Too Many Creative Ideas. Can You Commit to More Than One?

It's snowing today in my corner of Ontario. We broke a two-hundred-year-old record last month by having no snow at all. People were golfing. It couldn't last.

It's odd how much we are delighted by the first snowfall of the season, like children, as if we've never quite seen it before. I'm happy to see it, but in six weeks I'll be back to my usual bored and grumpy state. I rather like the idea of Sydney, and Vancouver, where you can go to the snows in the mountains if you like that kind of thing, have a bit of fun, and come home again, leaving it all behind. We don't have that choice here. Naturally we have less rain, and it's usually spectacularly sunny, brighter because of the reflection of the snow.  But today is gray, the sky colorless, the bare trees dramatically stark against it.  No wonder there are so many poets in the Northern Hemisphere. You gotta do something in response.

I've been tweaking Summer Must End this past week, with little new work. Two-thirds through now, so time to back track and see if it's properly coming together.  I have to admit that I did some more outline work on my new idea, too, tentatively called Uncharacteristic Behavior. I'm not fickle about my writing usually, devoting myself to one book at a time, but this story keeps coming to me, and I have to get the ideas down as they present themselves. It's a psychological, paranormal, thriller, it seems. It certainly is heading that way. The ending hasn't come to me yet, and that's a good thing, because then it would be impossible to put to one side, as the characters would begin babbling at me. As it is, I have a rough draft of an outline, and pretty well know where the plot is going. I have some characters, but not defined yet. It's like painting. You sketch out that first idea, with a vague idea of what you want to produce, but it's not until you lay down the paint that the image comes alive. So, I'm "sketching" right now, in between work on the current book, and will begin "laying down paint" next year.

I've asked the question before, but it's worth repeating. Do you involve yourself in more than one project at a time? Do story ideas buzz around in your head that have nothing to do with the work-in-progress? Would you put aside one novel, to work on the second?

For me, this surprising arrival of new ideas has to do with the number of years when I wasn't devoting myself to writing. It was all in there, waiting to come out, but I busied myself with painting, and travelling, and making a living, and it all became locked up in my brain. I can't help wondering how many other plots are waiting to emerge, now that I'm writing full time.

On top of that, I'm suddenly keen to do some small sculptured clay figures. I've ordered the supplies already. I guess that physical creative me is feeling neglected. I'll put up a picture of my first one - my Gran character, I think - when it's done.

And so I'm a total bore in all other aspects of my life. I'm spending little time checking in with my blogger friends, and I miss them. I stare into space a lot, can't be bothered with people because they interrupt my flow, and I'm generally antisocial.  I'm reasonably extroverted when I'm not creating, so this hermit life can't continue indefinitely. I think I'll just hole up here for the winter and do what I must, so that in the spring that livelier me will be back.

I certainly wouldn't want to be so self-absorbed and contemplative for the long-term. I haven't quite outgrown partying yet.

The New Book Journey - Are We There Yet?

I've completed the 150% magnification proofing of Strachan, and she's looking good. I'll put it aside for now, before running off the hard copy. My writing buddy, Melissa, suggested a couple of valid points, and they're now reflected in this final draft, and I am still thinking of just one or two tiny pertinent things that I'd like to say, but that's normal. I don't think I've been so excited about a book before. It's strange, because Hafan Deg was a huge investment for me, and took ages to complete and forever to revise. Strachan's Attic was the 'easier' book - if writing is ever easy - and yet satisfies me more. Perhaps it's still a case of loving the one you're with.

Of the couple of new story ideas floating around, I am nervous at this stage. Melissa said the time wasn't right to start hers yet, even though her story was firmly in place. I echo that, in that I could sit down now and begin, but something is telling me to wait a bit. Once that urge is allowed free reign into our days (and our nights, damn it!) we'll be once more at its mercy. So we tend to hold off just a little longer, to grab some time for ourselves, to recuperate, to refresh, to rest (as Sally suggested), before jumping into the deep end.

But one of those ideas? Oh, wow, it's strong! I want to tell you about it now, but I can't. The important thing is the where. England, Canada, Australia? Each presents its own amazing backdrop for the kind of story I have in mind. Switching genres? Maybe. Upset my agent? Undoubtedly. But what writer truly wants to be predictable? Many well known writers deliberately use different names for their different genres - and not because it might otherwise upset their agents - but because they care about their readers' expectations. As a Newbie (possibly even a never-will-be) I have the luxury of deciding what I want to write, like building that baseball diamond in the cornfield: with luck, they will come.

