Now that I'm writing this novel, I feel like I'm channelling the spirit world which is doubly funny because most of my characters are dead. The story keeps evolving as their voices tell me about their past, present and future. I'm not sure if I'm in control of it all at the moment, but I don't really care because it's exciting and I'm enjoying the ride. I have to trust the process and not worry about whether the plot, the style, the symbols, the motivation-reaction units, etc. are all going to come together. Eventually they will, if I manage to maintain my enthusiasm, strengthen my resilience and build my endurance. I know I'll learn new stuff with each step of the process.
If only I can stop my kids' voices getting into my head while I'm trying to write. I think I need to get an iPod so I can block them out. Sometimes I shut myself in my bedroom and do my first drafts longhand with an HB pencil in my spirax notebook (which I'm petrified of losing). At night, when they're hopefully asleep, I tap away on the keyboard while my partner watches television next to me. He and the TV are much easier to ignore than the kids. It's a good thing I grew up in a noisy household, because I learnt to block my family out and retreat to a world of stories—such an important part of life. Fiction versus reality; sadly fiction wins a lot of the time. I'm a born escapist.
When I'm doing the first drafts I have to tell that nasty voice of self doubt to shut up, and just let the words flow. Often the writing is shit but there is always something there to work with on the rewrite, which I find the most creative and fulfilling part.
I've wanted to write since I was a kid so I'm getting a huge buzz out of learning all this amazing stuff.
Cheers,
Annie T
Showing posts with label Novel 2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Novel 2. Show all posts
Monday, May 24, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
My Writing Process - The Conflicted Mind
My writing process. Where do I begin?
The start is usually the most common place, though I know several people that begin halfway through their novels with ripper middle scenes, but then find themselves with all this excellent writing with few links between. I know people that like to write the ending to their stories first, I've never tried it myself, but from what I've seen, the results can be great or ghastly.
Me? This isn't called 'The Conflicted Mind' for nothing. John Marsden told me (amongst others; while I wish I knew Mr. Marsden personally, I don't think that will happen) that there are four kinds of writers: Brick Layers, who create one perfect sentence at a time; Water Colourists, quick, talented workers that produce a good first draft; Architects, who plan extensively then write their piece; and Oil Painters, who don't plan and let the writing flow from them, saving editing for later.
I find myself to be a hybrid between a Brick Layer and an Oil Painter. I can create these wonderful 'one-liners' and have the rest of my scene mediocre, or I can just let the writing flow out of me... and have all my writing meager.
I am a writer full of self doubt, and because of this, every one of my stories has begun well(ish) and then given up on, because I've asked 'Where is this going?' and haven't gotten a response, I've thrown down the pen or slammed the laptop shut in frustration, unable to continue with such a horrible piece; even a simple negative workshop has the power to tear down the walls of my writing stronghold.
My physical writing process occurs when it's dark outside and way past bedtime. The only sound that can be heard is the tapping of fingers on keys or the scrawling of a pen. Perfect silence, no chance of interruption. Sleep deprivation is a small price to pay for a couple of hours of coherent writing. Being a young adult, there are many obligations to meet. I'm not saying that others don't have similar priorities in their lives, but the constant parental buzzing in the ears when one is trying to write is worse than a reoccurring drop of water on the forehead that can't be prevented. At night, silence is solace. The only problem once my mind has been emptied and the words are before me is trying to fall asleep. It's way too hard to slumber when you're exploring a fantasy world.
That's it, I suppose. Those writers who are in self doubt, I can't give much advice, because I haven't been given much myself; all I can say is what you write is yours, and if your heart and your creative mind tell you it's good, then don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.
Rhys Parkhill
Novel 2 Student
PWE 2010
The start is usually the most common place, though I know several people that begin halfway through their novels with ripper middle scenes, but then find themselves with all this excellent writing with few links between. I know people that like to write the ending to their stories first, I've never tried it myself, but from what I've seen, the results can be great or ghastly.
Me? This isn't called 'The Conflicted Mind' for nothing. John Marsden told me (amongst others; while I wish I knew Mr. Marsden personally, I don't think that will happen) that there are four kinds of writers: Brick Layers, who create one perfect sentence at a time; Water Colourists, quick, talented workers that produce a good first draft; Architects, who plan extensively then write their piece; and Oil Painters, who don't plan and let the writing flow from them, saving editing for later.
