lapwriter

Pics of Nano drawings, failed cartoons, dog class biro sketches etc

2011-11-26T18:56:00.002Z

On train home, trying to sketch people with the A4 book under the table.

I once lived here

She didn't much like being drawn and kept changing position, even when she lay down

Sleeping through early fireworks

I overworked the upper one, but the lower one I liked.

I used this page to get my hand moving (like not knowing what to write)

A street entertainer by the Thames

St James' Park Tube Station

New iron, and train people

Some cartoons that didn't get published

I always sketch at dog-class for practice

Inspired by Nano graphic artists I started to note ideas for short strip cartoons

I was trying out pens and a water wash-brush in the back of the Nano book

Almost a technical drawing, this one.

Not sure how successful this will be but I've taken some pics of my assorted Nano drawings, some cartoons that I didn't manage to sell, and my A6 dog-class sketch book, just to give a flavour of the sort of stuff I like to draw and sketch.

Nano-draw-mo

2011-11-13T11:47:00.000Z

Daily drawing is teaching me stuff about myself that I didn't know, and looking at other people's art-work has inspired me, and made me aware of other ways to tell people-stories.

Today, I found a section about James Kocholka (American Elf) inside Danny Gregory's 'An Illustrated Life' (collection of other people's artwork.) Some of the sections in Illustrated Life show beautiful, skilled, drawing-and-watercolour artwork, but these sections don't tell you anything about the people who live in this beautiful world.
By comparison James Kochalka's section appears to be simple almost 'goofy' black-and-white doodle-style comic strips, but it's alive. These little four-frame stories capture daily life in nuggets. I loved them and they've made me realise how much more powerful than beautiful paintings this kind of art is, at least if you want to tell 'people stories'.

Danny Gregory's 'Everday Matters' is a special case. If you haven't seen it, it's a very powerful and heart-warming visual memoir which tells you a great deal about this family, and how they adapted to life when his wife fell under a subway train and was then confined to wheelchair. (As a very sad postscript, I was shocked to read when I happened to re-Google Danny Gregory a few days ago, that his wife Patti, died last year after falling from the eighth floor of a building.)

So now I feel a powerful urge to shift away from drawing what's around me, to telling stories with drawing, as in comic-strip style story telling. (I did try this years ago but got bogged down in the too-realistic drawing of it.)
I will post some pics of my own drawings here when I get a minute to photograph them.

Nanowrimo or Nano-draw-mo

2011-10-29T14:05:00.000+01:00

(Oops! Have to do something useful with this blog. It's been asleep over a year.)

I've decided I'll be drawing my way through November 2011, which should be fun. A few years ago on an a painting module, they made us all draw with ink and a twig, on large sheets of sugar-paper fixed to almost vertical easles, then we had to wash over our drawings with water and work back into them once they had begun to dry. I loved it, and have been a fan of ink drawing ever since. No tentative pencil sketching, rubbing out, etc. You had to risk it and go for it.

Not that I'll be able to work on that scale or make that much mess in November, but I have various ink pens from Rapidographs to cut bamboo for working A3 and A4, which is as big as I can carry around, and for pocket sized work: Pentel V5s and Bic biros so I'm looking forward to it. :)

A change from handwriting everything

2010-03-03T19:46:00.004Z

For the past year I've been handwriting everything but there is still a need for typed-up copy so today I bought an Alphasmart Neo from Ebay.

I have a Dana, which is a delight to type on, as the keyboard is positive yet light but the Dana only last about 24 hours per re-charge so I've been keeping an eye out for a Neo for some time.

If the keyboard has the same light 'action' as the Dana I'll be very happy.

( PS It does, and I am, but handwriting is still my preference. )

Clunky bolted-on subplots.

2010-01-11T13:55:00.004Z

I've recently finished two crime novels by different authors. Reading one after the other highlighted a big difference in how the subplots were handled.

In the first, the story dealt with one main crisis and all subplots seemed to arise out of that. The readers got a flavour of the other aspects of the MC's life but these subplots remained integrated with the main story.

In the second there were five distinct story-layers:
the main story crisis
the MC's love live
the MC's family life
the MC's work situation
the MC's dealings with other agencies / government departments.

