The writing life

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July 3, 2009

How I did

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44,000 words. That’s not quite 2000 words a day – I did only 8000 words for the week, not 10,000. It wasn’t that I skipped a day, it was just that on a couple of days I didn’t quite manage 2000, and then couldn’t quite catch up for the rest of the week.

The writing itself began to improve later in the week, as plot lines and character motivations became clearer. Certainly, the instant I got to writing Rana’s first day (Jannin and Rana spend three days doing separate activities in the cursed palace before they reunite), I saw what Jannin was supposed to be doing on his own first day, and had to go back and fix that up.

This is by far the messiest first draft I’ve ever written, with notes to myself everywhere about changing scene order and deleting characters and switching outcomes. But then, I rather suspect I always forget how hard a first draft is, once I’ve done the second and then the last.

I also managed to write 6000 words on a different project. I don’t normally split my attention, but I figured if I wrote out what these other characters wanted to say, they would stop talking to me and let Rana and Jannin have a turn.

And my last writing-related activity for the week was doing the final edits to the first Rana book, to be published soon.

So in all, though I didn’t make my target word count, I had a pretty productive week. Next week, though, I’m looking forward to having a bit of a break.

 

June 26, 2009

How I did

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I did my 2000 words a day this week, some days very easily, some days…not so much (wasn’t this meant to be fun?). I’m at 36,000 words and have moved into the second phase of the book, told from Rana’s POV. I was meant to get to 40,000 from Jannin’s POV before switching to Rana, but his part finished early. I’m not concerned – I skimped on some of his scenes (often because they were just going in very stupid directions), entirely skipped others as being too hard to write before I know Rana’s half of the story in detail, and also know there’s at least one more scene I have to add in, so he’ll easily make 40,000 on the second draft.

This is my first sustained experience in writing a sequel, and it’s been enlightening. I’m trying to keep developing characters but stay true to their personalities from the first book (due to be published in the next few months).

It’s been especially hard to do this with Jannin, who was the young wizard-villain in the first book. In the first book, he gets to literally pop in, flirt with our heroine Rana, say something enigmatic which not conincidentally moves the plot forward, and pop out. For a major character and plot-driver, he has little to say and little page time. As a POV character, he’s not nearly so much fun to write – turns out the guy’s got problems, who knew?

The other issue I’ve found has been in leaning too hard on the first book, especially in assuming knowledge of the relationship between Rana and Jannin. In this first draft for the second book, they barely interact, because, hey, the first book showed Jannin loves Rana and why, and her ambivalence about him, so no need to demonstrate it again…except for readers who won’t read that first book, of course! At the moment, they barely exchange two words before haring off to pursue their two different but intertwined narratives, so it would seem to new readers that a) Rana’s really mean to Jannin and b) she’s awfully keen to rescue him given how mean she is to him…

But that’s a goal for the second draft. For now, I’ve got another week coming up of 2000 words a day…

 

June 20, 2009

How I did

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Ah, the best laid plans…last week I blithely decided to do 2000 words a day and knock my first draft off by the end of July. This week, an unexpected technical writing contract popped up. Normally I am well able to fit the paying work into my day along with the fiction writing (which does pay, just not in still-able-to-eat amounts), but 1) it had an urgent deadline so required almost full-time attention, and 2) I had already made other commitments for the week. Therefore, the writing was sacrificed.

This is when my recent blatherings about how you can’t expect lots of money from writing fiction and anyway I don’t really want that for myself personally become a little thin. I’d love to be able to pick and choose my writing contracts, turn down these kind of high-stress but extremely boring jobs (it was more or less copy-and-paste work that had to be done for hours at a stretch to get it done on time) and accept only the ones which challenge me and bring me into researching a new area.

And if I’m dreaming along these lines, then why not say, I’d love to be able to stop the technical writing work altogther and concentrate solely on fiction (though, actually, I like doing technical writing and it gives me a break from fiction when fiction isn’t going well; it’s just these weeks, when the fiction writing gets completely shoved aside, that I dislike)? That’s not the way it works when you’re not an A-list writer – I don’t think it even works if you’re just a mid-list writer – and, hah, I’m not even on the list!

So anyway, I’ll try again next week, 2000 words a day. If something else unexpected pops up, I’ll still try for 500 words a day. I will get this bloody first draft (first! It’s freaking June and I haven’t finished the first!) done.

