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This Writing Life


2010
08.19

Posted in Inspiration, My Writing, Workshops, Writing your novel | 2 Comments »

I am very excited by this writing life just now. Why? Well firstly I’m excited about possible options on my Danny Beck novel for publication here and USA in 2012.  Given the delay on this I have decided to put my second crime novel on ice and in the hiatus of Renga days – I still find I’m fascinated and surprised by writing this daily verse – several new projects have emerged.

To some extent they are ideas that lay fallow – an East Anglian novel (place is so often my starting point) being one of them. I now have approx 5000 words and a kind of outline of where the novel is going and more importantly I am very much enjoying the writing.

Then there are my short stories, the first of which, about the artist Michelangelo, floated almost fully formed into my head and demanded to be written. I am now working on a themed collection and have just completed a story in the voice of Mark Rothko. This feels like quite a creative leap for me but one which springs out my love of Art and my background in Art History.

There’s my poetry too, I haven’t abandoned working on that.

And last but not least is my Autumn Novel Group – the details of which are below – this is something I’ve wanted to do for some time and feel quite passionate about.

Autumn Novel Group 2010

This autumn I am offering a unique course for writers interested in making significant progress with a book length project i.e. a novel, a collection of short stories or a family memoir.

The course will take place fortnightly in my home in Witton-le-Wear from 7-9.45pm on Tuesday evenings at a cost of £15.00 per session and will initially run from Sept – December (start date Sept 14th) over a period of 12 weeks = 6 sessions.  Follow up options may be arranged to continue into 2011 with possible monthly meetings.

Places will be limited to 6 participants. This is to ensure those taking part have sufficient time in which to discuss their current work, their progress and concerns at each meeting.

My intention is that we will concentrate less on reading out and the fine detail of our text (although this may sometimes be appropriate and relevant) and more on process – plot, narrative voice, structure, beginnings, middles, drafting, editing, the language, dialogue, research, procrastination…….we might discuss some or indeed all of these and more, depending on where you are with your writing and what issues or problems you bring to the group.

Having written my first novel The Sweet Track whilst taking part in just such a group I am keenly aware how much there is to learn in the rarefied atmosphere created by the committed few.

It is my intention that as well as leading the group I will write alongside you. My current crime novel has attracted interest with an option for purchase in 2011 and publication in the UK and America in 2012. In the intervening period I will be writing a new novel set on the east coast of England. I am also working on a themed collection of short stories inspired by the lives of well- known artists.

Whether you are just starting out, or already part way through, embarking on and completing a piece of long fiction can be a daunting task. It will be my aim to offer you advice, support and focus in achieving your goals, as well as a warm welcome, coffee and biscuits and a share in my own passion for writing and getting the work done.

If you are interested in joining the group or have any further questions please contact me at: amjoy@hotmail.co.uk

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How Cool Can You Get? Listen to Elmore Leonard On Writing


2010
08.14

Posted in Writing your novel | No Comments »

I love this piece – some great writing tips and surely the coolest dude on the planet ! Hope you enjoy.

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When The Waiting Stops and the Writing Begins/ Fire and Ice


2010
06.26

Posted in Crime, My Writing, Writing your novel | No Comments »

While I wait to discover the fate of my first crime novel (some very encouraging developments so far but nothing concrete yet ) I’ve found it difficult to write. The waiting game is not easy but there is only one way to play it and that is to start work on the next novel. So far I’ve had a number of false starts and I’ve held off because it seemed presumptuous to begin a second novel with the same character- Private Investigator Danny Beck – at the center when the first has yet to be accepted. But the thing is I believe in him, and if I don’t believe in myself and my characters then who will?

There is much more to say about Danny Beck and a new story to explore, but most important of all it’s what I want to write, what I feel excited about and inspired by and its no good embarking on the long haul if you don’t feel fired-up. Which brings me to fire and ice and to volcanoes.

I have decided to open the novel (working title Fire and Ice) against the backdrop of the volcanic eruption beneath the glacier in Iceland, at the point at which it brings european air space to a standstill. This decision has sparked off a whole train of ideas and I have since been playing with the properties of fire and ice, both physical and metaphorical.

