One of the good things about writing a historical novel is that you are free to make things up: no one who reads the book has ever been to the place you are writing about during the time you are writing about, so they can't say 'h, you've got this and that wrong, there wasn't a big tree on that corner and it didn't rain on the 22nd of December, 1840'. One of the bad things is, I am a stickler for accuracy and I detest anachronisms in historical novels, so I always try to be as historically accurate as possible. I try to make my characters speak in an appropriate way, not using words that hadn't entered the language at the time (and it can be really interesting to find out when certain expressions came into use) and act authentically. I'm not really one for super-feisty heroines who defy society and find nothing bad happens to them! Also, my novel is based on historical events, so while I tend to tweak them a little bit from time to time for dramatic effect (and what historical novelist doesn't?), when I am setting a scene based around real events for which I have good descriptions and plenty of information, I like to try and include those things. But my GOODNESS it slows my writing down! I find that when I am writing purely from my imagination - on a scene which involves the central relationship, for example, or some aspect of the story that I have manufactured, my writing is free-flowing and I can get a lot more done. Today, however, I was back onto the based-on-fact stuff so I was able to write a lot less.
Wow, that was a pretty long-winded explaination for why I haven't written very much today, eh?
Also, today I had to prepare for this evening, when I am acting as MC for the celebration dinner for the Glenn Family Foundation Kiwi Cup, a yachting event for disabled sailors. A girl I have sailed with is on the committee and she asked me to help out, I think because she thinks I am never short of something to say! I guess it is also an opportunity for some self-promotion and to practise my public speaking skills. I have written about 1200 words of speech/intro notes today, so that should go on the tally.
Recent reading
Managed to finish whipping through The Lost Army while watching the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series off the deck last weekend - several really good twists at the end, including one I really didn't see coming. I am now onto Sarah Dunant's The Birth of Venus - speaking of historical novels, I wonder how long it took her to write this! It must have involved a lot of research, and superbly invokes the atmosphere of Renaissance Florence, through the eyes of a young girl.
Friday, 30 January 2009
Friday, 23 January 2009
Fantastic day!
I am rather ashamed to admit (OK, actually I'm not ashamed at all) that as soon as I wrote that headline the 80s track of the same name by Haircut 100 started playing in my head. So of course I had to Google it, which led me to You Tube, and I have now fully reacquainted myself with the whole song, and their other great hit, Love Plus One. I love eighties music so much - they just don't write songs like they used to!
Anyway, I digress. It's a fantastic day for a number of reasons - firstly, the weather is just beautiful. It's bright and sunny, with the odd puffy cloud, and the Rangitoto Channel is bright blue. The breeze has just about reached 15 knots, as there is the odd sheep in the paddock, but it's a friendly, warm, summer breeze. Days like this I love the view from my desk! (In fact, every day I love the view from my desk, but it is particularly glam today.)
I am also feeling fantastic because I have had a great writing day. I got down to business on time, and the words just started flowing out. I don't know whether it's because of the framework I laid down in the synopsis I wrote two weeks ago, or whether I'm just ready to get on with it. I certainly feel I am up to a really exciting part in the story, with lots of juicy thing about to happen. Or maybe I'm just in the sweet spot mentally today. Either way, I wrote 3500 words - and did all the other little writing-biz things on my to-do list for the first time in ages. And I also wrote in the afternoon for an hour or so, on my non-fiction project, which went really well too. So yes, today, I am a writer, and I have written.
Recent reading
I managed to finish Lady Chatterley not long after posting; it didn't end at all how I expected, but underscored my understanding of why it was banned. To hell with the sex - the whole thing would have been way too subversive in the 1920s.
I also whipped through Twopence to Cross the Mersey - I will have to get hold of the later volumes from the library, as I remember enjoying reading them again. A timely reminder of how bad things got during the 1930s.
I am currently rollicking through The Lost Army of Cambyses by Paul Sussman, a ripsnorting thriller about archaeology and terrorism in Egypt. It's pretty lightweight but it tears along and it is great to read about places I've been (and am also currently writing about, although in a historical context).
Anyway, I digress. It's a fantastic day for a number of reasons - firstly, the weather is just beautiful. It's bright and sunny, with the odd puffy cloud, and the Rangitoto Channel is bright blue. The breeze has just about reached 15 knots, as there is the odd sheep in the paddock, but it's a friendly, warm, summer breeze. Days like this I love the view from my desk! (In fact, every day I love the view from my desk, but it is particularly glam today.)