In this one the flow of the main-story seemed to be interrupted by large chunks from these other four layers being 'bolted on'. Not a good experience for the readers.

Oh Xmas Tree, Oh Xmas Tree...

2010-01-06T19:14:00.002Z

Writing the first-draft of a novel has some parallels with decorating a Xmas tree.

We know what a finished tree should look like but at first all we have is the dark mass of the tree, some boxes of tinsel and baubles, and a string of coloured lights.

The aim is to create a pleasing whole, with glow and glitter in all the dark corners, but no one teaches you how to do that.

We just have to plonk it all on there somehow, stand back and view the effect, then re-arrange bits.

After hours of effort and pine-needle scratches, the family barely glance at it. After all it's only a Xmas-tree, and anyone can decorate one, can't they?

Second time around

2010-01-02T16:52:00.002Z

Yesterday, listening to Natalie Goldberg's 'Bones', she described another technique which could be used to improve a weak scene.

Rather than ajusting what's already there, write the whole scene afresh:

re-envision the key points of the scene -start-point, end-point, key events
set a timer for say 30 mins
write a fresh version
incorporate the best parts into the original
repeat as necessary.

(As in word-wars, the timer stops you dithering. )

I like this approach. It helps me drop down into the subconscious for new material.

Winter sun and sustenance

2009-12-28T17:58:00.012Z

Last week here in southern England we had a couple of icy days followed by a sunny day. The snow was still around but the fox discovered s/he could catch a few warming rays from the top of my garden tool-box. S/he lay there snoozing for an hour, woke, stretched, yawned -diplaying fearsome teeth- then curled around the other way and slept for another hour until midday.

Then on the way through the park yesterday I noticed what looked like a red squirrel ( or maybe just a grey squirrel with red hair? ) sitting in the crook of a branch. It would jump down, forage for a buried nut and hop back up to its perch to nibble it. Glad I had my camera to capture it.

The Fantastic Mr...

2009-10-24T19:00:00.003+01:00

Having a nap under a bush in the back garden.

Two good 'how-to' books on crime writing

2009-10-07T18:32:00.002+01:00

Two 'how-to' books:
For an overview and intro to crime fiction, and all its sub-genres, Lesley Grant-Adamson's book in the Teach Yourself series "Writing Crime Fiction" is good. It has a pic on the front cover of some bald guy peering around a shower curtain. Despite this it's still a good helpful overview book, which includes a reading list for each chapter and website links at the end. It also has one 12-page chapter on writing short stories.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teach-Yourself-Writing-Fiction-McGraw-Hill/dp/0071421300/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254937355&sr=1-5

But for the best ( in my view anyway) crime / mystery how-to book get "Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery" by Robert J Ray & Jack Remick. It is THE complete step-by-step approach which starts with creating a victim, then a killer, and thinking about how those two are connected, then it brings in creating the sleuth, the catalyst character etc, and just keeps on getting better and better. It really is a blueprint for the entire process from backstory through to third draft.
Every step in the process is illustrated with examples from other novels and also by using a "write-along" mystery story. Some people may find this helpful, for me it was too much. I wanted to see the process steps, and maybe one example, so I actually cut a fair few pages of examples out of my copy as I got fed up wading through them to find the next piece of process. Never-the-less, this book is one of the very best and the wealth of writing guidance in it can be applied equally well to other genres.
For crime, it is especially helpful and includes some useful charts, timeline suggestions and all you need to write a crime novel. I know I'm going on a bit here, but credit where it's due, this book is exceptional.
I have since also read James N Frey's "How to Write a Damn Good Mystery" which was also very good and covered some of the same ground and I'd score it maybe eight out of ten, whereas for it's thorough step-by-step method the "Weekend Novelist" scores ten out of ten, examples or not.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Weekend-Novelist-Writes-Mystery-step/dp/0440506581/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254937124&sr=1-1

Review of 'The Pools' a novel by Bethan Roberts

2009-10-04T13:16:00.005+01:00

I enjoyed reading this. It's a very good 'people-story' which explores families and their deep undercurrents. It reminded me of some of Elizabeth Berg's books. There is no high action plot, but she takes you inside the characters in a satisfying way.

