Zoë Marriott's Blog, page 58
January 17, 2011
READER QUESTION
Hi everyone! Congratulations on surviving Monday. There, there. It's over now, and things can only get better.
This weekend I have been world building, and I plan a looong post on that for Wednesday. Other than that, I baked fresh bread myself for the first time (although my sister actually made the dough - thanks, Victoria!) and joined Twitter, which quite frankly terrifies me. Everything moves *so* fast, and I'm not sure if it's cool to reply to the tweets of people you follow even if they don't follow you. Argh. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it. You can follow my babbling in the new Twitter panel down there on the left - my user name is @ZMarriott.
Right, on with the reader question. Regular blog commentator Isabel says:
...my problem is with my main character. I've been having some trouble with her character development. I think about her a certain way, but she just won't cooperate. I know this may sound like a good thing: that my character is so real that I have no control over her, but it's not like that. She just doesn't have enough depth. Do you know this feeling? That every other character seems so real, and yet when it comes to your procrastinator, you're hopeless? I hope it's not just me who feels this way. I've been making some progress on her development today, but I just don't know. Is this unusual? Shouldn't my main character be the one that is easiest to make come to life?
Oh, I know where you're coming from Isabel. Because of course it seems logical that the main character, the character through whose point of view you tell the story, would be the most vivid and real person in the story. It's all about them, after all. You're in their head. How much realer than they be, right?
WRONG! Wrong, wrong, oh so very wrong. It's *because* you're in their head that the POV character will often be the last person that you get to know. The main character is so busy trying to understand the other characters, observe the world that they're living in, and survive the plot - and most important of all, interpret all these impressions and all this information for the reader - that quite often they end up being just a cardboard cut-out through the eyes of which you, the author, peer at the progress of the story.
I've become resigned to the fact that I usually don't really get to actually know my main character until about a third of the way through the story. I mean, I try to get to know them. I think deeply about who they are, where they come from, what drives them ( as per this post ). But a collection of traits, preferences and backstory does not make a coherant, living character. It just makes a nice list. Only by writing the story, living through the events with the main character, allowing them to react to people and plot twists, will they take on the spark of life. When you begin to see them react to things in ways you didn't expect, when you start to really suffer with them, that's when you'll love them as a person instead of an idea.
That, incidentally, is why I've gotten resigned to chucking away the first eight to ten chapters of any first draft that I complete, and re-writing them from scratch. By the time I finish a manuscript I know the main character so well that those first chapters seem utterly wooden and false. But assuming that you'd like to speed the process up and get more comfy with your POV character right now, here are some helpful character building tips:
Write a monologue from the main character's POV. Pick another character that your POV person feels strongly about, whether that feeling is love or hate. Then, using dialogue only, let your main character rant to that character. Let them explain their feelings and actions, complain, get angry, offer excuses and justifications, spill their guts, demand that the other character explain themselves and generally say all the things that have been simmering under the surface. This can help bring their inner voice and their inner life into sharper focus for you. Switch your writing style. Are you writing in first person? Switch to third person for a chapter. If you're writing in third switch to first. Or try writing from the POV of a different character, looking at your main character from the outside. You'll see and experience the character in a different way and this can offer useful insights. Write a dream or a nightmare. If your character were to have the most blissful dream ever, what would it be? What nightmare would make them wake up screaming? What images would haunt or comfort them in their sleep when they're the most vulnerable? This can show you who they really are inside.None of these writing exercises are likely to produce any text that will end up in your story, but spending the time really thinking about the problem character can help you feel closer to understanding them. Other than that, it goes back to letting them move through the story and giving it time. And being will to rewrite later!
Hope this is helpful, Isabel. As always, any more writing/publishing related questions can go in the comments or be emailed to me through my profile. Read you on Wednesday!
This weekend I have been world building, and I plan a looong post on that for Wednesday. Other than that, I baked fresh bread myself for the first time (although my sister actually made the dough - thanks, Victoria!) and joined Twitter, which quite frankly terrifies me. Everything moves *so* fast, and I'm not sure if it's cool to reply to the tweets of people you follow even if they don't follow you. Argh. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it. You can follow my babbling in the new Twitter panel down there on the left - my user name is @ZMarriott.
Right, on with the reader question. Regular blog commentator Isabel says:
...my problem is with my main character. I've been having some trouble with her character development. I think about her a certain way, but she just won't cooperate. I know this may sound like a good thing: that my character is so real that I have no control over her, but it's not like that. She just doesn't have enough depth. Do you know this feeling? That every other character seems so real, and yet when it comes to your procrastinator, you're hopeless? I hope it's not just me who feels this way. I've been making some progress on her development today, but I just don't know. Is this unusual? Shouldn't my main character be the one that is easiest to make come to life?
Oh, I know where you're coming from Isabel. Because of course it seems logical that the main character, the character through whose point of view you tell the story, would be the most vivid and real person in the story. It's all about them, after all. You're in their head. How much realer than they be, right?
WRONG! Wrong, wrong, oh so very wrong. It's *because* you're in their head that the POV character will often be the last person that you get to know. The main character is so busy trying to understand the other characters, observe the world that they're living in, and survive the plot - and most important of all, interpret all these impressions and all this information for the reader - that quite often they end up being just a cardboard cut-out through the eyes of which you, the author, peer at the progress of the story.
