Category Archives: Writing

Pre-Writing – The Playlist Creation

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I don’t actually listen to music when I’m writing any more. I used to do it all the time, but when I made the transition to morning writing, it stopped almost instantly. I think it’s because I have a natural tendency towards good old fashioned rock, and at 6AM I don’t need a killer riff blasting into my pre-caffeinated brain.

Nevertheless, for each longer piece I’m writing (that is, anything from novella upwards), I always make myself a playlist. Every book I’ve ever written has a few songs that I strongly associate with it. I enjoy that. And just because I’m not listening to it while I’m actively writing, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a purpose. I’ll copy the playlist onto my iPhone and burn a CD for the car. Then, during the day-to-day moments of life, it will be there, playing in the background. It’s a good way to keep the story ticking away in the back of my mind. When I’m stuck in traffic, especially, I find this useful. I’ve lost count of the number of scenes I’ve come up with, or plot holes I’ve daydreamed my way out of, whilst stuck behind a bus on the Wolverhampton ring road.

Writing is always about more than just putting a pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). It is not solely words that go into making a story. People who have never tried it don’t realise what an immersive experience it is. There are connections in songs, yes, but also in that old record store from when you were a kid, a coffee shop where you met an old friend who’s laughter was so unusual it made it into your main character, or smell that was in the air the moment your life changed forever. All of these things make you who you are, and that comes through onto the page as you write.

So even if there’s no more air guitar before sunrise, I’ll still always want a playlist. Preferably with some great guitar solos in there somewhere…

Fortune Cookie

Short Stories For Fun

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The concept of doing a series of short stories keeps ticking over in the back of my mind. They’re not really a form I would usually consider, but I think it could be fun. Not only for me to write, but also as in funny ha-ha. I can’t quite see myself as a comedy writer, but I can see how the short story can be useful for short bursts of pithy characters full of wit.

One of the key elements in my head is a recurring character who is already quite well rounded in my imagination. I’d like to play with a little bit of darkness too; I can’t imagine getting away from that too much, no matter what form I was writing in.

Of course, there is the possibility that this is just a new shiny thing to distract me from the many current projects I already have on the go. Plot bunnies do always turn up, after all, when you least want to be distracted by them.

Perhaps I’ll just try one out to see where it goes as a lunchtime project or something.

Wow, that whole post was more stream of consciousness than I’d intended. Oh well…

Mistborn: The Well Of Ascension Review

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Following on from my The Final Empire review, I’ve now also had chance to read Brandon Sanderson’s second book in his Mistborn Trilogy: The Well Of Ascension.

Again, this is a pretty chunky book which means a serious investment of time. Chances are, if you are going to read this, you have already read The Final Empire and are used to making the investment. If you haven’t read The Final Empire, then go back and read that first. This is not the kind of trilogy where the books can work as standalone in my opinion. Sanderson works hard to make his characters nuanced, much of the groundwork of which takes place in the first book.

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On the whole, Sanderson avoids that horror of the follow up: failing to balance the recapping and explanation. There were one or two moments when I thought it seemed a bit forced and clunky, but I wonder if that was because I read this so shortly after the first one. This only happened a handful of times though, which given the scope of the first book, is a pretty good average.

One of my favourite features of this particular book was the way Sanderson explored the growth of several supporting characters. Epic fantasy tends to have a wealth of cast to choose from, and in my opinion, Sanderson picked the best ones to take a deep dive on. Without spoilers, I have to say that Sazed was the character I enjoyed the most in this book. His personal growth, background and abilities were all moved forwards without seeming forced or detrimental to the plot in a way that made him completely relatable.

The plot itself was carefully constructed, but not in an obtrusive kind of way. Anyone who knows about Sanderson will also know that the writing craft is important to him. He does not believe that great books just happen. It takes hard work, it is a skill and he prides himself in making that happen. He is also very generous in sharing his knowledge and experience. So, reading this, I was aware of his general thought processes and approach, and was conscious of it on some level. For those who are not interested in the writing craft, I don’t think it will feel overly structured or forced.

The key test for the middle book in a trilogy is if it makes you want to read the next one, or if it kills the story arc too early. I’m not sure I enjoyed the book as a whole as much as the first, but the build up to the ending gained sufficient momentum to not only be satisfying in itself, but also propel me forwards enough to want to read the third installment.

Luckily, my sister (huge Sanderson fan) is bound to have a copy. Now, if I can just persuade her to hand it over…

New Job and Writing

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Next week I will begin the tricky balancing act of starting a new job with that of being a writer.

Essentially, it is starting a new full time role in addition to becoming self-employed and starting a business. Many people would not think of being an author as also being an entrepreneur, but in a lot of respects it definitely is.