I find myself to be a hybrid between a Brick Layer and an Oil Painter. I can create these wonderful 'one-liners' and have the rest of my scene mediocre, or I can just let the writing flow out of me... and have all my writing meager.
I am a writer full of self doubt, and because of this, every one of my stories has begun well(ish) and then given up on, because I've asked 'Where is this going?' and haven't gotten a response, I've thrown down the pen or slammed the laptop shut in frustration, unable to continue with such a horrible piece; even a simple negative workshop has the power to tear down the walls of my writing stronghold.
My physical writing process occurs when it's dark outside and way past bedtime. The only sound that can be heard is the tapping of fingers on keys or the scrawling of a pen. Perfect silence, no chance of interruption. Sleep deprivation is a small price to pay for a couple of hours of coherent writing. Being a young adult, there are many obligations to meet. I'm not saying that others don't have similar priorities in their lives, but the constant parental buzzing in the ears when one is trying to write is worse than a reoccurring drop of water on the forehead that can't be prevented. At night, silence is solace. The only problem once my mind has been emptied and the words are before me is trying to fall asleep. It's way too hard to slumber when you're exploring a fantasy world.
That's it, I suppose. Those writers who are in self doubt, I can't give much advice, because I haven't been given much myself; all I can say is what you write is yours, and if your heart and your creative mind tell you it's good, then don't let anyone else tell you otherwise.
Rhys Parkhill
Novel 2 Student
PWE 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
My writing process
I would like to say that my writing process is a well-oiled engine that churns out words on a regular basis, but that would be a lie. Sometimes it is a well-oiled engine, but at the moment it seems to be fitting and sputtering along. Life has got in the way -- something I always swore wouldn't happen to me. And the trouble with this is that because I'm working on two (or sometimes even three) books at the same time, and because I have multiple drafts, I lose touch of where I'm at. What this means, in real terms, is that I have to spend a lot of time re-immersing myself in the story before I can write, and this means reading time. Lots of reading time. Oh, I'll think, didn't he do that? But that was two drafts ago, and I've since removed that section, which has repercussions right through the book. Why can't I find the scene where he does this? Is it cut or have I moved it? Oh, her motivations for her actions have changed; their relationship is different. And so it goes on.
The trouble with not writing regularly is that I sometimes seem to spend more time re-immersing than I do writing. I just get back into the story, the juices are flowing, and another interruption comes. I definitely work best when I'm writing every day. During the end of last year's NaNoWriMo, I wrote over 26,000 words in four days, and one of those days was an "interruption day" where I achieved very little, which meant I had to write over 8,000 words on each of the other three days. I could only do that because I was fully immersed. I know students have been impressed with that, but I see it more as a failure of organisation -- that I was forced into such a position because I hadn't built up enough words earlier. It's all in the organisation. Sit down. Bum on seat. Write.
Usually, when I am immersed, I'll start by reading over what I've written the day before and edit as I go, and that will put me back inside my main character's head, and I'll be ready to go. I can write between 1000 and 1500 words in an hour. I'm not one who sits and agonises over every comma. I have enough of a handle on my grammar and punctuation that I'm not thinking too much about it, and so I can splurge on the page. It's not always that easy, of course. Some days are harder: the words don't want to come. I might try some free writing. I might play a few games of spider solitaire, but the only way to get over the block is to do it. Sit down. Bum on seat. Write.
If I'm aiming for a particular mood in a scene, I'll put some music on. Usually a soundtrack. It works best if I'm not singing along. Humming I can handle -- that doesn't fill my head with words and leaves me room to write.
I don't often plot ahead. With my first two books I had the start and end points and a rough idea of what had to happen. The last is a bit more sketchy, but I do know where it has to end. Sometimes I find the not knowing what's going to happen exhilerating; sometimes it's just downright frightening. When I had finished my third draft and had sent my novel out and it came back with a detailed reader's report, I decided I had to weave a second storyline through the first, and that involved extensive plotting, extensive thinking about structure and where things were going to fit. More often, if I'm stuck, I'll do a little plot noodling -- I'll sit with a pen and paper and start asking "What if?", which helps me explore possibilities. That's always hard but rewarding.
I have extensive character and setting notes -- one of my favourite tools is Patricia Wrede's article on worldbuilding questions -- a fantastic resource for any spec fic writer, and available on the SFWA site. Filling those questions out was perhaps the hardest thing I ever did with my novel, but also the most enriching. I knew so much more when I had finished.
