Just Keep Writing and Other Thoughts...

Progress, Links and a Party

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:27:00 +0000

Life is beyond crazy, but I am writing and only just a little behind on NaNoWriMo. As of last night, my word count for Pilgrimage was 11,294. I am totally enjoying the experience, but just a touch worried that my voice is a bit different in this one. It's early days yet so I will not panic until I finish the first draft.

Here are some fabulous links:-

Author Sarah Duncan has begun a blog and let me tell you each post is a gem... from NaNo tips to how an editor helps a writer to make the story better http://sarahduncansblog.blogspot.com/

Rick over at The Writer and the White Cat (no he didn't borrow Snowy but has one of his own) has been doing a fantastic series on the Dragons of Creativity which has been superb. This post is a summary and please go back on read some of this brilliant insights into the writer's mind and creative process.

The last link for today came from the marvelous JJ. It was on First Acts from the Literary Labbut the whole blog is worth mining for great writing tips.

That's it for now - head back down to catch up with NaNo.

Oh, the big drinks do went really well. There were the deans from Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Barnard, Wellesley, and Bryn Mawr and alums from all the schools except Bryn Mawr. The range of ages (graduates from '58 through '08) and occupations was fabulous and it reminded me again of the joy of a liberal arts education and the freedom of an all women's one

Down To Work - Honestly

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:54:00 +0000

NaNoMo began on Sunday. I'm already way behind but with good reason, well at least I think so. The first isn't so good though. I had a devilish hangover from Halloween which definitely slowed day one down. However the other reasons are sound - my chicks were leaving after half term break. It was good holiday but filled with more illness than I have seen in a while. DS1 came home with a the chest infection from hell and it took the better part of two weeks to clear it. DS2 came home with a cold. DD came home with a cold and nasty cough that took ages to clear. Then I picked up a stomach virus (no not the hangover) which then passed to DD and finally on DS2......... Sunday was a lost day really with hangovers and packing and so on....Monday was more packing and airport runs.........

So I am a bit behind but the house is in silence except for the warring cats. My chicks have fled and DH is on his way to Cape Town. There are no excuses not to crank up the volume of those words....except the drinks party I'm hosting for the admissions deans and alums of Mt Holyoke, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Wellesley and Barnard on Friday night on my own without the capable hands of my able DH to help!

To date I am at 2,314 when I should be at about 3500 for two days of writing....so I am off for now. Thank you for all your words of support in the previous posts. I will try and comment during writing breaks today :-)

All Hallows' Greetings

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:50:00 +0000

Have been a busy bee baking for today with DD while the boys play....

Tomorrow begins the month of mad writing and who knows what that will bring - but hopefully some form of a rough draft of Pilgrimage. Don't know how often I will be blogging as I must channel as many words as possible into the book but will try and do both :-)

Happy Halloween

Halloween Cakes and F1 in Abu Dhabi

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:58:00 +0000

This is day two of me not going to the F1 events in Abu Dhabi. Yesterday I took ds1 to have a hair cut and for a bit of shopping and today dd and I have been making ghouly cakes for Halloween. I will simply post a few photos to show how the other half of my beloved family is keeping themselves occupied. Me jealous? Of course.....not...much!
(pictures were clearly not taken by me who was not there but by ds2)

Reckless

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:23:00 +0000

It's half term and all my chicks are here, which is brilliant. However it means that no writing gets done nor should it - they are my focus.My editing has ground to a halt and A Cornish House remains at two chapters polished. Fine.

Now next month is crazy. This is the month where I compose the family Epistle to send to family and friends come December. This should be a quiet month of preparation but alas it is not meant to be. I will be all over the place again. First I am hosting an alumnae function for Mt. Holyoke and several of the Sevens Sisters here in Dubai when DH is away - so sans extra hands to help. Then I am off to the UK again - for a couple exeats, the RNA Winter party and so on. I return from there to be at the naming ceremony of two vessels for DH's work on the 24th then it's Eid here and DH wants to see the kids so I am back on a plane for a long weekend in the UK and boom November is over...

Not a lot of time for much of anything but breathing really. So being typical me I realize I won't have the focus required to continue editing ACH because it demands my full attention to really see what I need to do and make the appropriate changes. This is where the reckless bit comes in - do I want to lose a month of the year to not writing? Who me - wonder woman? Absolutely not therefore I have signed up for NaNoMo. Yup- stupid definitely but I have nothing to lose. I'm hoping that joining up with other deranged souls I will produce a sh*tty first draft of PILGRIMAGE. This is truly madness because I have been toying with idea of making this a time slip novel and I haven't done the historical research - so the first draft may well be all the present part with chapters full of 'fill in here later'.

So today I begun making cards of things I do know about Pilgrimage - the title and it is set in Cornwall but haven't decided where. My heroine's name is Prudence (Pru).

That's not a lot to begin with but I have nothing to lose.......

Now can you share with me what pilgrimage means to you?

Privileged

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:24:00 +0000

Yesterday I was out shopping with DS1. He needed a book to read and I don't need any encouragement to go to a book shop. So we had lunch at the Dubai Mall and then went up stairs to Kinokuniya, which is massive to say the least. However they didn't have the two books that are hot on my must buy now list - Cally Taylor's HEAVEN CAN WAIT and Allie Spencer's TUG OF LOVE. However I wandered the store with DS1 and kept saying - she's a friend as I saw a row of Katie Fforde's books and then came across another row of Jill Mansell and so it went...Eventually he said, "Do you know everyone?" and I replied, "No." However the next shelve we stumbled upon made me sound a bit of a liar and very privileged indeed.

As I looked across the middle shelf... I had to say that Nell Dixon, Veronica Henry, Julie Cohen and Phillipa Ashley were all friends. In fact in JUST SAY YES by Phillipa there is actually a thank you in the acknowledgements to moi....

So we ended up buying him a ton of Bernard Cornwell books - six to be precise.

I also decided to be brave and probably foolish when we came across another one of Katie's books on a bestseller shelf and I pointed to a spot on the shelf and said to DS1, "One day my book or books will be right there." Bless the child, he rolled his eyes and said, "I know that Mum but could you just hurry up and do it." Don't you just love kids...

Links, Editing and Temptation

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:56:00 +0000

My editing is progressing slowly, which might not be a bad thing. However I think this is due to the fact that I loathe hard work. I am trying to look at my work objectively and logically (not a strong point of mine). I am making index cards for each scene stating what it achieves - who is in it and so on. This for me is not the fun part of writing and I wonder if I will ever do this for another book. In some ways I hope not. I want to learn these lessons on this one so that I can continue to keep the magic and the fun in the writing but I know I may not be that lucky.