I have another manuscript at around the 25% stage, started some time ago, for which I lost my fervor; one of Life's Challenges interrupted the original first draft, and I just didn't get back to it. I re-read it yesterday, and it's good. I'm thinking of incorporating the plot into my new book, intertwined through the main story, but I'll be careful before rushing into it. It could sound weird, but my characters are still getting to know each other. I'm going to leave them in peace.

Meanwhile I try to stay busy doing other things. I'm not much good at shopping, but did a little of that yesterday. I caught up with my upstairs neighbor as well, who sometimes phones me to see if I'm still alive. I didn't do the Wine-by-the-Bay thing, but will wait, I think. I have a feeling that the overwhelming need to get this story going will present itself at this restaurant, because of its beautiful setting.

In my personal life, I am a huge planner, and can - more or less - tell you what I expect to be doing in five years. I believe in cash flow spreadsheets, long-term monetary forecasts, lists for just about anything you can think of, and I'm ridiculed by my kids, who think my need to start researching stuff years before I intend to take action on them is just plain obsessive.

I mention this because I don't do this with my writing. I plan nothing except my ending. I come up with the basic idea, mentally mull it around for a while, and then just go for it. All research is done as I work. Over the previous period, prior to the actual writing, I probably have made some notes, snippets of dialogue I want to use, but nothing else. If I decided my hero would be a biologist, and then couldn't find enough fascinating information on that, I'd just switch his profession. That's the wonder of writing. Like children, we get to make it up as we go along.

My question of the day? Are you heavily into research before you start, like Melissa, and, if so, is your life equally planned out in advance (in as much as any life can be)? I have a strong feeling that one practice voids the other. Just curious.

Have a great weekend. I think we are having a spot of summer up here tomorrow, although I'm not sure about Sunday.

Writing and Other People's Memories

I revealed my work on Strachan's Attic to my WAF ACW (Women's Air Force, Aircraftwoman) of World War II on Monday night. I was on the phone with her for over an hour, getting answers to odd little details that I'd never find online. She was utterly delighted that I'm doing this, seeing that - despite my totally different plot - I am more or less telling her story, and the stories of so many others from that time. I learned so much, and I'm glad I followed up with her. People want to explain their lives, even if parts of it are painful. I am indebted to her, my darling big sister.

As I was turning off the computer on Monday night, I took a quick look at my inbox and - lo, and behold! - I got a request for a partial from an agent! It was such a positive-sounding email, that I'm quite dizzy. The only odd thing, I think, is that she wants the chapters, bio and synopsis mailed to her. Perhaps the agency doesn't want its computers tied up with a big download. Do any of you know about this? I can understand it for the whole manuscript, but a few chapters aren't so huge. Please don't think I'm complaining - I would have rented a homing pigeon to deliver the package if they'd asked.

So I spent a great deal of time yesterday printing-off all the pages (slow printer), and I'm afraid I didn't even post my art blog yesterday (although I doubt anyone really noticed, and Squeakie Stone, featured on Monday, deserves all the exposure he can get).

I'll be heading off to the post office soon, and that's a first with mailed submissions from Brighton. Oh, and do you realize that it's impossible to send that SASE that agents need to return the material? Self-addressed envelope, sure, but Canadian stamps are useless for mailing from the States, so I'll enclose an international money order. Oh, and who says they'll want to return the material? Oh, I know - be practical - a partial is only a partial...

I remind you again, if you're at all interested, that both my novels are available to read at another weblink. I am offering it to some of my regular followers (you know who you are), so email me if you want to know what happens next with either book. Oh, and my thanks to Casey for her generous time in critiquing Strachan's first three chapters. She came up with some interesting and useful points. I haven't had time lately to look at other writers' excerpts, so I'm quite moved that she was so unselfish.

Chapter One - Strachan's Attic

As more or less promised, the first chapter of Strachan's Attic is in the link just above this post.

It's such a different book to Hafan Deg, that it's a breath of fresh air for me, dealing with a younger protagonist, and the Canadian perspective - the story is partly set in Toronto. North Wales seems far away, and that's helpful, because I needed to let go of Hafan Deg, to let it set sail unhindered for distant agenting shores, so to speak.