Families are pressure-cookers and these characters seemed to be based on real people from real families: the beautiful Kathryn damaged by the loss of her first love, Howard the serious-and-sensible with his passion for orderly gardens, and their son Robert growing from child to the popular teenager 'Rob'.

It threw me some when, after a hundred pages, we jumped VP character and jumped families but I was willing to follow Joanna's narrative, and the introduction of the menacing Shane character pulled me along.

The story touches on a number of aspects to be found in real-life families:
~ a young woman's choice of a 'safe' or 'dangerous' partner
~ a mother who cannot accept her son's wife as good enough for him
~ adjusting to year after year of daily life with a partner who is programmed in a different way from yourself
~ a family breakup and the arrival of a new 'partner' in the house
~ teenagers becoming sexually aware
~ social 'norms', and the pressures if your child happens to be different
~ how an 'abnormal' or 'damaged' teenager is treated by strangers / school pupils / those close to him
~ communication failures
~ tragedy happens to anyone

The story was skillfully told using different viewpoints. Howard's VP is in past tense but Joanna's is in present tense.
I also liked the structure of opening with the aftermath of a tragedy then dropping back to the beginning of the journey that led to it. This gives it a feeling of suspense.

The background presence of those power-station cooling-towers added to the feeling of unease and also served as a reminder that regardless of family dramas, the humdrum of daily life goes on in the background.

Interesting to read that the author wrote it 'one sentence at a time' with no planned plot.

Despite the mixed reviews of Bethan Roberts' second book, 'The Good Plain Cook', I enjoyed the sample first chapter and will be reading it as well.

Daily devotion

2009-09-24T21:07:00.004+01:00

At work today a retirement collection came round for a man who has worked for 40 years as an audio-typist. He and his guide-dog Pasha have been a familiar part of life here.

More so than other retirement collections this one makes me sad. It seems to be ‘the end or an era’ in more ways than one. In today's world ‘the typist’ has become almost extinct. Sadly the caring nature of the world has also changed.

It's true that many people will still go out of their way to accommodate a blind person but today these vulnerable people are also more likely to be ridiculed or robbed. But that’s not the thing that makes me feel sad, it’s the total devotion of his dog Pasha, to her master. A guide-dog gives everything.

I recently walked to the far end of the building. Around the corner came Pasha lolloping towards me, tail wagging, happy to be able to roam and ‘play’ while her master was safely settled working, and that’s what makes me sad.

When he has retired we will no longer see that living example -the total devotion of dog to man.

Community reading

2009-07-30T21:23:00.005+01:00

I came across a newly re-printed copy of Helene Hanff's "84 Charing Cross Road" which I enjoyed re-reading.

Googling her I found an obituary in the Independent of 14 April 97 by James Roose-Evans. In it he mentions that Helene told him about a community of Benedictine Nuns in Worcester, England, who placed their single borrowed copy of '84 Charing Cross Road' under a glass case and gave an American nun the honour of turning over one page every day, so that the whole community could read it at the same time.

This made me smile!

I wonder if that community of nuns is still there today, reading their way through the Harry Potter books one page per day?

Imagination feeds imagination...

2009-07-28T21:47:00.005+01:00

On a writing-board you can respond to posts other people write, and imagination feeds imagination.

But there must be some advantages to a blog. I just haven't realised them yet.

Too long, too short, just right?

2009-07-06T21:46:00.005+01:00

How long or short should a good blog post be? Given that our world moves so fast and readers are in a hurry, short would be good. My last post was long, but it was a review.

I'll end on a haiku

five/seven/five form
precise but mechanical
'less is more' they say

Review of 'Old Friend from Far Away' audio CD by Natalie Goldberg

2009-07-06T21:33:00.003+01:00

I bought this audio CD set about two years ago and it has proved to be one of the best value CDs ever. I'm glad I decided to go for the audio version rather than the book even if once or twice the book would have been handy for quick reference.

I have enjoyed listening to Natalie talk about writing memoir, reading excerpts from other people's and giving me patient encouragement. I put it on MP3 and have listened and re-listened on the train, or whilst doing some household chore, or just relaxing over a morning coffee.

