Today’s picture is one I took last year…
So who’s celebrating what?
Looking forward to hearing your ideas….will share mine on Tuesday 🙂
Tag Archives: Creative writing
The Blooming Blurb
*sighs deeply*
Ok, so I’ve been working on my blurb for “But Not Forgotten” recently, and the current version is below…..See what you think…..
Married to successful accountant Daniel, Laura has it all. A nice house, nice car and money in the bank. But when Daniel kills himself, the events of 1984 re-emerge, threatening everything Laura holds dear, including her daughter Ruby.
Ruby and Laura need to learn how to rebuild their lives. But Daniel’s brother Ronnie tries everything in his power to reek revenge on his brother, and those he loved. Laura finds herself torn between the two brothers. Will she be able to throw everything away, to rekindle her love for Ronnie? And if she can, how will she cope with Daniel still controlling her from beyond the grave?
The Write Inspiration posted an excellent article recently, giving advice for blurb writing. Do have a read if you’re struggling like I am lol
So is it too short? Rubbish? Ok? Your thoughts would be much appreciated 🙂
My orchid is blooming, my blurb, unfortunately, isn’t lol 😉
I’ve Been Out, Visiting
I am no longer a guest virgin *cheers*
Ive done my first guest post, well, it’s not exactly a post, its a piece of writing, called Ashes, inspired by a prompt that CC gave me.
The prompt was being caught in the rain and if you want to go have a read, you’ll find it on CC’s Blog
I don’t often post my work online because you can’t get it published (ie sell it) if it’s already appeared somewhere online 😦 But, as I’m concentrating more now on my novel I’m not gunna worry so much about it 😉
so go have a read and tell me what you think 🙂
Free Writing In Bath
Bath the city, not in my bathroom….although, that’s not a bad idea lol 😉
I was up at 5am yesterday morning, sitting in the grounds of the hotel with my cup of tea by 5.15, and of course, with my notepad.
I was sat on a bench with this pond in front of me:
And with this view to my left:
A perfect setting for some free writing 🙂
My fingers are numb from the cold, but the ducks don’t seem to mind. Preening themselves on a rock in the middle of the pond. The only sounds are the cascading water from the fountain and the seagulls, calling to each other high above the tree’s. I’m surrounded by sandy Bath stone, drawn back in time to Jane Austen’s Georgian elegance. The trees towering over my head envelope me in an enchanted forest and remind me of just how insignificant I am. I’ve been coming here, on and off, for 17 years now, but i am such a small blip on this historical city. Nothing really changes, apart from the people, the constant stream of tourists. The stone facades weather and age, just like the people’s faces.
As you get older, birthdays inevitably bring with them a sense of loss. The idea that we’ve wasted years, thrown away chances and allowed ourselves to be pushed and pulled in directions we didn’t want to go. The hopes and dreams of childhood are long gone and the realisation of an ordinary life are what’s left. Most of us, just sit by our pond, like the ducks, with no attempt to make any impact on the world around us. Perhaps I don’t want to be a duck any more, not even one that lives in such beautiful surroundings.
Ooooo, that was a bit melancholy lol. Actually, I wasn’t in a melancholy mood, but I did continue this piece of writing further. It turned into the start of a story about a woman who walked out of her home on the eve of her 49th birthday. I haven’t got a clue why, or where she is going….yet 😉
Bath is my favourite city outside of London. I love the history of it, the Georgian elegance, and so did Jane Austen, who set 2 of her books there. I like the idea of writing a novel set in a place I love. And of course, you’d have to spend a lot of time there for research 😉 So whats your favourite city and why?
Who Are They?
To give my brain a rest on a Sunday, from now on, (ha bloody ha….like my brain will rest, I’ll probably spend most of the day thinking up blog posts for next week lol). Sundays will be photo sharing day. I take a lot of photos and most of them I use as writing prompts
So grab a pen, your notebook, and a coffee….and see what you can one up with for this?
Who are this couple? Why are they there? Do they live there? Work there?
What’s the story? I’d love to hear your ideas.
I’ll share my ideas tomorrow 🙂
Chapters
THIS POST HAS BEEN REMOVED
can you think of anything else that needs to be added to the list?