I like to have abstract themes underneath of what I write, for me this is one of the more playful aspects of writing. Today I have been thinking about which of my characters are fire: hot-headed, quick, angry and which ice: emotionally detached, slippery, lethal which of course applies to both elements. But more importantly I have been writing and sketching out the first ten chapters- and all of this is where the joy and pleasure of writing reside – and not in the waiting.

Writing Tip - What will it be about? I have learned that it’s a very useful exercise to write down in a matter of sentences and certainly no more than a paragraph what your novel is about – you can do this at any stage of the writing, it is always useful. It is not as easy as it sounds. It is not about telling the story but about capturing the essence, its heart, more like the blurb you read on the back of published novels. For instance I might begin – Fire and Ice is about one man’s quest for justice…

You need to be able to do this because if you don’t know what the  novel is about how can you expect your reader to know.

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Fun Rules For Writing Fiction


2010
04.06

Posted in Inspiration, Writing your novel | 2 Comments »

Talking writing with Jackie and Colleen at RoomToWrite in March - see website www.roomtowrite.co.uk for conference feedback and photos

Get an accountant, abstain from sex and similes, cut, rewrite, then cut and rewrite again – if all else fails, pray. Inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing, we asked authors for their personal do’s and don’ts

…..I came across this recently – Ten Rules For Writing Fiction -  it’s from The Guardian –   a two part article where prominent writers give their ten rules for writing fiction. There are  some great tips to be had, as well as much fun, and I always find that quotes like these, especially written on large sheets of paper in purple felt tip and stuck to my noticeboard, can help keep me inspired and working, or at least make me smile. Hope you enjoy them too.

For sheer simplicity, pragmatism and a certain brand of humility my vote goes to Ian Rankin’s 10 rules

1 Read lots.
2 Write lots.
3 Learn to be self-critical.
4 Learn what criticism to accept.
5 Be persistent.
6 Have a story worth telling.
7 Don’t give up.
8 Know the market.
9 Get lucky.
10 Stay lucky.

Others I really like – Esther Freud – Never forget, even your own rules are there to be broken. Possibly the best tip of all!!

David Hare – If nobody will put your play on, put it on yourself.

Rose Tremain – When an idea comes, spend silent time with it…allow yourself also to dream your idea into being.

Jeanette Winterson – Turn up for work… and also – Love what you do.

I think my top tip would be a version of Ian Rankin’s No. 3 – Never stop asking how your writing can be improved – until its finished that is-  and then wait for your agent or publisher to tell you how.

Let me know if any of the tips strike a chord with you or if you have any of your own to share

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Editing Your Novel -how do I know when I’m finished and DON’T miss next Tuesday!


2009
10.24

Posted in Editing Your Novel, Prison, Writing your novel | No Comments »

Untitled

Cornwall

I am back to editing the novel at last! I’m seeing it afresh again after a break. I even made changes to the first page which surprised me. Soon I will be back to where I left it some weeks back and I hope very much to power on from then until I am done.

So how will I know when I’m finished? For the answer to this question there is no better place to look than Walter Mosley’s – This Year You Write Your Novel - possibly the best book ever on writing. In his opinion the novel can never be perfect, no matter how much editing you do, there is always something which at a later date you will feel could have been better. So the decision to stop is made not when everything is perfect but when you reach the point (after a number of edits/drafts) where you are happy and you can no longer improve what you have beyond fiddling at the margins. If you find yourself fiddling in this way or trying to fix problems and making them worse – STOP. You are finished. Trust your instincts on this one, don’t worry too much, and besides if you have edited it well and it stands up to scrutiny by agents or editors and they take you on – then they will want to help you edit it further.

Mosely also suggests you make a recording of yourself reading the novel aloud. Playing this back will let you hear your characters and their world afresh and help you notice the problems, omissions, mistakes etc. I must admit I have never done this but I do read out loud in an attempt to experience what I’ve written in a new way.