Like her other writing 'how-to' books this one encourages you to try out different approaches rather than just listing topics, and these approaches can take you deeper into your memories so you start to write not just about the events but about what it felt like to experience them.

The tracks on this double CD set include:

What is memoir
How do we begin
Writing Practice
How to uncover hidden memories
Ways to Begin Writing
'Sprinting' exercises
The importance of detail ( and how to handle it )

Finding the deeper structure of your life
Three rules for a healthy writing practice
How to ground your writing
How to employ your obsessions
Ways to enter your memories
Weather as a backdrop
Lists
Memoir as a long-term project
How to complete it.

Each time I listen to one of these sections I get more out of it, and the excerpts she reads from published memoirs inspire me. It's like having a personal memoir-tutor on hand any time you want to listen. I find it helps keep me 'in the world' of memoir-writing, which can be an otherwise solitary place.

( PS As a UK male listener I find Natalie's US accent easy on the ear, and her delivery is not rushed, but it's worth listening to a sample track to check for yourself.)

Shooting ideas

2009-07-03T21:56:00.004+01:00

During my lunchbreak I was at a writing low, completely stuck for ideas. In frustration I started writing a new version of The Three Bears fairytale.

That night it was a very warm and I woke at 1.30am. Being in that half-awake-asleep state, my thoughts started to drift over the day and that's when the idea 'shower' started. Writing ideas flared like shooting stars as fast as I could scribble them down.

Each time I thought I was finished another one flared. When they finally stopped I had scribbled down a couple of pages of fresh ideas.

I just hope I can do them justice when I come to write them up.

entente cordiale

2009-07-02T21:56:00.005+01:00

Today it was 31C in London. At lunchtime I found a shady spot sitting on a step and sketched people passing. ( The few benches along the park footpath had been removed for maintenance. )

Paris is a better city for park benches well placed in the shade of trees. All parks large and small have benches every 25 meters or so, and unlike ours, they're quite comfortable to sit on.

Maybe our two countries could organise a knowledge exchange? They could teach us about park-benches, and we could teach them Public Toilets 101?

'True to Form' by Elizabethg Berg - gentle magic

2009-04-30T19:30:00.005+01:00

This book got a couple of harsh reviews on Amazon UK. Don't let them put you off. If you liked 'Durable Goods' you’ll love it. This extract from the back-cover sums it up:
“Savvy, wry, and sharply observant… EB’s graceful prose is laced with clear-eyed insight… deft and inspiring.”

You won’t find an exciting hi-octane plot but you’re not meant to. EB says, in her writing ‘how-to’ book “Escaping Into the Open” p105: “I like the small human dramas that get played out in kitchens rather than in exotic locales.”

What you will find is an excellent ‘people story’, a gentle narrative that transports you into Katie’s life - but don’t underestimate it. Someone said that revealing character is the number one purpose of fiction. If you agree with that you’ll enjoy this book.

If you haven’t read it before, read ‘Durable Goods’ first. It introduces Katie, a pre-teenager living in Texas on an Army base recovering from the loss of her mother, being raised by her strict military father. We meet her family and her best-friend Cherylanne.

The second book ‘Joy School’ continues with: Katie settling into a new town, suffering a crush on a young married man, and we meet her new friend Cynthia.

‘True to Form’ is book three and follows Katie as she tries to make sense of the world and navigate a path through the teenage mine-field: changing schools, parents, having to make her own decisions.

The second book held me less than the first but I still wanted to follow the character. The third is even better than the first. ( At a push you could skip the second book and go straight on to the third without losing too much.)

I've learned a lot from studying this book. Her narrative conveys, in fresh and vivid phrasing, the thoughts and emotions as Katie experiences them. Her observations on male/female roles, and religion, will also make you smile.

EB has a powerful understanding of people and their interactions. All through the book are truths most readers will recognise from their own life experience, and that includes me, a man.

( The publisher has added a 'taster' chapter for another book at the end, so when you think you have about thirty pages to go, it ends. I wish they wouldn't do that. )

To sum up, if you enjoyed Durable Goods, don’t miss this one.

