”
Sophie stared in wonder at the three badger cubs who were playing, oblivious to the human presence. It was then and there she decided, that she would be Mrs Lee Harding, no matter what the cost.

I can see this ending up with Sophie being obsessive about Lee, to the point where somebody is gunna get hurt 😉

Right, I spose I better get dressed now then lol

20120221-100125.jpg

Too Much Time On My Hands?

Posted on by

I think I’m repeating myself, but hey, bear with me, yesterday wasn’t a good day……

The writer Thomas McGuane goes to his study every day at a set time and stays there for an allocated period. He says “I don’t have to write, but I can’t do anything else.”

Oh, if only I had a study…..if only I had a desk! lol.

I’ve tried a timetable, I’ve tried a schedule, but theres something just not right about having to use the dining room table 😦

Writing is hard. You need to find the right balance that combines willpower, relaxation, stubbornness, joy and determination. It’s not the easy option as a career move.

I don’t have any trouble writing every day, as such, but I do find it hard to get motivated and not just faff lol. Do you think Thomas McGuane faffs? 😉

I think I have too much time to write lol…..don’t laugh, it’s not funny 😉

Author Nicholson Baker said that through the years he has turned down tons of jobs because his life would be too easy, a regular income would lessen his need to write (Ian Rankin said the opposite when I attended a talk he gave, he needed the lack of time).

Soooo, does that mean I need to get a job? Lol….or that I just need to be a bit tougher on myself? Or even softer on myself? I’m not sure which 😦

I need to remember the times when my creativity flowed, when writing was easy. Capture the feeling, the circumstances. The time of day, my mood, where I was and most importantly, what kind of thing I was working on. Set myself goals, short term ones, and rewards of course….I need lots of rewards!

Then think about all the obstacles that stand in my way. Decide how to overcome those obstacles.

But most importantly…..accept that the biggest obstacle is me and that if I really wanna do this, I need to stop procrastinating.

Yesterday’s prompt about stolen goods ended up being a little tale about a husband who brought home a present for his wife for mothers day…..a stolen gift 😉 Today’s prompt is write about staying awake and believe me, I know all about that one 😉

Editing

Posted on by

The last part of my OCA course is regarding editing *groan*

Why do I hate it so much? My palms get sweaty, my mouth goes dry….well, ok, perhaps it’s not that bad but, I do tend to avoid it. I never know exactly where to start 😦 The OCA has given me this handy little list to use while I’m editing, although I have added a couple of my own tips. Perhaps I need to print it out and stick it on my wall lol

1. Put the piece away for a relative period of time. A short story for 10-15 days, a novel for 6 weeks or more.

2. Retrieve it. On reading through try to think of it as someone else’s piece of work, try to be objective.

3. Read through. Have a highlighter pen and a red pen to hand. Use the highlighter to build your confidence by highlighting things you like, the good bits.

4. Use the red pen for:
Anything that makes you cringe.
Adjectives, adverbs, abstract nouns or cliches you spot.
Too many metaphors or similes.
Dialogue that does not flow or sounds stilted.
Characters that seem one dimensional.
Search for places where you “told” rather than “showed”.
Search for drama, have you got enough conflict?
Spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.

Look back over the highlighted sections. Sometimes it is necessary to tighten up the parts you liked best.

Put the work away for a couple of days.

Redraft and read the new version. If it feels smoother and more dramatic, call it quits, if not, start the process again.

Give it to someone else to read. Ask them not only to critique the story, but to point out any mistakes they may find.

Read it aloud.

Well, that all seems very easy…..now, where did I put those Stabilo’s 😉

Forgot to say *grins stupidly* I’ve been chosen as a giver for World Book Night on April 23rd 🙂 I got my first choice, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens even though I’ve never read it (I will now). My reasoning behind choosing the Dickens is because of where I live 😉 Dickens loved Rochester. He wanted to be buried here, in the grounds of the castle, but when he died Queen Victoria overruled his wish 😦

So I am thoroughly looking forward to giving the locals free copies of one of his books 🙂

Yesterday’s prompt was a real hard one 😦 I did a bit of investigation and discovered that the quote came from Rimbaud’s poem entitled Bottom. Its to do with Shakespeare’s Bottom character from A Midsummer Nights Dream and is about the loss of love….I was a bit stumped lol, but then I came up with the start of a short story. A guy who’s ex is due round to get her stuff, opens the front door and is hit over the head by someone. As he lays on the floor barely conscious, all he can see are shadows.