 

June 12, 2009

How I did

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I had a plodding week: pretty awful stuff that will need complete re-writing on the second draft, but I hit my word limit every day, for the first time in quite a while.

But I’m at 26,000 words. Keen regular eyes will note this is more than 500 words a day – yes, I’ve reverted back to the intensive 2000 words a day that worked so well for me last year. If I manage this rate, I’ll be done on this first draft by the end of July, including a week off for a visit home.

I decided to up my word target about mid-way through my working week. It wasn’t because I felt things were going well – as I said, I’m writing definite first draft garbage, just getting the shape of the story down on paper.

It was more because I felt that I had the time to do more than 500 words: after a very disruptive first half of the year, I was finally managing to sit down at my computer at 2pm for four hours of uninterrupted work.

[As followers of this chronicle will remember from last year, I am not a morning writer; I get errands, chores, and non-fiction work done in the morning, and then close the door and turn off the phone (and email) for the afternoon. I know loads of writers get up at the crack of dawn and plunge on in, but that doesn't work for me. You can pay attention to the way other writers write for clues on how to approach your own working habits, but that doesn't mean following the schedules that works for them will necessarily work for you.]

So I finally had the time, but I was not using that time; I was getting my minimum 500 words done and then giving up with a sigh of relief. But that’s not the way the word target works (again, for me; other writers do 500 polished words and can legitimately quit work for the day) – it’s supposed to be what I surpass, not what I aim for.

If I write only 500 words in four hours, they better damn well be final draft-quality words. On the other hand, if I’m producing first draft rubbish, I can push out 2000 words which are just as crappy as 500 words…

 

May 29, 2009

How I did

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I did crap, that’s how I did. The combination of the week’s break last week plus a pile-up of chores this week meant I only got to writing on a few days, and the writing itself was plodding and dull, the sort of stuff that makes you happy it’s just the first draft…

I do have a good idea of the plot now, so it’s a matter of finding the time and motivation to write it (or anything at all, right now – going through a bad phase). Normally I can talk myself round (the ‘it’s only 500 words’ type pep talk) but not this week.

And not next week either, because I’m away again. Blog on hiatus.

 

May 8, 2009

How I did

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I’m at 12,000 words and feeling fairly comfortable with the shape of the story. I still haven’t gone past the endpoint of those first two dozen pages I wrote originally – that’s how much extra material I’m adding in.

The nicest part is that I’m now already one quarter of the way through Jannin’s arc – he’s narrating the first half up to about 40,000 words. Then Rana will take over for the next 40,000 words, picking up from a point about halfway through Jannin’s narative, and we’ll see what she’s been up to when Jannin’s seen her wandering about the palace hallways soaking wet. She’ll also bring the story through to the conclusion, taking it past where Jannin’s narration stops.

At least, that’s what I think’s going to happen. I only have a series of disconnected incidents in mind to guide me, so we’ll see. But one quarter through one half of the story sounds pretty nice (especially after last year’s effort went to a massive 195,000 words – if I could work out how/where to add in another 50,000 words I could split the damn thing into a trilogy, for crying out loud).

Though I did get more words done than my target, I didn’t work on this WIP every day. Instead, I had another go at the synopsis for the 195,000-word monster. It came out better than the first try, but it still doesn’t really capture the complexity or flavour of the book, or even most of the action. Yeah, let’s you see summarise the plot, characterisation and character relationships, and tone of a 400-page book in a single page…

 

May 1, 2009

How I did

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I’m at 8000 words. Which sounds good, since it’s more than my target 500 words a day. However, I was not able to write every day (including today), and much of the total word count came from the original 20 pages rather than new words – though I am adding to and improving those original initial scenes.

Even on days I did have plenty of time, I could feel myself procrastinating. I know exactly why I do this – I’m worried that once I get past the first few scenes, where I have the original pages and am fairly happy with the way they go, I’ll be out there in the wide open space of the blank white page, staring down 70,000 words and panicking about it…

I know from past experience that the only way to combat this feeling is to just keep plonking away at the keyboard muttering, ‘it’s just the first draft, it can be crappy. Don’t think about 70,000. Think about 500′.