I have stumbled on to some very good links this week. One came from Michelle Styles. She has provided me with many a light bulb in this writing journey of mine. She links to this article by Alexander Chee. I have printed it off and used a highlighter to bring the multiple valuable points out. The one that resonated the most for me was this:

"Very quickly, she identified what she called ‘bizarre grammatical structures’ inside my writing. From the things Annie circled in my drafts, it was clear one answer to my problem really was, in a sense, Maine. From my mom’s family, I’d gotten the gift for the telling detail—Your Uncle Charles is so cheap he wouldn’t buy himself two hamburgers if he was hungry—but also a voice cluttered by the passive voice in common use in that of that part of the world—I was writing to ask if you were interested—a way of speaking that blunted all aggression, all direct inquiry, and certainly, all description. The degraded syntax of the Scottish settlers forced to Maine by their British lords, using indirect speech as they went and then after they stayed. And then there was the museum of clichés in my unconscious.

I felt like a child from a lost colony of Scotland who’d taught himself English by watching Gene Kelly films.
The passive voice in particular was a crisis. “Was” only told you that something existed—this was not enough. "

Now take the Maine out and put Massachusetts in and the same with Scottish and Irish.....I have tripped up all my writing life with a natural syntax that leans heavily on the passive and until I read this article never knew, other than that the Irish use it, why.

Nathan Bransford held a competition recently on opening paragraphs which was amazing. In this post he sums up why he chose the finalists. His insight with the examples on why excellent openers didn't make it to the top ten is brilliant for 'seeing' things that as writers we often hear in criticism. Here is a snippet of the post and do read it and the paragraphs as it is eye opening:

"I don't have any set preferences when it comes to structure and approach. frohock left a great comment that sums up my feeling about first paragraphs almost entirely. Essentially, I think the first paragraph has three important functions: it establishes the tone/voice, it gets the reader into the flow of the book, and it establishes trust between the author and reader.

The concept of flow and rhythm is especially important. It's hard to begin reading a book. The reader is starting with a blank slate and doesn't have much context for understanding what is happening. It takes a lot of brain power to read the opening and begin to feel comfortable in the world of that book. So even if the novel starts with action, or especially if it begins with action, it's very important to draw in the reader methodically, with one thought leading to the next. The flow of the words and a steady building goes a long way toward hooking the reader. Quite a few paragraphs jumped around or felt scattered, and it made it difficult to stay engaged.And on the trust issue: I shy away from anything that feels like a gimmick. A novel is simply too long for gimmicks. Not only do they get exhausting, anything that is clever merely for the sake of being clever comes at the expense of trust between author and reader. To put it another way: if a first paragraph is how an author makes their first impression, using a gimmick in the opener is kind of like going to shake the reader's hand while wearing a hand buzzer. There might be a quick thrill, but they're probably not going to trust you after that. There was a feeling of forced cleverness in many of the entries where I wasn't able to lose myself in the paragraph and forget the hand of the author who was writing it. "

This one from Jane Friedman at Writers Digest is self explanatory.

And the last for today is from Michael Hyatt's blog on 'What It Takes To Become a Master Writer' by guest blogger Mary DeMuth. Hard to read but I think true for most of us.

And finally that brings me to the temptation...as I mentioned above I am struggling with the editing (which to me means I need to knuckle down and just get on with it) so I am sorely tempted by NaNoMo. I have Pilgrimage lurking in my head. I want to do the research and I would love to knock out something that in truth would be nothing more that 50,000 word outline. Oh, the call of the fresh and new....

Is anyone doing NaNoMo this year? For me it would be a bit impractical as I will be doing a bit of travel again....................

This Bud's For You - Rant Warning

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:46:00 +0000

First let me say I had a perfect Dubai weekend. It began on Thursday night with and unplanned evening with friends that finished up eating out by the sea at the sailing club. That evening led to a pj day on Friday and relaxing evening watching a film.

Saturday was a day out in the desert - wadi bashing with friends. I love Dubai but the craziness of it can and does get to you. So a little effort is required to escape the madness. After a leisurely breakfast at the aforementioned sailing club watching the racing dhows prepare just off the beach, we set off to Wadi Ray in Oman.

First rant - just across the border into spectacular scenery the small truck in front of us first chucks soda can out of the window then a plastic bag. This is one of the most beautiful if stark spots on earth and suddenly the pristine landscape becomes dustbin.

We made to the wadi detouring to enjoy the geology (bonus of having a DH a geologist). We arrive at the wadi and find just two other Dubai cars parked there. This is a bonus as on the weekends beauty spots can be packed. We were delighted to find that there was actually some water in the wadi (wadis are dry river beds and some have pools of varying sizes). We slowly drove up the wadi to find a picnic spot. In the shade of a dying date plantation we stopped. It was just us, the flies and the wasps - quite perfect.

Then coming from the direction of the village a large crowd appeared. No problem until I saw how they were dressed - HELLO. This is not Brighton Beach but Oman. All the men bar the boy were topless and none had a body worthy of exposure. This in itself wasn't the problem for me (although why I had to look a their sunburned beer guts I don't know) - it was the lack of cultural respect. Don't they know that this type of exposure of skin may be okay on a Dubai beach, but not anywhere else. The women were all in short shorts and tank tops. Even now I find anger bubbling in me.

So my totally perfect weekend was scarred (which I can certainly handle) but this lack of respect drives me wild......society as a whole has lost respect. People swear on a continuous basis regardless of who may have to hear. They dress inappropriately for their location. This is a problem world-wide and is a total outward symptom of the me me focus of today. 'If I want to swear - it's my right too. I don't care if there is a child near by so what. If I want to strip off - it's my right to. I'm hot and I don't care if the view of my naked body offends and so on....'

I know this rant makes me sound frightfully old fashioned, but I see evidence of the lack of respect everywhere I go. People not giving up seats to the elderly or the pregnant. How they treat people working in shops, on buses and trains. Listening to their private music so loud that three carriages could hear it let alone the poor person with the seat beside. Or the deliberate polution with rubbish.

I ask myself continuously why this is happening. What is so different today than ten, twenty or thirty years ago. Has this rise in self, this cult of me, led to loss of respect of self.? Here - I am thinking of binge drinking.....I could go on but I won't.

Instead of more ranting, I will leave you with some beautiful pictures of the weekend and wish you a respectful week treating others as you wished to be treated.

PS I think the picture of the Bud Tree says it all.... (the bag trees were in full bloom too plus the odd goat tree here and there :-) )

Notes From 'How To Get Published' Course - Part One Michael Ridpath

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:27:00 +0000

I know I promised these notes from 'How to Get Published' workshop at Kingston University ages ago but time....well lets just leave it. First let me say that again these are my notes and therefore are only what I heard and are therefore riddled with mistakes. So Michael Ridpath, if you drop by, I hope I haven't made any terrible faux pas and if so - sorry.

