Bryan Murphy's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing-process"
The Great Anglo-Portuguese Novel
Writing a novel is, literally, a challenge for someone who is used to writing short stories and poems. A sizeable challenge. Size matters. Instead of a story of three to five thousand words, you are looking to write about eighty thousand words. That is, naturally, a rough figure, but it gives you a quantitative target to aim for. It is a back-up motivation that can kick in when you begin to doubt the quality of your words, or even wonder whether the whole endeavour is in vain.
It was hard getting started on my novel. It had been a project in my head for years. Once I’d actually begun, early in November, completing the first chapter was not difficult. What proved really hard was starting chapter two and getting into the swing of it. After I’d managed that, it started to flow. By mid-December I had drafted the first quarter. Following a holiday break, I again found second-rate reasons not to get back to it. Yet once I put fingertips to keyboard, the momentum returned. I have now completed more than one third, and nothing will stop me finishing it.
It was hard getting started on my novel. It had been a project in my head for years. Once I’d actually begun, early in November, completing the first chapter was not difficult. What proved really hard was starting chapter two and getting into the swing of it. After I’d managed that, it started to flow. By mid-December I had drafted the first quarter. Following a holiday break, I again found second-rate reasons not to get back to it. Yet once I put fingertips to keyboard, the momentum returned. I have now completed more than one third, and nothing will stop me finishing it.
Writing Process Blog Tour
My friend Marta Merajver-Kurlat (http://www.martamerajver.com.ar/marta...), author of Just Toss the Ashes and Why Can't I Make Money?, among other works, kindly invited me to participate in this blog hop tour and answer four questions about my writing process.
1) What am I working on?
My first novel. Its provisional title is Revolution Number One. Usually I write short stories, which I set in an imagined future in order to write more freely about the present. The novel, in contrast, is set in Portugal back in the 1970s, where a young English businessman struggles to survive and thrive during the world’s coolest Revolution. I’ve just finished the first draft, so I guess that the real work is about to start.
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Well, in the novel, I use the past to write essentially about the present and the future. I don’t read enough historical fiction to know how different that makes it.
Most of my work, though, is set in the near future. It’s really too low-tech to be true science fiction. My philosophy is that the problems of the near past, the present and the near future are similar: what is important is how we deal with them, irrespective of technology. Perhaps a better descriptor is social science fiction.
Whatever the setting, I hope to write literature first and genre fiction second.
3) Why do I write what I do?
I like to set my stories in places where I have lived and worked, like England, Italy, Portugal and China, but to move away from the present in order to get a clearer perspective on it. I have always been future-oriented, but advancing age has successfully tempted me to look backwards as well.
4) How does my writing process work?
Writing a novel changed this. Before, I would write a short story or poem on paper. Then I would type it on to the computer, print it out and revise it several times using pen on paper, before keying in the changes to leave a final version on the computer.
For the novel, the first version of each chapter went straight on to the computer, and so did some of the revisions. That saved time and sped me towards the goal of a completed first draft. I have reached that particular target way ahead of schedule, so I’m prepared to spend a great deal of time turning it from a finished novel into a good novel - if I can.
The wonderful Andea Buginsky is taking up the baton next week and explaining her writing process, on Monday 7 July.
Andrea Buginsky is a freelance writer with a BA in Mass Communication-Journalism from the University of South Florida. She has always wanted to be a published writer, and decided to try to write children's fantasy books a few years ago. The Chosen is her first book, and was released on December 14, 2010, to her delight.
Andrea has written three more books since:
• My Open Heart, an autobiography of growing up with heart disease.
• Nature's Unbalance: The Chosen, Book 2
• Destiny: New Avalon, book 1, a YA fantasy
She is currently writing the second book in the New Avalon series and editing the third book of The Chosen series.
Andrea lives in Kansas with her family, which includes her two precious puppies.
You can visit Andrea on her website or Google+. Her blog is at: http://www.andreabuginsky.com/.
1) What am I working on?
My first novel. Its provisional title is Revolution Number One. Usually I write short stories, which I set in an imagined future in order to write more freely about the present. The novel, in contrast, is set in Portugal back in the 1970s, where a young English businessman struggles to survive and thrive during the world’s coolest Revolution. I’ve just finished the first draft, so I guess that the real work is about to start.
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Well, in the novel, I use the past to write essentially about the present and the future. I don’t read enough historical fiction to know how different that makes it.
Most of my work, though, is set in the near future. It’s really too low-tech to be true science fiction. My philosophy is that the problems of the near past, the present and the near future are similar: what is important is how we deal with them, irrespective of technology. Perhaps a better descriptor is social science fiction.
Whatever the setting, I hope to write literature first and genre fiction second.
3) Why do I write what I do?
I like to set my stories in places where I have lived and worked, like England, Italy, Portugal and China, but to move away from the present in order to get a clearer perspective on it. I have always been future-oriented, but advancing age has successfully tempted me to look backwards as well.
4) How does my writing process work?
Writing a novel changed this. Before, I would write a short story or poem on paper. Then I would type it on to the computer, print it out and revise it several times using pen on paper, before keying in the changes to leave a final version on the computer.
For the novel, the first version of each chapter went straight on to the computer, and so did some of the revisions. That saved time and sped me towards the goal of a completed first draft. I have reached that particular target way ahead of schedule, so I’m prepared to spend a great deal of time turning it from a finished novel into a good novel - if I can.
The wonderful Andea Buginsky is taking up the baton next week and explaining her writing process, on Monday 7 July.
Andrea Buginsky is a freelance writer with a BA in Mass Communication-Journalism from the University of South Florida. She has always wanted to be a published writer, and decided to try to write children's fantasy books a few years ago. The Chosen is her first book, and was released on December 14, 2010, to her delight.
Andrea has written three more books since:
• My Open Heart, an autobiography of growing up with heart disease.
• Nature's Unbalance: The Chosen, Book 2
• Destiny: New Avalon, book 1, a YA fantasy
She is currently writing the second book in the New Avalon series and editing the third book of The Chosen series.
Andrea lives in Kansas with her family, which includes her two precious puppies.
You can visit Andrea on her website or Google+. Her blog is at: http://www.andreabuginsky.com/.
