Wake Up Little Snoozy...

Is it appropriate to say Happy New Year, being the 14th January and all?


Nevertheless, I bid you a tremendous 2012.


It's been a while since my last post. I'd love to tell you I've been horrendously busy, writing my novel with ferocious voracity.


I haven't. My muse has had a terrible case of the Black Dog. If it had a chaise longue, it'd have been sprawled across it, damp cloth on the forehead, fainting occasionally.


The excitement from my NaNo days (which seem so long ago now) had all but disappeared. It abandoned me, leaving me with a 50k story that I had no idea how to progress.


Guiltily, I started writing other story ideas, and the creative buzz returned somewhat. But, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I don't care for failure. That's what The Caretaker was starting to look like, and it pained me.


Was I just procrastinating? Surely procrastination is what happens when you put off something you don't want to do? I want to finish the novel, goddamnit, what the F is going on?


I consoled myself, reading blogs from experienced authors, writing about how your first novel is never publishable anyway, and how people really don't find their true novel until they've written five or six of them. I even tried to write a couple of blog posts, about how The Caretaker wasn't The One for me. How shameful.


It still didn't change how I felt about The Caretaker.


I'm pleased to report, stubbornness has prevailed.


The smelling salts arrived in the form of this Creative Writing Masterclass video. Not to impugn videos, but that's how bad it was getting. I couldn't bring myself to write, so I was watching videos on writing. If Charles Dickens could have witnessed this spectacle, he'd have poked me in the eye with his feather-tipped pen.


This video ignited the epiphany within me. It made me realise which character I wanted to be my "hero". Something every writer probably has pegged from the first page, but I'd become so close to all the characters, I didn't want just one hero.


That doesn't make for a good story though, does it?


Here's my very first synopsis of The Caretaker, before I started writing it:

When a car crash leaves Harry crippled and his mistress dead, his previously idyllic world collapses around him.
He seeks forgiveness from his devastated wife, Wendy, who agrees to give up her teaching job to take care of him. Can she bring herself to trust him again? Or does she succumb to the advances of the school's Caretaker; so desperate to be someone's first choice again?
The mistress haunts them both, in more ways than one.
Experience the turmoil of both sides of the coin, in this tragic tale about the fragility of trust.

Here's the synopsis of The Caretaker, written 30 days and 50k words later:

When a car crash leaves Harry crippled and his mistress dead, the lives of those around him change forever.

His devastated wife, Wendy, agrees to stand by and take care of him. But she cannot forgive the betrayal and, when advances from the local school's Caretaker distracts her, Harry's well-being is severely at risk.

The mistress haunts them both, in more ways than one.
Not only did Tina lose her sister in the accident, she lost the love of her life, Mick, Harry's brother. Mick can't see any future with the sister of the girl who tore his brother's life apart. When she finds out she's pregnant with Mick's baby, she hides it from him, convinced he'll tell her to get rid of it. As the baby grows inside her, so does her obsession with Mick.

Helen is out for revenge, after losing her favourite daughter in the accident. Hell bent on
vengeance, she blames Wendy's inability to maintain a good marriage; her inability to keep her man from leading astray. When her other daughter, Tina, falls pregnant, it fits into her plan perfectly. A stout Catholic, she believes it is her religious duty to make everyone pay for their sins.

As you can see, the story is riddled with other stories. They do all tie in together, but there was something missing from it.


My hero, Harry.


Yes, he is a cheating scumbag. I have no more time for love rats than you do. But my aim is to make this book his journey. I aim to weave his tale throughout the rest of the chaos and hopefully come out on top.


Although... you never know... he might just be too despicable to save. There may be more bad karma coming his way...


You'll have to read the book to find out! :D

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Wake Up Little Snoozy...

It's not over till I say so, alright?

"Just keep swimming... just keep swimming..."
Dory, Finding Nemo.




Ah Disney.  You may have ruined my expectations of men forever, but you sure know how to motivate me.


