Must Do’s 25th to 31st March

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Sorry for the lateness of this post….I’m having Internet problems *mutter grumble* which should be sorted tomorrow….yeah, we’ll see!

Well, last week was a bit up and down. A mixture of highly productive and complete procrastination. On the plus side I now know all about the first ever legal brothel in America and what the expression “Bugger Bognor” means lol….don’t ask!

Highlight of the week was a luncheon on Friday with some RNA ladies 🙂

So last weeks list looked like this:

1. Continue to work on Still. I’ve been using prompts fairly successfully recently. To get me back into writing as I was really struggling. What I’ve been doing is using the prompts to prompt (lol) scenes for the novel, some of which will never actually appear in it. But I’ve found it good practice and its got me back in the mood. So no official word count as such, but I’ve probably written 5000 words that are fragmented scenes. I’m pleased with that 🙂

2. Finish 250 word Synopsis for Faber. Done, but it still needs work (thank you Jane!).

3. Do some work on the A-Z Challenge – Research. Nope, I must confess, I didn’t. No, actually that’s not true, I did have a look at some web sites, and bought a book, but that was as far as I got.

4. Catch up with blogs I haven’t read yet. I did, but I’m behind again 😦

Before I forget, thank you so much to everyone who’s commented on my character sketches. It’s been really helpful to hear other people’s opinions about Laura, Ruby, Ronnie & Daniel. I’m going to print them all off and stick in my “Still Bible” 🙂

So this week is looking like this:

I’m going to work on a timetable, but rather than dividing my day up, I’m going to have specific days for specific things, and see if that works lol. I’m finding that reading is taking a huge back seat and I don’t want it to 😦 So perhaps if I can allocate different days for different things….that might work eh? Lol….wish me luck!

So what are your writing plans for the week?

Faber Session 27 – A Sense Of Time and Place

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Firstly, HUGE apologies that I’m so behind with e mails and blog comments. I was out all day Friday, then my Internet went down Friday night, and I’ve been out all day today. We’ve luckily got 2 Internet connections in the house so I’m using the boys one at the moment….Engineer coming tomorrow, but in the meantime it’s a bit up and down so please bare with me 🙂

I’m not even gunna begin to tell you how cold it was in London today. When I arrived at 9.10 it was snowing, and it continued to snow until about 4pm. I’m just relieved it didn’t settle, especially as The Hubster was meeting me in Covent Garden after class for dinner.

So today’s class was about “time” and “place” but we also did some work on pitching & synopsis, but I’ll save that for another day 🙂 a really interesting session, especially with all the time frame/structure problems I’ve had with Still.

Some of my notes:

If you can, walk around the place your novel is set. Look for things you normally don’t notice, the tiny details, for example, what’s in the gutters.

Establish how important the setting is in your novel. Is it a minor character, or a major one? The bigger the part it plays, the more detail you need to add.

Don’t forget to remind the reader every so often where they are.

Use all the senses to describe a place. Even if its just a room, that room will have a smell.

Don’t use descriptive comparisons that the reader won’t understand, ie, not everyone knows what a Peony smells like, but will be able to relate to a Rose.

Compare the landscape to emotion but don’t forget if a character is describing a place, the way they feel, and the way they feel about the place will influence the words you use.

When setting your story in the past think about how society was. What they believed in, their morals. For example, someone in the 70’s wouldn’t care about the environment.

WHY is your novel set in the era it is? Do you have a good enough reason?

Be careful when using different time zones that it doesn’t end up too fragmented.

Cloud Atlas and The Hours are good examples of different time frames used successfully.

Read books, newspapers & magazines that were published the year your novel is set in.

Don’t forget that people don’t think in the present, our internal thoughts jump about between past, present and future. Use that when writing from a characters POV.

When writing a chronological story you don’t need to include every day. Jump days, months or weeks if need be.

This gave me a lot to think about….but I’d be especially interested if you guys know of any other examples of novels that use different time frames successfully?

Only a couple more classes left….I’m really gunna miss it 😦

Here’s the view from my class room window today of the British Museum….