I've become resigned to the fact that I usually don't really get to actually know my main character until about a third of the way through the story. I mean, I try to get to know them. I think deeply about who they are, where they come from, what drives them ( as per this post ). But a collection of traits, preferences and backstory does not make a coherant, living character. It just makes a nice list. Only by writing the story, living through the events with the main character, allowing them to react to people and plot twists, will they take on the spark of life. When you begin to see them react to things in ways you didn't expect, when you start to really suffer with them, that's when you'll love them as a person instead of an idea.
That, incidentally, is why I've gotten resigned to chucking away the first eight to ten chapters of any first draft that I complete, and re-writing them from scratch. By the time I finish a manuscript I know the main character so well that those first chapters seem utterly wooden and false. But assuming that you'd like to speed the process up and get more comfy with your POV character right now, here are some helpful character building tips:
Write a monologue from the main character's POV. Pick another character that your POV person feels strongly about, whether that feeling is love or hate. Then, using dialogue only, let your main character rant to that character. Let them explain their feelings and actions, complain, get angry, offer excuses and justifications, spill their guts, demand that the other character explain themselves and generally say all the things that have been simmering under the surface. This can help bring their inner voice and their inner life into sharper focus for you. Switch your writing style. Are you writing in first person? Switch to third person for a chapter. If you're writing in third switch to first. Or try writing from the POV of a different character, looking at your main character from the outside. You'll see and experience the character in a different way and this can offer useful insights. Write a dream or a nightmare. If your character were to have the most blissful dream ever, what would it be? What nightmare would make them wake up screaming? What images would haunt or comfort them in their sleep when they're the most vulnerable? This can show you who they really are inside.None of these writing exercises are likely to produce any text that will end up in your story, but spending the time really thinking about the problem character can help you feel closer to understanding them. Other than that, it goes back to letting them move through the story and giving it time. And being will to rewrite later!
Hope this is helpful, Isabel. As always, any more writing/publishing related questions can go in the comments or be emailed to me through my profile. Read you on Wednesday!
January 14, 2011
FROSTFIRE TEASER
Happy Friday, guys! Here, as promised, is a FrostFire teaser, offered with the usual proviso - the manuscript isn't edited yet, and any scenes you read here are subject to changes both minor and major, or even total deletion.
Text under the cut:
Well, guys? What do you think?
Text under the cut:
Well, guys? What do you think?
January 12, 2011
RANDOM WEDNESDAY
First of all, THE FINAL DRAFT OF FROSTFIRE IS FINISHED!!!!
Of course, when I say 'final draft' I mean 'It's at the stage where I can send it to my editor'. And when I say 'finished' I mean 'Now my editor will rip it into itty-bitty shreds and point out all the stupid mistakes and inconsistencies and boring parts and I'll have to fix them and we'll do that two or three more times and then I'll have a line-edit and a copy-edit' but, you know, whatever. For right now, I'm finished. Woot!
Once my editor does get back to me about it (she hasn't returned from her extremely well deserved holiday yet, I don't think, so it'll probably be a little while) and I've got some ideas about her intial thoughts, hopefully I should be able to share some more details with you about FrostFire. It really is completely different to anything I've written before and very different to pretty much anything I've seen on the YA shelves, so I'm excited and scared!
With all this, naturally I ought to be taking the opportunity to live it up on a beach in Malibu, paddling in the warm water, working on my tan and drinking strange substances that come in coconut husks and have little umbrellas in them. But I can't afford it (and I don't tan anyway). Instead I should probably take a little bit of time off and recharge my batteries, loll about, read some new books. But I'm obsessive compulsive and forcing myself to take time off causes anxiety attacks, especially when I've only just had a week off for Christmas. So instead, I'm going to start putting down some ideas for book #5, which is the last book I have contracted with my publisher and which must be completed before I can start work on Big Secret Project (assuming anyone wants to buy Big Secret Project).
Book #5 is tentatively entitled Immortal Flesh, and is fondly known amongst long-time fans as The Giant Praying Mantis Killer Clockwork Death Robot Book. See how that slips off the tongue?
More random stuff: 2010 in Facebook Statuses..es..eses...
This is quite fun for me to look at, like a mini-diary, although it's a shame that I didn't actually start bothering to update my Facebook status until April.
Slightly less random is that Walker Books have launched UnderCover Reading, which has its own blog here . Shadows on the Moon will be the featured title in July, which means that readers will have access to exclusive online content and extras, so it's well worth bookmarking/following. Lynsey at Narratively Speaking (hi Lynsey!) blogs about this in more detail here.
Okay, back to my drawing board. Read you all on Friday!
Of course, when I say 'final draft' I mean 'It's at the stage where I can send it to my editor'. And when I say 'finished' I mean 'Now my editor will rip it into itty-bitty shreds and point out all the stupid mistakes and inconsistencies and boring parts and I'll have to fix them and we'll do that two or three more times and then I'll have a line-edit and a copy-edit' but, you know, whatever. For right now, I'm finished. Woot!Once my editor does get back to me about it (she hasn't returned from her extremely well deserved holiday yet, I don't think, so it'll probably be a little while) and I've got some ideas about her intial thoughts, hopefully I should be able to share some more details with you about FrostFire. It really is completely different to anything I've written before and very different to pretty much anything I've seen on the YA shelves, so I'm excited and scared!