Having completed my 50k target for NaNoWriMo (50,028 words, to be exact), I initially decided I was going to take a break from writing; just for a week or two.  I deserved it, after pushing myself to the kind of writing extremes I'd never reached before.


Thankfully, I've realised I have no desire to take a break.  I can't stop thinking about my story!


And that's all it is as the moment.  A story.  No chapters; no deliberate thematic structre, no real craft.  In this project, I gather I'm about 20% complete.


What I want to do now, is go through it all, write more scenes, delete the guff (which is a good chunk of the beginning, from what I can see!), make the characters as strong at the beginning as they were at the end (I knew they'd come to life), do some more research, and give the story some... fluidity.


This is my first attempt at writing a novel.  I've toyed with novel software and was left scarred when it disappeared from my computer one day (my fault, but still...).  So, it's all on one 84-page document, looking messier than my hair in the mornings. 


It's also saved on some external hard drives and memory sticks of course (Ahm no daft, me!!).


Once I've done all the above, then I'll take a break.  Even if I'm itching to get on with it.  I'm going to look at it like a good casserole, or marinade.  Sometimes it's better to leave it alone, to develop (sorry, my food-geekiness is starting to show). 


Obviously I can't neglect it for too long, or it will go off, but it's essential for me to stay away for a while.  Just not yet though.


For now, I shall just keep swimming.











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It's not over till I say so, alright?

Who are you and what are you doing in my head?

This is what my novel is going to look like, I think.

The first draft is going to be crammed full of stereotypical nonsense.  My antagonist is going to be over-the-top evil; my protagonist is going to have a halo on her delicate, beautiful skull.  The "nice guy" is going to be meek to the point of nausea and all characters are at risk of whiplash from the hair tossing and theatrical gestures.

It's alright, though.  I accept it, for now.  I welcome it, to be honest.

My first draft has yet to begin (26 days to go eeeek!), and I'm already looking forward to the second draft.  That will be the point when I truly understand my characters.

A lot of writers I've come across like to know everything about their characters before they start, up to (and including) what their gran had for dinner last week.  And if that works for them, I'm envious.  I'm still trying to figure out what works for me, though I have a good idea what doesn't.

When I try to come up with proper names for my characters, or a book title, I feel utterly indifferent.  It's like a baby, I suppose.  I need to see what it looks like in the flesh before I can name it. 

For the time being, I have Harry the Husband, Wendy the Wife; I even have Rebecca the Replacement (teacher) and Jason the Janitor.  Highly original, I know.

What I'm more concerned with, right now, is how they treat themselves and others.  Their demeanour and attitudes.  How they deal with the situations I thrust upon them.  I've always believed that it's what people do (and don't do) that determine who they are.  For instance, someone might donate to charity every month and help old people cross the road, but they might also cheat on their partner or keep the contents of a lost purse. 

Labels don't define human beings.  We are complex creatures and I look forward to making my characters wonderfully intricate in my 2nd draft.  I anticipate the agony with relish.

In the meantime, my first draft will be a caricature of their life views.  Their opinions.  Their morals and beliefs.  Their place in society and how they measure themselves up against others.  This, to me, will direct their actions in the story, more than figuring out their pet's name or bra size.

Please don't misunderstand me.  I'm not detracting from anyone who creates or uses character profile sheets; not at all.  I will be using them myself, when I get on to the second draft.  Alan Ayckbourn can sum it up better than me, in the Open University podcast for creative writing.  He's talking about plays specifically, but it definitely strikes a chord with me:

"The first draft is very much an acquaintanceship with the characters, and ….often their dialogue, their speech patterns develop during that first draft, they don’t start that way."

I just adore his voice.  It's so delightfully theatrical!

I'm going to spend the rest of the evening reading.  I feel literally undernourished, and crave that blissful escapism that I so wish to create myself.

Any NaNo-ers care to share their tips with a newbie? How are your plans coming along? ◦

Who are you and what are you doing in my head?