I am also feeling fantastic because I have had a great writing day. I got down to business on time, and the words just started flowing out. I don't know whether it's because of the framework I laid down in the synopsis I wrote two weeks ago, or whether I'm just ready to get on with it. I certainly feel I am up to a really exciting part in the story, with lots of juicy thing about to happen. Or maybe I'm just in the sweet spot mentally today. Either way, I wrote 3500 words - and did all the other little writing-biz things on my to-do list for the first time in ages. And I also wrote in the afternoon for an hour or so, on my non-fiction project, which went really well too. So yes, today, I am a writer, and I have written.
Recent reading
I managed to finish Lady Chatterley not long after posting; it didn't end at all how I expected, but underscored my understanding of why it was banned. To hell with the sex - the whole thing would have been way too subversive in the 1920s.
I also whipped through Twopence to Cross the Mersey - I will have to get hold of the later volumes from the library, as I remember enjoying reading them again. A timely reminder of how bad things got during the 1930s.
I am currently rollicking through The Lost Army of Cambyses by Paul Sussman, a ripsnorting thriller about archaeology and terrorism in Egypt. It's pretty lightweight but it tears along and it is great to read about places I've been (and am also currently writing about, although in a historical context).
Friday, 16 January 2009
Slow progress...but progress nonetheless!
I seem to be back in writing mode this week - no time-wasting synopsis-writing for me this week! I think it was valuable to work on the synopsis a little last week as it gave me the confidence to move forward with the story today, and I was able to sit down this morning and just start writing, knowing exactly where I was going. It's interesting: even though I sit in front of the computer in my home office to work on the book only once a week, I do spend a lot of time thinking about plot and character and dialogue and things I want to write the rest of the time, so when I start up, I'm off! I also left what I was writing midstream (sounds like a urine test!) so I can pick it up next week - and old trick I taught myself years ago. There is nothing harder than coming back to a project and having to start on a fresh movement or chapter from a standing start.
Spent the afternoon doing writing for money (actual money, that is, not future potential income!), writing 1000 words for Bride and Groom magazine on choosing a wedding celebrant. Bread and butter, pays the bills!
Spent the afternoon doing writing for money (actual money, that is, not future potential income!), writing 1000 words for Bride and Groom magazine on choosing a wedding celebrant. Bread and butter, pays the bills!
My Massey study materials arrived this week too: I have enrolled for stage 2 Modern NZ Politics (a history paper, covering the period from the 1890s to today with lots of fascinating stuff about the rise of the Liberals, the war years and economic recession, the birth of the Labour party, Muldoonism etc) and a stage 3 paper on travel writing, which I hope will enhance both my enjoyment of the genre and my output!
Overall I feel positive about the year ahead (writing-wise); I get frustrated when I write for hours on end and only produce something which I can read in five minutes or less, but I have to keep part of my eye on the big picture.
Recent reading
I am nearly at the end of Lady Chatterley's Lover, which I am sure is going to end in tears. I kind of want it to be over so I can get on with the pile of books I got from the library yesterday, including Helen Forrester's Twopence to Cross the Mersey, which I must have read at least two times before, if not more. It is a compusively readable account of a young girl's life in the depths of the Depression in Liverpool, which I loved as a teenager and interests me now due to my growing interest in early twentieth century history.
Friday, 9 January 2009
Back on the job
Today was my first day back on 'Writing Friday' after a somewhat enforced sabbatical for the last three months of '08 - a month out with illness, then a university exam, some school visits, work commitments and the annual holidays, including two and a half weeks in Thailand! However, I have been thinking and plotting during this time and was all ready to get back into it today.
I finished last year at 53,510 words of my novel which, plus the 35,000 words or so of A New Zealand Christmas that I wrote in April-June, means I managed to write nearly 90,000 words last year. Considering I only wrote on nine months of those Fridays, that means a 10,000-word-a month output, which I think a lot of writers would be pleased with. I am hoping to keep up a similar output this year, maybe even greater. I realise the (western) New Year is just a day on a calendar, a new number at the end of the row of numbers, and one that is meaningless for vast numbers of people in many other societies, but it does help to focus the mind. In a year from today, say, I will hopefully be sitting here blogging that I have finished the first draft and am well onto my revisions, and that I will also have completed a non-fiction YA manuscript in that time. Here's hoping!
