The rite of passage

So much has been written about getting rejections from agents and publishers. All I can add it that it is all true. Last time I spoke to my writing-buddy Lizzie Gates (http://authorgym.wordpress.com) I told her that I was despondent. She still maintains that you can’t call yourself a writer and that you mustn’t allow yourself to be down-hearted until you’ve had at least thirty (yes, 30) rejections. My niece Katie Ward, whose lovely book Girl Reading was published by Virago this year, says thirty – and all the rest! To date, I have had four rejections and have not been short-listed for the two debut novel competitions I entered.

So now it’s back to the drawing board. I am looking at my journal and reminding myself of some of the basics:

·         Research the agencies to be sure to approach the right ones

·         Follow their guidelines – to the letter

·         Know which authors/books you liken yourself/your book to (grammar!!)

·         Welcome feedback and don’t be over-sensitive

·         Persevere

·         Use contacts shamelessly (I’ve never been able to do that for anything)

·         Be professional (does that contradict the point above?)

I’m going back to Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook now to continue my quest.

TLC – no not Tender Loving Care!

In May 2011 I sent my first three chapters of Fail Better to The Literary Consultancy for critique. This was a ‘free offer’ to Cumbrian writers with experience of writing and with a low income! How did they know? I waited ages to get it back but when I did I was SO delighted. I wish I could quote everything from the covering letter.

Here are some snippets:

- ‘I’d like to say that I enjoyed reading this extract very much. The complex character of Judith was, at times, reminiscent of Ripley in Patricia Highsmith’s novels; not entirely likeable but definitely compelling!’

- ‘The pace is very strong indeed ..... and there is a solid and worryingly plausible story at play.’

- ‘You ask about genre. Reading this extract, it seems to me the best way to describe it in a pitch to an agent or publisher is to emphasise the pace and story alongside the psychological elements.’

I am now (October 2011) going through the rite of passage of reject letters. In re-reading the whole of the critique from The Literary Consultancy (TLC) I am administering some Tender Loving Care (TLC) to my writing ego.

Thank you, Zoe Strachan for your encouraging words along with constructive critique.

Cambridge Literary Festival

By March 2011 I had become preoccupied with agents and publishers. I chose my birthday present – a weekend at Cambridge Literary Festival in April. My reasons for that choice included:

·         To hear eminent authors speak - I saw/heard P.D. James, Nicola Upson, Dame Antonia Fraser and Robert Goddard

·         To attend a workshop on getting published by Nicola Morgan – that was fab and I later bought her book  www.nicolamorgan.co.uk

·         To attend a workshop on e-publishing – interesting and comforting

·         To soak up the atmosphere – it was lovely and not snobby at all

·         To see whether there were any ‘stalls’ selling stuff (another story for another day, my friends) – there was a book shop and I bought a beautiful blue leather notebook which will record my progress through the next book

·         To see Cambridge as I had never been there before – stunning and well worth a visit

·         To stop and see my sister Georgie on the way back – we spent a happy hour in her garden in the afternoon sunshine

It was a perfect weekend except for a huge shiny milk tanker rolling backwards into my beautiful car on the way there. Nobody was hurt and the driver’s boss paid in full for the repairs with no fuss or argument.

Blurb and synopsis

My mind was straying, some might say, ahead of itself in March 2011. I tried to write the blub for the back cover and a synopsis suitable for sending to agents. Looking back I realise how TERRIBLE they were. I read my first effort to my writing buddy Lizzie Gates http://authorgym.wordpress.com  and she sort of said, ‘Ummm!’ which spoke volumes. Lizzie, it moved me on and version 5 is just about there.

The synopsis changed several times as I slowly began to understand what was required. I tried to condense it to two pages but I didn’t know that the synopsis didn’t have to be double-line spaced to send to an agent. Thanks to Nicola Morgan (@nicolamorgan on Twitter) for advice on that point. It still isn’t perfect and every time I submit to an agent I revisit it and make more changes. I have approached four agents so far and they all have slightly different requirements. Hey ho – back to the drawing board.

By the way, the back cover blurb now goes something like this:

           

If Judith decides to be your friend, she’ll make it happen. She’ll find out what  you do and where you go. She’ll make sure she’s there too.

