I am happily ahead of schedule! I finished the final draft of my YA novel, The Reaping on the 3rd November, although every time I read a page on the Kindle I am tempted to change a word here or there and make adjustments to the manuscript in Scrivener. I must draw the line. I have ended up with 70,100 words, a hundred more than my target.
I am not feeling euphoric. Any rapture at finishing has been tempered by the grim task of producing a synopsis to tempt an agent. I spent four hours yesterday producing a chapter by chapter digest; I gave up at the halfway point through the novel. The synopsis had already crept up to 2000 words and it was so dry that it made me soporific just checking the spelling. Hopeless. I abandoned it!
This morning I produced an elegant spidergram of characters, relationships, plot points and themes in Scapple. The chart means a lot to me, but would baffle and annoy an agent. It proved to be a useful aid, leading to the first draft of a 1200 word synopsis, which contains most of what I want to say about the plot etc. Tomorrow I must précis it and give it a little pizzazz. I'd love it to become 850 words, but I don't hold out too much hope. As long as it sings on the page I shall be happy!
After that I must write the letter: So may I introduce to you... if only I was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!
Showing posts with label #Scapple. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #Scapple. Show all posts
Thursday, 6 November 2014
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Blue! The best and worst of colours.
Probably the most terrifying, but enticing expanse of blue a writer will ever look at.
8.30 a.m. I am about to write the first words of the first sentence on the first page of the first chapter of a new novel.
8.35 a.m. I look at all my favourite web pages and vow not to look at Twitter while I'm writing.
9.00 a.m. I am still taking furtive glances at Twitter.
9.10 a.m. I promise myself I shall not reply to any Tweets today.
9.25 a.m. I have replied to a Tweet.
10.00 a.m. My screen is still blank. I look at my notes on Scapple.
10.15 a.m. I make coffee and bring it upstairs with two slices of toast to my study.
10.20 a.m. I set Project Targets in the Scrivener drop down menu.
Deadline for finishing: 1 April 2014.
(ha ha that seems a long way off! But realistic)
Manuscript target: 60,000 words.
Session target: 1000 words.
10.45 a.m. I begin writing.
12.15 p.m. I break for lunch. I have written 349 words (and replied to another Tweet - Bad writer!)
13.45 p.m. I begin again.
14.05 p.m. I finish. 1,160 words (and no looking at Social Media.)
8.30 a.m. I am about to write the first words of the first sentence on the first page of the first chapter of a new novel.
8.35 a.m. I look at all my favourite web pages and vow not to look at Twitter while I'm writing.
9.00 a.m. I am still taking furtive glances at Twitter.
9.10 a.m. I promise myself I shall not reply to any Tweets today.
9.25 a.m. I have replied to a Tweet.
10.00 a.m. My screen is still blank. I look at my notes on Scapple.
10.15 a.m. I make coffee and bring it upstairs with two slices of toast to my study.
10.20 a.m. I set Project Targets in the Scrivener drop down menu.
Deadline for finishing: 1 April 2014.
(ha ha that seems a long way off! But realistic)
Manuscript target: 60,000 words.
Session target: 1000 words.
10.45 a.m. I begin writing.
12.15 p.m. I break for lunch. I have written 349 words (and replied to another Tweet - Bad writer!)
13.45 p.m. I begin again.
14.05 p.m. I finish. 1,160 words (and no looking at Social Media.)
Tomorrow is another day. 59,000 words to go. I fancy April 2014 is nearer than I think.
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
You can go home again
Nothing in my writing is ever planned. I play around (or work around) until things look right. An ability to recognise shape, patterns and shadows is the the thing. That is where I am intuitive rather than applying rules. I don't plan. I write, then unpick, delete and shuffle what is left. Then add a little more.
Sometimes I have a blind spot. Quite often actually, which is why it is good to let a first draft settle for a long while. The glare of the final sentence blots out the flaws in the four thousand sentences that have come before.
So what was so wrong with the first draft I finished a year ago? It started out as Young Adult (YA) fantasy set in the real world, avoiding as many angst ridden vampire, zombie, dystopian love threads as possible. The story had edge that would cut the skin, if not the carotid artery. But with the story came an ending and a logic that said it was more suited to a younger age group. Maybe I am unskilled in the art of YA or just unwilling to twist the knife?
So fluently reading 10+ it is, with a closing parameter of 14. Not that I really believe that stories can be targeted accurately at age. That has more to do with signposting & marketing.
When my sight returned, I noticed two things that should have been obvious from the outset had I planned, but then writing is the way I construct something. It is a laborious and frustrating way of doing things, but never boring. I recognised a minor character, who by a different name I had written about before in Badgerman & Bogwitch. The second thing of course was the landscape. Much as I had tried to make it different, it was still the Ramswold Valley. I should have recognised the landmarks.
At last the shape is there with the missing pieces and the things I need to change. I have 52,000 words to unpick and rearrange. I know the world of the Ramswold Valley so I should not resist writing about it if there is more to say, another story in its own right.
To help me I shall use what is really a free-form and intuitive planning tool, Scapple, from Literature & Latte. Instead of planning I am using it to unpick and rearrange and add to what I already have. And it is cheap too at a few pence over ten quid. I already write using Scrivener, so it is a natural process to use.
This is my work for the summer.
Sometimes I have a blind spot. Quite often actually, which is why it is good to let a first draft settle for a long while. The glare of the final sentence blots out the flaws in the four thousand sentences that have come before.
So what was so wrong with the first draft I finished a year ago? It started out as Young Adult (YA) fantasy set in the real world, avoiding as many angst ridden vampire, zombie, dystopian love threads as possible. The story had edge that would cut the skin, if not the carotid artery. But with the story came an ending and a logic that said it was more suited to a younger age group. Maybe I am unskilled in the art of YA or just unwilling to twist the knife?
So fluently reading 10+ it is, with a closing parameter of 14. Not that I really believe that stories can be targeted accurately at age. That has more to do with signposting & marketing.
When my sight returned, I noticed two things that should have been obvious from the outset had I planned, but then writing is the way I construct something. It is a laborious and frustrating way of doing things, but never boring. I recognised a minor character, who by a different name I had written about before in Badgerman & Bogwitch. The second thing of course was the landscape. Much as I had tried to make it different, it was still the Ramswold Valley. I should have recognised the landmarks.
At last the shape is there with the missing pieces and the things I need to change. I have 52,000 words to unpick and rearrange. I know the world of the Ramswold Valley so I should not resist writing about it if there is more to say, another story in its own right.
To help me I shall use what is really a free-form and intuitive planning tool, Scapple, from Literature & Latte. Instead of planning I am using it to unpick and rearrange and add to what I already have. And it is cheap too at a few pence over ten quid. I already write using Scrivener, so it is a natural process to use.
This is my work for the summer.
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