Todays prompt is stolen goods so that should be interesting 😉

Archetypal Structure

Posted on by

I’m a huge believer that the best stories are the ones with an element of truth behind them. I get a lot of my inspiration from real life events.

Someone on my FB friends page posted a link to this very sad story a couple of days ago. It got me thinking. Is it fair to turn other people’s pain into fiction? How easy would it be to take this article and turn it into a short story, but I’d be riddled with guilt 😦

Perhaps there’s a line that has to be drawn…….

As part of my course, yesterday I was reading about Archetypal Structures ie:

Journeys
The Quest
Rebirth
Monsters
The Siege
Tragedy
Comedy
Rags To Riches

Now I have to make a list of the last 10 books I’ve read and decide what Archetypal Structure they fit into. I have been very lapse on keeping a record of what I’ve read, so this is gunna be hard. I thought the easiest way would be to look at my GoodReads profile lol. You can’t really include short story anthologies or biographies can you lol

Into The Darkest Corner Now, this one is a combination IMO….. Journey, Quest, Rebirth, and there’s definitely a Monster. It’s also kind of Rags to Riches lol.

A Kind Of Vanishing I think this one is a Tragedy, but with an element of Quest.

Mr Chartwell Oh definitely Monster and Rebirth.

Bleed for Me A Journey, Quest, Monster and a Tragedy.

Quentins This is a difficult one as its a bunch of stories set in the same place, almost like reading a soap opera. Hmmmm, I think it’s absolutely every single type of structure lol.

Prophecy Is a Journey, Quest, Rebirth, Tragedy and Rags To Riches.

The Magic Of Fish Keeping (my current read) A Journey, Quest, Rebirth, Monster and Rags To Riches.

Sooo, isn’t that weird…every single book has more than one Archetypal Structure present, or am I being too analytical? 🙂

So my next task was to come up with a character, then choose a structure, then come up with ideas that would fit in with that structure. I decided to do it the other way round….I came up with the character, then brainstormed ideas that could happen to him, then looked at what structures would fit that. The results we’re pretty good, although, again, no happy endings for Mr Moorcroft….why am I so evil to my characters? *snigger* 😉

This has been a very interesting exercise as its made me realise I have a huge problem. I tend to start with a character and then want to knock them down. Surely, it should be the other way round…… Rags to Riches, not Riches to Rags lol

I’ve now finished all the exercises on my course, now all I have to do is the final assignment…..then what? I have to make some tough decisions on what I want to do next 🙂

Yesterday’s prompt about fruit picking Became the start of a story about a young girl picking strawberries for her mother *yawn yawn* lol. Today’s prompt is “Everything became shadow” after Arthur Rimbaud so a bit of investigation needed there I think 😉

Examples of Bad Writing?

Posted on by

Came across this list a couple of days ago…. The Bulwer Lytton Competition is a comp for bad writing. The winner is the person who comes up with the worst opening. I didn’t think some of them were too bad lol.

On my course at the moment I’m studying beginnings, middles and ends. I can’t make up my mind whether starting with dialogue is better than starting with a sense of place. Surely, the best opening sentence is one that makes your reader want to continue….full stop. It has to prick their interest….and even some of those bad ones I was intrigued about 😉

I was tagged again by Stacey through the Writers Platform-Building Campaign but I won’t be passing this one on….otherwise we’ll all end up being tagged about 20 times lol

Stacey asked me…..

1. Coffee or tea?
Tea mainly, but, I’m very partial to a Costa Latte 😉

2. Early bird or night owl?
Both lol….I tend to stay up late, and I tend to have a problem sleeping more than about 5 hours. My favourite part of the day is sunrise 🙂

3. If you could speak another language, what would it be?
Has to be Italian! I love the country, the food, the way they talk. My great grandparents were Italian and part of a Trapeze Troup lol.

4. What’s you favourite book and why?
My favourite all time book is Wuthering Heights. What can I say, I’m a romantic at heart.

5. Sweet or savoury?
My husband says my eyes light up when we go out or a meal and I’m given the dessert menu, so it has to be sweet lol.

6. Paper book or eBook?
Paper, definitely!!!!! I love real books, I have thousands lol.

7. Least favourite subject at school?
Anything physical, ie PE/games. I’ve never been sporty by any stretch of the imagination.