With all this, naturally I ought to be taking the opportunity to live it up on a beach in Malibu, paddling in the warm water, working on my tan and drinking strange substances that come in coconut husks and have little umbrellas in them. But I can't afford it (and I don't tan anyway). Instead I should probably take a little bit of time off and recharge my batteries, loll about, read some new books. But I'm obsessive compulsive and forcing myself to take time off causes anxiety attacks, especially when I've only just had a week off for Christmas. So instead, I'm going to start putting down some ideas for book #5, which is the last book I have contracted with my publisher and which must be completed before I can start work on Big Secret Project (assuming anyone wants to buy Big Secret Project).
Book #5 is tentatively entitled Immortal Flesh, and is fondly known amongst long-time fans as The Giant Praying Mantis Killer Clockwork Death Robot Book. See how that slips off the tongue?
More random stuff: 2010 in Facebook Statuses..es..eses...
This is quite fun for me to look at, like a mini-diary, although it's a shame that I didn't actually start bothering to update my Facebook status until April.
Slightly less random is that Walker Books have launched UnderCover Reading, which has its own blog here . Shadows on the Moon will be the featured title in July, which means that readers will have access to exclusive online content and extras, so it's well worth bookmarking/following. Lynsey at Narratively Speaking (hi Lynsey!) blogs about this in more detail here.
Okay, back to my drawing board. Read you all on Friday!
January 10, 2011
NEW SHADOWS ON THE MOON ARC WINNER
Okay, everyone - I've now officially given up on getting a response from Alessandra @ Out of the Blue. It's a shame, but I've put her name here plenty of times and given her what I feel is a fair chance to respond, and I don't intend to chase her anymore.
What this means for you? I've picked a NEW Shadows on the Moon ARC winner out of the hat. Well, actually I picked one and it turned out to be one of the bloggers who *already* has a review copy, so then I picked another one. And the winner is (drumroll please):
SHANNON THE BOOKSTALKER
Cue wailing and gnashing of teeth from all the other blog readers/followers. I'm sorry, you guys - especially for those of you who I know were really crossing your fingers for this. But Lady Luck is a Fickle Mistress and maybe it will be your turn next time. Shannon, please email me through my profile to give me your address so that I can post your prize out to you, as per the picture below:
FYI: I'm implementing a new policy with regard to competitions. I don't want to get too grumpy about it, but for every giveaway/competition I've done there has always been one winner who apparently doesn't read this blog at all, even though they're an official 'follower', and who forces me to send them multiple emails before they respond. It makes me a bit miffed to have to go to all that trouble to give people their free stuff, so...yeah, not doing it anymore.
From now on, I will give any winner seven days, not including the day of the draw, to get in touch. If they don't I pick another winner. That seems fair to me.
Anyway, congratulations, Shannon! And happy Monday to everyone else.
Monday Writing Statistics:
Pages of FrostFire that have been revised/polished: 135Words that have been cut from last draft: 1,400 Pages of FrostFire yet to be revised: 158Estimated final word count: 84,000 (almost the same as DotF)Deadline: 13th January 2011 (3 days left, eek!)Off back to work with me - for I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.
What this means for you? I've picked a NEW Shadows on the Moon ARC winner out of the hat. Well, actually I picked one and it turned out to be one of the bloggers who *already* has a review copy, so then I picked another one. And the winner is (drumroll please):
SHANNON THE BOOKSTALKER
Cue wailing and gnashing of teeth from all the other blog readers/followers. I'm sorry, you guys - especially for those of you who I know were really crossing your fingers for this. But Lady Luck is a Fickle Mistress and maybe it will be your turn next time. Shannon, please email me through my profile to give me your address so that I can post your prize out to you, as per the picture below:
FYI: I'm implementing a new policy with regard to competitions. I don't want to get too grumpy about it, but for every giveaway/competition I've done there has always been one winner who apparently doesn't read this blog at all, even though they're an official 'follower', and who forces me to send them multiple emails before they respond. It makes me a bit miffed to have to go to all that trouble to give people their free stuff, so...yeah, not doing it anymore.
From now on, I will give any winner seven days, not including the day of the draw, to get in touch. If they don't I pick another winner. That seems fair to me.
Anyway, congratulations, Shannon! And happy Monday to everyone else.
Monday Writing Statistics:
Pages of FrostFire that have been revised/polished: 135Words that have been cut from last draft: 1,400 Pages of FrostFire yet to be revised: 158Estimated final word count: 84,000 (almost the same as DotF)Deadline: 13th January 2011 (3 days left, eek!)Off back to work with me - for I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.
January 7, 2011
MUSE FRIENDLY MUSIC
Hi everyone! First of all I need to welcome a new member of my family, Kiki the Coffee machine.Regular blog readers have glimpsed the horror that is me without coffee; to say that it is vital to me would be something of an understatement. However, up until this point I'd been drinking mostly instant with a scattering of Starbucks, and feeling strong pangs of envy whenever I saw vlogs of other authors and their coffee makers.
After a year of procrastinating over buying a filter coffee machine, I finally gave in and bought Kiki just ahead of the tax hike. Here she is, installed in my kitchen in all her cherry red glory. I've not quite dared try to operate her yet. She's just so *shiny*. I'm hoping that she'll help keep me productive in the coming year.
On Wednesday the subject of music came up in the comment thread, and I decided that I'd do a little round-up of music that I've found useful for stimulating the writing part of my brain. I ought to make it clear that this isn't necessarily my favourite music, or even the music that I listen to the most just for fun (though some of it is!). It's music that gets me into the right mood to write, or helps me to write a specific kind of scene, and often I'm not even sure why that is.
