I'm entering a competition. It's for a chance to be published with a well respected publisher. I seriously don't think I'll be one of the finalists judging from past winners, but it gives me a chance to be seen by local industry professionals. Some would say, 'why bother?' Well, first off, I'm a paid member …
Random thoughts which improve my plot
I'm at an interesting stage with my WiP. I revised around two-thirds of the story after creating an excel spreadsheet with details of the changes needed to each scene. Then I read the revised chapters and realised before I continued, the characters needed to be deeper. They were already demanding extra plot twists, telling me …
To hell with my outline!
Apologies for not posting for a while. My time has been dominated by listening to, and preparing promotional materials for, a new audiobook. But today's blog is a follow on from my last where I mentioned I've been panstering for a while, rather than sticking to my refreshed outline. And on the days I haven't …
The writing life
At a book fair, a stallholder was complaining. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon with hardly any visitors at our event, so she stood in front of my display and shared her disappointment in a traditional publisher who was not interested in her work. In her opinion, everything was there. Both illustrations and text. All …
Fictionalising my life
Stop fictionalising your life! This was advice a friend's psychologist told him to tell me. Both me and my husband are talked about often during his sessions, and his analyst has read my books to gain a better understanding of his relationship with us. In a recent writer's hashtag, someone wrote: Trying to get my …
Manuscript Assessments
I've had several assessments done on two books. One was very recently. The others were for my first novel, Drama Queens with Love Scenes, more than ten years ago. This process should be eye opening. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it isn't. With my first book, a woman who was recommended to me provided three assessments …
Feedback from my Writers Group
Recently, I searched for a writers group. I wanted one with writers more experienced than me, and I now meet monthly with a group that includes two screenwriters with three decades of experience each, and a published non-fiction author. I submitted the first two chapters of my current WiP for review. I hate anyone reading …
Plotting using the Snowflake Method – An Update
I previously spoke about the Snowflake Method in this blog. At the time I was working on a Space Opera but for my own reasons, that project has been put on hold. A contemporary novel has taken it's place. And I've now had the chance to use this plotting and characterisation method for longer than …
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I’ve written several versions of the same short scene!
The scene is only several paragraphs long. It's the last time we're alone with just the gay characters in my work-in-progress set in the nineties. In the initial draft they talk about Australian politics at the final stage of that decade. Only one other chapter examined politics and that was in an overall 1990's way. …
Continue reading "I’ve written several versions of the same short scene!"
Plotting using The Snowflake Method
My last post was about a new plotting method I'm using. A few things got in the way of my usual writing days after I published that post, and somehow I didn't feel bad about missing them. It was because I didn't feel like I was working on a book. There were a few times …
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