I found Michael's talk brilliant. It was enlightening and honest. It was filled with concrete advice. His website is filled more wonderful information too.

Herewith my summary of Michael Ridpath's talk.

-writes thriller
-was a bond trader
- very analytical
- FREE TO TRADE was first book
-uses index cards (he’s a planner which is very important for a thriller)
-took 6 mos to write during which he gave up tv etc, woke at 4, word count 90k
- characters were flat, stereotype plot
- 3 to 6 mos later gave him the distance to see this
- he couldn’t let it go though
- took 6-9 months rewriting it which he enjoyed
- then took another year & another draft which was much better
- put together a list of agents and submitted to 2 at a time – had 3 rejections then Carole Blake requested the full
- after a bidding war it marked the highest offer at that time ever offered for a 1st novel
- made it to #2
-he wrote 7 more books all financial thrillers; 2nd was difficult; enjoyed the 3rd; 4th set in Boston very difficult because of relationship in it; 5th ok; 6th good; 7th hedge fund; 8th his best
- he had success in UK – US very different – it’s all down to luck
- over time sales of his books declined and he moved publishers – he tried to work out why sales were declining and realized that readers preferred legal thrillers to financial ones
- in 2005 dropped by the publisher
- agent suggested he try something else and he thought of a detective from Iceland called Magnus (book comes out in the UK in the spring- WHERE THE SHADOWS LIE)
- this whole thing caused self doubt and he could have given up or even two years before that
- PERSISTENCE IS KEY – THAT IS WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL WRITER; RESILIENCE
- things are on the way up

What to Write About
- what you know and enjoy
- details are important
- you will get more pleasure this way

Don’t Copy
- write your own book not what you think will sell
- needs to be something original that can come from ONLY YOU
- what do you want to say; don’t let them take that out
- keep in YOU

It the 1st chapter, 1st paragraph, 1st sentence that sells first books. Go to a book shop and read all the first paragraphs all the first novels published.

Key things:
-act professionally at all times
-be reliable
-expect rejection and don’t give up
-the higher your profile and the more you make – the more bad things will be said
-know when to give up
-learn the craft
-techniques can be learned
-you can never write the perfect book – you are always learning
-you are always worried that your writing isn’t good enough
-you must always be striving to write better
- you mustn’t get complacent
-don’t rely on income always being there-have a plan

Writing Process
-total time 1 ½ years
-6 mos to pan and research
-5 mos first draft
-7 mos subsequent draft
-crime or a thriller needs a plan
-begins with a I page story idea
-then spends months widening it; asking questions about the characters
-he does a schedule of 12 ideas which grows to 120 which covers each scene

The first draft is fun
-after about 25% of the way through he stops to rework it and compare to plan; sometimes he goes with the difference or he then goes back to the plan or not – which ever works better.
-he does the same process at 50% and 75%

Rewrites – GIVE YOURSELF TIME
-ideally 6mos so you can see faults and solutions more clearly

Get feedback from trusted sources
-if they aren’t pros then ask specific questions like- where is it slow and what do they like most

The Role of the Unconscious
-when writing you make up things all the time – day after day. But you get stuck; stand back; look at connections from a new angle
-on a Friday he will think about the problem and write down the questions that needed to solve the problem; then he doesn’t think about it consciously all weekend
-then on Monday morning he sits with a blank sheet and answers questions then and there
-if still stuck he writes down all the possibilities

Alsion Baverstock then summed up the talk before opening it up to questions. Her highlights were:

Method
Discipline
Structure –for time and writing
Replicable talent – that you can produce professionally
Think of what happens to your manuscript when it gets into an office

He was then asked a series of questions:

-he does roughly 2000 words a day – min 1000 and max 3000
-a book is never finished however most people think it is finished too early
-when leaving a book to ‘rest’ he takes 4 to 6 weeks ‘holiday’ but he is always planning
-he always writes in the morning
-he used to basic books on writing to learn about character and plot – both were by Writers Digest
-he takes notes on every book he reads to see what he can learn from the book

Finally he said AN AGENT SHOULD CHOSE YOU. THEY NEED TO LOVE YOUR WRITING

Playing With Colour - Another Little Revision Exercise

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:48:00 +0000

Followers of the blog will know that I am a seat of your pants writer. Once I begin a story (usually with only the beginning, end, my main characters, and location), I write the first draft feeling my way. Not very scientific or organized but that’s how the story teller in me works – I like being surprised.

This slapdash method has huge pitfalls and I have fallen into each and every one of them. However I can’t ever see my writing method changing so I need to tackle how to fix the problems without killing my voice or the life of the story. Herein the difficulty lies.

When I took the fiction mantle back onto my shoulders in 2004, I thought it would be easy. I could write and I could tell stories. Simple. No. I can see with hindsight that from 2004 until today I had to relearn how to write prose again. Now I need to work on the mechanics of making my story better, tighter, and correctly paced. These, with those previously tackled, are the tools of writing. They need to be in shape so that the stories I need to tell are conveyed in the best way they can be.

These past five years have taught me is that this journey is not a race. Finally I have embraced this apprenticeship time. The current state of publishing is also a bonus for the unpublished writer. The pressure is off because things are so bad. Now is the time to fine tune skills and write books for the joy of it.

So yesterday I played again with my highlighter collection. Using Scene One, I looked at exactly what was there – description (pink), dialogue (orange), action (green), introspection (no colour). I wanted to see how the balanced or unbalanced it was. When in the full flow of the first draft, I never consider these things – my only thought is to get the story onto the page. Now ACH has been worked on before and I think the balance reflects this - so it would be interesting to do this exercise on a scene from Penderown which hasn’t been touched to find out whether I naturally balance these things or I am totally unbalanced (my suspicion). I do know that when writing dialogue – I just go for it. I don’t put speech tags or actions in and I need to layer these in afterwards.

So have you looked (visually) at the balance of a scene? And if so has it helped?

Finally a few links....

- a brave and thought provoking post by JA Konrath

- see above The Bookseller reports on Sara Lloyd at Frankfurt - Digital World Is The Present

- This link came via @BubbleCow on twitter Behler Blog gives Tough Advice

A Little Revision Exercise

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:19:00 +0000

So yesterday the revision of A Cornish House began in earnest. I know I have many things to address, but on day one I wanted to be able to say I had achieved something...anything really. So I tackled Scene One. This consisted of first reading it in hard copy (just over four pages) and addressing anything that hit me in the face - and yes there were plenty. Next I inputted those changes and printed again. For my second go through I wanted to narrow the focus on my verbs, yes my verbs. See photo. I highlighted them. This helped my easily distractable mind to FOCUS. So then I asked myself these questions:

1. Any obvious repetition?

-answer yes, need appears far too much

2. Needless/Lazy use of 'to be'

-answer yes

3. Passive?

-Yup (it's the Irish in me, I swear)

4. Are they the best verbs for the job?

-yes and no

5. Finally looking at them as a group do they help convey the point of the scene?

-interestingly for me the answer was an overwhelming yes

So the question for today is - have you ever done this and has it helped? BTW I did another two passes through of the scene and that's it done and dusted until the final read through - I think....