8. Do you have any strange habits?
Strange? Hmmmm…..what’s strange? Ok, I’m not OCD or anything like that, but, when I’m in the car and I have the stereo on I have to have the volume set at an even number *snigger* Please don’t ask me why, I haven’t a clue 😉

9. One place in the world you would love to visit?
There are loads…..too numerous to name lol…..I haven’t even see all the places I want to see in my own country yet lol

10. If you could choose a superpower what would it be?
To hear what people are thinking….dangerous I know, but at least you’d know where you stood 😉

11. Favourite smell?
Rose, creosote and paraffin….not necessarily in that order….my favourite perfume is CoCo by Chanel….I also really like the smell of coconut.

This tagging business reminds me of the Meme’s I use to do on LiveJournal lol

I managed to do some work on my course yesterday and before I knew it I think I found myself writing a romance lol. Read all about Diana and her key here. I don’t think I’ll ever run with it as a real story, if you know what I mean. It was just an exercise. Quite enjoyed it though. I’m kind if thinking along the lines that perhaps she never told Gino she was pregnant and perhaps she ends up back in Italy trying to find her son, who in turn is trying to find his father…..hmmmm….could work. My next Nano? Lol…..of course, I’d have to spend lots of time in Italy…..research darling, research 😉

It just goes to show you that by being given an item that you have to pair with a character, how a huge story can then grow out of that. Perhaps I could use it as the basis for my pocket novel when I do Sally Quilford’s workshop next week. I’m not so use to writing lighthearted stuff, but, if I want to submit any stories to the women’s magazines I really should make an effort not to be so dark lol

I’ve also posted some endings on my other blog…..hmmmm….I think they really sum up what I was saying about my writing being quite dark LMAO! 😦

Yesterday’s prompt wasn’t exactly inspiring anything lighthearted, so it ended up being about a woman in a graveyard, who meets a young boy, his eyes are the colour of a crows wing. Today’s prompt is write about picking fruit but I’m off up to London today, so who knows when it will get done lol

Am loving this cartoon I saw on FaceBook 🙂

20120217-104905.jpg

I’ve Been Tagged lol

Posted on by

As part of the Writers Platform-Building Campaign I’ve been tagged by Sarah to answer 11 questions.

The 11 questions Sarah has given me are:

1. What is your weapon of choice?
Ha ha ha, it has to be a fountain pen…..very dangerous in the wrong hands 😉

2. What is the name of the first story you wrote voluntarily?
It was Nanowrimo 2010….. 65,000 words lol. A story about a family, murder, suicide, corruption, and an undercurrent love story. It’s still not finished. It’s WIP title is The Secret Keepers

3. What genre do you write?
Hmmmm…..I’m not sure lol. Everything I write has a dark undercurrent. I’m not sure it really fits into a specific genre, contemporary fiction? 😦

4. Besides reading and writing what are at least 2 of your favourite past times?
I like watching films and I’m an Internet junky…..can I say blogging? Lol 😉

5. What is the coolest/strangest thing you’ve ever done?
Coolest was probably front row at a small Oasis gig…..strangest, for me was probably flying to Toronto all on my own to stay 4 nights at a convention where I didn’t really know anyone. I was sooo brave 🙂

6. What is the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever heard?
Never, ever give up. If you want to write…..write!

7. What are your 5 most used websites?
Wordpress- FaceBook – Google – Amazon – Wikipedia (I visit every single one every day!)

8. What is your favourite book, author, movie?
My books change frequently….at the moment it’s Into The Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes as for author? I couldn’t possibly pick one. It’s a toss up between Fay Weldon – Linda Gillard – Anita Shreve
Movies are My Fair Lady and Wuthering Heights, the one with Timothy Dalton in (swoon!)

9. If you could be invisible for 1 day what would you do?
Spend the day following a friend or family member around *evil snigger* 😉

10. What are your hopes for your writing future?
To have something published 😉

11. Is there anything else we should know about you?
No, not really, apart from the fact that I’m a huge cat and dog lover lol

So here are my 11 questions 🙂 I’ve tried to be, oh, what’s the word? I’ve tried to use questions that my tagee’s (is that actually a word?) could possibly use as writing prompts….in fact, hmmmm, I might use a couple of them myself lol

1. What thing have you written that you’re most proud of?
2. What are you working on at the moment?
3. Where would you like to see yourself in 5 years time?
4. You buy an old lamp, whilst cleaning it a genie appears…you know the rest lol. Your 3 wishes are?
5. List 2 of your bad habits? Come on, we all have some.
6. If you were a superhero, what special power would you have?
7. Tell us the name of one of your characters, one you really like?
8. What scares you?
9. Sum up your personality in 3 words?
10. Name 2 of your vices?
11. Do you have a pet peeve/hate? What is it?