Oh, and of course, I bought a couple of books in my lunch hour 😉

Desperate Dan

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Photo from Wikipedia

So here’s the final character from Still, Daniel…and no, he looks nothing like Desperate above 😉

Daniel was born in November 1953 to middle class parents who lived in a semi-detached house they owned on the outskirts of Blackheath in South East London. Daniels father was an accountant, his mother a housewife. He had a younger sister who his father adored. The Hopwood’s happy family home looked from the outside perfection itself, but Daniels father was cold towards his son. He often became violent when he was drunk and used a belt to punish Daniel, often for no reason, on a regular basis.

Intelligent but introverted, Daniel didn’t mix well at school, and was often bullied. At secondary school he met Ronnie, who intervened when an older boy was picking on him and the two struck up a friendship. As an adult Daniel had convinced himself that the only reason Ronnie had rescued him was to make himself look good. Daniel would often do Ronnies homework and in return Daniel spent most of his time at Ronnies house, preferring that to being at home around his father.

With mousy hair and grey eyes he was rugged in his looks and awkward around girls. He lacked social skills and preferred his own company to that of others.

After leaving school he trained under his father as an accountant, his father’s choice, not his, and when he was 16 he was with Ronnie when they met Laura. Daniel thought at the time she was beautiful, but unfortunately, it was Ronnie who had the guts to ask her out. Daniel prayed that their relationship wouldn’t last and during the year that it did he found himself falling in love with Laura, trying to keep his distance and his feelings from Ronnie.

When Laura and Ronnie broke up Daniel began to start visiting Laura, as a shoulder to cry on, and it was Daniel she confided in when she discovered she was pregnant. With no hope of reconciliation between Laura and Ronnie, Daniel began to worm his way into Laura’s affections, and became her rock. He stood by her when she gave birth to her daughter and when he finally found the courage to ask Laura to marry him she accepted. He promised that he would treat Laura’s daughter Ruby as if she was his own, and at the time, he meant it.

When Laura became pregnant with Daniels child he began to resent Ruby’s presence. As far as he was concerned Ruby was ruining the happy life he wanted with Laura and taking up Laura’s time…time that she should be spending with him, and of course, she looked so like Ronnie. A huge argument resulted in Daniel lashing out and Laura losing the baby. They were later told that Laura would be unable to have more children. Daniel was ashamed and wracked with guilt but became even angrier with Laura, believing that she was still in love with Ronnie.

He became spiteful, aggressive and domineering, to the point where even though he knew the way he was behaving was wrong he couldn’t help himself.

Laura had a break down and was sent to hospital. Daniel was relieved that Ruby had gone to stay with Laura’s mother and during Laura’s absence he started drinking heavily and sleeping with other women. When Laura returned he tried to make amends but then his father died and all the hurt and pain of his childhood came crashing down on is shoulders.

Laura left him but he persuaded her to come back, truly believing that he would, could, change and that Laura was the only person who understood him. He tried to be kind, gentle and loving. The man he had been all those years ago, but the strain was too great. Believing that Laura didn’t love him, and wondering why she had come back, he found himself attracted to a woman at work and was making plans to leave. But Laura found out and by the time Daniel realized what a huge mistake he was making it was too late.

Laura packed her bags and Daniel knew it was the final straw and that Laura meant it. In his anger he told her that he didn’t need her and had never loved her as she left, but inside his heart was breaking and he knew that he didn’t deserve the woman he had destroyed.

So now you’ve seen all 4 sides of the story. These 4 characters have been part of my life for 2.5 years, and I just can’t let go of them. They don’t talk to me like I know some writers say their characters do, but I’m so attached to them lol

For some reason The Hubster isn’t gelling with our Daniel, but can’t say why. Is there something missing? Should he be more dislikable?

Tomorrows post will be a little bit late….as I’m up at Faber all day 🙂

Bedtime For Bonzo? (the-view-outside.com)
Goodbye Ruby Tuesday (the-view-outside.com)

Fruition and Why I Blog

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

As you know, I don’t normally post on a Wednesday, but, I have a very special reason today. It just so happens that two guest posts I’ve done recently have both gone live at the same time.

