When Writing is damn Hard: Unclogging the Creative Plughole

In my last post I talked about how life had, once again, conspired to distract me from my writing. After a few days of great productivity, I hit a brick wall as circumstances drained all my time and energy and pumped me full of stress and angst. This left me with nothing to put into my writing. It's fair to say I ground to a screeching halt.

Now that all those stresses are gradually fading into horrors of the past I'm wanting to get back into the writing. However, like a sink where the plughole has become clogged with all kinds of unmentionable gunk, my ability to funnel my ideas on to the paper - or to even access them in the first place - is being hampered by stress. At times like this, getting back into the swing of writing and getting the creative juices flowing again can be really hard.

I feel constipated! There's an uncomfortable blockage in my creativity.

The ideas are building up behind a locked door. I don't have the key. I can't access them.

The frustration builds and can become quite debilitating if it takes me too long to get the ideas flowing again. I become a bit like a caffine addict who has been without their morning hit for five days in a row! It's not pretty. In fact, it can be down right frightening, let me tell you.

So how do I go about unclogging the drain, or finding that magical key?

Editing. Yes, editing.

Editing is methodical. It is deliberate. It requires creativity from me, but not too much.

Picking up a piece of writing that needs to be edited and dealing with it helps me to slowly work me way back into a creative mind set. It picks away at the scum, allowing a trickle of ideas to quickly become a torrent. Ta-da! the blockage is gone, destroyed by the editing process.

When I edit I'm able to push back the worries and the issues of daily life aside and to re-train myself to focus of my writing. Once I'm back in that world - the "other" world of my writing - it becomes easier to slip back into putting words on the page and before I know it I'm writing again.

This is one key in my arsenal that I use to get though those hard patches. It works for me, maybe it'll work for you too.

Considering an E-venture

It's been ages since I have blogged here, or at least it feels like ages ago.

As I have slowly recovered from my surgery I've been picking up the pace with my writing related activities. I won't just say writing, because I don't know if I have done all that much actual writing.

My friend Sue (aka JT Webster) and I lead our first meeting as the new President and Secretary of the Dunedin Writer's Workshop this month. We've both been attending there for close to three years and it was interesting to sit on the other side of the bench. The feedback we had was positive at any rate.

It took me this long, but I think I've finally cottoned on to the fact that when people tell you to write what you love it's a big, fat LIE!

I mean, sure go ahead and write what you like if what you love and write are exactly what publishers are looking for, otherwise you're more or less just writing for yourself and your friends (if they like it too). However, if what you REALLY want is to be published you'd better love and write the kind of novel a publisher wants to publish.

I spent almost 15 months working on my YA fantasy only to finally figure out that it is too much like the old school fantasy which is 'so last year'. I wrote it because I love this sort of story. The feed back I got on it was good, people loved it, but that isn't enough. In it's present form it's not what publishers are publishing right now.

So I figured I'd got two choices.

1) Stuff it in a drawer and wait until high fantasy is cool again
or
2) re-write it

My choice? I decided to re-write.

I started working on it two days ago. I've tweaked the first two chapters, re-written the fourth and totally scrapped about eight. More will join the heap I'm sure. The middle will be tweaked, but it will more or less remain as is (that's the plan at this stage), while the end will be expanded and added on to.

The result? A different sort of fantasy novel, one I'm hoping will be more 'the thing' and one publishers will want to publish.

I've also decided to focus on making the book a lot more self contained rather than it having to be a trilogy.

In addition to working on this, I'm still writing my Steampunk story. I'm enjoying writing it, even if it's progressing in fits and starts.

I'm also working on an anthology of short stories set in the 1930-50's and I've had good feed back on those compiled so far. (Isn't the photo above just charming? Hat tip to Michele Dyson)

I'm also seriously considering an E-venture - an adventure in e-publishing!

This is not something I ever thought I'd do, but recently the opportunity has come up. It's a children's story in the tone of a medieval fairytale. A wonderful graphic designer who worked at Weta will create the cover art and illustrations. I'm really excited about this publishing adventure and the possibility that it might lead to other similar - or bigger - publishing opportunities.

