Wobble over - New plan in the planning.

It's a new day.  It's a time for a new approach.
I read a few blogs yesterday, and realised that I'm not alone in this writing game.  Every one seems to have been through doubt and uncertainty about their projects at some point.  And, from this I have taken away the fact that they all pushed through the hard times and came out the other side a lot richer for the experience.
Let's face it.  We all right because we need to.  Yes, there's a fun element to it, as the wonder of your creation unfolds in front of your eyes into something far more dazzling than you ever thought you were capable of.  But at the end of the day, we also know that there will be a lot of hard work involved to get it to a state where we feel that we have produced something that actually reflects our abilities and dreams.
Thank you to all of you who write these amazing blogs.  They are truly inspirational, and have given me the kick up the bum that I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself and to mull over a few scraps of ideas to see what I can develop into a new plan.

One step forwards... Two steps back.

I seem to be having a bit of a directional wobble this morning.
I re-read the Cornerstones critique of the novel that I’ve been working on to see how I was progressing on the plot fixes, before I launch into the rest of the edit.
Unfortunately, I now realise that I have missed one of the major things that needs to be addressed.  My main character doesn’t have a goal.  The reader doesn’t experience any underlying tension, because they don’t know where the story is heading.
The reason for this is because I wrote the story before I knew the ‘rules’.  Before I fully understood what drives a story forward.  In the past, I avoided writing magazines, and ‘How to…’ books, as I thought that they would influence the way I wrote, and then it would no longer be my work, but someone else’s work with my ideas veneered on top.  The last six months have been a real eye opener, and I have wasted so much time.
The critique, and the editing process so far has taught me a lot, and I now wonder whether I would have written the book differently if I’d known what I know now.
The thing’s that making me wobble is: What do I do now? 
Do I have another hack at the plot, and try to shoe horn in a goal?  At the moment, no clear path on how to do this has presented itself to me.
Do I take the idea of the book, draft out a new stronger plot, and start writing from scratch? This time, making sure that it’s a lot stronger than it would be if I poked around with the existing plot?
Or, should I give this one up as a learning experience, put it on the shelf for a later date and focus my attentions on the new book that I’m writing, that is incorporating all that I’ve learnt so far?
The problem is not that I don’t believe in my ability to produce something that’s publishable, it’s more a case of knowing how much I’ve already poured into the book, and the amount of work ahead to either bring the book up to the next level, or re-writing it from scratch, is very overwhelming.

A place for the silly stuff

As you have probably gathered, I need a place for the silly stuff.
This blog is for the serious part, and hopefully will track my writing career, but if you feel like you need a smile, have a look at Super Iaino World.
I hope you like it.

Note to self: STOP THINKING!

It's happened again.
I thought I'd stopped trying to tighten up the plot, and had started typing up the changes so that I could use the revised manuscript to start looking at the other parts that need some attention.
The writing part of my mind has decided otherwise.
It had been suggested in the Cornerstones review that I look at if it was possible to change the perspective, of the last part of the first chapter, to be seen from the hero's viewpoint.  They had acknowledged that this would be difficult, as it's currently written to give the reader the impression that he's been killed in an explosion.  Having giving this a great deal of thought, I couldn't see a way that I could keep the same impact if the event wasn't seen from the outside, so I decided to stick with what I had already, and moved on to other parts of the book.
This morning, I wasn't even thinking about the book, when a whole idea on how to approach the problem, and the start of the re-draft just filled my head.  And I do mean filled.  All thoughts of anything else just evaporated, and working out the intricacies becomes my only focus.
All I need to do now is get it down on paper.
It just amazes me that when I try to force an idea, I come up with an OK version that is passable, but doesn't blow me away, and when I stop thinking, the really juicy bits leap out at me.
It's probably nature's way of saying: Stop thinking!

My writing day

It's odd that I find different aspects of my writing easier at certain times of the day.
I find it easier to do the re-write of my manuscript 'Ghost School' during the day.  For lunch, I take myself off somewhere out of the way so that I can shut the world out and immerse myself into the story.  I find that in no time, I know where I am in the book, and what needs to be changed.  My pen seems to find a life of its own, and before I know it, I've scribbled away, and it's time to return back to the office.
I find that when it comes to my journey home, my head seems to gravitate towards the new book that I'm writing, 'The Odd Squad'.  I think that it's partially because typing onto a netbook is easier than trying to scribble changes down when the coach is bouncing about everywhere, but I also think that it's a complete switch off from the office and I can escape into something new that needs to t be released.
In the evenings, I return back to 'Ghost School', and try to type up the changes I've made during the day.  It seems to help add a sense of completion to the changes.

Writing Groups

Most of the interviews with authors that I have read, seem to all have the following advice for unpublished authors:
Join a local writing group.
Having scoured the internet, local library, and any other source I could think of, I came to the conclusion that the people of North Kent either don't aspire to become published authors, Aren't capable of writing, or are too apathetic to set up a writing group.

My hopes did rise when I read an article where an author who lives in the same town as me said that she joined a local writing group when she was trying to get published.  With my hopes of finally finding a local writing group soaring, I looked up the author's website, and discovered that she had joined a woman's writing group.  I was gutted!
Since then I have finally found an obscure entry on a website referring to a group not too far away.  Not knowing how old the entry was, or whether the group still existed, I made some enquiries.
After two calls, I have found out that they still meet, are a mixture of published and unpublished writers, and have invited me to go along to their next meeting.
Roll on the 19th September.

Lonely fun.

I have to admit, I'm loving editing my book. 

 

I used to find this a real chore.  Getting the story out, and watching the plot flow from my head into hard copy, was the part that gave me a real buzz.  I used to read about how people loved editing their work. That they loved the chopping bits out, re-writing whole sections, etc,  and I used to think that I couldn't think of anything more arduous. 

 

But now, I have a whole new view of editing.  I understand the need for it now.  That it's about making the book a 'page turner', rather than an just a series of events that are written in some kind of order.  I am now questioning every event.  Is it necessary?  Does it drive the plot forwards?  Is it in the right place?  Is it the best way of showing what the hero is experiencing?

 

Every time I come up with an answer to a bit that I'm unsure about, I want to jump up and down and tell anyone who will listen.

 

And this in itself is a new problem.  At this stage in my writing career, no one cares that the plot has been strengthened with the addition of a new chapter, or that I've just solved a problem that I didn't think had a solution.

 

I've now taken telling myself, which makes me feel that this is going to be a much improved book.

 

Writing truly is a lonely profession.