I’m not all that good at writing short blog posts, but I’m going to give it a try, because I am deep, deep, deep in revisions. What, you thought I was done? Not quite. I finished my second draft and wrote ‘The End’ for the first time, which was huge, but although I now have a bookish looking thing, I still have quite a bit of smoothing to do.
Have you ever heard of Chekhov’s gun? Basically: If you place a gun on the wall in the first chapter, it must go off before the end. I like to think of a book as being made up of hundreds of threads. My job at this stage is to make sure each thread is present throughout the whole novel, and are all woven in nicely.
So while this draft isn’t as comprehensive as the last, it’s all about DETAILS, which is quite brain-consuming. There is never a moment in which I’m not thinking about my novel. If I’m talking to you and suddenly start staring off into space, it’s probably because I suddenly realized I lost a character somewhere around chapter four. Or, I forgot to mention an important item of back story which helps the protagonist live through the climax. Or maybe I need more moths (there are a lot of moths in this story). Also, this novel is kind of creepy, so you can imagine the kind of dreams I’ve been having.
One good thing about being at this stage is I’m really seeing the novel take shape. It’s kind of gorgeous, really. I set out to achieve something I didn’t even know if I was capable pulling off, but step by step I plodded along, and now I’m really seeing all my hard work pay off. I love this novel. Love, love, LOVE. It’s the best thing I have ever written and I’m terribly hopeful for its future.
So, forgive me, friends, colleagues, randoms on the internet. I am deep in revision territory and it may be a couple of weeks before I surface. But when I do, I may have a shiny new manuscript for you to enjoy!
There’s this thing that happens whenever I finish a big endeavor, whether it be uni exams or a novel. It’s so predictable I can pretty much put it in my calender, but I always hope this time will be different.
I get sick.
I’m really bad at taking breaks and slowing down. You know how I said I was taking this week off from writing? Yeah… I tried. But halfway through the week research books were delivered for my new novel, and then I had to type up the chapters I’d hand-written for Restless, and prepare for the read-through I’m doing this weekend…
As I said on Twitter, taking a break from writing is like communism. It sounds like a lovely idea, but in practice it Does Not Work.
Until your body decides to intervene and make you sick. So this week I’ve been stuck on the couch while we have one of the first sunny weeks of the summer, grrr.
I have managed to print off my manuscript, though. Look at the pretty:
Hand there to cover my address Can't figure out how to flip it so it isn't back to front, but you get the idea.
It feel so much more real now that it isn’t just a document on my computer!
In March I’ll be joining the March Madness Challenge. As I’ll be finished with Restless by that point (until my critique partners tell me all the things that are wrong with it, that is) I’ve been mulling what I should do. I was thinking I could start writing my planned next book, but it’s not quite at the stage that I’m ready to jump right in or commit fully to the one story.
Commitment is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. Like it or not, it takes me a fairly long time to write a book (six months for the first draft and at least that again for revisions) and I need to know the story I’m telling is one that will continue to excite me a year down the road, especially if it’s published, as then there are publisher-requested revisions, edits and a plethora of other book-related activities. It’s a big commitment.
The book I’m planning to write next is a lot like Restless. Not in subject matter, per se, but in tone and setting. In one way this is a good thing, as it means I might be finding my voice and style as a writer. But I worry that perhaps by writing this particular book I won’t be challenging myself. I won’t be learning anything new.
So, for March Madness I’ve decided to spread my wings a bit. For every week of March I’m going to write a short story in a different genre. I’m going to explore the possibilities. At the end of March, I think I’ll know whether to write the book I was planning, or to try something new altogether.
If you want to join March Madness (and please do, it will be fun!) I’m told Denise Jaden will be kicking off the festivities on her blog at the end of February.
Have a great weekend, all!
Cute right? Taken in Mt Rainier National Park, WA.
So on Friday something that never happens happened. Every part of my life came together to perfectly create the ideal writing environment. Firstly, I had an insanely good nights sleep on Thursday night (this is a rare and beautiful occurrence). Then I got off work four hours early (whee!). Thirdly, we had an abundance of coffee in the house, and because it was a Friday night I could have as much as I wanted (three cups all up)(No, I didn’t sleep much).
So I sat down at my laptop and made a deal with Twitter/The Universe. If I could finish my draft in one long writing marathon, I would dye my hair.
This is what I look like today:
Sorry for the Facebook shot, folks!
I think I look like Katniss. Agree? Maybe this will help:
Today has been celebration day because I finally, finally, finally wrote “The End” on my novel (you will remember I left the ending hanging in my first draft because there was so much I wanted to change that the original ending would no longer make sense).
My lovely friend Lena (who played Rory to my Lane in the great hair dyeing experiment) brought me flowers and Frosty Fruit ice blocks (I love you, Lena!) to help celebrate.
Please ignore our lunch dishes...
And I slept in, which never happens. And I unpacked my books onto the floor because I do not yet have bookcases.
Books!
For the rest of the weekend I plan to play video games. I so rarely have time, but I do love it so. In the last break between novels I played Alan Wake, and you will see how this influenced Restless when you read it (which I promise you will). I don’t know how Uncharted will influence my next novel as they are in no way alike, but you never know…
I’m taking the rest of this week off to celebrate and recoup, but I’ll be back next week for another read through (note to self: must buy post-its). Not thinking about that yet, though, because I FINISHED MY NOVEL!!!
I had a bit of a crazy weekend. Not crazy as in crazy things happened, but that I went a little crazy. Like Kristen Bell in the video below, it doesn’t take much to tip me over the edge into crazy-land. On this particular weekend, it was to do with my writing. I kept freaking out about how much I had to do and how little time I had to do it in.