So there's lots going on in my little writing corner of the world. How are about you? What adventures of the literary kind are you embarking on?

Reading, Writing and Editing

I've been picking away at my editing. It's coming along slowly. Slowly, because I've found myself so engrossed in the books I've been reading that for the last few days I've done little except read and do necessary house work.

The two books that have held me spellbound are two of Juliet Mariller's tomes, Wolfskin and Foxmask. History mixed with myth and seasoned with magical imagery. Great stories if you like a little history with your fantasy or vice versa.

I also read The Princess Plot. A modern day, YA adventure of political intrigue, deception and friendship.

And Paladin, a YA fantasy/SF novel about two friends who find themselves caught up in another world's war with a very significant part to play.

My daughter was watching the twilight movies today, while I sat reading the end of Foxmask. As cheesy as you might think these movies are there's something about them and the relationships between the characters that always inspires me to write.

By the time I'd finished reading the last page I was desperate to get to work on Tremorgan's Quest.

It has been quite a while since I'd touched the second book in Tremorgan's journey and I'm excited to be getting back into it.

Tremorgan is a character that feels things deeply. She internalizes a lot and as a result her joy, distress and guilt often find expression in her dreams.

This would be fine if things were going well - but as I'm a very cruel writer this isn't often the case - and more often than not Tremorgan is haunted by disturbing dreams and nightmares.

Dreams are strange, fickle, illusive things. They're fun to write because almost anything can happen. The rules of reality don't apply in a dream scape.

At the moment I'm working on the beginning of the book and picking away at a series of dreams to torment my MC. I do love her, really I do...

So, no matter what I put Tremorgan through I've promised her (and myself) that she'll get her happy ending.

Slash and Burn

My beta reader swung by a couple of days ago and read over the new scenes I have written for Tremorgan's Gift. She gave them the big thumbs up. The tantrum scene is great! But the kiss still needs a little work - I love/hate writing those moments! Sigh. Never the less, I'm excited about the extra pizazz these three scenes will add.

I'm making steady progress with my editing. I've done about 10% thus far, that is averaging a couple of chapters a day.

It would probably be quicker if I didn't insist on editing on paper first, but I feel safer hacking and slashing and moving stuff around on paper. It's easier to see the glaring awkward sentences, the ugly phrases and detect the clunky tone. I can play with the words to my heart's content and if I change my mind nothing is lost.

Also, I find I can distance myself from the fact that this is my book, my baby, when it's in hard copy in a way that I struggle to do on screen. On paper I'm a lot more brutal and a lot less precious about my work; a frequent and necessary evil.

I'm working my way though chapter 11 today. Tremorgan has just had her brother snatched from her and only narrowly escaped with her life...

Poor girl! The things I've put her through, it's cruel really.

The Editing Process

I'm making good progress on my second edit of Tremorgan's Gift. I'm now working on chapters five and six.

Just for fun and because I enjoy seeing how other people have edited their work. I thought I'd share a before an after shot of some of my own editing.

The first piece is the before shot. It's from the beginning of chapter four.

It's over written and even though the character's father has just been murdered it is a bit OTT (over the top!).

Tremorgan dropped her head against the cold stone feeling dizzy. Realising she held her breath, she forced a deep gulp of air into her lungs. The effort to breathe took all her concentration.

Da is dead. They killed him. The silent scream echoed in her head, growing louder and louder. Squeezing her eyes shut, she choked on a sob. “No!” She shook her head, clawing at her hair as if to tear the hideous truth from her mind.

Her fists pounded the stone as a wave of grief rose inside her, filling her with it's fire. Agony gripped her heart, twisting it, tearing it; as if someone was brutally ripping it from her chest. A keening wail exploded past her gritted teeth in a strangled scream.

She shuddered as her keening died away. She felt nothing. The fire inside had burnt out leaving her feeling cold and void of emotion. The nothing was worse than the agony. She scrubbed her eyes, willing herself to cry, but her tears were frozen in a burg of ice that pressed against her chest and made breathing painful.

