Roz Morris's Blog, page 55

I invented you, honest. An author’s apology to a blameless town

I’ve nearly finished the second run-through of Ever Rest, and now I know the characters well, I can flesh out details that I’d previously left vague, such as where they live and what I want that to suggest. But this brings certain hazards, as I found when I published my first novel. I thought you […]

‘Battle songs’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Naomi Elana Zener

My guest this week is writing about a character trying to find her way to happiness. Love and career have not gone as planned, and the protagonist ends up living with her parents in Los Angeles – a cue for a feisty, fighting soundtrack of Guns n Roses and Chumbawumba, and a story where relationships, […]

NaNo oh no? Let’s discuss the good and bad of NaNoWriMo

I recently published a post about NaNoWriMo prep, and it provoked this interesting comment on Facebook: I really hate this initiative! Shouldn’t we be learning to write novels that are better, higher quality, more considered, more rounded, better thought out, that TAKE MORE TIME!!! rather than just trying to whack one out in a month? […]

Nanowrimo prep: plan your characters, improvise your plot – guest post at Romance University

You might have spotted it’s uncharacteristically quiet here today. Wednesday has, from time immemorial, been Undercover Soundtrack day, and yet you find instead a deafening hush. Rest assured, the series will return next week and I have the post in my paws already. In the meantime, I have a guest post today at Romance University. […]

Self-editing masterclass snapshots: key character disappears, how should I handle it?

I’m running a series of the smartest questions from my recent Guardian self-editing masterclass for novelists. Previous posts have discussed how much extra material we might write that never makes the final wordcount, how to flesh out a draft that’s too short and a problem of pacing if much of the plot concerns the fallout […]

‘Music for writing the 12th century’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Mark Richard Beaulieu

My guest this week has an epic sequence of novels, and an epic musical background for them. They span the life of Eleanor of Aquitaine – but if you were expecting a purely medieval soundtrack, think again. There are, of course, some historically appropriate pieces, but also a host of unusual tracks from Chris Isaak, […]

5 tips for handling amnesia and back story

I haven’t forgotten I’m half-way through the self-editing masterclass snapshots, but I got this fantastic question from a writer who’d read a post of mine about back story. I’ve begun the same novel a couple times and it relies so heavily on back story that I’ve begun to wonder if I should just write it […]

‘The planes, the explosions, the dust, the calm’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Kerry Drewery

My guest this week specialises in YA novels set in war zones. With just two novels under her belt, she’s already much-decorated with awards and award nominations. Her music selection is small in number, but it helped her keep the intensity of the environments she was writing about, and connect with the characters’ emotions. Indeed, […]

Self-editing masterclass snapshots: Characters are grief stricken – how do I stop that becoming monotonous?

I’m running a series of the smartest questions from my recent Guardian self-editing masterclass for novelists. Previous posts have discussed how much extra material we might write that never makes the final wordcount, and how to flesh out a draft that’s too short. Today I’m looking at an interesting problem of pacing: Characters are grief […]

‘Close your eyes and listen with your hands’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Tawnysha Greene

My guest this week might seem a surprising addition to the Undercover Soundtrack series as she has impaired hearing. Nevertheless, music is important to her, both as a writing environment and to help her slip into the shoes of her characters. Some of her novel’s people also have impaired hearing, which is an interesting creative […]