Monthly Archives: June 2011

Simplicity rules

23 Thursday Jun 2011

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I often have favourite sentences that jump out at me when reading a book, or dare I say it, when writing myself.

One such sentence I read today was:

The sea was settled.

Wow. Such purity in that one small sentence. Perfectly describing in just four words a complete atmosphere. Immediately, you get a picture of how it looked; what the day felt like. Well, it does for me anyway :)

I saw that sentence while at my daughters parent/teacher interview today. In her story writing book. Oh and did I mention she is seven?

Okay, so maybe I’m biased but I think we could all learn something from the simplicity of the sentence and the elegancy of it’s construction.

Sometimes the sentences I love most are ones with unusual words and a certain poetry to them. Most often they are simple too, either in the idea they are conveying or in the structure itself.

A sentence I like of my own is:

The right words were nowhere to be found, leaving her at the mercy of the truth and all the wrong words that now came too easily.

For some reason, I like the melody of it and, I guess, the truth in it.

What’s your favourite sentence, either yours or someone else’s? I am a sucker for a great sentence, so…hit me people!

Combining the arts

17 Friday Jun 2011

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Lately, I am realising how important music is to my writing. Come to think of it, it was always the same when I was painting; it seems I need music to be creative. I vacillate between heavier bands eg Guns n Roses, to the epitome of mellow eg Angus and Julia Stone. No matter what it is, it has to be loud!

For me, it depends on what scenes I am writing at the time and the ‘feel’ of where the story is at. Sometimes, I spend as much time trawling through my itunes list for the right ‘fit’ as I do writing! If the music isn’t right, the words just won’t flow.

Often when I am in the car and a certain song comes on, I am overwhelmed with a desire to write. Music certainly inspires me. And, occasionally, if I allow myself to dream really big, I can even imagine what music goes with what scene if it were to be made into a movie :)

Some of my other regular favourites are:
My friend the Chocolate Cake
Bon Jovi
Mumford and Sons
Whitely
Adele
Delirious?

So, what music gets your creative juices flowing?

Write anyway

13 Monday Jun 2011

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I have been inspired, amazed and challenged by certain writers of late, whose determination and tenacity is seemingly tireless. People who, in the face of ‘rejection letters’ simply keep going! I like to think I will be like that once I have written those two magic words at the bottom of my MS but I do have some nagging suspicions that I won’t.

I have a sneaky feeling that I will crumple in a heap in a spectacular manner and cry things like “I knew it was no good anyway!” and “Why did I even think I could write anything!” and “I should have stuck to gardening!” (which, btw, I am not very good at either!) and generally drive my little corner of the world completely bonkers with my whining and wailing.

So, for me, it comes down to confidence. How do you know when to give up on an MS? How do you know when it truly is crap and you should start something new? How. Do. You. Know.

I guess then, it depends on who you have surrounded yourself with during the writing torture…ahem, process. Are you surrounded by people who don’t want to tell you the truth about your story because you will either fly into a rage, dissolve into tears or never speak to them again? Or, are you surrounded by ‘truth-speakers’ who will be honest in their appraisal of how your writing is going? Or are the people around you just not that into reading (God forbid!) or your genre in particular?

Friends and family are definitely a good place to start but some may not be comfortable telling you how it really is – the good and the bad (some family members may have a severe case of ‘tall poppy syndrome’ and would not even be enthusiastic about a draft from JK Rowling! NB – whatever you think of the Harry Potter series, the woman sells books!!).

The best thing I ever did was join a writing group. We share our work and give honest appraisals. And I am even luckier that they are all polite, genuine and lovely ladies, so even criticism is said with kindness. Without them, I think I would have given up on pressing forward with my MS. Without them, I wouldn’t know what the strengths and weaknesses are in my story, and indeed, in my writing in general.

It is still quite a distinct possibility that I will come completely undone by my first, second, third….seventy third rejection letter but at least I will have my writing buddies to help me pick up the pieces and hop back on that horse :)

Writing tips

08 Wednesday Jun 2011

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There are a plethora of writing tips around but I particularly like these:

http://www.scoop.it/t/indie-writing/p/188703045/the-only-12-1-2-writing-rules-you-ll-ever-need

So far, I have not written any more on my MS since five days ago BUT there is still writing going on in my head. Sometimes I do find it useful to let things ‘stew’ for a little and then when I come to write, it’s all there. I just need to be more disciplined at actually scheduling in writing time, which is why I like these tips and the reminder they provide to just write, to use everything around us as writing fodder and to set aside specific time.

Hoping to write some tomorrow, might even get up early after being inspired by my writing buddies who are doing just that. It would be cool to be up at 5am knowing others are doing the same :)

Encouragement

06 Monday Jun 2011

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Let’s face it, we all need encouragement. One of the main ways I am encouraged is through my writing group. The girls are always there to listen to a rant, rejoice at a new word count, and, above all, understand when I hit a brick wall. The amount of encouragement from these fine writers is truly staggering – and so completely necessary.

Recently one of the girls shared a link and I would like to share it here, too. If you are after some solid reasons why you should not give up on your writing, you will find them here:

Enjoy! I know I did :)

Just do it!

04 Saturday Jun 2011

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The copywriters for nike certainly knew what they were doing back in the day when ‘just do it’ was their slogan. I must confess to have stolen it for my own private use in my motivational speeches to my self :)

I have felt stalled in the writing of my MS (manuscript) for some time now but have been wanting to pick up the threads of my fantasy story and continue writing. I feel quite awful for my characters who have been in a state of limbo for some months now!

A writerly quote I came across recently was “The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be written.” I love that.

As my main role in life work-wise is editing, I find it very hard to just write and not edit as I go along. Now, a certain amount of that is okay, I guess, but when you combine that with my slightly perfectionist side, what it actually amounts to is not much writing getting done. Lots of ‘select and delete’ but not much to show for a couple hours in front of the screen.

So, a couple of nights ago, I organised myself with red wine, laptop, music of choice (Guns n Roses) and sat down to write. If it wasn’t for the constant reminder that it didn’t need to be perfect, just written, I never would have managed to write over a thousand words on my MS. And, boy, did it feel good.

Hopefully, if I join my two mantras together, I will get much more writing done over the coming months :)