Firstly, I’m over at Mandy Eve Barnett’s blog being interviewed about my writing (she’s put me under fruition, but I can’t think why lol).

AND

I’m over at Sydney Aaliyah’s blog telling her followers Why I Blog.

Thank you so much ladies, it was fun!

A few days back Patsy Collins nominated me (thank you so much honey!) for The Reality Blog Award. The rules are, acknowledge acceptance, answer the questions and pass it on….simples 🙂

The questions:

If you could change one thing, what would it be?  Ooooo, only one? Lol 😉 I wish I’d never started smoking.

If you could repeat an age, what would it be?  Thats hard….Probably my late teens, happy days 🙂

What one thing really scares you?  Dying! Not because of the pain or illness, because of leaving people I love behind 😦

If you could be someone else for a day, who would it be?  The Queen….just to see what it’s really like 😉

So I’m going to nominate:

Mandy Eve Barnett
AND
Sydney Aaliyah

Keep it real ladies 😉

Faber Session 26 – Agent & Editor Q&A

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

I had such a mare of a journey getting to class yesterday, you would not believe it even if I could be bothered to go into the ins and outs. But let’s just say, everything that could go wrong….did! So I ended up being trapped in St Pancras station for a while. Still, it wasn’t all bad…I managed to have my cake fix in Peynton & Byrne 😉

An orange and plum cake that was very nice! Just a shame it didn’t come with a dollop of Mascapone on the side, but anyway, back to class.

I finally made it, having to walk about 2 miles and with drenched feet *sighs* but it was worth the struggle. Today’s guests were Mary Morris, Fiction Editor at Faber & Faber and Claire Conville from Literary Agency Conville & Walsh.

Now, you know me, I took 10 pages of notes, so I’ll just try to give you the gist of it:

Agents have become more proactive in recent years especially with editing.

At Conville & Walsh they have 1 guy who manages the slush pile and goes through all the submissions.

If a MS has a strong voice, everything else about the novel can be fixed.

It’s not unknown for Claire to work with an author for up to 10 drafts of an MS to get it right before submitting to a publisher.

The Agent will come up with the “one sell line” for the publisher. A Tagline for the book that helps with Marketing.

Claire will read 3 chapters only. If she likes it she’ll continue, if she doesn’t, she won’t read on.

When searching for an agent, look in the acknowledgements section of books you think may be a similar genre to your own.

If a writer hasn’t got it by the 4th edit, they probably never will. Agent edit suggestions are meant to inspire and trigger ideas to make the book better.

What works? How do I bag that agent? …..A wonderful MS! A strong title helps.

Have your work professionally edited, and mention that in the cover letter….it shows you’re serious about your novel.

And finally, something that I’d never heard of…..
Mary mentioned “Literary Scouts” so I couldn’t wait to get home and Google it and i found THIS! Literary Scouts let publishers know the gossip on interesting MS’s that are doing the rounds.

Do they have Literary Scouts everywhere, or is it just a London thing?

A very interesting session 🙂

Must Do’s 18th to 24th March

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Firstly, thanks to everyone for their comments on Janes Saturday post….personally, I still can’t make my mind up 😉

It’s been a good week, the highlight being meeting up with Pauline Conolly (who was visiting from Australia) and Madalyn Morgan for lunch at The British Museum followed by cake at The Cordon Bleu Cafe 🙂

So here’s what I managed to achieve last week:
1. Faber homework. There wasn’t any lol. Tonight’s session is with an agent.
2. Add/do 1000 words on Still. Well, I didn’t do 1000 words, but it was about 500.
3. Do the 250 word synopsis. I now have 95 words lol
4. Catch up with blogs and emails. This is such an ongoing thing that I’m not going to add it in future. Just be aware that I am always behind 😦
5. Have a play with Scrivener. Well, I did open it, did start reading the guide, all 539 pages of it! *gulp*
6. Finish my book. Epic fail 😦 But only because I’ve done quite a bit of writing this week. I’ve gone back to basics and been handwriting every day. It’s worked with getting me inspired again. I’ve been using the prompts to write scenes for the novel 🙂

Must Do’s for this week are:

I really must make a start on the research for the A-Z challenge!

