Doing it the Dorothea Brande way

Well, as I said I would I've been trying the last couple of mornings to follow her prescription which, as I said, does make sense to me. I was successful in getting straight to writing after awaking ar 7.00 am. This morning I even had coffee made the night before and kept in a thermos according to her recommendation. I kept at it but I can't say, I felt all that inspired, I started at 7.10 and by 8.00 I was folding. Perhaps, it was because I was revising Ch 4 Sc 3 rather than writing something completely new.  And I didn't, one thing and another, get to writing through the rest of the day. I shall persevere as well as I can though as I do think her approach sounds like a good one based on all I have learnt.

Getting down to writing

Since the only writing class I have done (At the Sydney Writer's Studio) I have believed that writing is an interplay of the subconscious and the conscious. So I immediately took to "Becoming a Writer" by Dorothea Brande. *See below - I don't seem able to copy a book cover without the Amazon - 'look inside' - never mind) It makes sense to me that the conscious has to serve and protect the unconscious. The creative comes from the latter and the craft from the former. So far well and good. Her prescription though is a bit harder. I know that writing as soon as I wake in the morning is the right thing to do - it's just that it's so easy to fiddle around reading news on the internet. Goodness knows that I should find explicit time to write each day.  I mean how hard can it be! I'm retired. But so often it seems anti -social when my partner is around.
When I actually start writing and get into the zone (whoever thought of that phrase - it is a good one) it all works find - my mind just focuses and nothing else seems to matter. Indeed I really don't think of anything else - only the writing.

Anyway, I shall try again tomorrow, I have made my pot of coffee and set my alarm for 7.00. All I have to do is put the coffee on the microwave and tap at the keyboard, Wish me luck! I'll report how I go.

Writing a synopsis

The Thursday after a Richmond Writers' Circle meeting is always a time for regrouping and thinking about the next steps. Today I started writing a synopsis of the story so far which I shall post soon. It is quite a long way forward from my fist attempt at a synopsis but I was pleased to see that I have improved / refined the story rather than completely changed it.

Link to Chapter 1, Scene 1

Aha, At last I have worked out how to link the blog to the latest versions of my scenes.  These versions are nearly all as they were read to the Richmond Writers' Circle. Comments were made at these readings but these will not be addressed until the rewrites.

Gentlemen Rankers Chapter 1 Scene 1

Chapters or not.

My two favourite authors of fiction rarely use chapter divisions. The main (and sensible) reason being that real life does not divide itself neatly into chapters. George MacDonald Fraser never interrupts the pace of Flashman's first person narrative. Only in recent books has Terry Pratchett used Chapter breaks and then has done so with a chapter number followed by some text listing the chapter's contents. Presumably this is intended to reflect what was a common Victorian style.

I have decided that for my posting of my story to Google Drive that I shall use chapters and chapter titles.  This is partially because my book is very firmly linked to a bygone age - not just in the way of a historical novel but, more importantly, because it deliberately evokes the memes of that era. Also, I am, after all, attempting to write a page turner and perhaps Chapter headings are a bit of a 'come on' to the reader to plough onwards. Anyway - that is the plan! :)

As soon as I can figure out how to make the scenes available to anyone who reads this blog I shall start putting in links - or whatever it is that you do.

Prendick

The last few scenes I have written involve Edward Prendick, who was the narrator of HG Wells' Island of Doctor Moreau. Actually I think that David Thelwis who played the role in a film (left) looked pretty much right but I had Roger Allam (right)more in mind as I was writing. It was funny though when I re-read the last few lines of the book (which I had forgotten) how good a fit Well's Prendick was for the story I am writing.

It finishes
“I hope, or I could not live.” A line I shall definitely steal.

It seems to me that when your intuition is on the right track writing there are many happy fits.

Putting scenes on the web

The other day someone at the Richmond Writers' Circle asked me if I was putting drafts on the internet as I finish each scene. I had started putting them on this blog but that doesn't seem the right place. I really want to put them on Google Drive and make them accessible to the Google+ circle that I have created for the RWC. But I haven't figured out how to do that yet and i'm not sure you can. I'll try and figure out a way this week.

Sounds like a plan?

I am ploughing on with the story at a not very quick pace of about 1800 words a week (as much as I can read in 10 minutes at the Richmond Writers' Circle. My plan is to drive on to the end just to get it finished in a reasonable first draft form. The second draft will be to iron out all the plot problems that I have created in the first. There are likely to be quite a lot of these! The third draft will be to make sure that all the characters behave in character. The fourth will be to make sure the dialogue is in tune with character. After that I don't know but I'm determined to cross bridges as I come to them.

A new start!

Finally, I've got myself started again! This is good for me - usually when I give up on something I stay given up. This time I'm going to be a bit less ambitious.

The good thing is that I did persevere with the story. I now have about 35,000 words of first draft. So I'm about a third of the way towards the sort of length that publishers are suppose to prefer. I've decided to press on if I can and at least have a go at getting it published. There are a few people at the Richmond Writer's group in much the same boat so that is, in a way, encouraging.