Now that is pretty horrible!!!
It is obvious I seriously let myself go when trying to capture Tremorgan's grief in this piece.
So how am I going to fix it?
Well, I moved stuff around and cut quite a lot out.
Here it is again with the chopped bits highlighted.

Tremorgan dropped her head against the cold stone feeling dizzy. Realising she held her breath, she forced a deep gulp of air into her lungs. The effort to breathe took all her concentration.

Da is dead. They killed him. The silent scream echoed in her head, growing louder and louder. Squeezing her eyes shut, she choked on a sob. “No!” She shook her head, clawing at her hair as if to tear the hideous truth from her mind.

Her fists pounded the stone as a wave of grief rose inside her, filling her with it's fire. Agony gripped her heart, twisting it, tearing it; as if someone was brutally ripping it from her chest. A keening wail exploded past her gritted teeth in a strangled scream.

She shuddered as her keening died away. She felt nothing. The fire inside had burnt out leaving her feeling cold and void of emotion. The nothing was worse than the agony. She scrubbed her eyes, willing herself to cry, but her tears were frozen in a burg of ice that pressed against her chest and made breathing painful.

Right. Now we have a clearer picture of what we need to get rid of. But it is a mess. If I was just to remove those bits half the sentences wouldn't make any sense. So I had to do a bit a re-writing. I also had to change this from third person point of view to first person.

The final shot.
So here it is again with all the bits I thought were too over the top removed. The grief is still there but it's no longer going to over whelming the reader. I hope.

I dropped my head against the cold stone and forced a deep gulp of air into my lungs.

Da was dead. Murdered. Squeezing my eyes shut, I choked on a sob. I clawed at my hair as if to tear the hideous truth from my mind. A strangled scream exploded past my gritted teeth.

I shuddered as my keening died away leaving me feeling cold and void of emotion. The emptiness was worse than the agony. I scrubbed at my eyes, willing myself to cry, but my tears were frozen in my chest.

It is shorter, tighter. It's still not perfect but it's much better than it was (in my humble opinion). So there you go, a little insight into my editing process.

Help!

I had an awesome day yesterday hang out and catching up with my writing buddy Sue (aka J T Webster). As always by the time she left I was burning to get back into editing and generally polishing Tremorgan's Gift.

Not only did Sue inspire me but she brought with her the first half of my MS which she has kindly been editing for me. Thank you so much Sue, you're a gem!

I've got a few ideas to add to the first chapter which I'm excited about. I'm going to add a bit more carnage and a few more thoughts from Tremorgan that will hopefully help set the scene a bit more.

But I need some advice....

Please note: Tremorgan's Gift is a YA fantasy novel which starts by dropping you right into the chaos of a castle under attack.

What I'm struggling with is how to tell you who "I" am before the carnage starts. Do you need to know my name for instance? Or is it enough to know I'm a princess?

Another question is: Do you need to know where I am any more specifically than that I'm in a castle? Do you need to know where the castle is? ie: what country and where in that country? or is it okay to let you discover this a little later?

And if you do need to know where "I" am how can I tell you this without destroying the pace of the action unfolding at the beginning?

What do you think????????

On the plus side, transferring the book into first person is turning out to be relatively easy since the story is so much in Tremorgan's head anyway. I've adjusted chapters 1 and 2 and they read so much more smoothly already. I'm really pleased.

Wipe the Brow and Relax - Step Two is Complete

I finished editing the last pages of my manuscript today - all 522 pages or 98,000 words.

YAY!!! Jig with me ... I know you want to!

It's an amazing feeling to see the whole thing printed out, a vertiable mountain of paper.

My Mum is staying for a couple of weeks so she was eager to be my first reader. She reads a LOT of books, even this is a bit of an understatement. She's been here a week and aside from helping with the housework and the kids she's managed to read at least seven books! not including my MS. So she knows a good book when she reads one and she wasn't going to tell me mine was great just because she's my Mum.