Towards the end of the week, I did feel things begin to pick up. In particular, I’m writing from the POV of Jannin, who was my bad guy in the first book. Not a lot gets told about him or his past in the first book, and now his backstory is beginning to whisper to me. I’m also getting hints about what his arc will be – until now, I’ve been focused on Rana’s arc (she was my POV in the first book and will be again in this one). She has losses to recover from – but so does Jannin, and that’s what’s showing up strongly in these re-written first scenes.

 

April 24, 2009

How I did

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As might be inferred from yesterday’s entry, I have let my writing muscle atrophy over the last four months while I was moving from Libya to Malaysia with a visit home in between. I’ve done a little editing of last year’s work, and written a couple of scenes, but it’s almost May and I haven’t got a new work underway.

This week, finally, was when I felt settled enough in my new home to put my writing routine back into place. Though you’d think it’d be the first routine to be replaced, it was the last: dog-walking and household routines came first. Perhaps I need my safe haven all sorted before I can devote mental energy to writing.

The routine is for afternoon writing [I have learnt over the last few years that I can force myself to try writing in the morning, but I'm not going to get much done, and nothing worth keeping...], 500 words a day.

This week, I only managed it for the last three days (as I had guests earlier in the week, as was just as eager to do some sightseeing as they were, since I’m new to the city too), but did get 2000 words done overall.

It also took me some time to decide what to write – which makes it sound like I’m rolling in ideas. That’s not true, but I did have a couple of options. In particular, my mind has been turning over ideas to do with the characters I was working with last year, but I think they’re too fresh and I need distance.

Therefore, I’ve decided on a sequel to a book that is about to be published. When I finished that book, I immediately jotted down a few scenes for what those characters would do next, and even went so far as to write about 20 pages of the sequel. But as with my characters from last year, I needed time to let them settle before I felt comfortable writing about them again.

So some of the 2000 words was lifted from the original 20 pages, but mostly not verbatim. I followed the layout of the first scene, because it allowed a good re-introduction to the characters while immediately outlining the new problem, but added more depth and detail. I found re-reading the 20 pages that my old problem of rushing developments was alive and well, and also that because I had written it straight after the first book, I did tend to skip over character relationships and descriptions because I knew them so well – not so for a new reader, of course.

It was a slow and shaky start, but I expected that, and was grateful I had early scenes to help me along. I am looking forward to getting my teeth into the story properly next week.

 

April 9, 2009

Choosing a title in genre fiction

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The title is a tough nut: along with your cover, it’s what makes a potential reader pick your book up off the shelf, or click for more information. It generally needs to be short and intriguing, and in some way encapsulate the book (fiction or non-fiction) in a few words. Hah, and you thought the synopsis was hard! Here’s a good article from Writers Weekly on how to approach picking your title, and a personal anecdote about it.

I’ve got a new fiction book coming out in a couple of months, and I thought I would share the brainstorming process with you so you can see just how hard it can be.

Some details: it’s a 85,000 fantasy fiction book, best audience probably YA girls because it is adventure-romance with a female narrator, Rana, and two other female leads, Anura and Amaryths, all teenagers or young adults.

It’s set in a fairytale world, literally in a world where fairytales are true guiding principles and the Fairytale Imperative makes sure that no princess is left for long without her prince showing up to rescue her. Except that Anura’s prince is stubbornly late and a wizard has turned up to murder her – but not if Rana has her way.

The working title for this book has always been ‘Rana’ (I always name my drafts after the lead female character), and the title by which it was submitted was ‘The Frog’s Daughters’ since Anura is descended from the original frog-prince who rescued the golden ball from the well, and the Frog is the guardian angel of this fairytale realm.

However, I’ve never been fond of this title, and my publisher thinks we can do better too. And so…

I started by listing some of the themes, archetypes, and special phrases that spring to mind when I think through the book: wizard, frog prince, fairy tale, crone, Domain [the name of their land], potential, princess, Imperative, light strike [a power Rana has], seeking, puss in boots, spinning wheel, curse, once upon a time, Book, spellbook, enchantment…

The first title that came to me was ‘Rana and the Painted Wizard’. It’s OK. Not too much better than the original title, and if we’re going to give the boys a play in the title, it might very well be ‘Rana and the Wrong Prince’. Plus it implies this is a series, which it isn’t, though I may eventually write a follow-up. In which case, this would be a very convenient title form – this is something genre writers have to keep in mind, what with the trend to hundred-book series these days.