Do you think it is creepy enough?

The Joy of editing

Getting back to Fail Better and the editing process. The first edit took until the middle of February 2011. My journal is full of red ink indicating what needs to be added, corrected and taken out. There are also big ticks confirming I have made the changes.

The second edit started almost immediately with extra description throughout, and making more of what is happening with other people in Hexham when Judith isn’t present. I also added a ‘guilty secret’ to Chloe’s character – well, we all have one, haven’t we?

I’m not sure when this happened but someone asked me whether I based characters on people I know. I said no, but then thought ‘why not?’ My friend Tanya www.fearlessfeat.co.uk is petite and bright and I decided to make Chloe look and behave a bit like her (the similarity ends there, Tan, honest!) I have also named some of the characters after people I know. D.S. Doggart is a thank you to Lou for her kindness, faith and support – and loads of information.

Four edits done at the time of posting this so surely it is time to approach suitable agents? Watch this space.

3 months later . . . . . . .

Hello everyone. Another fresh start with the blog. Things have moved on so much since I wrote the blog that to go back and take up the story seems a bit retrospective.  Suffice to say that ‘Fail Better’ (current title) stands at 85 000 words and I have started to approach agents.

I have picked out some bits from my notes from my journal. On one session at Mungrisdale Writers (www.mungrisdalewriters.org.uk) our tutor asked us to list ten books that had significance to us personally or as writers. These were mine:

·         A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth – because I love it

·         Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini – a book from the point of view of men

·         A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini – a book from the point of view of women

·         Engleby by Sebastian Faulks – fairly unpleasant and weird but compelling (had a huge influence on my writing)

·         Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller – for similar reasons to Engleby

·         The poem Lines and Squares from When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne – it’s to do with a teenage love affair – don’t ask

·         Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers – because it changed the way I thought about moving out of my comfort zone

·         The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey by Ken Blanchard – people look after their own monkeys now!

·         The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot – I cried for days at the shock ending

·         Haweswater by Sarah Hall – because they don’t all need a happy ending

Since then I would add Girl Reading by Katie Ward www.katieward.co.uk – just because it’s fab and so is she. READ IT.

Which ten would you choose?

Taking a step back

I have been so caught up in Judith’s head, it’s time to take a step back and try to look at what I’ve written objectively.

Strengths   

·         Dialogue – BUT I need to check for differentiation. Would you know who was speaking just by their words or way of talking?

·         Storyline – generally strong and fast-paced

·         Pace – I feel I have got this right – everything is relevant to the story and moves it on

·         Structure and outline – I am very pleased with the way I planned it all out and know where I am going with it

Weaknesses

·         Characterisation – Judith is fine but I’m not sure that all the other people are well-enough defined

·         One anomaly about Judith – why is she like she is with her family? I think I know but need to give it a stronger basis to her actions with them

·         In the Hexham side of the story I need to show things from other people’s point of view more

·         Interest – I live in mortal fear of being boring. I don’t think it is boring, but maybe some bits are rushed where they could be slowed down and still be interesting

Padding or detail?

I am finding it difficult to write about the next stage because I am pondering on what to do with the storyline. More areas for research have come up but I can’t blog about them without giving away key aspects of the plot. Suffice to say I need to talk to a police officer or a solicitor for some clarification.

On 15^th November 2010 the Carlisle part of the story was moving along well. If I write an equivalent amount for the Hexham part I am going to end up with 81,000 words, about 10,000 short of what I am aiming for. It will be ok. As soon as I get into dialogue it all flows out so it may just be a case of going back to add more scenes, and conversations into existing ones.

The Hexham chapters can be longer anyway. Because they are written in the third person, I can add more about what other people are thinking and saying, especially about Judith.

My journal also says, ‘I wrote a death scene today and made myself cry.’

When the character takes over in an unexpected way

I am now writing the Carlisle section, set in the present time, without alternating with what happened the year before.  The reason for this is that I am finding it difficult swapping from first person present tense to third person past tense on alternate chapters. I’ll go back later to do the Hexham part of the story.

On 6^th November 2010 I made this note in my journal:

‘Oh no! I am starting to like Judith.’

Not only that, but she is starting to like her life in Carlisle; her job, the people she works with, her friend outside work, her boyfriend, and she is starting to like herself. She decides not to upset anyone any more.