( There won't be any more posts on this Blog until around 10th May )

Limerick lack of fun

2009-04-28T19:22:00.004+01:00

Meetings -they do so drag on
with discussions that drone over-long
"At the end of the day..."
"To recap then...," they say
Please shut up! We just want to go home.

Limerick fun -budgets

2009-04-27T18:49:00.004+01:00

responsible matters imbue
those involved with great import it's true
each row of beans
must be tallied it seems
so accountants have something to do.

Limerick fun -blog

2009-04-25T12:01:00.003+01:00

A blog is a place to unwind
while you generate poems -of a kind
but once it's begun
silly posting's quite fun
and the absentee readers don't mind.

Loose format Tanka

2009-04-22T22:13:00.005+01:00

no penthouse, vista,
moat or tower,
gravel drive, or sun-kissed bower
just hand-made box

ablaze with flower

Limerick fun - commuting

2009-04-21T17:06:00.002+01:00

triddle-dee-triddle-dee-ay
packed carriages rattle and sway
commuter sardines
read slick magazines
over shoulders -it's cheaper that way.

Selling, Not Writing

2009-04-20T21:30:00.005+01:00

On page 3 of a new book on short-story writing by Della Galton, I came across a powerful statement: “Because writing is a creative pursuit, it’s easy to forget that it’s also a business.” The whole of chapter one focused on selling, not writing.

I’ve been so into the process of learning how to write a better story that I’ve not considered the business aspect at all.

Selling she says is about producing stories tailored to match the requirements of the target magazine: number of words, tense, preferred VP, tone, sentence length, percentage dialogue to narrative, use of adjectives / adverbs, twists ending ( or no twist ending ) etc.

Matching their preferred format is not going to guarantee a sale but it is certainly going to increase the chances of one, since failing to match their format risks an instant rejection.

The MC’s Inner Self

2009-04-19T14:43:00.007+01:00

If McMurphy or the Big Nurse in ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ had been a different character, some of the events in the story would not have happened.

My previous novel drafts have run out of steam somewhere around 30k. Others are still only outlines. This is because I don’t know how my MCs will behave, and more importantly why. It’s taken me a couple of years to realise that plot ideas and events don’t supply the momentum that makes the story write-able, the Main Character does.

So this month I’m re-learning characterisation.

I’ve had Holly Lisle’s ‘Create a Character Clinic’ workbook sitting on my shelf but have never worked through it. I also have Robert Ray’s ‘The Weekend Novelist’ which I have never got to reading until now. It offers solid help with character creation and if it’s as good as his ‘How to Write a Mystery’ book, it will be well worth studying.

I’ve also ordered:
Linda Seger’s ‘Creating Unforgettable Characters’ It had mixed reviews but looks like it will help with some of the areas I need to better understand.

If any one of those turns out to be particularly helpful, I’ll add a review.

My very own cell

2009-04-18T15:44:00.011+01:00

This blog is not a cosy place, when compared to a writing board. It does not feel like home. It feels like one of those 'crash-out-here' motel rooms you find by the motorway. One table, one chair, and magnolia walls.

Letter-writing month

2009-04-05T18:21:00.007+01:00

I googled 'writing month' today to see if there is one site that gives you all the monthly competitions. The one I found is out of date but the search threw up a couple of ideas I hadn't seen before:

national travel writing month
- they aim to send a query a day, or write an article a day. Now that's a tough challenge

I also found in April, a Card and Letter-writing Month. They aim to write a card or paper letter each day of the month. This one appeals to me a lot. I'll definitely do that later in the year.

31 March dawn, light and painting.

2009-03-31T18:24:00.005+01:00

It’s 6.30am ( but still feels like 5.30am due to the hour change on Sunday ) and I’m sitting by the window where it’s just light enough to write. The early-morning quality of light reminds me of other times I’ve waited for the day to creep from dark to light.

I can just make out the vibrant burst of yellow Forsythia bush and a few pale daffodils.

( Pic is Forsythia in St James park, morning of 1st April )

A trim woman in a dark trench-coat hurries across the street being taken for her daily walk by her terrier. Somewhere a diesel engine clatters into life. It’s 6.45 now. The heating creaks warmth into cold pipes and the house stretches and yawns, waking.