What are your writing plans for the week?

Jane Ayres Asks What if?

Posted on March 16, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Food for thought from my fellow blogging friend Jane Ayres which I found very interesting considering my WIP is all about the consequences of choices 😉

What if? What then? Problem solving for writers.

Writers are constantly asking “What if?” And after we have answered this question, it then follows, “What then?” This got me thinking about the choices we make, as human beings and as writers. One aspect of writing fiction that I love is that of problem solving. We create a situation for our characters (or vice versa) and as the narrative unfolds, we have to work out how to develop and resolve subsequent events. There will be questions to pose and answer and obstacles to navigate before a satisfactory conclusion is reached. We create a series of problems which we then have to solve.

I’ve been reading a wonderful collection of essays by journalist and screenwriter Nora Ephron (who sadly passed away last year) called I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman and one of the essays, The Story of my Life in 3500 Words or Less, relates a story told by film director Mike Nichols, which he uses to make a point about a conversation they have.
I’m going to do my own version of the story (there will be many versions), but with the same outcome as the original. At the end is a question.

My version of the story:
A couple live in a remote location. The husband goes off to work and his wife takes a bus journey to the nearest town to see her secret lover. (Her husband has the car). After her illicit assignation, it’s late and she misses the last bus home. Desperate to get back before her husband discovers her gone, she pleads with a taxi driver to take her home. Exploiting the situation he demands triple the normal fare, which she doesn’t have. So she starts to walk home and is attacked and killed by a stranger.

The question is, whose fault is it? Who is responsible for her death? The woman, her husband, her lover, the taxi driver or the killer? All of these? None of these?
It’s not a trick question and there is no right or wrong answer. Everyone will respond differently. When I first saw this, my answer was immediate, my judgement instant. Then I began to think about the way choices lead to consequences. How much more information, if any, do we need to consider our response? The process of answering these questions (and the reasons we give for our answers) is both a valuable springboard for our own creative narratives, and offers an insight into how and why we engage with characters in fiction.

If you get stuck writing your short story or novel, go back and see what would have happened if your character/s had made different choices. Which in turn might change another aspect of the story. Why are they motivated to behave the way they do? What would you do if you were them? If the story then ends differently, would it have started at a different place or point in time?
Is that why we write? Because we can’t help asking questions? What if we stopped exercising our imaginations? What then?

Footnote: I’m curious – who do you think was to blame for the woman’s untimely end? Would the response change if the characters and situations of the husband and wife had been reversed?

Jane’s recent e-book, Coming Home, is available from Amazon.co.uk and .com with all author royalties going to the charity Cats Protection.

Bedtime For Bonzo?

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

I bet that title has confused you *snigger* 😉

The third (and probably my favourite) character from “Still” let me introduce you to Ronnie, but I guess he could have been a Ronald 😉 Please excuse any errors, this is taken from my note book.

Ronnie was born in February 1953 to an Irish father and English mother who were never actually married. His parents lived on a Council Estate in Lee, South East London. The youngest son of 4 boys he was a tear away (so his mother Liz said) from the moment he could walk.

Curly auburn hair when he was a toddler (which, as an adult only begins to curl when he needs a haircut) and deep blue eyes like his fathers, his ruddy complexion meant that he always looked like he’d been dashing around, but then, most of the time he had. He always had an abundance of energy that continued into adulthood.

Not doing well in school he preferred to play truant and found himself in detention frequently. His mother despaired, but he was her favourite. When he was 12 his father Patrick left the family and went back to Ireland because he couldn’t find work, leaving his mother to bring up the four boys on her own. At secondary school he met Daniel and they became best friends. Although from very different backgrounds the boys shared a love of fishing. It was the only thing he could really remember doing with his father.

At 15 he left school and got himself an apprenticeship with a local builder. He enjoyed being outside, the manual work and the banter with the other workers. But with two of his older brothers involved in petty crime it wasn’t long before he found himself with a police caution.

At 17 he met Laura, a girl who served him in a local café where he and Daniel often met. He asked her out and within weeks they become “a couple” spending a lot of time at the local pub and having a weekend away at his aunts caravan. They were inseparable for a year.