I'm Calling it Finished

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 08:13:00 +0000

This morning I have been looking at the bottom of page 105 (in part three - this time I have written with only scene break and divided the document up into three parts) and realizing that in order to really pull all the threads of the story together to reach a good end I need to go back to the beginning - so for me this means first draft is done. Once I go to the beginning again it will be start of major work especially as poor Penderown has been written in large chunks separated by months at a time. It is very disjointed however the basic story is there. Now it needs to rest....

So onto the next project...I spoke a bit about my Cornerstones' Workshop and that it gave me fuel for thought.....I had a one-on-one with Julie Cohen in which she played devil's advocate. It made me stop and think through exactly what I was going to do next. Based on her experience she felt I should now just look forward - leave A Cornish House resting, finish the draft of Penderown and move onto Pilgrimage - not to look back. These were fighting words! Since I took up the fiction mantle again after years absence I have learned to love the that which I had despised - the rewrite. I worked August Rock to death (but this year breathed life into it again by yet another rewrite) and A Cornish House has not be rewritten many times (total 4 which included the one for the NWS submission this summer which I didn't feel was a full rewrite as I was so rushed) as I didn't want to make the mistake of killing it with rewrites BUT I can see its faults now and I think I can fix them without losing its soul.

So I chewed on Julies words - I respect her opinion. I quizzed Helen Corner over coffee. She looked at it differently than Julie. She asked was A Cornish House the book to launch me? Was it the right subject and characters? I knew as she asked this that Penderown as it stands certainly wouldn't be as older heroines (remember Victoria began the novel as the villain but I let her have her way and she stole the book and unlike with ACH and Serena I don't feel it would be right to change it). So she gave me something else to chew.

I then shared some emails and eventually chatted with a lovely agent - her advice was to follow my heart....so it's now been a few weeks and quite frankly my jaw is tried of all this chewing. I am going to rework A Cornish House one more time...........and in the meantime Penderown will rest and I have started researching Pilgrimage.

Jet Lag, Dogdy Connections and RNA Conference Notes

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:59:00 +0000

I'm back in Dubai but I don't think my brain has arrived yet. I hate this wobbly headed feeling. I normally don't suffer jet lag to badly but maybe because I don't have to rush around suddenly I can 'indulge' in jet lag???

New time in the UK was brilliant - glorious weather, friends, writing, shopping.........but terrible Internet connection. My dongle wouldn't stay connected for more than two second if it would connect at all. Ended up using friends 'puters which is fine for a quick check of emails but not much more. So I am way behind on all the things I need to do - like catch up on emails etc.

I don't know if its the jet lag or something else but am having a tough time reconnecting with Penderown at the moment. It certainly could just be the muzzy head, which a strong espresso isn't helping. It could be I have come to stuck plot point and it isn't working. I'll give it until tomorrow before I start digging for the glitch.

I am way behind in posting loads of things for you. I received an award 'The Lovely Blog' from the fabulous CS Harris. Blushing here especially having been such a bad blogger lately but I solider on.

The rules are simple:
1) Accept the award, and don’t forget to post a link back to the awarding person.
2) Pass the award on.
3) Notify the award winners.

I always find this a bit tough but in this case I have to give the award to Anita Burgh who will curse me for it but she is doing the most wonderful posts at the moment beginning with the start of writing a novel (make sure you read the comments too on the latest post as other writers are sharing their processes too) and JJ for the way she enjoys her expat life and struggles with writing.

Now think back to summer, that wasn't if you were in the UK, I began most on the RNA conference but never finished them. So below find my notes for the wonderful talk by Jodi Thomas - she gave us so much that it was hard to get it all down.

Jodi Thomas ‘Plotting for Success in a Writing Career’

She has been making a living by writing for twenty years and before that she was a family counsellor.

Book Plotting
-first it’s all about the characters
-must care about the characters
-we have to identify with them
-has to have flaws; if good looking and perfect on the outside the flaws must be within
-he has to have a goal – need or want something and we need to know this from the beginning; the reader needs to know that
-we need to throw his world into turmoil; has to be basic down to the ground
-think of the character and think of the flaw and the need – they go together even if not reveal to the reader totally until the last page (you find out that he is an orphan on the last page and this is what has driven him to want a home and family so badly)
-fully developed as he needs to come alive
-has to be fully rounded; backside and front side; every character trait has two side – the positive and the negative (a gentle man which is good but you fear he will be unable to act to defend you)
-people develop in a story – everyone ether gets prettier or uglys up like they do in real life- not by the way they look but by their actions

Conflict
You have to have a mountain in front of your character’s way – he must climb up and fall back again and again
Don’t bother with a conversation if it doesn’t have conflict in it
Create a character - Character's Name- would have been perfect if she hadn’t wanted ........ so much – a silly example (mine - I think) Ben would have been perfect if he hadn’t loved pizza with such passion
What if?
-he is gluten intolerant
-his wife hates pizza with the same passion as he loves it
-if he is actually so obese his mouth has been wired shut

Then make it personal - change to first person
-What if I am allergic to cheese and wheat
-What if I love my wife so much I can’t make her have any more pizza
-What if I am determined to lose 100 hundred pounds and regain my life

1.Wagon wheel
Put the problem in the middle and fill each space with a solutions – then create the spokes out of there with further possibilities of what it
2.Tell a few friends your basic premise and have them throw 20 scenarios at you as quickly as possible
3.Write down five things your character would never do- force his wife to eat pizza, use wire cutters to cut open his mouth to eat the pizza...
4.Push your characters out of their comfort zone whatever that may be...make them uncomfortable
4.Set aside time to plot – we are always in such a rush to start a new book – to get going. Take time – take a day or two or a week and change your environment to do it – even if it’s going to a coffee shop in a different part of town so no one knows you and can interrupt