I am going to be very sad when it all goes horribly wrong.

My lovely London step-daughter asked what I would like for Christmas – ‘Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook 2011, please.

9^th November 2010

I led a lesson on play-writing with Eden Women’s Theatre Group. It was fun, they loved it and they found it useful.

Feedback and influences

On 20^th October 2010 I had my first 1:1 tutorial with my M.A. supervisor. It was a highly motivating experience. She said she was enjoying reading the story, that it flowed well, it was gripping and a page-turner. She also said she could imagine taking it with her on a train journey.

I thought that was enough of a tutorial but we actually spent the next hour talking about ways in which I could improve it.

We discussed Judith’s complex personality and why she behaves the way she does; why she is so antagonistic towards her sister and mother, and why she is so needy in her relationships with other people. I will have to do some more work on this to make sure that I know the reasons why, even if the reader never knows. She is attracted to women and I wonder whether she has lesbian tendencies. I hadn’t intended that to be the case and still don’t think it is.

We discussed how the parts I wrote in the first person contributed to the tension as Judith’s thoughts and devious plans unfold and develop.  Two books I have read recently influenced that aspect of my writing.  They were Engleby by Sebastian Faulks and Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller; amazing books and certainly a standard to aspire to.

I told Eliza that I found it quite demanding and sometimes exhausting writing in the first person from within Judith’s head. She referred me to some academic writing on the subject but also admitted that there wasn’t much that had been written about it from the author’s point of view. Maybe a subject for my PhD? (ha ha).

Facts or fiction

There seems to be so much research associated with every new idea. I have talked through with my ‘writing buddy’ Lizzie Gates what needs to be factual and authentic and what I can make up. Some conclusions:

·         Old artists – I can make up some names

·         Power of attorney – I need facts

·         HMRC rules – I need facts

·         Music for a school concert – I won’t specify

Lizzie has a great Writing Blog: http://authorgym.wordpress.com  

I was wondering who I could ask about Power of Attorney and couldn’t think of any friendly (free) solicitors. Then when I was visiting one of my management students at the Alzheimer’s Society in Workington I realised that she and her staff would know all about that. They discussed it with me and printed off some information too. Thanks Lou and Jackie. I have named a character after Lou – D.S. Doggart.

On 6^th October 2010 my journal entry read:
‘Today my word count reached 15,000 – that’s about a 6^th of a book.’

People are very kind. I was talking to a manager from a care home in Kendal about people suffering from dementia in old age. She sent me a book with some case studies for me to adapt and use in the book.

Two weeks later, I had increased my word count to 23,000 simply by making sure I write something every day. I am still resisting the temptation to edit as I go along. It will need to be done later but at least the story is moving on at a good pace.

Using Nick for research

Although Nick (a fellow student) advised me on Facebook to forget about detail and not bother with research, he has been a great source of ideas and information for me.  It was him that helped me sort out what incident would be big enough to drive Judith away from her business and her home town but would not prevent her from getting a job in a supermarket cash office.  The following is a direct extract from my journal on 1^st October 2010.

·         My word count has exceeded 10,000 – YAY.

·         I am writing about Judith meeting Joanna by chance in Bitts Park in Carlisle and once again realised that my local knowledge is lacking. I texted Nick to ask whether there was a duck pond there. This was his reply.

‘There is and it’s quite hidden. Near a children’s playground and well dodgy toilets. Hammonds Pond at Upperby is the proper duck pond with swans and a family park, etc.’

So much local colour for me to work with. Thank you Nick. I decided that the ‘lesser’ duck pond would work in my favour and I made Joanna’s five year old son insist that they fed the ducks at Bitts Park as nobody seems to like them. It also saved me a research trip to Upperby.  I have looked it up on the internet, though, and the swans there do look beautiful.

A pause for reflection

On 28^th September 2010 it was time to pause for reflection. In my journal I listed the decisions I had taken, which I have already blogged about, and also listed some learning points since I started the planning and writing on 26^th July 2010.

Learning point 1   I do not need to clear everything and settle down for a whole morning or afternoon. I can be just as productive setting the timer for one hour and writing until the time is up.