One of this year's greatest discoveries for me was Two Steps from Hell and their album 'Legend'. The following track is one of my favourites. I can't really imagine sitting on the bus listening to it, but when I'm feeling flat and tired and not in a creative mood, this song grabs hold of my creative muscle and gives it a good hard smacking. I've been listening to it constantly while writing FF.
Next, the wonderful Florence and the Machine. Yes, I know everyone loves Flo - and I certainly DO listen to her music on the bus, and sing along! - but this track does something special for me and has managed to find its way onto every playlist on my iPod. I often play this while writing fast, chasing scenes.
Moving onto one of my all-time favourite artists Imogen Heap. Some of her stuff I love and adore and other bits I have to be in the right mood to appreciate - but when something works for me it WORKS, and once again this track is brilliant for getting me into a mood of emotional tension so that I can unleash angst and suffering on the page.
Now for something a little more manly - the song Alibi, from 30 Seconds to Mars album War. I love the slow build-up of this piece, it's really sneaky because it slides you into drama without you realising it. It's great for writing scenes which start off quietly but gradually become darker.
Onto a tune which is a little more classical. Many people have asked me what the music was for the Shadows on the Moon trailer, and the answer is a sample from this track, Ending Title, from the soundtrack of the film 'Curse of the Golden Flower'. I love it, and I defy anyone to hear the rising beat of the drums tangle with the rich timbre of the shinobue flute and NOT feel their heart skip a beat.
Next is probably my favourite song ever, from one of my favourite bands. If you have heard the Leona Lewis travesty which was a cover of this song, please try to erase it from your mind. Argh. THIS is the real thing.
This next song comes from another favourite band of mine, Paramore. I loved them waaaay before they got famous for being on the Twilight soundtrack, and this song is brilliant for writing kissing scenes. There, I said it! KISSING!
This song was recommended on Maggie Stiefvater's blog many long moons ago, and I'm really grateful, because it's great for writing anger - when your character is mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore. The steadily rising percussion is irresistible.
Okay, this post is getting horribly long, so I end with a song called Sacrifice from the amazing Lisa Gerrard. This lady was responsible for the soundtracks of such films as Gladiator and Whale Rider, and her music is stunning (she used to be in a band called Dead Can Dance and they were also frighteningly awesome). I used this track a lot when writing Shadows on the Moon, and again for FF.
Music is an incredibly individual thing, but hopefully someone will discover a new favourite here, in which case all the messing about embedding these videos will have been worth it!
January 5, 2011
2010 ROUND UP, 2011 RESOLUTIONS
Before I move onto the main point of this post, I just want to give a link to my review of N.K. Jemisin's THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS.I adored it and I'm recommending it to everyone. However, for anyone under sixteen, this review comes with a warning: there's some kinky sex stuff in here, therefore your parents may not approve (that never stopped ME from reading stuff when I was under sixteen, but I thought it best to mention).
Okay, onwards! Normally at this time of year I like to sit down and take a bit of time to think about the events of the past twelve months. I turn everything over in my head, all the good things and the bad, and try to figure out what I did right and wrong. In the past obviously this has been a private thing, but I thought this year I would share it with you and maybe stimulate you all to try doing the same thing.
THE EPIC EVENTS OF 2010 January: Found out that I had won the 2009 Sasakawa Prize for Shadows on the Moon. I also found out that my job was under threat.February: Started work on FrostFire (which was then called 'Wolves in the Wind', eugh).March: Went to London and met with my editor, Annalie, and her boss, Gill, as well as lots of other splendid Walker Books people. Realised that everyone was really exited about Shadows and got rather excited myself. Talked about FF with my editor. Convinced her that the protagonist of FF should change to a girl, and got tentative approval of some contraversial details...April: Lost my job. Wanted to crawl into a hole and die. Gill and Annalie rallied around with encouragement and advice.May: Applied for a grant from The Royal Literary Fund on Gill's advice. Also applied for benefits for the first time in my life and thought that I would die of embarrassment because I used to WORK in that office, and everyone knew who I was. Hadn't had so many fingers pointed or so many people whispering about me behind their hands since school.June: Started this blog! And my own YouTube Channel. Applied for every job I could find and frantically scribbled away on FF, achieving a target of 2000 words a day, six days a week, for six weeks.July: Interviewed for several jobs, then found out that I was being awarded an amazingly generous grant from the RLF, and that they intended to pay off all my debts. Realised that I would now be able to be a full-time writer for the next TWO YEARS and went into a state of utter, incoherant bliss for about a week. Came up with brilliant idea of trying to turn FF into a two book series. August: Finished first draft of FF. Gave myself two weeks off and read approximately thirty books, discovering Kelley Armstrong, Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan and Cassandra Clare. Was gently persuaded by editor that FF would not work as a two book series and got back to work on it.September: Parted ways with former agent, with much sadness and regret. Went to London to present Shadows on the Moon at the Walker sales conference and was blown away by everyone's enthusiasm for the book. Found a new agent and melted with relief.October: Revealed the cover of Shadows on the Moon and was delighted to find that everyone else loved it just as much as me. Finished another draft of FF. Completed copy-edits of Shadows.November: Realised that the current version of FF was utter, complete, wretched nonsense. Wailed, ripped out hair, banged head on desk, then finally threw it out and started again from scratch. Went to London once more and met awesome bloggers at Walker Undercover event. Was snowed in for a full week and realised snow is only pretty when it's not melting in your boots.December: Finished the penultimate draft of FF. Wrote sample chapter and synopses for Big Secret Project and sent them off to agent. Survived Christmas.