Character Sketch – Say Hi To Shirley & Daniel
Shirley is a single mum who has brought up her son Daniel with no support from her family. Her ex, Daniels father, is in prison for murder. When their relationship broke down because he was violent towards her, he stalked her for 3 years before finally stabbing to death Shirley’s next door neighbour Tom. He thought the guy was her new boyfriend.
All that happened 10 years ago now and Shirley is scared about his release. Daniel is now 15 and remembers little of the events. He is a quiet boy, caring and sensitive, not at all like his father. Shirley is very proud of him. He’s doing well at school and wants to be a policeman.
Shirley works part time as a receptionist at a local vets, within walking distance of her home. She enjoys it, as she loves the animals, but they’re not allowed any in their rented flat. As Daniel is still at school she claims benefits, so although they can’t afford luxuries, they manage. Daniel has been looking for a Saturday job to help out but can’t find one.
Shirley sometimes gets lonely, the other receptionists at work have set her up on several blind dates, but she finds it hard to trust anyone now, seeing all men as bullies and possible psychopaths. Daniel hasn’t had a girlfriend yet and Shirley is petrified of losing her little boy.
At 5 foot 6 she is painfully thin (but not through choice) and often looks pale and drawn. Her hair is a natural golden colour. Daniel looks like her and is also painfully thin, but has his fathers dark hair and eyes.
Shirley loves to do cross stitch and has started making them into cards, which she gives to the local Cats Protection League shop in town. She volunteers there every Saturday morning after walking to the library with Daniel where he uses the Internet, as they can’t afford access at home. Shirley feels guilty that she can’t give Daniel the things he wants.
Daniel is a loner, he doesn’t have any close friends that he sees outside school. He enjoys reading and playing on his games console (one of the other receptionists at Shirley’s work gave it to her when her son got the newer model). He loves his mum to bits but there’s a little piece of him that hopes he’ll see his dad again when he is released…..
Awwwww, poor Shirley & Daniel, I so want them to be happy 🙂 But, in the life of a fictional character, things are never easy. Will the ex track them down? I have a sneaky suspicion he will 😉
The Work In Progress
Affectionately referred to as WIP 😉
I haven’t exactly told you anything about it have I? Oh dear, me bad lol. Well, to be honest, it wasn’t a WIP until recently, it was more like an WNP (work not progressing) lol
Back in 2010 I decided to take part in Nano, which, at the time, was a ridiculous task to undertake, as I’d only been to a couple of creative writing lessons at my local Adult Ed and hadn’t written a thing (fictional) since leaving school (and no, I’m not telling you how many years ago that was lol). But, always up for a challenge, I threw myself into Nano, and wrote 65,000 words in just under 2 weeks. Once I’d started, I couldn’t stop 🙂
But, once I did stop, I couldn’t start again, and the poor little MS ended up languishing on my Netbook, unfinished, until last month.
My success at Nano (I’ve completed both 2010 & 2011) I put down to the fact that I don’t edit, at all, not in the slightest. So there are spelling mistakes, full stops missing, capital letters that have wandered off, you name it. I find it very easy to write like that, but, the mammoth editing task has meant that summoning up the strength and courage to attempt to edit has been my downfall 😦
So with the encouragement of my tutor at writing classes, last month, I tentatively opened the file for the first time in, ooooo, 16months lol. It did have an outing in August 2011, where the first 2 chapters were printed off and given to Emma Darwin for a critique. Her comments and thoughts about it were pretty positive (thank heavens) so why wasn’t that enough to get me fired up to finish it?
To be honest, it’s my age old problem…..I don’t know how to finish it, I don’t know how I want it to end lol. I even did a poll on FaceBook, asking my friends, do you prefer a happy ending? The general consensus was yes, but, that as long as it was “satisfying” it didn’t necessarily need to be happy. Oh, come on guys, you’re no help, I wanted a definitive yes or no answer!!!! Lol
Sooooo, anyway, I have now edited the prologue, changed it from 3rd person to 1st person at Emma Darwin’s suggestion, and I’m just about to start editing the first chapter *gulp*
So now you know the title 😉 as for genre, that’s a hard one. I haven’t written a synopsis yet (something else that needs doing lol) so the only way I can describe it is by saying its a family saga about 2 brothers and it’s written in the omniscient POV (each chapter is in 3rd person centring around a different character). It starts with a suicide, theres murder, corruption, love, sadness and a young woman who discovers the father she thought was her father was actually her uncle lol. When my husband read it he said it was like reading a film, ie different scenes. Sounds confusing I know, but I guess, once I finish it and get a couple of Beta readers, we’ll see if it really is readable 😉
So how about that ending? do you agree with my Facebook friends? Do you prefer a happy ending?