Learning point 2   At first I wrote about 800 words in the hour and the number increased with practice and confidence.

Learning point 3   Although I am trying to write a first draft without editing, I have to read back over what I have already written. This means I make small changes as I go along – there were continuity issues such as Chloe (antiques shop owner) not knowing who Judith was although she had invited her and had her number to call her back. Things like word repetition in a sentence or paragraph cry out to be corrected. I am going to keep notes of what I change as I go along.  (I stopped doing that as they were quite small and there were so many of them)

Learning point 4   I CAN DO THIS and I WILL DO THIS

Learning point 5   Research and having key facts to hand is important to me. I felt much better about the first Hexham chapter after I had been there and identified where Judith’s office would be (above one of the shops in the picture below) and where the new antique shop would be in relation to it. I also found (by chance) the route that Chloe will take on the evenings when she catches the train.

Learning point 6   Short form biogs are fab. In particular the extension exercise I did identifying Judith’s strengths has helped to shape her actions and behaviours. She is a good listener, is observant, patient, diligent and determined. Even though these would be considered strengths, the way Judith uses them are not for always for good and it helps to make her a creepy and scary person.

I did have some other thoughts about research but I can’t tell you as I don’t want to give too much away.

Sensory detail

On 31^st August 2010 I visited one of my management students at the care home where she works. It’s a lovely old building overlooking the bay at Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria. It reminded me that I need to make notes of details for when Judith goes to visit her mother at Mill View. I have been to lots of care homes in the course of my work and I haven’t found that they vary much in terms of their general ambience, even between old buildings and brand new ones.

The next day I read an article about research and some of the points I took from it were to visit the places you are writing about, talk to experts and try to incorporate all the senses to give a sense of the places.

Some features which I can include for the care home:

·         What you have to do to get in and out  - getting through the security systems. As my story moves on, I will make more of this as Judith is kept waiting in the large porch area unable to get through to reception until a member of staff comes to let her in.

·         The look of the place – clean reception area, and corridors off it like hotels with rooms opening off them on both sides.  The doors are often open so anyone walking down can look in which never seems very private and dignity-maintaining to me. The living rooms tend to be large with big windows and big straight-backed arm chairs and rich dark-coloured carpets. The care home where Judith’s mother is also has gardens which can be seen from the lounge and some of the rooms.

·         The sounds – bells, buzzers and intercom before you get inside, then the hush of the reception area. Sometimes there is the sound of a television in a lounge or resident’s room.

·         The smell – usually a very clean and clinical smell. Staff are always cleaning something.

This is a good reminder for me to go back over other locations to add different types of sensory detail. I haven’t included taste in the example above as I have never eaten in a care home and Judith won’t either.  There will be other opportunities for that in the Cafe-Bar and in the meals that Judith shares with other people.

The Writers’ Group

As year one at University finished I didn’t want to be left without the support of fellow writers for long periods of time so I joined Mungrisdale Writers in the beautiful Lake District. It is a well-established group led by the author Angela Locke (www.angelalocke.co.uk) for most of the year and by other authors and lecturers during the summer.

I thought at first that it would not have any direct relevance to my book, it being quite structured, very much tutor-led and quite focused on poetry. I decided, however that I would try to take one thing away from each session that I attended. Here are a few examples of how I have done that, although it hasn’t happened with every session.

Angela asked us to imagine we were writing the opening scene for a film called The Antique Shop. We had to give stage directions referring to the shop from outside, inside, in relation to anyone who was there, or anything else that came to mind.  Our homework (oh yes, we get homework as well) was to think about the back-story for the shop and its characters. I immediately knew that Phoenix Antiques would be the opening scene in the Hexham part of the story.

Nick Pemberton, a guest tutor in the summer of 2010, asked us to write a series of statements that were not related to each other. This is not as easy as it sounds, but one of them jumped out at me as an angle to the story that I hadn’t considered. It led to other trains of thought.

Jannie Howker, another guest tutor, suggested we write some dialogue around a process being performed. I have taken that idea and have set conversations that happen over the course of a meal, while feeding the ducks, and of course during tasks being carried out in the cash office.

Finally Mike Smith talked about starting the story by establishing the time and place early on and giving a clue as to the ambience and the theme. He also talked about endings and it gave me a chance to make sure that all the strands and loose ends would tie up together.