I don't make pictures in my head, so I can't "see" the scenes unfolding as I write them. It's more that I hold the idea of what's happening conceptually. It's the same when I read, so it's no disadvantage, though I must say I envy people who say they can see the whole book unfolding for them, just as if they're watching a movie. Still, I find it amusing when people tell me my work is so visual that they can see a movie unfolding. How can that be? Perhaps because I'm used to the cues that other writers use -- and that's why reading is such an important thing, for all of us writers.
Tracey
The trouble with not writing regularly is that I sometimes seem to spend more time re-immersing than I do writing. I just get back into the story, the juices are flowing, and another interruption comes. I definitely work best when I'm writing every day. During the end of last year's NaNoWriMo, I wrote over 26,000 words in four days, and one of those days was an "interruption day" where I achieved very little, which meant I had to write over 8,000 words on each of the other three days. I could only do that because I was fully immersed. I know students have been impressed with that, but I see it more as a failure of organisation -- that I was forced into such a position because I hadn't built up enough words earlier. It's all in the organisation. Sit down. Bum on seat. Write.
Usually, when I am immersed, I'll start by reading over what I've written the day before and edit as I go, and that will put me back inside my main character's head, and I'll be ready to go. I can write between 1000 and 1500 words in an hour. I'm not one who sits and agonises over every comma. I have enough of a handle on my grammar and punctuation that I'm not thinking too much about it, and so I can splurge on the page. It's not always that easy, of course. Some days are harder: the words don't want to come. I might try some free writing. I might play a few games of spider solitaire, but the only way to get over the block is to do it. Sit down. Bum on seat. Write.
If I'm aiming for a particular mood in a scene, I'll put some music on. Usually a soundtrack. It works best if I'm not singing along. Humming I can handle -- that doesn't fill my head with words and leaves me room to write.
I don't often plot ahead. With my first two books I had the start and end points and a rough idea of what had to happen. The last is a bit more sketchy, but I do know where it has to end. Sometimes I find the not knowing what's going to happen exhilerating; sometimes it's just downright frightening. When I had finished my third draft and had sent my novel out and it came back with a detailed reader's report, I decided I had to weave a second storyline through the first, and that involved extensive plotting, extensive thinking about structure and where things were going to fit. More often, if I'm stuck, I'll do a little plot noodling -- I'll sit with a pen and paper and start asking "What if?", which helps me explore possibilities. That's always hard but rewarding.
I have extensive character and setting notes -- one of my favourite tools is Patricia Wrede's article on worldbuilding questions -- a fantastic resource for any spec fic writer, and available on the SFWA site. Filling those questions out was perhaps the hardest thing I ever did with my novel, but also the most enriching. I knew so much more when I had finished.
I don't make pictures in my head, so I can't "see" the scenes unfolding as I write them. It's more that I hold the idea of what's happening conceptually. It's the same when I read, so it's no disadvantage, though I must say I envy people who say they can see the whole book unfolding for them, just as if they're watching a movie. Still, I find it amusing when people tell me my work is so visual that they can see a movie unfolding. How can that be? Perhaps because I'm used to the cues that other writers use -- and that's why reading is such an important thing, for all of us writers.
Tracey
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Novel 2 comes online
This year's Novel 2 class as part of their session this morning have looked at F Scott Fitzgerald's quote: "All good swimming is swimming under water and holding your breath". Here are their thoughts on what this might mean:
You need to be in a state of supsended animation -- holding your breath underwater -- to write well, somehow apart from the rest of the world, but with your eyes wide open, examining it with intense interest.
-- Annie Taylor
Without a struggle to achieve the best you can, you could end up with mediocrity.
Not reworking your chapters is lazy, and you could be missing out on that great novel you always wished you could write.
Start now, reread your chapters as if you were the reader who has bought your book: is it worth the price?
If in any doubt, start rewriting to get out of the mediocrity of just another novel landing on the publisher's returns desk.
-- Marlene Gorman
This could mean that you have to struggle a lot to produce a good piece of writing.
-- Jerry
Writing is always going to be judged; therefore, it is always going to be a challenge, a risk. The difference betweeen what is good and poor is up to the reviewer; therefore, you have no power in how it is interpreted. All you can do is hold your breath -- wait patiently for judgment day and hope for the best.