I spent today getting sorted for the year ahead: tidying the desk, making up a new goals spreadsheet etc, which might sound like procrastination, but it needed to be done! I also decided that instead of just charging in and going on with the story where I left it, I should write down the results of all my recent cogitation so I don't forget what's going to happen! Yes, the dreaded synopsis.... Like many writers, I am afraid of writing a synopsis at the beginning of the project or part-way through it in case in some mystical way, by writing out the story, it will kill the book. The idea will die, or I'll realise it was a bad idea in the first place, or I will become so overwhelmed by the enormity of what I am trying to do that I will become disgeartened and give up. However, my logical side tells me that a synopsis is an extremely useful tool, and that making notes on the second half of the book will give me direction and confidence, aid me when I get stuck or am not sure where to go next, and make sure I don't leave out anything important or relevant. Just because I write it down, it's not set in stone, and I can change it later if I want to. But, like any effective goal, once it is written down I will be able to see where I am going and be able to stride confidently in that direction. Or so they say... I'll keep you posted!
Recent reading
Because it's been holiday time, I have had lots of time for reading - and my selection has been rather eclectic!
I finished last year at 53,510 words of my novel which, plus the 35,000 words or so of A New Zealand Christmas that I wrote in April-June, means I managed to write nearly 90,000 words last year. Considering I only wrote on nine months of those Fridays, that means a 10,000-word-a month output, which I think a lot of writers would be pleased with. I am hoping to keep up a similar output this year, maybe even greater. I realise the (western) New Year is just a day on a calendar, a new number at the end of the row of numbers, and one that is meaningless for vast numbers of people in many other societies, but it does help to focus the mind. In a year from today, say, I will hopefully be sitting here blogging that I have finished the first draft and am well onto my revisions, and that I will also have completed a non-fiction YA manuscript in that time. Here's hoping!
I spent today getting sorted for the year ahead: tidying the desk, making up a new goals spreadsheet etc, which might sound like procrastination, but it needed to be done! I also decided that instead of just charging in and going on with the story where I left it, I should write down the results of all my recent cogitation so I don't forget what's going to happen! Yes, the dreaded synopsis.... Like many writers, I am afraid of writing a synopsis at the beginning of the project or part-way through it in case in some mystical way, by writing out the story, it will kill the book. The idea will die, or I'll realise it was a bad idea in the first place, or I will become so overwhelmed by the enormity of what I am trying to do that I will become disgeartened and give up. However, my logical side tells me that a synopsis is an extremely useful tool, and that making notes on the second half of the book will give me direction and confidence, aid me when I get stuck or am not sure where to go next, and make sure I don't leave out anything important or relevant. Just because I write it down, it's not set in stone, and I can change it later if I want to. But, like any effective goal, once it is written down I will be able to see where I am going and be able to stride confidently in that direction. Or so they say... I'll keep you posted!
Recent reading
Because it's been holiday time, I have had lots of time for reading - and my selection has been rather eclectic!
- Over the New Year break I finally finished Ken Follett's World Without End, the sequel to The Pillars of the Earth. I think it was a little over-long and I have to admit to doing some skimming to get to the end. I admire what he was trying to do but I think the story arcs of the various characters could have been wrapped up a few incidents sooner. And how come none of the main characters died of the plague?
- I also read fo the first time Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles. Late last year I read Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, a non-fiction work about one of the earliest Victorian detectives, upon which the character of Sherlock Holmes is said to be based. It is hard to appreciate The Hound now as the novelty it would have been when it was first released, as we are so saturated today with detective stories and mysteries, and his detection techniques are no longer viewed as revolutionary. My enjoyment of it was also somewhat diminished by the fact I was reading a textbook edition with endnotes; try as I might to ignore them, I couldn't help myself flicking to the back all the time to read the references, which disturbed the flow of the story.
- On a completely different note, I really enjoyed John Burdett's Bangkok 8. I am not usually a thriller reader, because I have a tendency to nightmares and also have trouble suspending my disbelief over some of the more outrageous crimes writers come up with (it often makes me wonder what's going on in their heads!). However, what I really enjoyed about this book was it's strong flavour of Bangkok, which I have recently visited, and I am keen to read Burdett's two other Bangkok novels, Bangkok Tattoo and Bangkok Haunts.
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