Plotting your Writing Career
Spring
-Clearing the land, preparing the land. This is the time to learn your craft; take courses, read books
-Practice Writing - get a critique group
-Challenge yourself and Set Goals
Pitfalls: Too comfortable so you get stuck
Summer
-A writer writes –the secret of a successful writing career is to write)
-wear a stop watch and see the actual time you write (be honest)
-writers like to ‘build their nest’ cut this time down to ten minutes
-if you write for twenty hours a week (actually write – remember the stop watch above) you will be published
-only failures are people who don’t try
-when you feel you are going to quick and all is against you remember ‘triumph comes through perseverance’
Pitfall – fear of rejection so have a rejection plan so that when they come in and they will you open the envelop you keep it in and enact it - be eat two of the best chocolates, buy a pair of shoes, go to dinner with your husband, or have a pity party with two of best mates and drink until you can’t remember the rejection
The Fall/Autumn
-this is the harvest
-doors open – the hardest book to get published is the first
-don’t get the big head (bout the time you think you’re hot snot – you’re cold buggers)
-we are all on the same road – doesn’t get an easier
-all books won’t be perfect (she gave a great quote about a journalist was taking a multi published author to task for the quality of books 5, 7, and 11. The author said that may well be but I have to write them in order to 6,8 and 12)
The Winter
- The warm cosy place – a time to smile. I did what i set out to do
- Learn to trust your gut
- The books are better in your head
- You give away your best ideas
- Creativity is not a bucket – it is a river and the more you use it the more it flows
- Help others – be a guide to others – your best book may yet come out but in others

Jodi's latest book.

Uncommon Women and Mountain Day

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:55:00 +0000

Yesterday was Mountain Day at my Alma Mater - Mt. Holyoke College (for UK readers this is a university not sixth form college). This is a wonderful tradition where the bells are rung and there are no classes - you are to seize the day. Unfortunately for me yesterday I couldn't down tools and go climb Mt. Holyoke itself, but I did remember doing that on a glorious Fall day with the trees not quite in their full autumnal glory. I can almost remember the smell of the dry ground and leaves crunching under foot....we won't talk about being out of breath and wondering why I was so unfit........

That Mountain Day fell so closely on the heals of a wonderful alumnea event held at St. Anne's College Oxford was rather nice. Although I was unable to attend the whole weekend symposium - Brain Power: Build It, Use It, Keep It I was able to join for Saturday evening which included a special session, Wobble, Warbles and Fish: the brain basis for dyslexia, given by John Stein, professor of Neuro-Physiology at Oxford and chairmen of the Dyslexia Research Trust. Fate smiled on me as I arrived at the same time as the professor and we made our way together to the lecture hall. I confessed to him that he was the reason I had left DD on her first exeat from boarding school to hear him speak. I explained that DS1 is severely dyslexic which wasn't surprising as both DH and I were. He said he needed families like ours as they continued to research the genetic link.

At the beginning of the lecture the reason he looked so familiar to me became clear - he is Rick Stein's (for non UK reader's Rick Stein is one of the UK's great chef and is based in Cornwall and is known for his fantastic fish recipes - I have two of his fish cookbooks on my shelves in Cornwall)brother which was not the reason for the fish in the title of his talk but could easily have been - it was fish oil.

His talk was amazing for me as everything fitted not only for DS1 but for me. I will not try and sum it up at this stage. I want to take some time to google his work and see if I can find links and explore the connection to dyslexia with writers in particular. I have to confess to being at times so full emotion during the lecture that I was too overwhelmed to take my normal copious notes - that and the words were far too long for my dyslexia too cope with quickly!

Now having left the US in 1989 and traveled a very different path to one I had ever could have dreamt while sitting inside Mt. Holyoke's ivy covered walls I have had very little to with my Alma Mater since I went to my tenth reunion - I think I was living in Calgary at that time. My twenty-fifth is arriving in May and I keep thinking that I am only twenty-eight so how can this be????

So sitting down to dinner at St. Anne's College brought so many memories back (first of my time spent not far away at Trinity College) but of what an exciting and empowering group of women (Mt Holyoke is an all women's college). I heard a phrase that I hadn't heard in years - Uncommon Women and as I looked around around I realized I too was one of them. Mt Holyoke pushed and challenged me in ways I never imaged at the time. It made me realize that all things were possible if I gave them my all. The best gift that it gave me was my first academic failure - up to that point I had cruised through my academic life without much effort, but thankfully one professor pulled me up short and brought me task. This taught me how to truly learn a skill - you need to work, work, and rework until you have it right - first time isn't always best. Boy is that important in writing fiction!

Now nearly 25 year years on and I realize that it has given me much more. During my years there, the sense of being uncommon sinks through your skin without you realizing it and it drives you. It makes you realize that you can make a difference in the world whether it is one life or hundreds that you help.

I looked around the hall at the alums and sensed the power of the call. For some it had been quiet change and others huge. I looked across the table at two young alums, '07 , one now doing her PhD at Cambridge and the other at St. Anne's, who had the world before them. I could feel their excitement and found that same emotion still lingered in my heart.

I think the most interesting change I noted was in the speach given by the current president Joanne Creighton - she spoke of the college's diversity and the need to continue the growth of diversity. Back twenty-five years ago the call was still for equality....How the world changes (in some ways - yet in some parts of the world I have lived equality is still desperately needed).........

So after such a long and wandering post, I wonder what your schools have given you. Aside from a package of academic learning what did you take away from your formal education?

Busy, Busy, Busy

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:20:00 +0000

I feel so bad that I haven't blogged in ages - not really like me, but it has been for very good reasons. Since I last appeared I have been to Dubai and back, attended two publishing/writing related events, written about 4k on PENDEROWN, and managed to catch up briefly with DH!

First, as you know I was worrying about DD going away to school...well, she loves it - which is a huge relief. It doesn't mean that we aren't both at times falling all over ourselves in misery missing each other but she is happy!

Now the How to Get Published conference at Kingston Uni was great. Unfortunately I have left my notes back in Dubai so you will have to wait for the details but it was soooo worth changing my flights to attend.

The past few days I have been tucked away in ancient manor in Oxfordshire (somes like one of my books!) on Cornerstone's Workshop on Women' s Fiction. Magic. You know when you have reached something of an impasse and you can't see the forrest for the trees, well I was there.

Since 2004 I have learnt so much. I have moved from being able to write a complete book to being able to write a pretty good book. I have been told I am so close - but just couldn't see how the hell to take my writing to the next level. I am one of those people who has to 'see' how - if that make sense. Maybe it's my dyslexia but I need concrete examples of where I have missed the mark. Once I can actually 'see' the error then I can learn to fix it and find the rest them in the script or at least that is what I have been able to do in the past.

I had hoped that this workshop might help me on my way. In fact i had high hopes because the person teaching this workshop was Julie Cohen. I know Julie from the RNA, love her books and have been lucky enough to have attended one of her workshops on Pacing at a conference. So I knew that at the start the teacher could write (that is an understatement) and possibly more important that she was a gifted teacher - these things do not always go hand in hand.