-- Tom Pinchen-Hogg
If F Scott Fitzgerald was referring to writing as a struggle, then I'm all for believing his words. But there's a subjectiveness to it that makes me wonder, for some people love swimming; it comes naturally for them. But everyone can't hold their breath forever, so, whether it is a struggle or something that comes with ease, writing is something that requires you to "be there" in the water and to know when to let go and breathe before you get back into it.
-- Andrew Roberts
Good writing sucks you into the world of your characters and isolates you -- just like holding your breath under water.
-- Brianna Lund
Writing well is a struggle. And it should be. It is something achieved through practice and perserverance. You hold your breath and push through the pain in the hope that the end result will be greatness. Then you do it again. And again. Great writing is born from the knowledge that you are continually learning new things about your craft.
-- Hayley Ashman
My understanding of this quote is that good writing pulls you away from the real world to your own little world. Sometimes you can feel the rush of excitement. At times the journey can be difficult, but practice makes perfect.
-- Kayla
Writing is like swimming underwater as you often do it in isolation, and you are distanced from the real world, with water blocking your ears, and the only sound being that of your heart beating. You have to get in touch with your memories, dreams and imagination, and this is best done alone and in touch with your senses.
You have to hold your breath waiting for outside approval of your work. You surface, gasping for breath, hoping that your classmates, teachers and others take to your work kindly, and your writing can live in the bright light of day.
-- Donna
Because you don't always produce "good writing". Eventually, you need to surface and have some "bad writing" before you submerge and continue with the "good writing". How long you last just simply comes down to how often you train.
-- Amanda J Wickham
For me, swimming underwater is a precious escape from the real world; it's a chance to immerse myself in "otherness" for as long as I can before I run out of breath and burst back out onto the surface, a new perspective in hand.
This is what writing does for me.
-- Fiona L Browning
An amazing idea.
And yes. So accurate.
To write and write well, one must be fully immersed in the characters and situations. One's normal life must not touch upon skin and eyes, but the place of the pages must totally consume the writer.
But there, above the surface is normality and reality.
And fear.
Oh,yes, fear.
But we must dive under it, refuse to breathe it.
Push through under, away, through.
-- Jennifer
So, what do I think? I think it's about taking risks, about sucking up your courage and taking that plunge into the unknown and exploring; writing is a journey of discovery, but you'll get the most out of it if you are willing to push the boundaries. Others have talked about the struggle, the fear, and these things are there, for sure. These are real things that I, and many other writers, wrestle with at times. But at other times, there are also wonder and intense joy. Writing is a solitary thing, and yet paradoxically, when I do it, I am never alone. And as well of the joy of sometimes getting something right, there's the joy, as Hayley mentions, of learning more along the way, but only if you are open to it -- only if you are out there in that roiling sea, ready to take risks.
Tracey Rolfe
You need to be in a state of supsended animation -- holding your breath underwater -- to write well, somehow apart from the rest of the world, but with your eyes wide open, examining it with intense interest.
-- Annie Taylor
Without a struggle to achieve the best you can, you could end up with mediocrity.
Not reworking your chapters is lazy, and you could be missing out on that great novel you always wished you could write.
Start now, reread your chapters as if you were the reader who has bought your book: is it worth the price?
If in any doubt, start rewriting to get out of the mediocrity of just another novel landing on the publisher's returns desk.
-- Marlene Gorman
This could mean that you have to struggle a lot to produce a good piece of writing.
-- Jerry
Writing is always going to be judged; therefore, it is always going to be a challenge, a risk. The difference betweeen what is good and poor is up to the reviewer; therefore, you have no power in how it is interpreted. All you can do is hold your breath -- wait patiently for judgment day and hope for the best.
-- Tom Pinchen-Hogg
If F Scott Fitzgerald was referring to writing as a struggle, then I'm all for believing his words. But there's a subjectiveness to it that makes me wonder, for some people love swimming; it comes naturally for them. But everyone can't hold their breath forever, so, whether it is a struggle or something that comes with ease, writing is something that requires you to "be there" in the water and to know when to let go and breathe before you get back into it.
-- Andrew Roberts
Good writing sucks you into the world of your characters and isolates you -- just like holding your breath under water.