Twice as much light falls on my notebook. It’s a lovely feeling sitting here trying to capture the start of the day in words. It feels like 'real' writing, not just 'thinking out loud'.

I have a colour print of a small painting by Charles Sovek, an American impressionist-style painter who sadly died last year. It is a sprig of yellow Forsythia in an opaque glass bottle set against a blue background.

Right from childhood, yellow has been my favourite colour, and blue my second. The combination of the two makes a stunning contrast and this painting sings out to me. Like any master he has made it look simple but the handling of the blues and the opaque glass is expert and it appears loose and natural as though the painting were dashed off the brush. Makes me want to cut a sprig from the bush and paint one of my own.

I’ve been reading about abstract painting. I like the depths multi-coloured abstract painting seems to have. A lot is left to the individual’s own perception, or subconscious responses, to supply a ‘meaning’ -like when you look at Rorschach ink-blot.

Does a painting have to have a meaning? Is that our expectation? A similar question came up in a post recently -should a haiku have a title?

Maybe the painting was just an experimental combination of colours and strokes but as we the buyers, viewers, appraisers of art, like things to be labelled, paintings are always named.

Likewise a haiku can be written to express a feeling or a combination of words that surfaced from the subconscious. Maybe readers would prefer to read the verse and decide on their own meaning? It’s also more of a challenge for the writer to evoke the understanding in the reader of the feeling, thought s/he wants to share.

There was a soft quality to the dawn light that enabled the day, full of possibilities like a weekend before it’s begun. Now the full light has arrived and its sharp definition imposes structures and limits. “Forget dreams," it says, "This is the real world.”

Blog-snooze

2009-03-31T18:17:00.005+01:00

Before I started it I thought I would have no problem at all writing a daily post on this blog but I have been unable to decide how to use it.

It seems to me there's a conflict of time and resource in that people seem to be either mainly bloggers or mainly writers. There are so many high quality posts on blogs that could easily be magazine articles, it seems such a shame that the writers don't get paid for them.

So while I figure out how I'm going to use this, the blog has been having a snooze.

Quality block

2009-03-12T21:36:00.003Z

A train of thought followed on from "pushing a boulder up a hill". Three months into 2009 and I've not yet been unable to decide on which fiction story to develop this year because ego is once again getting in the way of the writing. Wanting my first book to be "good" is freezing me like a rabbit in headlights.

I need to remind myself to treat this first book as a practice novel, a learning experience, then I can relax and get on with it. It will be a big motivation boost to finish a novel in a year, however it turns out.

A boulder-day

2009-03-11T21:00:00.005Z

I recall from a children's story a creature called a 'push-me-pull-you'. That term could also apply to writing.

When a hot idea hits, the writing pulls you into it and time flies. Other days there is no 'pull'. It's all 'push'. At its worst it feels like pushing a boulder up a hill.

Here's another pic of the crocuses to brighten up a boulder-day.

Wee small hours

2009-03-04T21:16:00.006Z

Listen... breathe...clock glows
sounds subside in the distance

heart-rate settles -dream.

Crocus-day 2 March 09

2009-03-02T22:13:00.004Z

Today was 'crocus day' in St James Park. The first day since the crocuses have been out that the sun also shone. Bright mauve and white flowers burst through the tired grass yelling "We're here!"

It's my favourite day of the year in the park.

A Full-notebook Day

2009-02-24T21:02:00.004Z

Today I was lost in a recollection of memoir and did not notice that the last blank page in my 'thinking-out-loud' writing practice notebook had arrived.

It's good to have filled 189 pages of writing, but I forgot to leave two blank pages for an index. I've gone back and highlighted the main topic of each page and numbered the pages so an index will allow me to find the topics again when I want to write them up in yWriter.

I also read the first half of Abigail Thomas' book 'Thinking About Memoir'

...she is also addicted to the feel of pen on paper, and uses the term 'notebook' rather than 'journal' as 'journal' sounds too formal and might limit her freedom to jot down anything and everything.
Here's a quote from the start of Chapter 2 :
"A lot of writing consists of waiting around for the aquarium to settle so you can see the fish."