Writing this today I realise that I have not reflected on the last few sessions. That’s a job for tonight while I catch up with an episode of Gray’s Anatomy and have a glass of wine.

Now, there’s a bit of time, place ambience and setting!

Getting to know some of the others

Having finished Short Form Biogs for two of the main characters that Judith meets in Carlisle, it was a lovely surprise to find that I liked them more than I thought I would.

Mr. (call me Ken) Wilson, one of the store managers started off as being a show-off and a flirt with no real substance. Fleshing out his character enabled me to find good reasons for why he is back living with his parents aged 36 and never having worked anywhere other than the supermarket since he was a school boy.  I think he will turn out to be quite a sweetheart.

The other person is Maureen, the cash office supervisor.  Judith resents her for no reason other than that of status. She was her own boss in Hexham and doesn’t like being told what to do. She knows she has a vastly superior intellect to Maureen but is concealing that fact from everyone so as not to draw attention to herself. Another reason they don’t get along is that they have some similar characteristics such as being perfectionists in their work. In contrast to Judith, though, Maureen has grown up in the area and has many friends, a busy social life and is a pillar of the community in the village where she lives.

As they spend most days cooped in the claustrophobic atmosphere that is the cash office, it is only a matter of time before Judith takes action to put Maureen where she thinks she deserves to be and begins to set her up and make her look careless.

A note in my journal for 17^th August 2010 says,

‘The way my diary is looking for autumn I need to crack on and write a best-seller LOL. I need to look at the storyline regularly and build in plenty of tension and drama. I must decide who the reader is going to like and side with – but it mustn’t be Judith.’

Happily, my diary filled up with work, although they say the best writing happens when the author is hungry. The cash office is just one area of drama and tension.

A little aside

Just to leap into the present day, I had a meeting with my tutor this afternoon. She has given me lots of tips for the next edit BUT said that she has 'no doubt that this novel will be published one day' and that it is 'compelling'.  How's that for motivation? I am so motivated. Bring on the next edit.

I also asked her how she would categorise it in terms of genre (we talk like that) and she said literary fiction with psychological undertones. Love it.

The voices

There is something I haven’t told you yet. It relates back to the second blog entry called ‘How the story began’ and to the different voices that you can use in writing.

The Carlisle section of the story is written in the first person. We are in Judith’s head the whole time. We know what she is thinking and hear the conversations she has with other people and with herself. We only see what she sees; no-one does anything that we don’t know about at the same time as her. By the same token, we don’t know what anyone else is really thinking; we only have Judith’s perceptions.

Because she spends a lot of time alone and too much time thinking, she starts to call Joanna ‘you’ and talk to her directly in her mind. This starts right at the beginning of the book:

Monday 14^th September 2009

So it’s come to this; redeeming a free cup of coffee after work in a café bar in Carlisle. God help me! I must stop thinking like this. It’s not going to change anything.

    I study the back of your head instead. Head-instead. Redhead-instead. Hurry up and get off the phone, Redhead. You dial another number.

It is quite intensive and sometimes exhausting writing like that and I find myself thinking like Judith for hours afterwards. I wonder what it’s like to read it.

I decided that the Hexham part would have to be written in the more ‘normal’ third person. It will add breadth to story because we will be able to get to know other people better and get to know what they really think about Judith.

The notes I made in my journal on 9^th August 2010 having made that decision were:

·           It will give some relief from the intensity of Judith’s mind

·           It will give an insight to the way she affects the lives of others even when she is not there to observe it

·           The past can be referred to as well as the present time

The time-line

My biggest breakthrough came when I was sitting in the car showroom waiting for my car to be serviced. In the time the job took, I transferred the information from the mind-maps of how Judith Dillon’s life in Carlisle would impact on other people’s lives to a time-line.  Taking one month at a time (down one side of the page) and the names of the key people across the top, I noted when she would meet each one, in what circumstances, and described roughly and briefly what will happen at each stage. By doing it this way I could also add in how the other characters would interact with each other at that time.

The book is a story of two periods of Judith’s life, almost exactly one year apart. The Carlisle year is the most recent one so the next thing to decide was how to present the previous year and what had happened in her home town of Hexham

Option 1 – do the whole story as a series of police interviews. In that way Judith can be asked questions about the present and the past by the same person and interlink the stories on-going.

