Braindead Dairy #16: Method Writing

A big part of good writing is good editing. There’s not much of that going on with these dairy updates, but while it may affect the quality of the sentences, it helps give you an idea of one’s stream of consciousness. There’s honesty in the rawness. Just had another Siggi’s yoghurt. I recommend!

While editing book 2 (and realising I need a holiday), something dawned on me. I need to do some mountain climbing. I’m thinking more England than Tibet, nothing crazy, but as there is a character on a mountain in the story I think it would be a great opportunity to get some method writing on the go!

Ernest Hemingway said that you should write about what you know. That may sound obvious but when writing fiction there is a lot of guesswork – trying to capture the lunacy of battles in a high fantasy series, or what it would be like to infiltrate a high security building in some crime mystery. My point is – where possible – it’s probably a good idea to try and get a flavour of what some of these things would be like.

There is a particular mountain (the second highest) called Helvellyn which looks pretty badass, and if I can sample and then inject some of that rugged terrain and those strong winds into the story – even if it amounts to a small paragraph – ANYTHING TO SUCK THE READER IN MORE – then it’s a win!