So let's just say I wasn't disappointed. I knew before I began where I perseceived my weeknesses and I wasn't wrong, but I didn't quite have it all and I certainly was stumped how to fix it...During the workshop I was put through exercises on my own work and others on the course which helped me to 'see'. I learnt different ways of approaching my totally organic process of plotting and conflict which should improved it, tighten it, or even sometimes find it!

In the past Julie has gifted me with many lightbulb moments and I wasn't disappointed in anyway. It was a wonder I wasn't blinded by the flashes. Now I need to cement these tools into my brain, if possible, so that they become more a part of my natural writing process, which I know will take time...

The other part of the workshop was a chance to learn more about the 'business' end. Helen Corner provided this side. She armed us with the tools to help break through. The pratical nuts and bolts of submission prep and approaching agents. There also a chance to question her indivually about specific concerns - worth it's weight in gold.

On the second evening the wonderful agent, Broo Doherty joined us for dinner and q & a. Opportunites to pick an agent's mind don't come much better than this. She was funny, honest, realistic (her agency of 2 agents receives 5000 submissions a year!), and generous with her answers.

The other bonus of the workshop was the other attendees. Being with other writers is brilliant. This talented group contained women in different parts of the writer's journey were tremendously supportive and helpful. They were inspiring and fun. It was great to spend the time with them. I have gained so much from them that they will never know. I hope they came out of the workshop ready to tackle their own persona challenges.

So I am pumped. The end of PENDEROWN is insight. PILGRIMAGE is bubbly in my head and after my one-on-one with Julie (not sure I like you any more!!!) I have decisions to make (May talk about this more later when i have had time to chew things through).

Between the two writing events though I have come away with three key things that I will share as they are not specific to me or either event:

1. Know your reader
2. Be professional in every way
3. Don't rush and ruin the chance your have by submitting to soon

Finally Anita Burgh has a wonderful post on GUILT on her blog and from that blog I am not called myself a YUP!

Fallen Off The Face of The Earth

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 07:05:00 +0000

I have been very quiet and not without good reason. Life has been crazy. Since my last post DS1 has had his GCSE results - which were excellent, truly. He is now back at school and radio silence has ensued which I know means all is well. However I am left bereft having enjoyed his company all summer. Tomorrow DS2 returns to school. He has grown another inch and is now the tallest in the family. He doesn't want to return but accepts the inevitability of it with his normal grace. On Wednesday DD leaves home for boarding school for the first time. I am trying to be brave. I really am. I know it is right for her but it is hell for me. Of course she doesn't see this and mustn't see this. She is full of fear and self loathing at the moment which worries me. The self loathing was there and has nothing to do with school but with her own inner perfectionism. Having struggled with that all my life I wish there was some way I could help her through - other than love her and talk to her. Anyway enough of my family stuff.

I have lots of exciting things on the agenda coming up. First I postponed my return to Dubai to fit in Alison Baverstock's getting published workshop at Kingston University. It's a great line up and to make even better I am staying with fellow writer Biddy. I return briefly to Dubai then I'm back in the UK for the Eid holiday and seeing the kids - one weekend each which left me with time to take Cornerstone's course 'Writing Commercial Women's Fiction' taught by the wonderful Julie Cohen. I know she is a fabulous teacher and has so many times gifted me with light bulb moments.

I am hoping between the two it will fire my enthusiasm and help me chart my way onto the next level of writing. I have received my NWS report back - quick I know. So quick my clever plan to have it sent to sil in London so it wouldn't wallow away lonely in Cornwall went awry. It was an excellent report - not in the sense that it was filled with glowing praise, but in the sense that it was filled with concrete advice to lift the level of my writing. Never an easy pill to swallow, but just the medicine I need at this point. No, it wasn't negative at all. The reader said lots of lovely things, but read the script with a careful eye and pointed out where I needed to strengthen the book and my writing in general.

So that leads to what to do next. I need to complete the first draft of Penderown, I need to polish the revised August Rock. I need to complete another rewrite of A Cornish House and finally I have another book bashing the walls of my brain waiting to escape onto a page.

I know ACH needs a break so that is easy to let rest. I have just another ten or twenty thousand words to finish Penderown. August Rock will be a major project, but one I am looking forward to. I think the new book can be contained in my brain until the New Year. So beginning Thursday I will pick up Penderown again (try and remember what the hell was happening without going back to read because I would never move forward). Once the draft is complete I will work on August Rock. I want to have that done and dusted by Christmas so I can let the Pilgrimage out of my brain. Once that is complete I will then move back to ACH. All this sounds set in stone, but of course nothing is. It means that I will have nothing in the market which may not be a good idea. However I think as the trilogy of AR, ACH and Penderown begins with AR this should be the lead book.

I hope to be blogging on a more regular basis soon. In the mean time there is a great post on research and one writer's approach on Anita Burgh. Can't recommend this blog enough as she knows her stuff having 23 books under her belt and tackles writing from a very no nonsense approach.

Finally a few photos - two of August Rock on a beautiful summer's day and two of some of the antics at the village regatta.

Missing in Action

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 07:45:00 +0000

I know I have been gone without any explanation and I am sorry. In the end the simple tweaking of A Cornish House turned far more onerous than I had anticipated. The family were initially quite tolerant, but as my computer time didn't lessen but grew a revolt of major proportions began........ So I went onto radio silence and pushed through until the damned thing was posted to RNA New Writers' Scheme.

I have been made to swear that I will not leave next year's submission to the summer or they will collectively divorce me. They are right. It was completely unfair of me to make them sit around while the sun actually shone in Cornwall just because I had a deadline. I will not do that again. I will find a waterproof/ sandproof laptop! No seriously I did bring a hard copy to the beach, but then spent the next day inputting the changes......

In this whole process I did have a meaningful moment. As most of you know I am dyslexic so I really struggle to proof anything. Even if I read alloud I don't find mistakes because my mind fills in the blanks and rearranges things to suit. I didn't have time to send ACH to be proof read (again leaving things to the last minute) so thanks to the advice of BubbleCow I downloaded a free text to voice programme and listened to ACH being read by the worst voice in history BUT wow........using a different part of my brain I found mistake after mistake. It was brilliant. Where as I have no confidence in my writing from a grammar/ spelling point of view - I do have confidence in 'my ear'. I just wish I had this dreaded man years ago...

So from here on awful man will read my story to me and I will trust my instincts with his help. Having said that it took ages to go through the whole book. Some paragraphs took five reworkings until 'my ear' was happy. My fingers and my brain work at very different speeds and sometimes totally independently. What my brain thinks my fingers have typed many times bears no correlation........The ghastly man only reads what is on the page not what i think is on the page.

Having said all that, a day after the script was in the post I was updating my web page with the revised first chapter and found two glaring typos on the first page........lesson - I still need a proof reader!