So good luck if you are editing and pat yourself on the back when you reach the end.

IMPORTANT REMINDER – TUESDAY evening at 6pm in Studio 1 Gala Theatre Durham – as part of The Durham Book Fest – myself and others including Wendy Robertson will be talking about writing in prison, what it means to the women of HMP Low Newton – we hope there will be plenty of questions – there will certainly be readings from the prisoners’ work and we will be retiring to the bar afterwards to continue our discussions! Its a FREE event and we hope that people will come not for our sakes but to hear about these invisible women and about the effect writing can have on their lives .

Hope to see you there!

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Re -entering the World of the Novel – Micro Editing and Meeting Linda


2009
09.28

Posted in Editing Your Novel, Inspiration, People, Writing your novel | 4 Comments »

Autumn is my favourite time of year I am finally back to editing my novel and what a joy and a relief it is to be writing again! I have re-entered the world of my P. I. Danny Beck and in doing so have realised that this is what editing is all about.

Editing is the process of going back to our work, hearing our characters speak, watching them act and grow, and making all the necessary changes that the creative logic of the novel demands.

By now we know so much more of who our characters are; their motivations, their fears, what makes them angry, who they love….we can of course decide these things at the outset but what emerges in the organic process of writing a novel is something richer and more solidly grounded. Now is the time to harness our intuitions and allow the characters we have created to truly speak.

This is not the time to worry about correcting our prose like an English teacher might- what I have called micro editing – micro editing is just something we do instinctively as we go through and for me it is less about punctuation and paragraphs etc and creating rules to follow, and more about the weight, the rhythm, the feel and the purpose of every sentence we create.

And don’t forget, during this process we should  always remain open to new inspiration which can come at us unexpectedly and sometimes make us think in a different or more coherent way about what we are writing. This happened to me last week when I met Linda who is psychic, and we talked about PTSD – many thanks Linda – it brought a lot of ideas together for me.

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Editing Your Novel – Story Arc


2009
08.02

Posted in Editing Your Novel, Six Biggest Mistakes, Writing your novel | 8 Comments »

 

An inspirational photo of a storm at Tynemouth. Taken by Lisette. I will definitely be including a storm in the novel - many thanks.

An inspirational photo of a storm at Tynemouth. Taken by Lisette. I will definitely be including a storm in the novel - many thanks Lisette.

 

Editing your story as a whole means you need to have a good understanding of how most successful stories work. There are a number of ways to look at this – two of the most helpful (for me with my current story) being: The three arc structure and the hero’s journey

The three arc structure is quite simply what it seems, it divides the story into three parts -

 Act One – the set-up – this is where you introduce the reader to the setting, the characters and the situation (conflict) they find themselves in and where you ask what it is they want – what is their goal? Ask yourself if you have set the novel up in this way – are all the major characters there? Is there an identifiable plot point/incident – Plot Point One that moves the story on and drives the main character into conflict? This incident can often be a good place to start your novel.

Act Two – the middle  – how the story develops. Here there will be a series of obstacles, and mini crises, leading to the final crisis – the climax. As the middle progresses tension will rise and dip but the arc of tension needs to get ever higher to the final climax. The resolution of the Climax is Plot Point 2. Can you identify this point? Does tension rise? Does the middle sag?

In the middle you need to move the plot along, offer new insights to your characters especially your protagonist and deepen the conflict – each obstacle should be more difficult, if it’s not then the smaller challenges seem inconsequential and this means tension disappears. The consequences  following each challenge should be more difficult to swallow and maybe some new and compelling information comes to light that changes the way your characters see things

 

Act Three – once the final climax is reached then tension dissipates –all the loose ends are tied up and the story is drawn to a close, not drawn out

With this structure in mind there are other important points to consider about beginnings, endings and middles which you can find in earlier posts.

So now back to the business of editing – I’m over a third of the way through and think I’m going to have to beef things up a bit more in the middle – I need to make sure the challenges for Danny Beck rise in an arc of increasing tension, I need some new information – I’ve already decided what that is – so lots of work to do -  I’m afraid Hero’s Journey will have to wait!