Looking at this list (which is only this complete because I had this blog for six months of the year and could check my facts) I cannot BELIEVE how much has happened this year. It's been twelve months of staggering highs and lows - the major lows being losing my job and leaving my agent. And yet the highs more than made up for those bad days: if I hadn't lost my job I would never have gotten the RLF grant and the chance to fulfil a lifelong dream and become a full-time writer. If I hadn't had to leave my old agent I would never have found my new one, who is awesomesauce.
On the whole I'd say that 2010 has been one of the most stressful, joyful and significant of my life. But what's really great is that I have this strange feeling that 2011 will be even better. So...
2011 NEW YEAR'S GOALS I'd love to be able to stick to my 2000 words, six days a week regime. But slavishly adhering to that routine caused me to type my first draft directly onto my laptop instead of drafting with pen and paper first, and that wasn't a good thing. So what I'm going to set as a resolution is this: Write six days a week, using my notebook. I'm not a very consistent writer. One book took me six months to write while I was working in an office full-time. Another book took eighteen months when I was doing my office work part-time. I'm not sure why this is, but now that I have this chance to be full-time as a writer, I'd like to increase my productivity and my consistency, so I'm setting myself a challenging target. I might not be able to do it, but I do want to try: Write two books in 2011. I'm really proud of the fact that I've managed to blog three times a week every week this year. It hasn't always been easy! But I've been rewarded with some amazing blog followers. I'd like to keep doing that AND I'd like to vlog more as well, because I think that's a good way of enriching the blog for all of you. So: Carry on blogging three times a week, and try to vlog once a month .Finally, a goal that I can't really control myself, making this more like a wish than any kind of a resolution. In 2011 I really hope that Shadows on the Moon lives up to everyone's expectations (including mine). I love this book and believe in it, and so do my publisher, but I'm aware that this isn't always enough when you're not a big name with a big marketing and PR budget. My final goal is: Do all I can to promote Shadows so that it gets into the right hands, gets the right reviews or award nominations, catches the imagination of the people who will enjoy it, and finds its place in the market. Phew, that was a long one! What are your New Year's Goals, folks?
January 3, 2011
READER QUESTIONS
Hello, everyone! I hope that you all had a brilliant New Year's celebration. I planned to write about New Year's Resolutions as my first post of 2011, but I still owe you all a writing post from last Friday when I could barely bring myself to look at the computer screen, so I'll do that today and we'll see about New Year's resolutions on Wednesday.
Before I get started, I'd just like to put out an appeal again to Alessandra @ Out of the Blue, who still hasn't contacted me with her address to send her copy of Shadows on the Moon. Now, I confidently expected to be posting the prizes out on Saturday - until I realised that it was New Year's day and everything was closed. Then I realised that Monday would be a bank holiday too. So that means I'm not sending anything until tomorrow. But if I don't hear from Alessandra by the end of the week I'll have to draw another name because it's not really fair to all the others who were so keen to win this prize. Please email me Alessandra!
Okay, today I have three reader questions related to writing, from Isabel, Nara and Megha - so I'll try to be a little more succinct in my answers, instead of rambling on (and on and on) like I normally do, or else this post will be way too long.
NARA: Something that's been bothering me of late is how to keep to the main focus of the story. At the moment, my plot just feels incredibly messy with too many things happening that are not important. Even today I had to cut out an incredibly exciting scene because it just wasn't linked to the main focus of the story. Any tips on how to maanage these sub--plots and events?
My main piece of advice on this would be to not TRY to manage them, Nara. If you're still writing your first draft there will always be unexpected plot off-shoots, characters developing in unforeseen ways and events that bulge out and turn into different ones, and that is a good thing. That's your brain working feverishly away behind the scenes to give you what you need to create original and brilliant stories. If I had tried to cut off all the unnecessary bits while I was still writing Shadows on the Moon, I would never have written the ending that I did - a completely unexpected ending which was never in my synopsis but which turned out to be *perfect* because it played on several parts of the story which had developed spontaneously as I was writing.
I know how confusing and frustrating it can be when your story seems to be flying off in all directions and even you aren't entirely sure what the main point of it is anymore. But that's what the second draft is for. That's when you put the manuscript aside for as long as you can, then read it again, and start making colour-coded pie charts or using coloured Post Its to keep track of different subplots, and get ruthless by cutting out scenes and characters that don't serve your story. You WILL need to do this (and if you go back and look at these posts, that might be helpful). Not in the first draft though, or you might end up nipping the most vital and interesting parts in the bud and killing the story in the process.
MEGHA: Zoe, do you ever feel you have nothing to write? That seems to be my excuse right now. I just got nothing.
And, do you feel like that even when you're working on a novel? Because that happened to me when I was working on my first proper story and felt that... eh... everything's over, all fine and fit, the problems have been resolved, but there's still no way I can end my story like this.
What do I do when I'm stuck in this situation?