I hope you enjoy the chapter from Strachan's Attic. I really would like to hear back from you about it. If you haven't read the brief description, the jacket-style blurb, please see the link above. It's a supernatural tale, but not of the Stephen King variety. It's really more of a love story. Sorry if you expected to be frightened half to death...

How are you feeling about the first person, present tense? A lot of agents don't care for it, will even stipulate not to query them, believing, I guess, that it's going to be just too autobiographical, which most first novels are, after all. However, I am nothing like my Strachan (pronounced 'Strawn', remember?) character. Unless she's my rebellious alter-ego, I have never lived her life, or experienced her kind of world.

No further rejections so far on the query exercise. I tried three times to send off that synopses plus ten pages (double-spaced 12 pt) that some agent required, and had no luck. In the end, I emailed just the briefest of pitches, easily enclosed on one page, and it still bounced back. The problem is with them, not me, I'm sure.

See you on Monday, perhaps with two more chapters. Don't you wish you could write this fast? But I told you, as the book is finished, this involves mainly construction, not completely new words, although some re-writing is bound to take place. I get carried away.

Chapter Seven, Eight, Nine and Ten Today!

I'm putting up FOUR chapters today, because I have to keep moving with this ms. If I don't put more up, you won't get to see them all before I start submitting. It is such a tiresome job transferring it to the website so that the blog page can link up with it. It goes from Word to a totally different format, and everything changes on the screen. It's excruciatingly slow. But, I said I would do this, so I won't be quitting now. I worked out that I only get that strange neck pain when I'm editing, particularly when I'm correcting wrong quotation marks, that kind of thing. The actual writing gives me no pain at all!

I wonder if we will still be friends in our blogs, when our books are picked up by a publisher - not necessarily famous or rich, because we know that's rare with writers, but expecting to satisfactorily sell in our favorite bookshop. I'd hate to think we would just lose interest in our various support sites. It seems to me that we'll have even more to offer, once we've signed a contract to publish. What a story that will be! I thought we could design some sort of logo for our page - something like Obama's "We Did It!" kind of thing. I trust all of you are writing fervently and confidently (with or without neck pain) towards this goal.

I hope you'll let me know what you think now that the story is unfolding more.

Don't forget to send off your first chapter, suitably polished, to Firebrand Literary for the contest I mentioned last week. It started today. See their link in the sidebar.

See you on Wednesday.

The Writing Bug

I can't explain to you how to write a novel. There are a number of very good books out there that can help you a bit with that. John Braine (Room At The Top, The Crying Game) wrote a good one, How To Write A Novel, and it certainly helped me, but no doubt there have been dozens of others since I began novel-writing.

Once you're seriously into it, you will know when it's right, when it's starting to fall into place. You will re-read bits of it and get a little shiver of pleasure at the words you've written. You will have an awful need to share it with someone else. It's fine to do that, but don't expect friends to be honest with you, or even particularly interested. Your style, your plot, may not be something that interests them. One friend who read my manuscript just couldn't get over the fact that it was my voice, and she found it difficult to read as a piece of fiction. Having said that, all writers weave some of themselves into their work. I am a lot like my protagonist, Karen, and many of the things she's done in her life are from my own experiences. But the story is not mine.

I am a huge fan of J.K.Rowling, and I am forced to conclude that she is one of the few writers who does not use her own life as "fill" for her characters. Well, not that I can identify.

So you are on your own with the book. Think about it at work, think about it while you're meant to be watching a movie, think about it when your kids are trying to tell you something, make scribbly little notes on whatever paper is to hand, and then, finally, get to your computer and get it all in there.

At that stage, I suggest you just let it be, just let the words flow, save it, and come back to it tomorrow. Then you can look at it fairly coolly, and make the changes necessary. The one thing I want to remind you of here, something that helped me with the whole daunting process: just three pages a day equals a total of 300 pages, or 75,000 words, in 3 to 4 months, allowing for occasional days away from the computer. Read that again. Allowing for the never-ending proofreading, and probably two or three re-writes, it wil be complete in one year. Of course, your agent will want you to mess around with it again, but that's when you're in the home stretch, we hope.

My novel is entitled Hafan Deg (Safe Harbour in Welsh).

Over the coming weeks, months - however long it takes - I intend to include my novel here, one chapter at a time. I believe the worst of the re-writes are complete, so there shouldn't be much to do, but perhaps you'll comment. You could become my editorial team, my literary critics.

I won't be doing this today, because you already have far too much to read.

I hope you hung in there. I like the company.