I've just edited the initial draft of my novel set in the 1990s. Like any novel at this early stage, some scenes work, some need work. But for the first time I sense this manuscript needs more work than my recent novels did at this early stage. It's not because it's bad. It's because I …
Over think your novel between drafts
During this Sydney lockdown, something has occurred to me. Over thinking is best done between drafts! I'm writing this on July 21, 2021, and as I'm here at home with my husband, my works in progress have taken a back seat. Usually, I'd be working on the next draft of a manuscript while another is …
Writing about music without infringing copyright.
It's hard to write a novel about 90s rave culture without mentioning music. You have to be careful not to infringe copyright. This has been a real issue with my story set around Sydney's Oxford Street in that era. I started by referencing songs without using their lyrics. Or I'd reference those lyrics without using …
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How Covid-19 made me forget how my novel ends
I've been working hard on my novel set in the 90s. After I began the first draft last year, I had to drop momentum because of Covid. You see, I need quiet to write. That's why I often go to the library to work on a project. And the library was shut early to mid …
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Researching the Sydney Gay Scene of the 90s – Part 2
Writing these blogs is helping with my research. I realised this during the past week. It's a great way for me to categorise the different themes I want to explore in my novel set in the 1990s. In the last blog I talked about my first impressions of the pages I copied from the Sydney …
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Researching the Sydney Gay Scene of the 90s – Part 1
A whole box of microfilm was waiting for me at the State Library of NSW. A lovely librarian arranged copies of the Sydney Star Observer from the 1990s, as well as a couple of years' worth of Capital Q, at my request. Both were significant street press which covered queer issues. The former still exists. …
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Re-visiting that abandoned manuscript
When Covid-19 hit, I was halfway through a first draft. It was a novel set in the 1990s and I was writing it to celebrate a decade I was young enough to fully enjoy. I still have the outline but, at the time of writing this blog (28/10/2020), haven't looked at it since March. This …
My first draft is very first-drafty
My life has changed a lot in the past year. I don't have as much time to write as I used to, even though that issue will change by the end of the year. In one way, it's good. I'm concentrating on promotion more, instead of just writing. Where I feel this change most is …
The cliff hanger
Do you round up your chapters or add a cliff hanger? This was a question posed by someone using the #writingcommunity hashtag on Twitter. My answer is that I initially rounded up chapters until an editor made me stop. Her reasoning was that if you round up your chapters into neatly self contained stories, then a …
Plotting love affairs and break ups
One WIP has been submitted, one is on the back-burner and one I've just started plotting. I'm taking my time with this. With my other two works in progress I found I plotted too quickly, then went back and tried to expand them. One of them paces well, so I changed my mind and submitted …