I'm afraid it sounds like a typical case of writer's block here, Megha. This could be because:
You've written all the interesting bits of your story and it doesn't have enough interesting bits left to make a full book. You haven't thought things through completely and you've written yourself into a corner where you can't see what should happen next. You really do know what should come next but you're dreading writing it and so you're stalling to avoid that. You've just pushed yourself too hard and used up all your writing juice, and it needs a chance to replenish itself. It's happened to me plenty of times. It happened to me for SIX MONTHS in the middle of writing Shadows on the Moon. I wish I could offer you a really quick and easy solution to this one, but if I had a cure for writer's block I'd be a very rich woman (richer than I'll probably ever get writing books!). The only sure fire way to beat it is to give it time.
I don't mean give up on your story. I mean, carry on reading, watching the films and TV shows that you love, carry on fiddling with pieces of poetry or other stories and try, hard as it is, not to worry about it. Believe me, the more you worry, the longer it takes. And eventually, if the problem is 2, 3 or 4, something will randomly spark at the back of your brain (out of the blue, usually with no apparent rhyme or reason) and you'll *need* to write again, just like that, and what's more, know what to write as well. However, if the problem is 1, then after giving yourself a bit of distance you'll realise that and sadly bid farewell to the story, and move onto something else.
ISABEL: I have a problem. I've always written very slowly. Not literally; I type fast, but my progress is always very slow. This is because I always feel as if everything has to be *perfect*. I always have to think about a sentence a bit before I write it, because I can't live with a piece of writing that I don't like much. Do you follow? It's kind of hard to explain. I always tell myself, "It's okay, just scribble something down now and you can edit later," but it always bugs me when my writing isn't that good. I don't know how you could help me with this, but I thought I might mention it to you. Have you ever had this problem? Do you know what i mean?
Well, there's nothing wrong with writing slowly, you know. I mean, I *can* produce 25,000 words a week if I want to - but they won't be very good quality words. And while some people (including friends of mine!) are happy to scribble 'Touching scene of reconciliation' or 'Vivid descriptions of the view from the palace rampart' in the margins and leave it, I've been known to spend an entire afternoon labouring over three or four paragraphs because I know that they way the turn out is vitally important to the way I'll write the rest of the chapter, or even the rest of the book.
I know that I always say: Give yourself permission to suck. And there's value in that, especially if you're scribbling notes in your lunchtime or putting together a rough sketch of a scene that you fully intend to flesh out later. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't have fun playing with language, or tell yourself off for taking care and polishing your words before you move on, if that's the way that feels right to you. If working more slowly means that you're happier with what you produce, then work slowly. If there are places where you get stuck and you desperately want to leave them and move on, then that's fine too!
I hope this has been helpful for you guys - thanks for leaving your questions and trusting me to answer them. As always, if there are any other queries about writing or publishing, just email me through my profile or leave them in the comments.
Before I get started, I'd just like to put out an appeal again to Alessandra @ Out of the Blue, who still hasn't contacted me with her address to send her copy of Shadows on the Moon. Now, I confidently expected to be posting the prizes out on Saturday - until I realised that it was New Year's day and everything was closed. Then I realised that Monday would be a bank holiday too. So that means I'm not sending anything until tomorrow. But if I don't hear from Alessandra by the end of the week I'll have to draw another name because it's not really fair to all the others who were so keen to win this prize. Please email me Alessandra!
Okay, today I have three reader questions related to writing, from Isabel, Nara and Megha - so I'll try to be a little more succinct in my answers, instead of rambling on (and on and on) like I normally do, or else this post will be way too long.
NARA: Something that's been bothering me of late is how to keep to the main focus of the story. At the moment, my plot just feels incredibly messy with too many things happening that are not important. Even today I had to cut out an incredibly exciting scene because it just wasn't linked to the main focus of the story. Any tips on how to maanage these sub--plots and events?
My main piece of advice on this would be to not TRY to manage them, Nara. If you're still writing your first draft there will always be unexpected plot off-shoots, characters developing in unforeseen ways and events that bulge out and turn into different ones, and that is a good thing. That's your brain working feverishly away behind the scenes to give you what you need to create original and brilliant stories. If I had tried to cut off all the unnecessary bits while I was still writing Shadows on the Moon, I would never have written the ending that I did - a completely unexpected ending which was never in my synopsis but which turned out to be *perfect* because it played on several parts of the story which had developed spontaneously as I was writing.
I know how confusing and frustrating it can be when your story seems to be flying off in all directions and even you aren't entirely sure what the main point of it is anymore. But that's what the second draft is for. That's when you put the manuscript aside for as long as you can, then read it again, and start making colour-coded pie charts or using coloured Post Its to keep track of different subplots, and get ruthless by cutting out scenes and characters that don't serve your story. You WILL need to do this (and if you go back and look at these posts, that might be helpful). Not in the first draft though, or you might end up nipping the most vital and interesting parts in the bud and killing the story in the process.
MEGHA: Zoe, do you ever feel you have nothing to write? That seems to be my excuse right now. I just got nothing.
And, do you feel like that even when you're working on a novel? Because that happened to me when I was working on my first proper story and felt that... eh... everything's over, all fine and fit, the problems have been resolved, but there's still no way I can end my story like this.
What do I do when I'm stuck in this situation?