-- Brianna Lund
Writing well is a struggle. And it should be. It is something achieved through practice and perserverance. You hold your breath and push through the pain in the hope that the end result will be greatness. Then you do it again. And again. Great writing is born from the knowledge that you are continually learning new things about your craft.
-- Hayley Ashman
My understanding of this quote is that good writing pulls you away from the real world to your own little world. Sometimes you can feel the rush of excitement. At times the journey can be difficult, but practice makes perfect.
-- Kayla
Writing is like swimming underwater as you often do it in isolation, and you are distanced from the real world, with water blocking your ears, and the only sound being that of your heart beating. You have to get in touch with your memories, dreams and imagination, and this is best done alone and in touch with your senses.
You have to hold your breath waiting for outside approval of your work. You surface, gasping for breath, hoping that your classmates, teachers and others take to your work kindly, and your writing can live in the bright light of day.
-- Donna
Because you don't always produce "good writing". Eventually, you need to surface and have some "bad writing" before you submerge and continue with the "good writing". How long you last just simply comes down to how often you train.
-- Amanda J Wickham
For me, swimming underwater is a precious escape from the real world; it's a chance to immerse myself in "otherness" for as long as I can before I run out of breath and burst back out onto the surface, a new perspective in hand.
This is what writing does for me.
-- Fiona L Browning
An amazing idea.
And yes. So accurate.
To write and write well, one must be fully immersed in the characters and situations. One's normal life must not touch upon skin and eyes, but the place of the pages must totally consume the writer.
But there, above the surface is normality and reality.
And fear.
Oh,yes, fear.
But we must dive under it, refuse to breathe it.
Push through under, away, through.
-- Jennifer
So, what do I think? I think it's about taking risks, about sucking up your courage and taking that plunge into the unknown and exploring; writing is a journey of discovery, but you'll get the most out of it if you are willing to push the boundaries. Others have talked about the struggle, the fear, and these things are there, for sure. These are real things that I, and many other writers, wrestle with at times. But at other times, there are also wonder and intense joy. Writing is a solitary thing, and yet paradoxically, when I do it, I am never alone. And as well of the joy of sometimes getting something right, there's the joy, as Hayley mentions, of learning more along the way, but only if you are open to it -- only if you are out there in that roiling sea, ready to take risks.
Tracey Rolfe
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Plenty happening in PWE
Welcome back to all our existing students, and a big welcome to all of our new students. All the staff at PWE hope you'll have a productive, exciting and challenging year studying here with us.
Whew! Is it only Week 2? Classes are under way, and already my head is spinning with all the different things that are happening, especially in the office. Our online classes are beginning this week, or in some cases (Picture Books) began last week. Bruno's got Rotunda up and rolling. Students are settling in to their new classes. News is coming in of current and past student successes: Tarryn Reid, Fiona Browning and Remo Pitisano are the new editors of SEED magazine and are calling for contributions; Matthew Naqvi has been appointed editor of Offset. Well done, everyone. It's really exciting for us to see you all doing so well.
In the meantime, six members of our Novel 2 class have just volunteered to be part of this year's Ada Cambridge Prize (for a short biographical or autobiographical piece of information), which is part of the Williamstown Literary Festival. Past students who have done this will tell them what a rich and rewarding experience this will be. (And if you'd like to enter either the Ada Cambridge or the Seagull Poetry Prize, we have entry forms in the office.)
All I can say is that I'm excited to be here as part of such a dynamic course!
Tracey Rolfe
Whew! Is it only Week 2? Classes are under way, and already my head is spinning with all the different things that are happening, especially in the office. Our online classes are beginning this week, or in some cases (Picture Books) began last week. Bruno's got Rotunda up and rolling. Students are settling in to their new classes. News is coming in of current and past student successes: Tarryn Reid, Fiona Browning and Remo Pitisano are the new editors of SEED magazine and are calling for contributions; Matthew Naqvi has been appointed editor of Offset. Well done, everyone. It's really exciting for us to see you all doing so well.
In the meantime, six members of our Novel 2 class have just volunteered to be part of this year's Ada Cambridge Prize (for a short biographical or autobiographical piece of information), which is part of the Williamstown Literary Festival. Past students who have done this will tell them what a rich and rewarding experience this will be. (And if you'd like to enter either the Ada Cambridge or the Seagull Poetry Prize, we have entry forms in the office.)
All I can say is that I'm excited to be here as part of such a dynamic course!
Tracey Rolfe
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