Feeling a little bit smug

Last week, I had one of those days where I realised that I have developed as a writer. 

I’ve been struggling with my synopsis for Odd Squad for a few weeks now.  I’d managed to get the story down to one page, kept all of the key plot points in, but there was something else missing. 

That morning, I started again from scratch.  Ran the whole of the story through my head, listing out the key points, and then it struck me.  There was no mention of his emotional journey. 

One of the things that I'd finally managed to get my head around this year, was that it wasn’t just about the plot.  There had to be trials and tribulations for the protagonist.  (You can all stop rolling your eyes now, and screaming at the screen “Finally, he gets it!”)  What can I say?  I’m a bit slow at times.  I’ve now managed to weave the emotional arc into the synopsis, and I’m a lot happier with the result.  I’'ve put it aside for a few days, and I'll see what it looks like with fresh(ish) eyes.

Are there any parts of a synopsis that you find troublesome?

More drama in my life than I expected.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a radio play.  The plan was for our drama group to perform and record it in front of a live audience.

Unfortunately, this was the year when the volcano in Iceland threw up a shedload of volcanic ash, and grounded most of the planes over Europe.  This resulted in some of the key people being stranded abroad, and combining this with other bits of life that got in the way, the idea had to be shelved. 

To be honest, I wasn’t too upset that the project didn’t go ahead. it would have been great to see the reaction from the audience, but the experience of writing for a different media had been a big eye opener, and good fun.

A few years have passed since then, and the momentum to record the radio play has started to gather pace.  The initial plans are for us to do it in September/October.  The only problem is, that the play is quite short and only lasts for about twenty minutes.  Let’s face it, we can’t expect the audience to turn up, sit through the play and then go home again.  We need at least one more play to perform.

Luckily, I have a couple of ideas that I’ve been mulling around for a while.  It looks like I am now writing a couple more plays, with a deadline of September.

As they tend to say: Watch this space!

A little more thought required?

My writing group meets once a month.  At the end of each meeting we set homework to be written and sent to the group for review at the next meet.  We mail the completed pieces out to each other in advance so that we can give our critiques at the get together. 

This month, it fell upon me to set something. 

What should I suggest?  Obviously, it had to be something inspiring, not too restrictive, and hopefully challenging.  Here's what I came up with:

This won't be much fun, thought Jessica, as she opened the door.
This is the first line to your story. I've decided to set the word count at 1000 words.
So, tell me:  Who is Jessica?  Is she going in or out?  What isn't going to be fun?  

I have to admit, I was feeling quite pleased with myself.  That was until I realised that I had to write something as well.  It's taken three weeks to come up with an idea, let alone actually write it.  I just hope that once I've written it, it doesn't come over as a shoddy piece of work with a feel that it's been thrown together to meet the deadline.

I'll let you know the outcome.

Are distractions the answer?

I thought I'd finally discovered the art of being patient. Unfortunately, it seems that it's only in some areas, like making sure my WiP is as good as I can make it.  It most definitely doesn't go as far as waiting for my Betas to read it and offer their comments.

It is so hard not to keep asking them every five minutes what they are doing, and if it's not reading my book, then WHY aren't they reading it?

Fortunately, we've had the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations going on to distract me.

What do you guys do to prevent yourself from hassling your Betas?

In with the old and out with the new?

One of the differences that stands out the most between querying agents here in the UK, and over in the States is that for the majority of UK agents, we still have to send hard copies.  To be honest, I don’t think that this is a bad thing.  Ok, so it means that process is probably quite a bit slower, and there’s the additional effort of making the presentation is just right, but there are some plusses in doing it this way.

A typical submission package consists of a cover letter, a synopsis, and the first three chapters of your MS, and if you want the work back, then an SAE.  There’s something very satisfying about physically preparing the package, going down to the Post Office and sending it. 

One of the other positives is that if your cover letter does manage to pique the interest of an agent, they have the first three chapters to hand already. 

What do you think?  Is the submission process in the States the way that they should be going over here?  Or do you long for a return back to hard copies?

Playing patience?

What do you know?  I finally seem to have learnt how to be patient.

I have just finished my 6th round of revisions on my WIP, and finally believe that it’s ready.  A large part of me is screaming at me to shove it in an envelope and to get it ‘out there’ as fast as possible. 

BUT

A smaller part, which I’m finding is being a lot more assertive, is saying hold on.... if it’s as good as I believe it is, then a few more days or weeks isn’t going to make any difference.  Let’s get it right this time.  Let’s make sure that the synopsis is spot on,   Why not have a couple of Beta readers take a look and confirm what you think.  In the mean time, I can check that my agents list is still up to date, and hone that covering letter so that the agent has no choice but to look at my accompanying chapters.

The small voice is winning so far.  And I have to tell you, that if I wasn’t already sitting down, I’d have to go and sit down before the surprise makes my legs give way.

Are you guys already there with the patient thing?  Is this yet another thing I’m playing catch up with? Let me know :o)

I should be so lucky, lucky, lucky.

I have always considered myself as a lucky person.  I seem to blunder through life with probably far too little thought about what I am doing, and where I am going, and still seem to end up landing on my feet, and finding that I have arrived at the best possible outcome.

I know that this could just be the result of me looking at the word through rose tinted spectacles, (and if that is the case, please don’t tell me – I like the view), but, yet again, I seem to have had a stroke of luck that has saved me a fair bit of work on my WIP that I would have had to do later, if I ever manage to get representation.

I tried to do some research on our nuclear defence in the UK.  For obvious reasons, the information is virtually nonexistent.  So, undeterred by the lack of information, I decided to make some logical deductions based on what I had managed to find.  My reasoning went that my YA readers would be unable to find out any more information than I had, and for the purpose of the story, it seemed credible enough. 

So far, so good, you might think.  I was feeling quite pleased with the story.  I passed a synopsis to my writing group, and it turned out that one of the members has written military articles about this subject!  I had been completely off track with my assumptions.  Luckily, he gave me a few pointers, and I now have a credible part to my story.

The question that I’m left with is...

Do you think that I was lucky that he knew exactly what I needed to know?  Or do you think I am finding things that aren’t there?