Yesterday (Saturday) I was at a workshop at Nottingham Writers' Club. The guest writer was Patsy Collins who was leading us through Characterisation and Dialogue.
Personally I think the latter element is really helped by getting the former element pinned down.
 |
| Patsy Collins & a few of her books... |
It was good to know my creativity was kicking back in again with the writing exercises.
For the first three days after getting my manuscript into the RNA's New Writers' Scheme my brain just went on temporary strike.
I put in a lot of hours in that last week- 15 hours on the Friday into the early hours of Saturday morning alone- as well as having spent a few hours at the walk-in centre on the Tuesday after a bad fall- catching my toe on the door ledge stepping in from the back-garden.
Yes, my mind had been on my manuscript and that approaching deadline rather than what I was actually doing at that moment...
I damaged the ligaments either side of my right knee and bruised my tibia. Pleased to say nothing was broken. The bruises are now fading and after taking everything slowly I was moving around with care by the end of this past week, so no problem attending the workshop.
The broken tooth is being sorted later this week.
* * *
I have a complete first draft of a contemporary or the first five chapters of a 1920's story- the first three chapters and synopsis won the NWC 2018 Mary Street Romance Novel Shield. Admittedly the first draft novel (the synopsis and first three chapters of it) also won the 2016 Mary Street competition.
 |
| A 1920'S hat... |
I first started using Scrivener back in April when part of my historical was already in Word 2007 and as I was still becoming familiar with how Scrivener worked, I didn't have time to sort out all those helpful little aspects of the programme. It was get the second draft written!
This year I've learnt a great deal about how I write and put my novels together, so I'm now putting the knowledge I've gained into action with my other projects.
My Dorset novel needs looking at again to see what I need to research there too. That's at a similar stage to the 1920's novel, but will need complete rewriting as my voice has changed since it was started.
Priority is still to complete my 1802 Nottinghamshire novel, but I'm not going to waste the time in between...
Do you have more than one project on the go?
6 comments:
Good luck with all you have to do, you seem well on track and are aware of the moments that are wasted. And an achievement, learning Scrivener, well worth it isn’t it. Yes, I enjoy the research aspect of a novel, but tend to get bogged down in the Shrewsbury Archives and never emerge 🤗,
Thank you lostin... Yes there's still more to learn with Scrivener but I can get on with the writing much quicker, so it's all positives.
Archives are lethal, so many avenues of interest trying to distract you from what you've gone there for. :D
Yes, I generally have several different projects on the go. I find that it's helpful to work on something else between drafts, and to have things at different stages, so if I'm not in the mood for eg editing, I can research, or write new stuff, or format something, rather than having just one option.
Patsy- it's reassuring that it does work. Though I think I've had to build up to this stage to feel I can cope with it. :-)
I went to the Ladybird exhibition in the New Walk Museum in Leicester and on the walls was a picture of a house I recognised from a postcard I have that I used to illustrate an article about the North Staffs Railway. Now I need to know more. Tangled webs and all that. Imagine the trouble I'd get in to if I were let loose in a physical archive.
Julia- I'm going to a book launch at the New Walk Museum next month- small world.
I'm always surprised when writers get these strange connections...
Post a Comment