Option 2 – present the back story first then go on to the present chronologically. I decided against that as a lot is made of ‘starting the story in the right place’, and I felt the right place was Judith starting her new life in Carlisle. Her reasons for having moved away would become apparent later.

Option 3 – and the one I went with – to alternate chapters between her new life and old. Chapter 1 is September 2009 in Carlisle and Chapter 2 is September 2008 in Hexham. Chapter 3 is October 2009 in Carlisle and Chapter 4 is October 2008 and so it goes on. In this way both stories are able to unfold together and the reader can see Judith making the same mistakes.

The next stage – to do the timeline for the back-story in Hexham and to decide how it ends.

I like this story more and more. I can make Judith Dillon into a right scheming little madam.

Do research now or press on regardless?

Having done another mind map to develop the parts of the story where Judith interacts with the other characters, I realised that some research was needed. Some people can press on with gaps and notes to remind them to go back to look things up but I can’t do that. I need to know things, maybe because I don’t like wasting time pursuing something that I will have to change later.  The notes I made on 31^st July 2010 were:

·           Find out how an accountant can swindle money from a client and not be found out for a long time

·           Find someone to talk through a scam in a supermarket cash office

·           I need a map of Carlisle to confirm road names

·           I need to visit Hexham next time I go across to the northeast and walk around with a map

·           I need to visit some cafe-bars to get clear in my mind what Cafe Bar Sierra looks like

A twitter-friend who is an accountant helped me with the first point and also gave me a list of things that might make people have doubts about the viability of the business. I don't think he likes to be known as my consultant for dodgy accountancy so he will remain anonymous until I have his permission to thank him when the book is published. (Still keeping the faith).

I worked out the cash office scam myself – I didn’t know I could be so devious.

I used the internet for road names in Carlisle.

The trip to Hexham worked out really well. A lot of questions answered and I took photographs of where Judith Dillon’s office now is, where her friend’s antique shop is, the location of the main car park and the path leading from the town to the station.

Much as I fancy the cafe-culture lifestyle, I didn’t visit enough cafe-bars to find the perfect setting so I have roughly drawn one. This means that I can add more detail about what it looks like, sounds like and smells like in the next edit.

Making more of Judith Dillon

Having established the basics about Judith, I really wanted to know more about what makes her tick. In my day job I use sets of cards developed by Gower Publishing for use in training games.

          The Feedback Game by Peter Gerrickens

The Feedback Game consists of two sets of cards, one containing words that indicate a person’s strengths and the other words that might be considered as weaknesses. For each of my main characters I went through both sets of cards and chose ten words that represented them. From the ten, I then chose five which I was determined would be reflected in their actions and words.

Choosing Judith’s weaknesses was an easy task: intolerant, malicious (I later changed that to contemptuous), over-dependent, dissatisfied, naïve.

Her strengths were much more difficult to define: good listener, observant, diligent, patient, determined

          The Motivation Game by Peter Gerrickens and Marijke
           Verstege

The Motivation Game has four sets of cards which I thought would help me to find out more about what drives Judith.

Three activities that motivate her are: precision working, fantasising and calculating.

An obstacle that holds her back: ‘I don’t have what I need’

A prior condition she feels she needs in place: independence

She takes her inspiration from: I originally put literature but this is not evident in the story so far – that’s something for the edit

          The Development Game by Peter Gerrickens

The Development Game consists of cards with words or phrases that represent skills. The ones I picked for Judith have been brought out in the action throughout and is one area that I am very pleased with. She doesn’t necessarily use them in a good way!

Judith’s skills: notices detail, plans and prepares for important conversations, builds trust (initially, at least), handles silence during conversations, remains focussed on key issues.

Are you getting to like her as much as I do?

The making of Judith Dillon

One of the most useful tools I have taken from my course is from the semester on writing plays. The short form biography – which isn’t always that short – comes from this book:

• The Playwright’s Process: Learning the Craft from Today’s Leading Dramatists by Buzz McLaughlin

It takes you through headings that go beyond simply what a character looks like and how old they are. It considers the external world; their family situation, their place in the community and their leisure activities. It also asks you to think about their internal world; their intelligence, personality type and sense of self. It asks you to identify one major secret that they keep from the world, one major disappointment they have suffered, their personal goals and any special qualities and talents they have.

