My writing progress this week
This has been one of the best writing weeks I've had in months. The excitement of starting a new project, I guess. Or maybe the inspiration of having been with so many fabulous writer folks at Conflux. Perhaps even feeling good about the decision I've made on what to do with my career for the next few months.
The real reason for my great word count I think is the time that this story has spent in my head. I first came up with the idea for this contemporary romance around seven years ago, and it's been burbling away in my mind ever since. This year, with my decision to start writing contemporary romance, it came to the fore. With what I learnt from reading and writing "Arranged by Love", it morphed and the opening scenes started to play out in my mind, like a movie.
I work like that – I like to see the scene first, play it through, rewind and review if I need, before I write it.
A bit about the story – Sia has a secret, one that she's kept hidden for ten years for the sake of her family. Because of it, she's had to struggle to overcome a criminal past and find acceptance in the small town of Oberon. It's paid off – she's now well respected by everyone, and her dream of a career as a painter is starting to bear fruit. If only her father could stay off the grog.
Enter Todd Lansing. Sia's actions of ten years earlier hit his family hard and he's never forgiven her. When he returns to Oberon and finds that Sia is now liked and admired, he's determined to remind her of the pain she caused him – a pain he wants her to feel again.
When Todd discovers the truth, it changes everything he's known of his life and his relationship with Sia.
So here I am, having already hit my weekly aim of 15,000 words. The first ten came out in the first two days – the next five started to drag, as I started to head away from the opening to the meat of the story. Time is something that's really important for me to be able to create the best story – time each day, more time each week, time before I start a story.
I could keep writing today and built up the word count but I've decided not to – I'm going to give my brain three whole days to mull over what I've done so far and what is to come next. Hopefully by Monday morning, I'll be raring to go again.
So what will I do today? I'm going to spend days like this experimenting, learning, developing my craft. Today's activity is inspired by Matthew Farrer. I was talking to he and Donna Hanson last weekend and Matthew started talking about sestina's. I'd studied them a little during a focus on poetry I went through a few years ago and they had, quite frankly, scared the bejesus out of me. But the way Matthew spoke about them had neurons firing and today, I've decided to have a go.
The sestina is one of those poetry forms with some tough rules but those regulations often make the muse work harder and more creatively.
It has 39 lines – six six-line stanzas and one three-line to finish. The lines of the six-line stanzas must all finish with the same six words, but in differing order in each stanza. In the three-line stanza, all six words must be used again. Yet within these rules, you need to build a strong picture.
Matthew said Neil Gaiman writes beautiful sestinas – will have to find some.
As for me – today's sestina will take me back into the world of the gadda. My idea is actually to have it done as if written by Hampton Rourke – we'll see if that's TOO ambitious for a first try.