Ronnie started to get friendly with a group who knew his brothers and they introduced him to drugs. His relationship with Laura suffered, and Ronnie moved out of home and into a squat. He and Laura split up and his is mother Liz contacted his father because she was worried.

His father Patrick returned to London in 1972 and with their parents back together the whole family moved back to Ireland, his mother agreeing as she wanted to get Ronnie away from the drug culture he had become embroiled in.

Ronnies father was a struggling builder, but with the help of his sons they made a success of the business and it thrived. He often thought about Laura and Daniel, wondered what happened to them, but as the years went by he put them to the back of his mind.

With a huge zest for life he likes to play practical jokes and to be the center of attention. In his early 20’s he married an Irish girl, but they divorced after only 3 years with no children. Ronnie threw himself into work and with 7 nieces and nephews he was content to stay single and still play the field.

He still walks with the arrogant swagger he had as a teenager, but at 45 he is lonely, realising that he can no longer chat up women like he used to. One of his brothers has suggested he use a dating agency, but he is too embarrassed. Loyal, attractive for his age (although grey and balding) and with a successful business, he is still hot headed. He plays golf with his brothers.

He receives a letter from a young woman in Kent called Ruby, who thinks she may be his daughter and they speak on the telephone. The old memories of Laura and Daniel come flooding back and he immediately makes plans to travel to Kent. He is excited at the prospect of being a father, but even more so about seeing Laura. He regrets the way he treated her and wants to make amends.

So what has my character Ronnie got to do with Bedtime for Bonzo? I’m kinda thinking that Ronnie’s mum had a bit of a thing for Ronald Reagan 😉

Faber Session 25 – Editing

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Now come on, you know the drill, lets get cake porn out of the way first…

Yesterday I had Lemon Cheesecake…mmmmmm 🙂

And in my search for a sweet kick I just happened to stumble into The Book Warehouse, where I picked up this large hardback for the bargain price of £4.99 🙂

So I was well chuffed, if not incredibly cold! It had been snowing here most of yesterday, and I decided to risk going to class*

So last night we talked about editing. Now, do you remember all my guests that talked about editing back in December and January? No? Well, click the tab above to check some of the great posts out. Basically, a lot of what we covered last night I already knew, but it doesn’t hurt to have a recap. If only I could actually do it lol.

Some of my notes:

Which part is the fun part? The first draft or the editing? My tutor prefers the editing (mad man! Lol)

Its hard to be both writer and editor, so don’t! Seek help.

All writers have a tick. A phrase or word we overuse. Be aware of yours. Mine is “in fact” lol

Wait until you’ve finished the first draft before revising or editing.

Keep telling yourself it’s a masterpiece! Ha ha ha!

Dont edit the charm and sparkle out of a piece.

Every book is imperfect and the author will always want to change it if he/she had the chance 5 years later.

So what am I missing? Why don’t I find editing/revising fun? Help me out guys? How do I put the “fun” into editing?

*did manage to make it home through the snow, thanks to The Hubster who spent most of his evening battling through snow, traffic, and stuck cars to pick me up. The drive home was pretty scary! Thanks honey 🙂

Best Sites for Editing Tips Online (english.answers.com)

Must Do’s 11th to 17th March

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Vikki Thompson

Last Mondays critique at Faber threw me into a bit of confusion, as my To Do List was compiled the day before…you’ll see what I mean when you read on.

So last weeks list was a bit hit and miss 😉

1. Faber homework. Done!
2. Sort out notes from Faber critique. Hmmmm, well, I did, kind of, but I’ve been toying with what to do all week. I’m still unsure of what way to go, but, I need to make a decision. I think I know what I want to do, whether it will work or not is another matter 😉
3. Work on Faber Synopsis. Nope…how can I write a synopsis when I don’t know how it’s going to be structured? Lol
4. Add 2000 words to Still. Nope 😦
5. Catch up with E Mails and Blogs. Done, but I’m constantly behind!
6. Do some studying. Yep, I’m enjoying Celia Brayfields Bestseller

So this week is looking like this…