Well, when she got to the end of the last page she pushed it away from her and cried, "Where's the next book? I want to know what happens next." Believe me this is a good thing, it's the first in a planned trilogy. I want you to want to know what happens next.

I'm planning to read through it from start to finish and then it'll go out to my beta readers on Tuesday.

But until I get it back and attack their edits I plan to twiddle my thumbs a little, read lots of books and maybe, just maybe, I'll start writing book number two.

Oh, and in case you were wondering...

Step One: Write the book (and re-write and repeat as necessary)

Step Two: Edit the book (and repeat as necessary)

Step Three: Edit the book as advised by beta readers (and repeat as necessary)

Step Four: Submit the book to agent or publisher

Conquering the Beast

You'll know, if you read this semi regularly, I've been editing my MS for the past few months. What you might not know is that more recently I've been struggling with a portion of my MS in a big banging-my-head-against-the-wall sort of a way. Apparently this is quite normal. Writers do experience moments like this from time to time. We encounter them when we are writing and again and again and again during editing.

I think it's easier when we are in the writing phase to sweep these wee monsters under the carpet and pretend they aren't there. But come editing time it's much harder to pretend that all the problems and inconsistencies, plot issues, dull, boring, cardboard characters and lazy writing are not there!

They are THERE and they have to be dealt will. They can't be left as they are. These monsters must be vanquished or they will destroy any potential your story has of EVER leaving the slush pile.

For the last - lets be honest - six weeks I have been struggling with a particular large beast.

I admit I dragged my feet. I don't know that I was scared to face this monster, but I certainly wasn't looking forward to it. I procrastinated. I read books. I twiddled my thumbs. I didn't want to have to deal with the problems I saw. And there were many of them!

The whole passage was about 10-15 pages, about a quarter of the way through the book. Pieces I'd written way back in the beginning, some of the very first scenes I came up with before I really knew what shape the book would take on and who my characters were.

With the book now finished, bits of it no longer fitted. Scenes needed to be tweaked, characters filled out. New scenes had to be added in to provide info and to sew everything together seamlessly. There needed to be more character interaction, more conflict and more fighting. What a nightmare!

But today is a day to celebrate. I've conquered the beast.

This afternoon it breathed it's last breath and twitched it's last twitch.

It feels great to have it done and I'm pretty pleased with what has come out of it. The characters feel fuller and more vivid, and there are some nice action scenes in there too. Which is awesome!

Editing wise, it's pretty much all down hill from here. There's still lots to do, but there are no more mountains to climb and no more great, hairy, slobbering beasts to slay.

A days work well done, if I do say so myself.
I hope you're having as much success in your own writing corner.


Note: Sorry about all the typos. I think I've fixed them all now.

Being Recharged

In the hard slog that is writing ... or in my case at the moment, editing ... we can become a bit weary and jaded by the whole process. The doubts, the negative thoughts and the impatience creep in.

"It is such a LONG process. It'll never be good enough and what happens if, in the end, the publishers don't like it?" And on and on. Blah, blah, blah...

I admit, I do get a bit impatient at the editing stage (Oh, I guess I did in the writing stage too, didn't I?). Lets face it. I'm just impatient. I want the book to be ready and perfect - now. No. Not now. Yesterday!

But life doesn't work like that and neither does writing.

Last night, at a meeting of the DWW (a local writing group), the wonderful and charming Vanda Symon came to speak to us about her books. She talked heaps, which was awesome, and shared a lot about her journey to publishing, what it was like to write a series and various other bits and pieces. Lots of great stuff. It was hugely encouraging.

I came home feeling like a fire had been lit under me.

The passion is back. I want this. I REALLY want this.

The dream hadn't faded. It'd just got a little rumbled and buried under all the crap that crawled in and sat on it, namely the doubt and impatient frustration.

So thanks Vanda for honestly sharing your enthusiasm for what you do.

It may sounds crazy, but it's great to meet published authors and discover just how awfully normal they are! It's wonderfully encouraging to find that most of them are just like me. They have families and naughty kids and issues and are terrible housekeepers (note: I'm not talking about Vanda here, just making general comments! :D) and some have smelly dogs and others have lazy cats, but they all write because they LOVE it.