I'm afraid it sounds like a typical case of writer's block here, Megha. This could be because:
You've written all the interesting bits of your story and it doesn't have enough interesting bits left to make a full book. You haven't thought things through completely and you've written yourself into a corner where you can't see what should happen next. You really do know what should come next but you're dreading writing it and so you're stalling to avoid that. You've just pushed yourself too hard and used up all your writing juice, and it needs a chance to replenish itself. It's happened to me plenty of times. It happened to me for SIX MONTHS in the middle of writing Shadows on the Moon. I wish I could offer you a really quick and easy solution to this one, but if I had a cure for writer's block I'd be a very rich woman (richer than I'll probably ever get writing books!). The only sure fire way to beat it is to give it time.
I don't mean give up on your story. I mean, carry on reading, watching the films and TV shows that you love, carry on fiddling with pieces of poetry or other stories and try, hard as it is, not to worry about it. Believe me, the more you worry, the longer it takes. And eventually, if the problem is 2, 3 or 4, something will randomly spark at the back of your brain (out of the blue, usually with no apparent rhyme or reason) and you'll *need* to write again, just like that, and what's more, know what to write as well. However, if the problem is 1, then after giving yourself a bit of distance you'll realise that and sadly bid farewell to the story, and move onto something else.
ISABEL: I have a problem. I've always written very slowly. Not literally; I type fast, but my progress is always very slow. This is because I always feel as if everything has to be *perfect*. I always have to think about a sentence a bit before I write it, because I can't live with a piece of writing that I don't like much. Do you follow? It's kind of hard to explain. I always tell myself, "It's okay, just scribble something down now and you can edit later," but it always bugs me when my writing isn't that good. I don't know how you could help me with this, but I thought I might mention it to you. Have you ever had this problem? Do you know what i mean?
Well, there's nothing wrong with writing slowly, you know. I mean, I *can* produce 25,000 words a week if I want to - but they won't be very good quality words. And while some people (including friends of mine!) are happy to scribble 'Touching scene of reconciliation' or 'Vivid descriptions of the view from the palace rampart' in the margins and leave it, I've been known to spend an entire afternoon labouring over three or four paragraphs because I know that they way the turn out is vitally important to the way I'll write the rest of the chapter, or even the rest of the book.
I know that I always say: Give yourself permission to suck. And there's value in that, especially if you're scribbling notes in your lunchtime or putting together a rough sketch of a scene that you fully intend to flesh out later. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't have fun playing with language, or tell yourself off for taking care and polishing your words before you move on, if that's the way that feels right to you. If working more slowly means that you're happier with what you produce, then work slowly. If there are places where you get stuck and you desperately want to leave them and move on, then that's fine too!
I hope this has been helpful for you guys - thanks for leaving your questions and trusting me to answer them. As always, if there are any other queries about writing or publishing, just email me through my profile or leave them in the comments.
December 31, 2010
APOLOGIES
The title says it all. I think my delightful little nieces have given me a vile, nasty, horrid, no-good cold (I mean, I have a cold and I'm pretty sure they're the culprits). The moment I start looking at a back-lit screen my eyes start watering. I'm slightly worried that if I push my luck they might actually fall out. Hmmm. This is me on cold medication. Not pretty, is it?
Anyway, I'm really sorry to everyone who sent me questions and emails which I was going to answer today. I promise that I WILL get to them on Monday and give you all a fantastic bumper writing post.
In the meantime, have a wonderful New Year everyone - and the best of luck in 2011. I think it's going to be a break-through year for me, and I hope it will be for all of you :)
Anyway, I'm really sorry to everyone who sent me questions and emails which I was going to answer today. I promise that I WILL get to them on Monday and give you all a fantastic bumper writing post.
In the meantime, have a wonderful New Year everyone - and the best of luck in 2011. I think it's going to be a break-through year for me, and I hope it will be for all of you :)
December 29, 2010
FINAL WINNER
Hi everyone - I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas break and that those of you who are back at work, school or college aren't having too hard a time adjusting. As for myself, well - since I was relentlessly baking, wrapping, cooking and entertaining relatives throughout the Christmas period I'm actually giving myself a little break NOW to recover from all the exertion, although I intend to start work on revising FrostFire once more at the end of this week.
I have a couple of intriguing reader questions to answer on Friday, but today I'm just putting out a call to the final winner of the Shadows on the Moon giveaway: Alessandra @ Out of the Blue. She's the only one who hasn't gotten in touch with me to give me her address yet.
I understand that many people are, like me, a little tired out and not entirely on top of their normal internet routine at this time of the year, but I hope you'll get in touch with me as soon as you can, Alessandra. The sooner I have your address, the sooner I can send the package out.
In the meantime, I'm ploughing through The Women of the Underworld
Series by Kelley Armstrong and enjoying them a great deal, although I prefer her Darkest Powers
series just a little, probably because Darkest Powers is YA and the characters don't have to keep stopping to have sex in order to justify a 'romance' label (sorry, kids, but one day you too will be skim-reading or skipping sex scenes because they're boring - it's how you know you're getting old).
If anyone has anymore questions on writing and publishing that they'd like me to answer in Friday's post, toss them in the comments or send me an email through my profile. It's going to be a bumper post, so the more the merrier. Take care, everyone.
I have a couple of intriguing reader questions to answer on Friday, but today I'm just putting out a call to the final winner of the Shadows on the Moon giveaway: Alessandra @ Out of the Blue. She's the only one who hasn't gotten in touch with me to give me her address yet.
I understand that many people are, like me, a little tired out and not entirely on top of their normal internet routine at this time of the year, but I hope you'll get in touch with me as soon as you can, Alessandra. The sooner I have your address, the sooner I can send the package out.
