Sandra Gulland's Blog, page 6
July 26, 2017
Like wild! In the pink! On final stage revision …
I started writing this post six months ago, back when The Game of Hope was titled Moonsick. As part of the final check, then, I was looking for “legal” and “illegal” words—that is, words that didn’t exist in 1800. Here are the words and phrases I was surprised to discover were sufficiently ancient: eavesdropping suicide like […]
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July 4, 2017
A newsletter, finally!
I’m about to send out a newsletter — my first in six months! I’ve been MIA here on this blog, as well, the result of moving into a house still under construction, all the while working to finish my next novel, THE GAME OF HOPE. Those of you who are already signed up for my […]
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April 26, 2017
Trying to write in 2017 …
I sent draft 9.8 of The Game of Hope to my editor – a partial deadline met, which is always a wonderful feeling. Right now I’m organizing my beta-reader and consultant feedback notes and making further changes. The final-final draft is due in only two-and-a-half weeks, which isn’t much time at all given that most of that […]
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January 29, 2017
4 Formulas for Figuring out a Story
Figuring out a novel’s “elevator pitch” — the summation of a story in a sentence or two — is invariably difficult for novelists, at least it is for me. My mind does not lend itself to reductions. I’m more of the expanding type. (Not an asset.) These 4 formulas — which I’ve gathered from hither […]
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4 simple formulas for figuring out a story
This morning I happened upon a computer file of notes I kept while writing The Shadow Queen. I was particularly interested in a section on formulas for figuring out a novel’s “elevator pitch”—the summation of a story in a sentence or two. This is invariably difficult, at least for me. My mind does not lend […]
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January 23, 2017
Election day, the Woman’s March, and the morning after — a diary in Hope
The day before the Woman’s March Election Day. The Man Who Shall Not Be Named was sworn in as President of the most powerful nation on Earth. Some were cheering. The majority were in depression. This is a watercolour I finished that day, titled, simply, “January 20, 2017.” I see the American eagle as somewhat worn, world-weary, and […]
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January 14, 2017
Draft 8: check. Drafts 9, 10, 11: yet to come. On my painfully slow revision process
Yesterday was a big day for me: I woke at 4:00am, and shortly before 8:00am I emailed my manuscript to my editor and agent. It was Friday 13. I am not superstitious, but that did give me pause. Some writers are able to write a perfectly good novel in two or three drafts. I am not one of those writers! […]
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January 5, 2017
Happy New 2017: on revision, a great classic on Audible, my next newsletter
Happy New 2017! I like the feel of this year already. I’ve weaned myself — to some extent — from toxic international news and immersed myself in finishing the eighth draft of Moonsick, my YA novel about Josephine’s daughter Hortense. (Yikes! Due this month.) The funny side of revision This is what revision sometimes feels like … Newsletter […]
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December 26, 2016
Finally! Breaking the Blog Silence
Where have I been? I’ve been MIA here … why? Partly it had to do with a big change to my website, which threw me off. I couldn’t quite figure out how to navigate it, and visuals I’d loved before were suddenly missing. I was, as they say “all 6s and 7s” (an expression I […]
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April 12, 2016
In Search of the Heroine’s Journey
I’ve been addicted to the theory of the Hero’s Journey as story structure since I read Cambell’s groundbreaking work,The Hero With a Thousand Faces, in high school. It’s at the core of virtually every book I admire on plot: The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, Story by Robert McKee, The Anatomy of […]
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