There is the act of content creation and development, marketing, accounts and finance, as well as any legal elements that might be included. Depending on how much available time there is after a full day at work, this might eat into virtually all of what would traditionally be considered ‘free’ time.

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Of course, actual number of available hours is only a part of it. Time is only valuable if you have the mental energy to use it effectively. That is why some times you can get more done in a single hour than you can get done in an entire day. It becomes about leveraging that mental energy to make the best use of your time to get things done effectively. It may also be having the courage to admit that you are doing a job poorly and it is worth stopping now before you make a bad thing even worse.

This is what I will try to remind myself of over the next few weeks, when I feel as though my writing is not progressing as fast as I would like. I always commit myself 100% to an employer, something I believe to be vital if you want to be credible and trustworthy as a human being. Obvious caveats apply if your employer is treating you unfairly, of course. But my free time is the the time where the hardest fought battles will take place, because honestly, watching TV is just easier than locking myself away and editing.

I guess the hardest fought battles are the ones most worth winning.

Mistborn: The Final Empire Review

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So, I am a bit late to the game with Brandon Sanderson. I admit that much. I’ve known of him for years, largely because of the Writing Excuses podcast (which is supremely awesome – you should check it out). But when it came to reading his books, I’d never picked one up, despite my sister’s constant proddings to do so.

Confession time: I’ve always loved the concept of epic fantasy, but The Lord Of The Rings put me off. Not The Hobbit – I read and loved that as a kid. But I’ve lost count of the times I’ve started and failed to finish LoTR. As far as I was concerned, the best thing about it was that my Dad had bought an amazingly bound set that looked perfect on the bookcase. Don’t judge me.

It is therefore a pleasure to be able to say I enjoyed being eased back into the genre by Sanderson. I mean, who wouldn’t be tempted by this cover?

 

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The one thing I knew about Sanderson was his strength when it came to creating magic systems (use that google thing to find all of Sanderson’s Laws – much of it can also be applied to other areas). In this book it is Allomancy, which is one of the most engaging magic systems I have ever come across. It is handled with elegance and balance, not once causing the reader’s suspension of disbelief to waver. Even the action scenes are handled with a deft touch, rather than I have magic, I can beat you, BAM! VICTORY!!!!! which means the main characters never become so competent that they also become boring in the process.

For me, having a female main character rather than just dudes in cloaks walking with elves made it more relatable too. Not that I can’t enjoy books with elves in, in fact I read one very recently (When Elves Attack), but I think there is still an element of masculinity to the genre that is only just beginning to loosen its hold. Which is a good thing, I think.

I’m not going to spoiler it, but the storytelling and pace, along with the characterisation, makes it worth the time investment to get through the hundreds of pages. Sanderson is not exactly known for his brevity, but I was happy to see that it wasn’t just words for the sake of it. To complete something as grand in scope as the vision he has for his worlds, well, it’s going to take a bit longer than your average novel.

If you haven’t already read it, you can buy Mistborn: The Final Empire here.

Fortune Cookie

Let there be stories

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Yesterday was devoted to getting back to the mortgage-paying kind of paid work, as I’m coming up to the end of my little writing sabbatical. Today will be back to the writing. I don’t need to tell you which one of these activities I prefer.

Of course, even writing has elements I don’t like and these are the ones I try to focus on when I get free time that isn’t first thing in the morning. 6am is my writing time. Not my ‘creating’ time (I’m an outliner) and certainly not my editing time. I actively make my stories worse if I try and edit them before coffee.

Generally I have 3 books on the go at the same time. One in the planning phase – this can be as little as an idea knocking around in my head or completed outline and character development.

The second will be in the writing phase. This is the most enjoyable phase for me. Just sitting back, making the story appear from the outline.

The third will be in the editing phase. Definitely the least favourite. Not to mention the one that gets progressively worse. There’s the first read through that can have some pleasant surprises (hey, that’s not actually awful after all!), to the line edits where your brain has read the damn thing so many times and is looking at it in such detail that you get your its confused with your it’s and you want to tell passive voice that it can go and be shoved.

The writing dream is definitely a hard slog. People don’t see the years of hard crafting and sacrifices that go into whipping something into a state where there is a glimmer of hope that a publisher might snap it up. But aren’t all dreams that way?

You can’t guarantee publishing success, but if you can put your hand on your heart and say you tried your best, then that is something to be proud of.

I Hate Titles

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As I’ll be moving on from New Zealand shortly, I have a few weeks where I can be completely devoted to writing.  This has led me to the realisation of how much I hate coming up with book titles.