Just like me!

Foreshadowing and my unofficial Nanowritmo

Rachelle Gardner has a great post on her blog today about foreshadowing vs. telegraphing. While I recognised the concepts she is talking about instantly, I have never heard these terms before. She has some great insights so go here to check it out.

Everyone seems to be talking about Nanowritmo (or whatever its called) at the mo and while I am not officially taking part I've read so much about it now that I thought it might be fun to see how much I can actually get written in one month. I doubt I will make 50,000 words but why not aim for the stars? I might surprise myself.

Of course, I'll have to lock my inner editor in a box and throw away the key if I'm to have a hope of getting close to the goal. I make no secret of the fact I am a compulsive writer, what is less well known is that I'm also have a terribly compulsive inner-editor.

To turn it off I have to gag it, truss it up and stuff it in a dark cupboard. My first teenage attempts an novel writing were never completed, not only because they were pretty dreadful, but because my inner-editor had a habit of getting totally out of control and taking over the whole thing. (She really is terribly bossy and a bit snarky at times.) I'm a bit older now though, a bit wiser and I'm learning to tell her to shut up and wait her turn. Here hoping that she can patiently wait out the whole month.

On an exciting note, if I can make it to 50,000 words my SFD will be done and we can all share a nice drink and some chocolate to celebrate. :D

What is your best ever word count for a month?
Will you join me in my writing challenge?

First Drafts and Self Editing

In his latest blog post agent Nathan Bransford suggests we go visit the blog of author Natalie Whipple to read her latest offering "Tips for First Drafting." So, like the good little girl I am, I went and had a read. Gotta say I love her blog. (You can now find a link to it in my blog roll.) And I am going to echo Nathan's cry: Go check it out!!!

On a related note, for some light hearted self-editing revelations you can go here, where author Stephanie Perkins shares some of her wisdom with us lucky ducks. Don't let her chatter about her celebrity boyfriends put you off, she does get to the point eventually. :D

Read and enjoy ... and keep writing.
Ta-raa!

More Editing

It has been a while since I made my last post.

I've been procrastinating a little, I admit, and life has been a tinsy-bit chaotic. Unlike most parents of school age kids, my life gets crazier when school goes back. Why? 'Cause I home educate my kids. So, the first week of term is always mad: sometimes trying to get kids back into school routines after the holidays is like trying to pull teeth with no anesthetic!
The holidays were great though. I did a lot of chilling out, read some good books, and got heaps of editing done. So, I'm feeling great. I hope the rest of you are feeling as well rested.

My friend/editor, Sue, has given my children's novel back to me. I began making changes this week, most of it minor - which is great - since most of the big chopping and changing was done last edit. Except for one thing... I have sadly agreed that she's right, and this thing needs to be done, but I am dragging my heels over it.

And that is: I have to wipe out - eradicate - exterminate - delete - one of my characters. I am not even going to kill him off in the story, he is simply going to disappear and no one will ever know he existed (sob).

His name was Kentigern McKenzie. He was fifteen years old and a twin (his brother will still be in the book). He was born of a Scottish immigrant family. When he grew up he wanted to be a doctor. He loved to read, play the fiddle, swim, and go fishing with his brothers. He was sweet, gentle-natured, and unaffected.

So, why did he need to be erased?
Well, he was just too nice! He never played a big part of the story and was too much in the back ground. I deleted the first reference to him today! The story will not suffer with out him. But I will miss him.

Au Revoir Kentigern!!!

Yay!

I don't know whether to feel excited or relieved. For the last week I have been working all out to finish editing Parts One and Two of my book "A Woman's Quest: Living for the Glory of God." Yes. The title is pretty self-explanatory. It's a theological tome, written by a woman for women. My first non-fiction work.

Yay! I am excited... and relieved. It feels GREAT to have it done!

Now, I just need to finish Parts Three and Four!

Sigh... Someone remind me why we do this to ourselves?