On a final note – good luck to all the Easington writers who are editing their work following Thursday’s workshop. It was a great day. Hope you weren’t too exhausted at the end of it. Editing is hard work – don’t we know it!

Looking forward to the poems!

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Editing the Characters in your Novel


2009
07.28

Posted in Editing Your Novel, My Writing, Writing your novel | 4 Comments »

 

tyne

The Tyne Bridge - Newcastle

 

The biggest question for me as I begin the edit of my novel concerns my protagonist Danny Beck – what I need to know is will the world love Danny Beck as much as I do ?  Have I brought my Private Investigator to life? 

If  characters don’t live then readers won’t keep turning the pages of the novel. It’s as simple as that!

So here are the questions I will be asking myself as I read through my first draft – and I will be asking them not just of Danny but of all my main characters

Is he alive? Will the reader empathise with him?  Is he three dimensional: does he laugh, cry, hurt, have fun? Does he have both weaknesses and strengths? Can we see him, do we have a physical picture of him? Does he have a history?

Does he want something? Does he struggle?  Does he have major obstacles to overcome? Does he change? If he doesn’t change or grow then it won’t work – there is no real story arc. You need to ask these question of all your major characters

Does he continue to hold our attention or does he grow stale? How does he surprise us? Our characters should not always be predictable although they must be believable.

Is he consistent? For example, in the beginning of the novel I show that Danny is often hungry, always looking for food although worrying about his weight, so I need to ensure that this theme continues throughout the novel – although maybe at the end he is not so hungry anymore.

Is he on the page and not just in your head? I have certainly had the experience of creating a character who was real to me but who others found unconvincing. It came as a real surprise to me. This can sometimes happen when a character’s experience is close to your own.  Here, as in all aspects of editing, you need to look from a distance and take nothing for granted.

 

Some questions more relevant to minor characters are:

Is she necessary? if you removed her would it matter? Does she have a role to play?

Does she reflect the themes of the novel?

Have you introduced a character once and then forgotten about them? No character should be lost like this, if they are not important then they shouldn’t be there in the first place.

Are your minor characters consistent eg. are their eyes always the same colour? !

You are sure to find ways in which you can improve or add to your characterisation as you edit. As you do bear in mind there are many elements that come together to create a good novel but characters are the driving force behind them all.

Good Luck – here’s Danny…

Beck hurried away. He figured there was nothing he could do but take her with him to join the ghosts of the other dead women who lived inside him. Suddenly he was very hungry.

…. The Cafe Marino was several streets down from the Quayside. Beck went there when he needed to eat or think, or both. Once inside he saw that his usual table near the back was empty. He made for it, took his coat off, draped it over the back of the plastic chair, realising as he did so that his hands were shaking, and sat down. A man more used than most to daily dramas and tragedies, the realities of prison life, he was nonetheless shocked by what he’d seen. To compensate he ordered a bottle of house wine. It was rough, red, gut-churning, the only wine they sold. It would do. He’ d intended to ask for a glass but when it came to it, ‘bottle,’ was the word that escaped his lips… 

While we’re on the subject of editing I have made a note in the margins to locate the Cafe Marino more precisely with a small local reference. All part of my Newcastle research? Any suggestions?

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

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How To Begin Editing Your Novel


2009
07.26

Posted in Editing Your Novel, Lists, My Writing, Writing your novel | 2 Comments »

Anyone who has followed my blogs knows I am a big fan of lists - apart, of course, from the ones that itemise the supermarket shopping, or the kind I used to make when I was at work in the prison. No, I’m talking about the creative list:the list that makes a poem or the list that guides you through a tricky process like editing. Such a list should never be  followed slavishly, but should be a list that gets you going, a list that above all inspires and helps. A list that gets to the heart of things.

So here ‘s my list for beginnng the edit of your novel. I will be using it too.

         1. Choose a rainy Sunday, better still set aside a day in your diary, make a date with yourself, but before you begin sit down to breakfast -this is a day to relish!