Have you tried the text to voice software? Does it help you?

Over at the Novel Racers

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:06:00 +0000

As I mentioned earlier this week - life is a bit busy. One of the things on the list was my shout for coffee over at the Novel Racers's Blog. So my post is here. It's about opening paragraphs and whether they reflect or even should reflect the book that follows.

Here's the latest version of the opening A CORNISH HOUSE for your perusal.

The car coughed to a halt then lurched as the trailer pushed it further along the dark lane. The headlights' beam silhouetted the twisted trees against the moonless sky. Their tortured shapes merged with the hedges forming a tunnel which enclosed the car. Maddie’s chest tightened. She forced her breathing to slow, but it didn’t calm her rapid heart beat.

May I ask - what does it say to you? Would you want to read on? What type of book do you think it is?

Now head back down and only coming up for the odd cup of coffee and glance at Twitter now that it's working again!

Swamped

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:19:00 +0000

I am knee deep in people and work and just managing to keep my head above water so forgive me for my silence, lack of comments, lack of visits and basically everything. Twitter messed me around and in the process really set me off kilter. I felt cut off for my coffee breaks as it were. The results is that I have set up a new account - @liz_fenwick.

Aside from that I have been working at editing A Cornish House and tying in with this Anita Burgh has a post on That Inner Voice that is simply a must read. Had I listened to it more I would be editing less - the upside is that I am listening now. More about this later when I'm through the first pass.

Hope the sun finds you all. It has just appeared here and everything looks better.

I'm over at the Novel Racers' Blog Today

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:14:00 +0000

I've posted on plotting over at the Novel Racers' Blog.

I'm behind on A Cornish House and I have been a victim of Twitter's cull so have lost all my followers and those I follow. If you followed me or I followed you on Twitter can you find me again! @lizfenwick Thanks!!!!

RNA Conference 4 (part 3) - Linda Gillard

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:11:00 +0000

Below is the final section of Linda Gillard's Sense and Sensitivity session.

But before that I just wanted to update you on where things are with my own writing. I had to leave Penderrown at 71,000 words and plunge into A Cornish House as the New Writers' Scheme deadline is approaching fast. The good thing is that I haven't looked at the manuscript in about seven months. It is amazing what the fresh eye can see and what I have learned in the intervening time. I have read all the feedback from last year's NWS report, agents comments and publisher comments. I looked for any real consistency and there was none! So it is now down to me as the writer to see where this story needs to grow and shrink. I need to give myself clear page deadlines for each day which have to be met or surpassed - I may be a bit quiet on the blog if I start falling behind (Needless to say that this deadline falls as DH is on his three weeks hols, hence the rain in Cornwall, the kids are all here and we have guests!) So each day I need to revise 25 pages which will give me time for one last read through before submission. Fingers crossed.

CREATING DETAILED CHARACTERS – using photos

Beware: description of character can be where writing sags.

It’s much harder to describe beautiful people than ugly ones! Difficult to avoid cliché. Focusing on non-visual aspects some of the time will help avoid the pitfalls.
(I avoid describing my characters because I think it’s a pit you can fall into. I also think it’s a weakness in my writing, so I don’t draw attention to it.)
You don’t want lists of adjectives, back-story, clichés. You mustn’t let readers switch off. (Some skip description!) Keep your descriptions sensory and vivid, and readers won’t want to skip.
Make your characters vivid by using concrete detail (and not just things you can see.) Be specific.

I often work from photos of real people (sometimes amalgams of more than one) because it makes me step outside my comfort zone and my own limited memory bank.
[Resources: PEOPLE photo packs Note: Here pick a few of your own]

WRITING TASK 5 Sensory Gymnastics!

1. Choose a photo and study it.
Imagine this is one of your characters.

2. Think of a smell associated with that character - their perfume or their natural body smell; the smell of the job they do; perhaps the smell of fear or blood.

3. Think of a sound associated with your character – the sound of their voice, an instrument they play, the music they listen to, a sound their body makes (eg asthmatic wheeze.)

4. Think of a texture associated with your character – the feel of their hair, skin, clothes, or something they touch in the course of their work, something they make as a hobby.

5. Can you think of a taste associated with your character? A food or drink they like? Or if your character lends himself/herself to the sensuous and erotic, something s/he tastes of?…

I want to thank Linda for sharing all of this. It is a fantastic set of exercises and I can already see the benefit.... So to find out more about Linda drop by her website. There is a great section on writing.

RNA Conference 4 (part 2) - Linda Gillard

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:40:00 +0000

Yesterday I posted part one of Linda Gillard's session on Sense and Sensitivity. Today brings you part two and tomorrow the final part. Enjoy.

You’ve been recording “TELLING” DETAIL - detail which tells the story

Look at the pictures of settings (note -these are just random ones off of my 'puter) and choose one that appeals - a picture that interests you, or that you might like to “walk into” if you could.

WRITING TASK 2 Settings 10 mins
1. Study the picture and make notes – sounds, smells, textures & tastes.

Try to imagine a full sensory picture of your scene.
Think about air quality, temperature… What would the textures feel like? What sounds could be going on in the background? Or is it silent? What is the quality of that silence?
Can you smell anything?… (Make things up!)

(Is there a detail that encapsulates the scene as a sort of sensory postcard?)

2. Try to develop your notes into a few sentences to capture the scene. Write about the visuals if you like but don’t let them dominate. Try to let the reader know what it was like to be there, not what it looked like.

Telling detail doesn’t have to be visual. (What things looked like wasn’t necessarily the most important thing.)

For the purposes of romantic writing, the other senses might do a better and less clichéd job.

In STAR GAZING I wrote love scenes (and indeed sex scenes) that had no visual element at all because they were written in the first person and the narrator-heroine was blind…

When writing my 1st novel EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY I’d made the discovery about “the spaces in-between” which readers fill in for you

Back story…
Post-illness, conserving mental and physical energy, I wrote short sections and I wrote about detail - the little picture, not the big picture.

When I got feedback from readers I found that focusing on detail had nevertheless painted a big picture because of the wonderful magic whereby readers fill in, as “co-creator”.

In EG I described rocks. People saw landscape.
I described colours and threads and people saw quilts.

In SG I described what rocks, trees, snow felt and smelled like and readers experienced the Isle of Skye.

If you write about details (eg describe eyes) readers will still see the whole. (ie face) Reader will fill in. (Cheshire cat’s floating grin – hard to imagine.)

In SG I described what the hero sounded, felt like and smelled like. There’s very little visual description of him.

Concrete detail will do most of the work for you if you really focus on it and make it vivid. It’s the “active ingredient”. If the detail is real for you, it will be real for your readers. And if the detail is real for readers, they will fill in the background, and that will be real too.