I’m tagging:

Michael Haynes
Barbara McDowell
Yikici
Jamie Dement
Gwen
Jennifer McMurrain
Sorcha
Sherri Hutchins
RaeAnn

I managed to catch up with my animal dream prompt, which turned into a story of a woman waking up naked in the tigers cage at the zoo. Only she wasn’t actually in the cage, she was outside of it….work that out lol 😉 Yesterday’s Jewel prompt inspired a strange story of a housekeeper who puts on the ring of her employer, which she then can’t remove……today’s prompt is black as a crows wing which sounds rather interesting 😉

Really enjoyed my class Wednesday night, and got some great comments on my short story “Eating Out”…. Will now be submitting it to a comp and a magazine 🙂

That’ll Teach Me

Posted on by

I consumed way too much alcohol Tuesday night, so spent most of yesterday suffering for it lol. Baileys + Kir Royal + White Wine + Red Wine + Dessert Wine was a really bad idea 😦

I’m definitely no Ernest Hemingway I don’t write better under the influence, in fact, I find it hard to write at all lol….my brain is too fuzzy.

Came across this You Tube video a couple of days ago…..brilliant…..does that mean I’m a writer if I can relate to it? 😉

Yesterday I was reading about the difference between writing practice and journal writing. I fell into this whole “fiction writing” malarkey through my love of keeping a journal, and that all started because of dear Julia Cameron and The Artists Way.

20120215-082901.jpg

A fantastic book if you haven’t read it…..DO!

Anyway, I digress……

There isn’t much difference between the 2 processes, writing practice is usually more focused, a prompt or a topic. I don’t record my thoughts and feelings in my writing notebook like I use to in my journals. I love journalling, but it got to the stage where I was depressing myself lol. I was fed up re-reading the doom and gloom. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I would write about good stuff, but moments later I would find myself analysing again. I daren’t look back on any of them lol.

Sue Grafton says “The journal serves as a place to offload anxiety, a verbal repair shop when my internal writing machine breaks down.” Yeah, ok, I can see she has a point, but, I’m so sick of whining and moaning….I did that for about 6 years (in written form and with a Live Journal account).

I want to move on now 🙂 Yes, I still have moments when I feel like absolute shit, and perhaps one day I’ll go back to journalling…..but at the moment I’m projecting my moods onto my characters 😉

Managed to catch up with my prompts yesterday…..finish the romance one in the library and the one about animal dreams is still *ahem* unfinished 😦 There’s always one that ends up stalling me lol. Today’s one is a jewel which seems much easier than the animal dream 😉

Writing Tips

Posted on by

I’m always fascinated by tips that fellow authors give. Yesterday, I stumbled across some tips from David Ogilvy and yes, I know he wasn’t an author…..but, they’re still good tips 🙂

Write the way you talk, naturally
Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs
Never use jargon words judgmentally. They are hallmarks of a pretentious ass
Never send a letter or memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning-and then edit it.

Now these tips are referring to business writing, but, as far as I’m concerned they could just as easily be adapted to fiction.

It was Valentines day yesterday so hubby took me out or a lovely meal. I didn’t think it was appropriate to take my notebook lol…..but I especially liked the comment I overheard from the guy answering the phone. Someone was ringing to get a table and was told it was Valentines day. The caller obviously wanted a table for one as he was asked “can you not find someone to be your stand in wife?”…..hmmmm….there’s definitely a story there 😉

Oh, I was talking about films as inspiration the other day wasn’t I? Well, author and screenwriting tutor, Brad Geagley has put on his blog his list of essential films all of which have extremely strong stories. Out of the 84 film listed, I’ve seen 23…..that’s not great really is it. Think I need to raise my viewing standards 😉

Watch films, read, write, learn…..there just aren’t enough hours in the day lol

I didn’t do very well with yesterday’s prompt as I was faffing about making myself gorgeous for my meal out. But I did start it, a romance set in a library lol….don’t ask me why a library, I just couldn’t think of anywhere else where it would be inappropriate to whistle lol. Today’s prompt is write about animal dreams and I’m a bit apprehensive to say the least lol