 

breakfast 2

I like to eat my breakfast looking out onto the garden and I prefer fine cut to thick marmalade every time

   

     2. Now ask yourself the most important question of all – what kind of an editor am I? Consider when you set out to edit your work what it is you are most likey to do or focus on. What might you do too much of? What might you forget?

I know that I tend to spend a long time on close editing my text: the words, phrases, sentences, how they fit together, whether they can be improved (more of this in my later post about micro editing). There is nothing wrong with this and I will always want to edit my work to a fine level BUT I know that sometimes it gets in the way of the bigger picture.  I need to get out of my comfort zone of fine tuning - so to do this, instead of embarking on a close screen edit I am going to resist the word play and go straight for broke to number 3

    3. Print off a copy of your novel – all of it!  Your words will seem different on the page, the whole thing will seem different, and if you want to read with the eyes of a stranger then the screen simply won’t do. Make sure your manuscript has wide margns and double spacing so that you have plenty of room to write directly onto the page. 

    4. Make a list (the woman is obssessed I hear you say!) of the key themes and contexts of your novel and keep a copy in front of you or stick one up on the board above your desk. This will act as a kind of checklist and  help you to sustain and strengthen the layers of your novel. Mine begins:

     Danny Beck’s dance with death

     Newcastle in winter

    Danny’s recent ‘escape’ from the world of prison

    Surveillance/watching

    5.  Once you have completed your list then try to write down what your book is about. Do this in no more than three sentences , (not always easy) and keep this with you or put it up on your noticeboard. You can then refer back as you read through and check that you have not lost sight of the most important aspects of your story.

    6. Now armed with a notebook for things that need further consideration and pens or pencils -perhaps the hardest task of all-  re-invent yourself. Imagine that you are about to go on holiday and have just picked up this book to take with you – as far as possible put yourself in this stranger’s shoes or on their sunbed and read your novel as they would. This is difficult but well worth trying – critical distance is everything

    7. Bear in mind the points raised over the course of the next week, in posts 3, 4 and 5 in particular and start reading.

    8. Enjoy - no writing or task associated with writing should be anything but enjoyable! Smile and take a moment to pat yourself on the back and gloat at  having reached the milestone of your first completed draft.

ms

My manuscript today - fresh from the printer!

Good Luck!

If you would like to contact me with any thoughts or questions but do not want to leave a blog comment then  my e mail address is - amjoy@hotmail.co.uk 

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Editing Your Novel – 6 Things You Need to Know


2009
07.21

Posted in Editing Your Novel, My Writing, Writing your novel | 4 Comments »

 

 

sunflowers

 

Well although the rain is unrelenting and my garden looks like a rain forest, life has improved immesurably on last week and to celebrate I’ve bought sunflowers!

At last, dare I say it, I believe I’m in a position to start the first big edit on my new novel.

I’ve been thinking a fair bit about the job of editing;  it was something we discussed last week at my writers group -Wear Valley Writers – and since then I have honed my thoughts into six major areas which I intend to cover in my next six blog posts

                          I.  How to Begin Editing your Novel

                          2. Editing The Characters In Your Novel

                          3. Editing Story Arc and Continuity

                          4. Editing the scenes in your novel

                          5. How to edit your novel at the micro level

                          6  How to know when your novel is finished

 

I don’t claim to have the definitive word on editing, of course not, but I have done enough editing now to know how to go about it, what works for me and what a writer’s major concerns should be. I believe that  the art of editing a novel is not dissimilar to the art of editing short stories and even bears some similarities to the editing of poetry, so hopefully the posts will be of interest to new writers whatever their chosen form.

When I am about to begin on my first big edit of a novel I am always excited but fearful and this time its no different. It’s exciting to know I have 80,000 words to play with, some of which I know will be good but it is also scary (especially as I wrote this so quickly) wondering  what is not so good and will it all work? And how much more is there to do?

Learning how to edit your own work is a  key part of becoming  a writer. I expect my first edit to show that I have a lot of work still to do. Why? Because nothing is perfect, far from it, and I want this novel to be the best it possible can be before I even think of sending it to my agent.

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