Critiquing With Confidence
I’m part of an all female writing group, called The Mermaids. But, from what I now know about writing groups this is in fact, a critique group. We submit our work via e mail and then meet up once a month to give critiques. This months meeting is on the 14th and I have a whole folder of stuff I have to read and use the red pen on lol
I read a post a couple of weeks ago over at 4am Writer entitled The Power of a Critique which has prompted this post 🙂
I use to hate critiquing…..all I ever use to write on my fellow writers work was “really liked this well done” lol. Probably because (a) I didn’t want to upset them, put them off writing or come across as, oh, what’s the word? Superior? Especially when (IMO) my writing was probably worse. And (b) because really, I didn’t know how to critique.
That all changed when I started attending classes at The Write Place where Elaine gave us slips of paper to use when we critique. The slips contained a list of questions to apply to the work we were critiquing and now, I use this set of questions all the time. I hope they’re helpful to any of you who struggle (as I did) when asked to critique a fellow writers work 🙂
(1) Did the title grab you?
(2) How about the opening paragraphs?
(3) Characters: Were they believable?
(4) Was there a strong plot?
(5) How about the ending, was it satisfying?
(6) Does it suit the market that the writer is aiming for?
I’d also like to add my own one that’s not on Elaine’s list……
(7) Did the dialogue work?
We use these questions in class to critique short stories, so I’m not sure how they would relate to a novel, or one chapter of a novel.
How do you feel about critiquing? Love it? Hate it? Muddle through? 😉
As a side note…..yesterday I read on Clarbojahn’s Blog about the OREO method of critiquing. Some good advice *nods in agreement* 🙂
Notebooks – Finding What Works For You
Firstly, thank you so much, everyone, for your suggestions yesterday on how to get myself motivated, I really appreciate it 🙂 One thing I realised (along with many others!) is that I need to be more organised lol…..so I’m hoping this will help 🙂
I usually skim read The Writers Forum magazine when it thuds onto the doormat…..stick it in my pile of TBR magazines and then forget about it for 3 months. But this month, an article by Simon Whaley caught my eye so I just had to read it 🙂
In Notebook Know How, Simon explains how he has different notebooks for different things. Now, I’ve always been the one notebook for everything kinda gal. But reading Simons article made me realise that yep, he’s right, I can never find anything lol. I’m now on my 13th notebook, and though I can mostly remember what was in a previous book, I haven’t got a clue what was in say, book 4 lol
So as from the beginning of May I started working with 7 notebooks, all at the same time. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, 7 is a bit excessive, but, I can’t seem to cut it down to any less than that (Simon himself says that he has 6). Here are the books I’ll be working with:
Ideas Book – Where I’ll put ideas for stories, titles, articles I’m interested in, name ideas for characters, blog ideas and useful web site addys.
Prompts Book – Where I do my daily prompts.
Characters Book – As you know, I do a lot of characters, so a notebook dedicated to them will make it a lot easier when I’m trying to find one.
Goals/To Do List Book – I’ve decided to start each week with a set of goals, so a notebook dedicated to them would make sense.
Novel Notebook – A notebook dedicated to my current WIP novel, anything and everything that relates to it.
Dumping Book – The book that I take to my writing class and take out and about with me for free writing sessions.
Nano 2012- I’ve prepared a notebook for my A-Z characters, so I can add stuff that I come across which might be useful.
Simon says (i lovethat!) he uses his dumping book and then at the end of every day transfers the information into the categorised books. He says the transfer process also gives him an opportunity to develop the ideas further. Yeah, I can see that, extra work yes, but good to go over stuff I think.
How many notebooks do you work with and why?
I’ll let you know whether it was a good idea or a bad one in a couple of months LMAO 🙂
The View Outside 