Detail is the writer’s labour-saving device!

WRITING TASK 3 A memory in detail 5 mins

Think of a time when things were very good or very bad for you (or for someone else.)

Describe some small part of that experience - not the big picture (the content/the cause) but a detail (eg the weather at the time, the sounds and smells in the hospital waiting room.)

Might help to begin with “I remember…” Avoid visual description as far as possible.

RNA Conference 4 - Linda Gillard

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:45:00 +0000

I was unable to attend Linda Gillard's session on Sense and Sensitivity, but heard wonderful things about it. Here's what Biddy had to say when she blogged about the conference over on The Pink Heart Society Blog:

"One of the best for me was Linda Gillard about Sense and Sensibility, the use of senses in writing. We mostly concentrated on all the senses but the vision. We live in such a visual world that sometimes we neglect the other senses. We did some exercises that really helped. "

So Linda has very kindly offered me her notes and allowed me to share them with you! Today I'll post through to the first exercise and then continue on from there. Before that though let me tell you a bit about Linda. She now lives in a village outside Glasgow, but spent six years living on the Isle of Skye. Her first career was acting which led to journalism then onto teaching and finally to writing novels. Her last novel Star Gazing was short listed for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award 2009. Here's part one of her notes:

"It is a terrible thing to see and have no vision." Helen Keller

Intro
How I came to write STAR GAZING’s blind heroine…
1. “Playing with my imaginary friends” led to imaginary hero
2. Non-visual representation of Isle of Skye to avoid cliché.

I thought the blind “pov” would be limiting and readers would get bored. Reverse was true.
It extended my writing.

Qualifications for a writer:
To be curious
To be observant
You need a good memory
To be sensual (esp. writers of romance!)

When you’re writing, you’re trying to see the picture, to watch the movie of your story unfold. You will eventually be trying to hear what the characters are saying. You’re “eavesdropping”.

But do you tend to stop there?
Do you ever wonder if your readers feel as if they are actually there, in the middle of your story? As if it’s happening to them?

We tend to confine our observations to what we see and hear, but experiences and memories are very much related to all the 5 senses: sight, sound, touch, smell & taste.

Memories aren’t just visual.
eg “They’re playing our song”. The power of familiar music to evoke whole scenes.
Looking at holiday photos will show you only what you saw. They don’t convey the heat, the sound of the sea, the noise of children playing, the delicious smells coming from the taverna.

A visual record is incomplete but we tend to think a visual record is a good record simply because sight dominates our other senses. And we live in a visual age. (Elizabethans invariably talked about going to “hear a play”.)

Examples of my childhood memories that couldn’t be captured just visually:

Smell of blackcurrant leaves and the buzzing of bees in the hollyhocks when I played as a child in my garden.

Basil’s Italian ice cream (taste of vanilla, crystals in and coldness of ice cream; the sound of his bell which triggered excitement and salivation!)

The two abiding memories of my first teddy - damp patches on his paws where I chewed and the sound of sawdust moving when I squeezed him. (But I can’t remember what he looked like.

WRITING TASK 1 A Childhood Memory 5 mins 10.25 – 10.30

1. Record an intense memory, perhaps from childhood. Try to recall the event in more than just a visual way. (Your oldest memories are unlikely to be just visual, that’s why they’ve stayed with you.) Use all your senses. Jot down your impressions in note form.

2. Select most powerful aspect of that memory, the thing that brings it to life for you. Note whether it’s a visual memory.

Tomorrow part two........ and let me know how your exercise went and I'll share mine!

RNA Conference 3, Kathy Gale

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:45:00 +0000

Kathy Gale – “What Publishers Want”

She has 25 years in publishing and switched from editing to being a writing coach and well as publishing consultant for Quick Reads - which was set up for people who struggle with reading or who lost the reading habit. She became a writing coach because of the gap between writers and publishers.

The Practical Info
- They want best selling writer who write a book a year and make them loads of money
- Supermarkets have transformed the market and if you don’t make it in to them you’ll never make
- The mid list is almost totally gone
- Publishers don’t have the facility to build writers
- Books has to be really fantastic
- They want writers to be writing in the same vein-even better with continuing characters

You need to know where a book will fit in the market place – it’s a means of communication to so many possible (the chain of people who have to communicate your market) so be clear be clear of your market

Have a phrase or a way of describing yourself – ie contemporary women’s fiction, heart rending love story, rom com....something people can relate to

Seeing yourself as a contemporary writer – what is being written now – the style now – what makes it fresh and contemporary

Who is your target market –
ABC1- middle class
C2D- working class
Women
Men
Age
-who is the core readership
-it is a helpful idea to have a picture of your core reader – name her – think about your market in that way
-think about what your reader wants

Trends in Publishing
-misery memoirs are heading down
-historical sagas on the way down, Regional saga has peaked
-look at the Times best seller list
-Develop a relationship with a librarian and a bookseller – who are the breakout sellers and what was the breakout book
-read the Bookseller
-read new authors who have sold really well – what is it about them that that is completely new, fresh
-look at things with an open mind – what is selling
-don’t write cynically – those books are thin; they don’t have heart

It’s about finding a balance - a balance of writing a book that lights your fire with an eye to the market. Often it is in the detail -
-emotional depth
-vary pace; give enough detail
-evoking atmosphere
-don’t let pace over ride everything; give the reader enough time
-the setting
-richness

It is a huge job to write a book – it can take years

She then said having listed the above 'rules' -YOU ARE NOT TO FOLLOW ANY RULES AT ALL- DON’T TWIST YOURSELF OUT OF SHAPE
Go with the feel – go with your heart- go with your own writing pattern
Resonant writing
Publishers want their authors to be professional
-The appearance of the author does matter; interesting; engaging; they are promotable; be stylish, bright, contemporary not stuffy
-They want authors who are self respecting and assertive but are not difficult to work with
-Respect them as professionals
-Don’t be difficult
-Watch out what you say about yourself and your book in the covering letter-be professional but not grandiose
-No gimmicks
In answer to a question she said -
There is room for innovation – yes. Take Bridget Jones for example.It transformed the landscape of contemporary women’s fiction, in fact it made it contemporary

Kathy's website

This session had so many light bulb moments for me - it filled in the gaps to some of the feedback I have had on A Cornish House. So now back to polishing ACH for the New Writers' Scheme deadline 31 August.

The next session post will be next week. I apologize for posting the sessions out of order but I am doing the ones that I have already written up first!

RNA Conference and Builders

emfenwick@gmail.com (liz fenwick) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:25:00 +0000

I have builders in as I write this so I don't have time to post my next conference report however the RNA Conference Links will direct you to other reports of the conference and this is being updated as new reports appear and today's post has another conference experience here.