The real thing.

In one of my previous entries, I pulled across the point of going through something you or I have written, and editing it within an inch of its life, until the entire story flows like chilled water.

Sound familiar?

I just wanted to take a moment and reflect back on this because I have since looked at my half-finished manuscript of my latest project; "Beneath the door" - and thought that this was the most opportune time to go back through all of the chapters I'd written for it and note down it's flaws.

When I'd finished, I was absolutely aghast at the amount of threads I'd pulled from the manuscript and flagged up. Plot holes, bad characterisation, boring mundane scenes and different writing techniques. 

Eventually the list ended up as an A4 sheet of paper, but the very last feeling I thought I would feel looking down at this list - was determination.

I want to be able to tell my story and I want the sheer pleasure of seeing it sold in bookshops one day. Looking down at the list of discrepancies, only made me plot out possible solutions and outcomes that I could pull my dead manuscript out of the depths of mundaity and turn in it into a work of art that I could seriously be proud of.

Now because of the little revelation, I have decided to do a little more research, write up a proper bio from start to finish and plan out my story better and more accurately. 

All in all, this experience has taught me that self-evaluation is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to reading back through work - if anything, only yourself can accurately tell whether you are telling the story how you envisioned it being told. At the end of the day, you are the story teller.

- H.

 

The Bitter Truth

Okay, so you have half of your latest epic novella written, spell-checked and neatly printed out and stacked into a readily waiting plastic folder with the rest of its predecessor chapters, all eagerly waiting for the day that the last chapter is added to the collection - so you can smile happily, make a dozen copies and chuck off to the nearest big time publishers, right?

Only in a perfect world.

Finishing the first draft is only the sure beginning to the journey of getting your epic adventure out there into the world. Strap on your harness and pull out your Indiana Jones hat, because it'll be a bumpy ride, full of pitfalls, self esteem slumps and the overwhelming desire to give up and find another job/hobby.

Writing for pleasure or profession both commands a certain amount of dedication, blood, sweat and tears. You are pouring every ounce of creativity into your project, you are feeding the flames and forging something new, shiny and beautiful. You are a writer, ultimately a literary warrior. If you want it, you fight hard for that first book to hit the shelves, you battle for that first book signing, the first person to ask you about your inspirations, ect.

We all have dreams - to do what we want most, we edit and edit and edit. Done editing? Comb back through the entire book for a second and third and maybe even forth go. Print out copies and distribute out to friends and family to get their opinions and reflections on the characters/plot/feel of the entire thing. Scour the bookshops for anything remotely similar that you may want to distance yourself from. (A prime example of this would be vampires!).

The bitter naked truth lies here: Draft, Edit, Comb, Edit, Opinions, Edit and finally then perhaps ready to be flooded out to publish.

Good luck, we all need it.

Beware your language!

All writers are guilty of it at some stage and I am no exception. Its a universal faux pas that we have all experienced and in cases, a bloody hard habit to climb out of the depths of. But also is inevitable to pick up at one point or another.

Yes boys and girls, I am referring to language. Did anyone else just have a flashback to their English lessons?

With the way we are all connected via the internet and all other mass media channels, we can access content and entertainment from all corners of the globe. I tend to immerse myself in the sunny world of the US a lot of the time, ranging from watching my menagerie of Friends to Desperate Housewives to House. And then of course I have shelves filled with American authors from Julie Krantz to Dan Brown.
Lately, I have recieved a few reviews on my latest project and the one that seems to crop up most; are the amount of Americanisms I've adopted sub-consciously.

Not that im saying Americanisms aren't cool. No, I love half of my weird and wonderful sayings that some people just don't 'get' - family included. But as someone who wants to be recognised at a British author, it's a little frustrating to write and then read over my workings to find that I had written 'gotten' as opposed to 'become'.

I think I can safely say that I've learned something from this experience though.