So tomorrow I'm going to start a new 'thinking-out-loud' notebook and also a 'fiction-only' notebook, and a third one for 'memoir-only'. I'm going to need a bigger bag at this rate.

Writing practice

2009-02-20T21:57:00.003Z

I was already a fan of Natalie Goldbergs ideas on writing, and listening to her double CD , "Old Friend from Far Away", about writing memoir, reinforced that.

She advocates daily 'writing practice' and she herself fills one notebook per month, writing edge to edge in the margins as well, a practice I've since adopted.

Around Xmas I re-discovered handwriting and started filling a writing-practice notebook. Now I have some full writing notebooks on my shelf, preening trhemselves in front of the row of empty ones.

She does say that freewriting-practice is about keeping your hand moving, so anything goes, but much as I enjoy this, it feels like cheating. A lot of it is filled with 'thinking out loud' so I'm going to start a fiction-writing-practice notebook next. I can write anything at all as long as it's fiction, rather than thoughts about fiction.

If this proves to be too hard, I'll start another one and use the two in parallel.

A bag of ferrets

2009-02-19T22:47:00.003Z

Plot - I've always thought of 'plot' as a nice structure. The sort of thing you see when you walk by a part-built house. Even though it's only half finished you can already see that it's strong and organised and knows exactly where it's going. But structure didn't work for me. It only hemmed me in.

One day I read that plot is 'dynamic'. Scratches head and looks out the window. I wonder if the cat knows what that means?

Gradually I worked it out. Plot is a bag of ferrets. Open the bag and plot will run off in all directions, racing down holes, up drain-pipes etc. That's why I need to get to know my ferrets much much better.
Up till now I've started stories without knowing the ferrets -what they each want, and how each one will behave in situations- so I've always ground to a halt unable to decide which direction to take my story.
Another way of putting this is: "Plot is character."

Children, Adults, and Russian dolls

2009-02-18T21:21:00.004Z

Some children are born adults, some achieve adulthood and some have adulthood thrust upon them. Does the reverse of that also apply? Some adults are born children, some achieve childhood and some have childhood thrust upon them? I think it does.

Changing direction slightly, do you think a person remains the same inside as s/he grows through the different phases of life or is each one of us like a Russian doll, the outer person containing a series of completely different inner-people, one for each of the phases of life we have passed through?

When you go to a school reunion or happen to meet a childhood friend you discover neither one of you is the same 'person' anymore. Those two childhood 'people' are now the innermost dolls.

Blog-blindness & 'How-to' books

2009-02-17T21:10:00.001Z

Blog-blindness
Yesterday I was looking forward to getting home so I could post something here, but by the time I got to it, late at night, my brain was frazzled. I looked for something already written but got sucked into editing so an hour later and too tired to think, I shut down having posted nothing.

Thinking about it today I recognised that I was probably suffering from temporary 'blog-blindness', similar to 'white paper syndrome'. All that white space...

How-to books
In a UK Writing magazine ( Writers' Forum Issue #90 March 2009 ) they have a two-page article titled 'Can a book teach you how to write?'
Arguments are presented for and against, but it closes on a distinct 'against' note, suggesting that the best solution of all is to re-read good books analytically.

I myself am of the 'By-the-Book Wrimo' character type, from this years Nanowrimo Board ( http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3025086 )

Loren D Estleman is an author who has 50+ books published. In his own how-to book, 'Writing the Popular Novel' he says that people often ask him whether or not they should have an agent. His reply:
"Do I need an agent? -No.
Should I have an agent? -You'd be a fool not to."

And in reply to the question about how-to books I would say the same applies:
Do I need to study how-to books? -No.
Should I study how-to books? -You'd be a fool not to.

The first of many

2009-02-15T21:11:00.000Z

This is my fiirst ever blog. It's taken a while to come up with a name for it as so many are already taken.
I enjoy writing in a spiral notebook on my lap, or on an Alphasmart Dana, so I settled on 'lap-writer'.

Posts in this blog will be mostly about: the road to writing, people, and words.