I circled around ‘curse’ for a while: ‘Anura’s Curse’. But a) it sounds like she’s got her period, and b) all three girls are cursed one way or the other, but if any one girl gets the title, it should be Rana. Then there were variations around ‘The Cursed Fairytale’, ‘The Fairytale Curse’, the ‘Curse OF the Fairytale’…but in the end decided the titles around ‘curse’ would give the impression the book is much darker than it actually is. This then is pitching at the wrong audience.

I searched for a long time for something around ‘kiss’, since there are several important kisses in the book and it captures the romantic flavour: ‘The Fairy Tale Kiss’, ‘Kissing Frogs, Hoping for Princes’ [too modern in tone], ‘The Awakening Kiss’, ‘A Kiss for the Princess’. I dislike most of these and just don’t think anything so far has captured the tone.

Another theme in the book is the idea that Anura’s real fairytale has gone astray and she is stuck in this nasty one where a wizards wants to kill her. So I played with notions of ‘lost’: ‘The Lost Fairytale’, ‘The Misplaced Prince’, and so forth, but still didn’t come up with anything I really liked.

I thought for a while about something to do with the Fairytale Imperative or the Light-Strike, but those of these are esoteric concepts that won’t become clear until you actually read the book. They might interest the reader enough to read the blurb, or might turn them off instantly.

Now, Part 1 of the book is called ‘Seeking’, Part 2 ‘Finding’, Part 3 ‘Losing’. So I tried to find something that would feed off that naming theme, and came up with the word ‘quest’. ‘Rana’s Quest’, ‘The Fairytale Quest’. The trouble I am having is that I find all these titles quite dull and generic – there’s a lot of titles every year in fantasy fiction, and I want my title to stand out a bit.

By now I was getting quite frustrated, so I turned to the exceedingly literal title: ‘Rana’s Quest for a Fairytale’. ‘Princess Seeks True Love’. Accurate, anyway.

I tend to have a quite literal approach to titles, but evocative (if sometimes essentially meaningless) titles can work very well in attracting attention. Whoever developed the titles for Joe Abercrombie’s First Law series, The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and The Last Argument of Kings did a marvellous job in this regard, though I can vouch from reading the first book that the relationship between title and story was tenuous.

I did use such a figurative approach for my first book (After the Dragon; the only real dragon makes a one-line appearance and the Dragon of the title is really a metaphor). ‘In the Shadow of the Tower’, or ‘Shadow of the Book’ might work, both towers and books being important figures during the girls’ adventures. ‘By the Spinning Wheel’ is another, since this moment is pivotal for Rana. These titles are more interesting to me but I can’t say how attractive they are to others.

In the end, however, I have had to admit defeat. The only title that gave me even a moment of ‘hmmm, maybe’ was the first, ‘Rana and the Painted Wizard’, and the last ‘By the Spinning Wheel’. I’m waiting to see what my publisher comes up with.

So not too useful for me, but I hope this has helped other genre writers explore something of the process of coming up with title: brainstorming based round themes and events in the story and weighing each title for its interest or impact.

 

November 9, 2008

How I did

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I finished, that’s how I did! 410 pages; 192,000 words; it’s done, pinned dead the page – well, that’s how it feels right now…

I’d have a glass of champagne, if this wasn’t a dry country. As it is, I’m going to take morbid pleasure in burying the baby for the next seven weeks – I’m not going to look at it again now until the new year. Once I’ve taken that good long break, it will be time to print it out for the first time (sorry, trees) and go through it line by line to make it pretty: catch the typos, straighten out inconsistencies, pluck out the cliches, beef up the flat bits, ruthlessly cut redundancies, and get it ready for its first wobbly steps out in the world ie my first reader.

That’s later. This week I’m going to loll around on the couch reading trashy books and eating chocolate (and tinker; I’ll tinker a little this week, I won’t be able to resist). I’ve got technical work, a bit of non-fiction stuff, and some editing to do, but no new fiction project thought up yet, so this is the last in this series for a while.

p.s. you know you’re in for a bad writing week when you get a rejection from a market you never submitted to, for a type of a story you’ve never written…weird.

 

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