Sometimes, I know from the beginning, which is great. When I don’t, I come up with a placeholder, because every file needs a name, right? Then I get to the point where I need a title and nothing seems to work. Nothing seems to fit. Worse, the more I think about it, the more ridiculous my brain gets until I just feel frustrated. In the end, everything sounds like a bad porn movie.

This past week, I have had to come up with two new titles for books in very different genres. The first is one I am submitting to agents to try to take down the traditional publishing route. I know that if I am lucky enough for it to go somewhere, then the title will no doubt get changed anyway. But I still need something a little catchy to begin with if I want to grab attention.

The second is for the first book in a series I am intending to self-publish under a pseudonym. That means there will be no team of professional title-makers to come up with one for me. Annoyingly, the second and third books have had their titles from the start, but this has been stuck with it’s placeholder for nearly a decade. That’s made it hard to shake in my own mind. I finally had the breakthrough last night, which means I can finally think about getting the cover art done. Yay.

Titles. I hate ’em (apart from when I love them).

So, in the spirit of the writing focus and the coffee I have ploughed through to keep going:

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Writing…

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Whilst I was over in the States, I finally managed to pick up my intro pen back into the world of fountain pens. The idea being to see how much the act of physical writing changes my creative process. Hopefully my modified bullet journal approach will help me keep track of these bits and pieces.

My general practice is to get up every morning at 6am and keep typing until I hit at least 1000 words. Some days it is still a struggle, but I have essentially turned it into a habit. In some ways, the hands and some part of my brain do the work, while the remainder of brain and body just wait for the third cup of coffee before coming alive. I have no idea how it works, don’t ask.

The act of writing is automatically slowed by the return to pen and paper. A fountain pen, so the theory goes, will slow down the process even further, if I want it to be legible and not a series of scratches across the paper.

Today I found myself a nice little coffee shop and hand-wrote a 26 page short story. So I’m happy.

I couldn’t imagine writing a full length novel this way, because typing it all up would seem agonising. I don’t see the payoff for me at that volume. For short stories though, I could see this becoming my new process.

Definitely a good way to finish off the week.

Canada Totem

Road trips: San Francisco, Vancouver, Alaska

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So, I have been on the road now for the best part of a month. The purpose of this was twofold: for writing research and for pleasure.

It has been, without a doubt, a very interesting and busy few weeks. Having flown from New Zealand back in time, we covered San Francisco, Vancouver and surrounds, as well as Alaska. One thing has certainly be cemented this year, and that is the fact I am clearly more of an outdoor person than a city person. Which is not something I think I ever really realised before. Whilst I’ve never felt compelled to move towards the big lights, I could never really say I was much for tramping in the woods either. Perhaps it is something that is becoming more defined as I get older, or perhaps people are becoming less appealing? Who knows.

Canada Totem

 

I’ve certainly got a notebook full of ideas and places, characters that are calling out to me to be written. Turns out the Fieldnotes books are the perfect size for that length of stay. So the trip itself was definitely a success.

The next month will definitely be a busy one as I try to do something with it all…

Plus, I finally purchased a fountain pen in my bid to get back to handwriting some of my work. I’m loving it so far and can really notice the difference, compared to banging out the words on a computer. Review to come shortly.

 

The Rejection Threshold

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I’m not sure if submissions are my least favourite part of writing, but they have to be close. I don’t actually know anyone who loved the submission process and those that say they do are probably lying. Why? Because of this, obviously:

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No-one actually wants to be rejected. Sure, you can put a positive spin on it, say it all leads to growth etc etc, but you can’t actually want to be rejected unless there is something psychologically wrong with you. Of course, if you have the inclination to be a writer, then there probably is something psychologically wrong with you, but that is a matter for another post.

I’ve been putting myself through the submission process for years. I’ve told myself that this year will be different though. Simply because I am not going to succumb to the rejection threshold.

By the time I hit rejection number six, I usually give up. Call me weak-willed, but those form emails (or the brown SAE dropping through the letter box in the old days), never really did much for my self-esteem. It was always much easier to just move onto writing the next story whilst consoling myself with a large tub of Ben & Jerry’s.

Everyone knows that J K Rowling was rejected a dozen times before finally having Harry Potter published. One of my all time favourite authors, Jasper Fforde, was rejected 76 times before getting The Eyre Affair published (although, in fairness, I can see why. You try to describe the book and see if you can come up with anything that sounds vaguely credible). Even William Golding had a taste of rejection, with  Lord Of The Flies being rejected by over 20 times.

I would never even consider myself in that league, but safe to say, if they had stopped at the rejection threshold of half a dozen, the world would be a much poorer place. For me, I need to aim for an even higher number before giving up and reaching for the ice cream. I have decided that 2014 will be the year for it.

Although, 76 seems like an awfully long way to still have left to go….

…but I suppose there is always self-publishing…