It can take a while to get it all down on paper or on computer but it really helps to keep the continuity right. For example, on starting the edit I realised I had got muddled up with Judith’s age in comparison with her younger sister and her sister’s daughter who was seventeen and planning to go to university the next year. By having all the short form biogs handy, I could easily make comparisons and get everybody’s ages right in one go.

There is another system I use alongside that one to get to know my characters which I will share with you next time.

Developing the story

Finding a name for the main character was very important.  Her surname came quite easily for some reason, and in my head she was Ms Dillon for a long time, then I was thinking about someone I used to know and suddenly she became Judith Dillon.

Judith has moved to Carlisle to escape some scandal at home and is having to start a new life. So far she has a job that bores her, a supervisor that she resents and she doesn’t know anyone socially. She meets Joanna who works in a Café Bar and sets herself a mission to get to know her better.

The first 2000 words formed part of my assessment in Year 1 of the MA in Creative Writing. Having decided to extend it, my next job was to work on fleshing out the story. I started with a Mind Map to try to get the feel for how the story might progress. Mind Mapping really frees up my thoughts in a way that writing a list doesn’t do.

You may not be able to see the detail in this posting but you will get the idea. From the Mind Map I was able to identify the people that Judith Dillon would be interacting with in Carlisle and from there I developed each of their stories deciding where they would overlap with each other – and more importantly how they would overlap with Judith’s past.

Have a look at

          The Mind Map Book by Tony and Barry Buzan

How the story began

Like many people, I started a book years ago.  I come back to it from time to time, decide it’s worth continuing, write a bit more and then tail off again. I still think it's funny and I will finish it sometime but the one currently standing at 82500 words came from an exercise the tutor gave us to do in class. 

The exercise was in four stages, each one lasting about ten minutes.

We were asked to find something we had with us that had significance in our lives, and to write about it. 
          ‘I found the pink button yesterday; the one Amelia gave me soon after my dad died.’

Next we had to tell the same story but to write it using the voice of the 3^rd person.
          ‘She took the pink button, felt the smooth plastic cool from the evening air and ran her fingers over the four small holes.’

The next part of the task was to share our writing with the person sitting next to us. I had the great fortune to be sitting next to Kerry who told me about her object which I then wrote about in the 1^st person voice.
          ‘I put on my best-friend smile as he slid into the passenger seat beside me. The weekend away had been such fun and I felt as though he had seen me for the first time ever in all the years we’d known each other.’

The final part of the exercise was to write our partner’s story in the 2^nd person voice.
          ‘You thought it would be a laugh, didn’t you?  A weekend away with an old friend, drinking and reminiscing about the old days would just be a laugh; you weren’t prepared to fall in love with him again.’

The story has moved on and taken a much darker tone since then and has ceased to be Kerry’s Story.  For a while it was called Joanna’s Story but now looks like Clouded Leopard.

Writing exercises from books such as

What If? by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter.

are useful for stretching the mind and forcing ideas. Who knows where they may lead?

A new year begins

09.01.11

This year is IT.  No excuses and no hiding.  I am going for it.  By the end of 2011 I will be a published author and when people ask me what I do, I'll say 'I am a writer'.

There we go - I've said it out loud and told the world.

Years of day courses, weekend courses, summer school courses and distance learning courses have led to the expensive and time-consuming MA in Creative Writing.  Year 1 of said course is over and now I am working on my 'one big piece of writing'.

Shitty-First-Draft (I am assured this is a technical term) is complete at 82500 words and now I am starting the first edit.  Bring it on.  I have kept a journal for the last four months and will start this blog with some extracts from it.

Maybe my thoughts and points of learning will help other aspiring writers.  You will not do things exactly as I did, but perhaps you will get ideas tht you can adapt and use.  I would love to know what you think and would love to know how you deal with the common problems.

Areas of particular interest to me at the moment include planning the plot, getting to know my characters, time-lines, journaling, finding my own time and space to write, how to edit and how to ask for help.

Come along with me and I will join you in your journey.