NaNoWriMo – Happy to Fail

It has been well over a month since I last posted on here having decided to give the blog a rest until the end of NaNoWriMo. I fully intended to have a successful month of writing but it didn’t quite go that way.

I would like to name a few reasons why I might have failed this year.

My piano, after ten years apart we were finally reunited which meant hours dedicated to writing were reassigned. Secondly, my writing ‘space’ was compromised. There is a little room in our house where I can hide away and write. Over the past few months this has turned into a dumping ground and therefor I no longer have a quiet space just for me to escape to. Thirdly, it was my birthday and heaps of family members and friends descended upon us most weekends. Last, but not least my sister gave birth to her little boy making me an aunty. Could not be happier and I am so, so proud. Any spare moment I have has been spent cooing over my gorgeous nephew. So it’s safe to say I have been distracted.

However, despite these distractions, I know should have at least managed 25,000 words, not 10,000.

At the start of November I was very hopeful that I would be able to draft my second novel of 2012. Something I now realise, was an absurd ambition.

It was a ropey start to say the least. I didn’t begin writing until a few days into the month. Even then I had to force myself to embrace the concept of the story and what I had to turn it into. Despite planning, structuring and developing characters, nothing clicked. I struggled to turn the story into something bigger than it was ever supposed to be and because of that, I lacked the drive to keep going.

With my JuNoWriMo novel, it was a story that had been in my head and planned for years, yet it lacked structure and characters were created almost by accident. Over the month I found my writing voice and discovered I quite enjoy the thrill of writing about crime and grit. By the end of the month, I had a draft. It is rubbish, but it is there and has potential.

This time I attempted romance against a melancholy back drop. After writing a few chapters, I started to loose my way and it sounded contrived and petty. There was no desire to write. In truth, I don’t think I have the ability to turn the story into what I envisioned it to be. Before I started NaNoWriMo, I re-read parts of On Chisel Beach, Ian McEwan as it was that style of writing and pace I was trying to emulate. Maybe that was my downfall. Yet now, at the end of November I don’t feel like a failure. The story I know, will work well as a short story so I’m not going to pull it into pieces and turn it into something it clearly shouldn’t be.

This month I have learned that crime is my forte and that I have the ability to recognise when a story doesn’t work. Having said that, Iris Murdoch said that ‘Every book is the wreck of an idea’ so you never know, in a few years, I might revisit and think differently. Plus I would like to thank Victoria Writes for recommending a documentary about Ian Rankin. It showed that even the most successful writers are plagued by doubts and the fear of writing.

Friday Fictioneers – Disorienteering

Here is my latest Friday Fictioneers installment thanks to Madison Woods and Jan Morrill for supplying the picture.

As usual I am not sure on what I’ve produced, but a little pressed on time roday and I know I won’t get to spend time perfecting it tomorrow. So here it is, in a raw state.

If you want to take part in Friday Fictioneers then head over here

Disorienteering

The man gave each of us a map and a deadline of two o’clock sharp.  It was now one fifteen. I had misplaced my team an hour before and was completely lost. The blue sky and heavy sun teased my useless sense of direction and cast shadows against the white city walls. I looked down at the map littered with lines, discovering little correlation between where I was standing and where I needed to be.

My mouth felt parched and my head throbbed. I popped the tiny foil circle on top the carton of cranberry juice and cursed as the red liquid shot out of the straw and on to my light yellow top. Using the map to blot away the stain, all hope of completing the mission was lost.  I screwed up the ruined piece of paper and shoved it into my bag. The work’s annual team building exercise, yet another resounding failure.

How to Write with Speed… Go, Go, Go!

As some of you may know I am currently taking part in June Novel Writing Month in a bid to get the first draft of my novel finished. I used to be a serious edit-as-you go kind of person and it was getting me absolutely no where. I understand this does work for a lot of people but I found it restrictive.

Now I am in full swing again with this new form of speed writing. Still a little bit behind target but I am catching up, I have miraculously managed to write about 15,000 words in the last few days. I never thought that was even possible.

I know what is on paper is complete waffle but just sitting down at the laptop and bashing out a few thousand words each night has become a little ritualistic. Some evenings it is like pulling teeth but the point is if you keep going, something amazing happens and you start to form a story. Like magic.

I urge you all to give it a go. Here are my top tips for starting your first draft and hopefully finishing it (from someone who is still yet to reach the end!)

Plan ahead

Some writers like to plan out the plot meticulously however for me just thinking throughout the day what I will write about in the evening works well too. If you don’t like any form of planning, just sit down and let you mind wander as you type

Do NOT edit

This is crucial. Do not look back on what you have written. Yes the temptation is great but the moment you start going back and editing it is no longer your first draft. You are a writer and you have permission to produce a shitty first draft, make it sparkle during revision phase only.

Give yourself a break

Do not bring yourself down with the ‘this is rubbish’ and ‘No publisher will ever be interested’ talk. Also if you get tired then stop and take a break, don’t be a slave to the word count.

Switch off the phone

I can’t deal with distractions. Sometimes you don’t have a choice and you have to work around them however if you can sort out a quiet place to work then it will help you get in the zone.

Ignore Twitter/Facebook/Blogs

All too tempting to have a peak and see what other people are up to instead of facing a blank page

If faced with a stand-off against a blank page…

…. then walk away, get a drink or a bite to eat, go for a walk, anything. Just don’t sit there. The words are in your head, you just need to lure them out. Another tip if you’re in this predicament is to write garbage or about your day. It limbers up your mind.

 

#FridayFictioneers Step by Step

I missed last week’s Friday Fictioneers so was looking forward to taking part again. I have written this on my lunch break at work so if it’s a little round round the edges then that’s why. I actually managed to keep it down to 99 words this time. Happy for feedback/critiques if you’re willing to give them.

Here is Madison Woods 100 word challenge if you want to take part.

Step by Step

With each tentative step, Liz felt the back of her heels sting. She perched on a rock and removed one walking boot at a time, carefully inspecting the offending blisters.  Liz had already hiked twenty five miles but her feet looked as though another step would finish them off.  She adjusted the heavy bag weighing down on her shoulders, wincing as the straps cut into her collar bone.

“Ten miles to go” she whispered, trying not to cry as she examined the steep forest path.

“Come on Liz, you beat the big C. This is a piece of cake.”

 

You are not a writer… yet

I haven’t been paying my attention to my blog this week mainly because my evenings have been taken up by what I have fondly named a ‘social life’. I’m not complaining, I love a social life as much as the next person but when you are desperate to dedicate a few hours a day to writing it does tend to get in the way.

At the moment I am putting pressure on myself to produce at least three flash fiction pieces a week as well as working on several short stories and a long-suffering novel. Unsurprisingly I am lacking focus and find myself starting a new story before I have finished the last one. This week I read that until you have completed a story, you are not a writer. I am not sure I agree with this but it has spurred me on regardless to introduce some structure and become a bit more productive.

My aim over the next month is to complete the following:

• Cut down the ‘on-the-go’ short stories by culling those that aren’t going anywhere
• Complete two short stories by the end of March to submit for either publication or competitions
• Write one flash fiction for blog each week
• Revisit novel and revise plot
• Experiment with crime and young adult fiction

I don’t know if this is achievable yet but I really need to focus on short stories if I want to become published this year. Lets see what happens.