Fran Macilvey's Blog, page 45

Dangers and Pitfalls

Dangers and Pitfalls

Many dangers and pitfalls lurk unseen, which can stop you starting, and finishing, the writing of a book:

writer’s block the curse of the soggy middle the ‘I’m still editing’ excuse the inability to edit a word count down to a manageable total being self-conscious becoming obsessed with details…. fear of success

In this next series of articles, I’ll be looking at some of the myths and legends of writing, starting with the one that we most often use to put ourselves off...

To develop reading techniques

To develop reading techniques

Since I am an author writing books, I find it very useful to develop reading techniques, so that I become accustomed to reading something a hundred times, as if I have never read it before. Hard, some might say pointless, impossible…. But I find it essential. How else to spot the grammar error, the missed comma, the spell-check error that slipped under the automated net? Each time we read, we have to pretend that the material we have written is virgin, unseen, ne...

Using writing tools

Using writing tools

I used to feel that using writing tools in our word-processing applications was like cheating. If, in the throes of creative frenzy I could not summon to mind the best, most apposite word, then I had no right to go looking for it.

On mature reflection, and knowing how much else there is to do in an average day, I now accept that’s a bit like saying we should refrain from using Caps Lock, or that we have no right to indent, tabulate or use double spacing.

There are two writ...

Almost finished writing a book

Almost finished writing a book

While I have almost finished writing a book, and can begin to see glimmers of light at the end of this particular line – I wouldn’t call it a tunnel, as any writing that isn’t fun will probably be edited out – I focus on reducing my word count.

For lots of reasons, I find that, once I have what resembles a plot, with all the bones in the right places, I want to double check that it all fits, and so culling anything that looks suspicious, unfinished, half-baked o...

How I keep writing my books

How I keep writing my books

Sometimes, I wonder how I keep writing my books. It is hard, after all, at the end of the day to say, ‘darling, look what I did!’ and point to a keyboard, which looks the same as it always does. But to keep my motivation alive, I find certain recurring features help.

I don’t use plot outlines, because most of my characters tell me where they want to go, and insist I go there with them. It is thrilling, and gives my writing unexpected gifts of energy and added reali...

How I keep writing a book

How I keep writing a book

Settling down into a solid word count – which I take to be anything over forty thousand words – feels, at first, a bit like swimming in a lake with no lifeguard on duty and unknown depths below – you mean, I’m really doing this, I’m still swimming? Wow, that’s a bit….scary.

How I keep writing a book is a big part of the challenge. But since we can only write one word at a time, it doesn’t have to be scary. Just like learning a new swimming stroke, writing short piec...

How I write a book

How I write a book

Strangely, how I write a book depends – for me at any rate – on the genre, as much as anything else.

In women’s lit, which I am writing at the moment, I notice that Phase One begins with an irrepressible impulse to write something about someone, perhaps a single, short chapter, a couple of pages to set the tone, to introduce the main characters – a wife and her small son, for instance. Or I might take up a character who first appeared in a short story. People are what motiv...

How long does it take to write a book?

How Long Does it Take to Write a Book?

“How long does it take to write a book?” the girl asked, hopefully.

The older man smiled, winking kindly at the naivety of the question before answering slowly, “It depends”. Like a challenge to debate, he offered her his usual response, one she expected, though she wished that, just this once, instead of his usual hedged-about-caution, he had given a straight answer.….

But it does depend….

….On our motivation, on our personal circumstances, our need to...

Motivations of a memoir author

Motivations of a memoir author

Despite my earlier habit of obsessing a bit over ratings and reviews of my first book I no longer scan the virtual horizon looking for criticism, thank God. I am grateful that reviewers and critics do their jobs, and I must remember where my motivations lie, and not be too much distracted.

It’s not that I don’t care. Part of me always will. But there is a much more significant part which knows that if even one person has been helped by what I write, then it was...

Reading Reviews

Reading reviews

As a younger, greenstick author, I got caught up in reading reviews of my book all the time. Authorship is nerve-racking, as we launch our work in the public sphere and hope it floats. As part of that process, we wait and watch, notice what happens, and naturally hope that our work fares well. But now, I see, I was also waiting for the punishing crit, which has – thankfully – not materialised. If it had, it would have demolished me inside, left me a crumbling, doubting wreck....