Then I had a complete “Duh” moment when (my wonderful, long-suffering) Husband said “You do realize the only person setting these insane deadlines is you?”
My friend Lena came over a bit later, when most of the craziness had subsided and she characterized it thusly:
“Okay, Beth, I see you’re a little stressed about these deadlines. Let me just go talk to the boss. Hi, Beth, I was just wondering if Beth could get an extension on those chapters you asked her to write. She doesn’t think she’ll be able to meet the deadline. Oh, that’s fine? Great. Hey Beth, you can relax, the boss says you can have an extension.”
So, I’ve talked to the boss and she told me to take as much time as I need
Today I went back to one of my favourite writing resources – Not For Robots by Laini Taylor – and read through the Revising section. Somehow Laini manages to make revising seem like so much fun. One thing that really resonated with me was this:
“This job is not for the lazy, or the half-assed. Well, sure, lots of lazy, half-assed books get published and even become bestsellers, so that proves me wrong. I guess this whole screed of mine is a plea to NOT contribute to that. Please, write good books. Give the world GOOD BOOKS. Only add books to the shelves of the world that you truly believe in and love, that you cradled in your mind with great devotion and worked at with diligence and craft.”
I have a choice while revising. I can give into my impatience and rush through the revising stage. Or I can write the very best book I can and be insanely proud of all the hard work I’ve done. And now that I have permission from the boss, I’m going to choose the second option.
So, sorry to all those lovely people who have agreed to read my story when it’s finished, but it’s going to take a little while longer. My mental health is at stake
I have a whole bunch of random things I want to write about today, and was struggling to find a unifying title… Hence the Six Things. Let’s jump right in, shall we?
1. Restless
So I realized a few days ago that my story will not be 70,000 words. 70k was a bit of an arbitrary number to begin with – it seems to be the mid-point in length of the YA novels I read. My first book ended up around 80k. I’m thinking this one will be closer to 60k. Maybe 65k. This means something rather significant: I’m really almost completely done with this revision. “Huh?” I hear you say. “But the last time you posted you were at 40k.”
Well… After a banner week I’m current at… drumroll, please…
54000 / 60000 words. 90% done!
Crazy, huh? This draft could be out to my critique partners in just a couple of weeks (eek!). If all goes well I will finish the draft this week/end and will spend next weekend reading through it from beginning to end. Then I’ll send it off to my readers!
2. New Story
Whenever I get to this stage in the process I start thinking about the next story I’m going to write. I think I’m a little terrified of not writing, and I think it probably helps the critique/query process if I’m immersed in another project. In theory I won’t take things so hard if I have something else on the table. So, as I’ve mentioned, I have a few ideas on the table and who knows what I’ll end up writing, but one in particular has caught my fancy. It has something to do with this picture:
TSW Inspiration Photo
TSW is the acronym for the (possibly temporary) title.
I like having images associated with a story idea in my office. Atmosphere and setting are two of the most important elements of story to me, and it helps to glance at a photo and be immediately drawn into the world of my novel. With Tiger Eye I used a poster and just glued pictures printed on normal paper to it, but it hasn’t really stood the test of time. With Restless I pinned pictures to a corkboard, but that meant I wasn’t able to use the corkboard for anything else, which was frustrating. So this time, I’ve decided to try something different: Photo frames. I bought a bunch of frames and picked out some inspiration photos from our trip, like the one above. As soon as we get the go-ahead from the real estate agent to put nails in the walls, I’ll hang them and have my own frame collage. I’ll probably swap out the pictures every time I start a new story. I think it’s probably the prettiest solution to my problem .
Photo frames, without pictures
3. Whiteboard
For Christmas two of my brothers-in-law gave me an awesome notebook and a gift voucher to my favourite stationary store (they know me so well!). I used the gift voucher to buy a whiteboard and that, with the notebook, has totally revolutionized my writing process. I’ve always understood that my first ideas are rarely my best ones, but I don’t often give myself the time to explore all the options when approaching a scene. Now, thanks to these two totally awesome brainstorming tools, I always know I’ve picked the best idea I can come up with.
My brainstorming book
This is an action scene I was having trouble with. There is no actual bear in my story. Though that would be pretty cool. If implausible in the Blue Mountains.
4. Music
As a teen, music was everything to me. I listened to it all the time. I tried a bunch of different instruments and spent many hours performing or in music lessons. All my friends were musos and just as obsessed as me. When I moved to the city with my family though, all that went away. When the people around you aren’t big music people, listening to music can be sort of isolating. I really wanted to make friends. Around this time I also became more serious about my writing, and so the instruments I played grew dusty in their stands.
Lately I’ve realised how much I miss listening to music for fun (not just as a playlist for my writing) and making music myself. So I’ve made a deal with my husband. Every week I can buy one album, or a collection of individual songs of the same price. As well as that, I’ve dragged my guitar from under the spare bed and I’ve been fiddling away at it.
I’ll never be a professional musician. I’m not too fond of performing, or having people listening to me play. But I’m learning that not everything you do needs to have a larger goal attached. I may never be very good at playing music, but it makes me happy, so I’m going to keep doing it.
Here are two of the songs I bought this week:
5. Bagels
Bagels are our go-to breakfast food, so we decided to try our hand at making them ourselves. Here is the (delicious) result:
Bagels!
6. Old Posts
I finally got around to importing all my old posts from livejournal. Have a look around if you’re interested
I’m off to go write! Have a sunshiney weekend, friends – if not in weather, in mood.