In the meantime, I'm ploughing through The Women of the Underworld
Series by Kelley Armstrong and enjoying them a great deal, although I prefer her Darkest Powers series just a little, probably because Darkest Powers is YA and the characters don't have to keep stopping to have sex in order to justify a 'romance' label (sorry, kids, but one day you too will be skim-reading or skipping sex scenes because they're boring - it's how you know you're getting old).If anyone has anymore questions on writing and publishing that they'd like me to answer in Friday's post, toss them in the comments or send me an email through my profile. It's going to be a bumper post, so the more the merrier. Take care, everyone.
December 27, 2010
SHADOWS ON THE MOON ARC WINNERS
Hellooo, blog readers! Here at long last (and yes, perhaps a little later than I said, Megha) is the announcement of the great Shadows on the Moon ARC giveaway winners (whoot, applause, cheers, screams - okay, calm down, I'm not Britney Spears. Geez)!
The three winners will each receive a copy of an uncorrected advanced proof of Shadows on the Moon, which is a Cinderella retelling set in faerytale Japan, and won't be officially released in the UK until 4th July 2011. Goodreads synopsis below:
Today I listed all my followers and the names of everyone who had left a comment on the SHADOWS ON THE MOON GIVEAWAY: REVISED post. I was about to use the random number generator, but then I realised I'd already written all the names down anyway, so I just picked three from a hat. Yes, the famous sparkly red hat.
*Drumroll please*
WINNER NUMBER ONE: Emma Gill!
WINNER NUMBER TWO: Michelle at Clover Hill Book Review!
WINNER NUMBER THREE: Alessandra @ Out of the Blue!
I'm so happy for you! Please contact me as soon as you can through the email in my profile, so that I can get your addresses and get these prizes posted out for you.
Commiserations to everyone who entered and worked so hard to drum up blog traffic, but did not win. I know some of you were so excited about this and you're bound to be disappointed. Rest assured that if I can cadge any more ARCs or review copies, I'll put together another giveaway, because if it was up to me I seriously would give you ALL a copy. But remember that it's only six months until this book comes out now, and even if you don't live in the UK you can still order it through Amazon here or The Book Depository here. Free shipping!
Those of you who have book reviewing blogs can contact my publisher to ask to be put on the list to recieve a review copy in February - and in addition, Shadows will hopefully be taking part in the UK Blog Tour a little later as well, so people will have a chance to get their hands on an early copy then too.
Finally, a massive thank you to all of you, amazing, faithful readers that you are. Your comments, interest and support for the blog makes every bit of work associated with it worthwhile, and I wouldn't trade you guys for any other group of followers in the world. Finn also appreciates your love:
I'm sure Hero and Echo do as well, but they were both out playing in the snow today, so we'll just have to take that on faith.
The three winners will each receive a copy of an uncorrected advanced proof of Shadows on the Moon, which is a Cinderella retelling set in faerytale Japan, and won't be officially released in the UK until 4th July 2011. Goodreads synopsis below:
Suzume is a shadow-weaver. She can create mantles of darkness and light, walk unseen in the middle of the day, change her face. She can be anyone she wants to be. Except herself.The winners will also get signed bookplates, scented Japanese paper fans and any other goodies that I can find.
Suzume died officially the day the Prince's men accused her father of treason. Now even she is no longer sure of her true identity. Is she the girl of noble birth living under the tyranny of her mother's new husband, Lord Terayama? A lowly drudge scraping a living in the ashes of Terayama's kitchens? Or Yue, the most beautiful courtesan in the Moonlit Lands?
Everyone knows Yue is destined to capture the heart of a prince. Only she knows that she is determined to use his power to destroy Terayama.
And nothing will stop her. Not even love.
Today I listed all my followers and the names of everyone who had left a comment on the SHADOWS ON THE MOON GIVEAWAY: REVISED post. I was about to use the random number generator, but then I realised I'd already written all the names down anyway, so I just picked three from a hat. Yes, the famous sparkly red hat.
*Drumroll please*
WINNER NUMBER ONE: Emma Gill!
WINNER NUMBER TWO: Michelle at Clover Hill Book Review!
WINNER NUMBER THREE: Alessandra @ Out of the Blue!
I'm so happy for you! Please contact me as soon as you can through the email in my profile, so that I can get your addresses and get these prizes posted out for you.
Commiserations to everyone who entered and worked so hard to drum up blog traffic, but did not win. I know some of you were so excited about this and you're bound to be disappointed. Rest assured that if I can cadge any more ARCs or review copies, I'll put together another giveaway, because if it was up to me I seriously would give you ALL a copy. But remember that it's only six months until this book comes out now, and even if you don't live in the UK you can still order it through Amazon here or The Book Depository here. Free shipping!
Those of you who have book reviewing blogs can contact my publisher to ask to be put on the list to recieve a review copy in February - and in addition, Shadows will hopefully be taking part in the UK Blog Tour a little later as well, so people will have a chance to get their hands on an early copy then too.
Finally, a massive thank you to all of you, amazing, faithful readers that you are. Your comments, interest and support for the blog makes every bit of work associated with it worthwhile, and I wouldn't trade you guys for any other group of followers in the world. Finn also appreciates your love:
I'm sure Hero and Echo do as well, but they were both out playing in the snow today, so we'll just have to take that on faith.
