Here is  a quick extract:

September Falls Chapter1 Extract

Any comments? Let me know what you think.

contact@whokilledseptemberfalls.com

Darkness invaded every corner of the studio, creeping along the walls. Shafts of moonlight glinted teasingly through the large skylights holding the shadows as bay, spotlighting the scene in the middle of the room as September recoiled in horror at the carnage in front of her. Six months of hard work destroyed, vivid brush strokes cut off in their prime taunted her as her eyes captured the broken shards of glass from the delicate watercolours whilst the main acts of vandalism were evident in the large canvases. There was no mistaking the angry knife strokes that slashed from top to bottom.

‘Who could hate me so much?’ She choked back the scalding tears, her mind racing back through the anonymous gifts that had been left on her doorstep and then finally, the photo of her naked in the shower that had come just that morning. Somewhere, there was a clue as to who was responsible, but this campaign of revenge and control had to stop. It had to stop right now. Her jaw set “Right, you bastard, whoever you are, you want a war, you’ve got one!’

As her fingers traced the ragged edges that revealed the savagery and intent of the perpetrator, a slow, creaking sound behind her brought her senses flooding back and she turned slowly, muscles taught and trembling, anger and fear washing over her in waves….

Read the full prologue here: http://whokilledseptemberfalls.com/prologue

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http://whokilledseptemberfalls.com/prologue/

Whilst it’s always a good thing I think, to give time and effort to your writing, I don’t really have the time to do too much of that, but I can’t really afford not to either. My initial plan of writing so many words per day is proving more difficult than originally imagined and this is because ‘life’ gets in the way. Now I have been pretty dedicated in my approach, in fact have pretty much shut myself away from the world as much as possible and only really emerged for one day last week. But of course, there are distractions everywhere and because the creative writing challenge that I have set is so tough, one of the biggest distractions- if I allow it, would be me because it is a greater pressure when you know your ultimate goal and professional reputation is on the line.

Fear is a big factor within writing realms. Even if you are out of the spotlight and have no-one stood over you- counting down the days on the calendar, any self-imposed creative goal puts pressure on the individual to deliver. I have been teaching creative writing techniques for years and many of my students were unpublished at that time and I categorically told them that they had to send their work out into the big wide world for review,  but I can certainly understand the fear that held them back. But in writing terms, if you don’t take the plunge and let other people see your work, you never improve and you never get known.

As regards my characters, they are coming to life and I have found the best way to breathe life into them is to think about them and how they react, trying to hear their voices, and sense their development before going to sleep. You know that moment when your brain is still buzzing from a busy day and sleep is evasive, I have found that a way to quieten it is to allow the characters to interact and to play out a few potential scenarios so that I have a plan that can be incorporated for the next day. In the coming days, I have to take the plot forward and to pick up the pace, that’s my plan of action and whilst I am shut away in my  house furiously typing, it enables me to get that bit closer to success and to completing my ‘writing my novel in a month’ challenge.

Annette Young

Did you miss the first blog post in the series? Read it here.

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The Creative Writing Challenge Begins

I can’t quite believe that my creative writing challenge is here already. The last 6-8 weeks have just flown by with the preparation of the website and the press release and I am only now starting to think ‘what on earth am I doing?’.
Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I stand by my decision to set myself this crazy challenge and I do think that it is good to stretch yourself creatively and to really push those boundaries.

I’m certainly going to be doing that. Writing two books in a month is going to be tough but, I think it is possible and I really want to prove to my writing students both past and present, to all my subscribers of the Creative Competitor Newsletter and to any writer who wants to get their novel published sooner rather than later, that setting tough deadlines are a positive. They might be hard work, but they serve to increase focus and enable you to achieve far more than you would think possible.

When the alarm clock went off this morning, I have to admit I inwardly groaned as it is a nerve-wracking time for me. But on the other hand, with those nerves firmly squashed, I know that I am mentally prepared for this creative writing challenge. As much as I like to have plenty of time when writing creatively, I know that when my back is against the wall and time is short, I can rely on myself to produce my best work. The actual plot for ‘Who Killed September Falls?’ is still a bit hazy which is a concern considering I have to start writing it today but the idea complete with twists and turns and maybe a few red herrings is still formulating in my mind. It is different as regards my how to book ‘Write a Novel in  a Month’ because I have a much clearer vision as to how I write it and the information that will be included.

My first task of the day has been to set up the rss feed so that it will be easier for people to follow my ‘warts and all’ journey over the next 30 days. I haven’t had much dealings with Feedburner so wanted to make sure that it was working OK and fingers crossed, it seems to be fine.  To be honest, it was easy but I’m not THE most technical person in the world so always have to focus a little more on stuff like that. Later today, I will set up an email news facility via Feedburner for those who prefer to receive information this way. That’s the main techy bit today, just some SEO work to follow.

Luckily in previous weeks, I was able to find a little bit of time to work on the website and am glad that the foundations are in place but, having had a look this morning, I have realised that there is so much to do still.  I still have to finish a drawing of one of the characters and I am considering adding a new character too. Over the last few days, I have been mentally warming to a character who was on my original peripheral set of characters but I now think that he could add an extra dimension to the book, so there is a distinct possibility that he will be making an appearance on the site soon. I also need to start working on September Fall’s diary inserts which will give all a greater insight into the complexities of this character.

This morning, I started my ‘how to book’ which will map all of the stages and which will become a blueprint for anyone wanting to set aside a month to write their novel. It’s not going to just chart my successes though, it’s going to reveal all the do’s and don’ts and I suspect it will be a big learning curve for me and I will pass on this information for others. It will also contain the time management aspects, the organisational processes as well as the creative writing techniques I use to ensure that my book is compelling and well-written. I may stumble through a few creative pitfalls en-route to the finishing line but this information can save anyone else from doing the same.

Next step today is to start marketing the website through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn etc and if you want to help me get the word out there about the writing challenge or my forthcoming books, it will be much appreciated and you can do so by using any of the social networking links further down this page.

If you want to keep up-to-date with my writing challenge, please sign up for the rss feed http://whokilledseptemberfalls.com/category/annettes-blog/feed/or newsletter feed in due course and I will be back in a couple of days to update you on my progress whether I am still excited by my creative writing challenge or have started pulling my hair out!

Keep your fingers crossed.

Until then, it’s time to get writing.

Annette Young