Clare’s Comments (group member since Jan 31, 2012)

Clare’s comments from the Connecting Readers and Writers group.

Paula wrote: "I'm a hybrid, dyed-in-the-wool ...
Trouble is, if I outline too strenuously, I lose interest in the story.

Think I've gone the same way as Paula. My first novel was written organically. It was interesting process for me, but it was an awful book! I can't start without an outline now, but again if I take it too far it feels like I've told the story but without having written it out properly.

I've just sneaked in my March read for the evil plan. I read "The Absolutely Amazing Adventures of Agent Auggie Spinoza" and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a young adult book and I love that the evil plan is taking me out of my comfort zone and making me read books I wouldn't usually read.

I've added my review to amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, Goodreads and my blog.

Name: Ashton, Clare
Blog/Website Title: Clare Ashton
Blog/Website URL: http://rclareashton.wordpress.com
The primary purpose goal of your site/blog: Reviews, writing, personal, updates

Many thanks,

Clare

Thanks for the David Gaughran recommendation. There's some great stuff in there for indie authors.

I was thinking of asking this in the any tips thread but didn't want to detract too much from the personal tips.

Are there any books or blogs about writing that you've found vitally useful?

My favourite book so far has been "Revision: A Creative Approach to Writing and Rewriting Fiction", by Michael Kaplan. I found it helpful to have a book with an emphasis on editing. He illustrates his points using his own short stories so I found his advice more effective than just stand-alone pointers. I didn't particularly like his stories but I loved "Revision".

Richard wrote: "i don't know the person who writes this blog, but he's got a lot of good writing advice. i "follow" him. he's smart. IF it's a "he." not sure.

http://novelsgroundup.wordpress.com/2......"

Thanks for this great tip. I just started following this blog and I'm finding the posts informative and thought-provoking. (I also can't decide on the author's gender so far.) Any other writing blog recommendations?

Rob wrote: "I was told by a friend who teaches psychology that "No" it is not normal to feel guilt over what you do to a character.

Like Michayla says that's kind of good to know since for the most part I don't feel guilty. It still seems a strange thing that it's normal to not feel guilty though.

Bill wrote: "Your story is where you get to play God. So I guess I have to ask, what kind of god would you be, Clare? Perhaps you should sit down.

So now I have to worry about being a control freak too!

I suppose I have questioned it more about other writers - since I usually only write what I'm comfortable with, although some scenes I have written have been quite vivid where a character gets injured for example.

I find writing a scene very intense as you live through it for longer than when you read a scene, so I find there are some things I can read but not write.

Do you sometimes wonder about your state of mind when you write (or read)? I wonder why sometimes I love meticulously planning a victim's death, even though I would be unable to murder (I've expanded on this is in my blog http://rclareashton.wordpress.com).

Is there anything you won't write about?

I'm thinking about re-writing a large proportion of a mystery novel I wrote 3 years ago. It has some significant flaws at the moment, but I loved the characters and story so much that it feels like unfinished business.

I'm also writing short stories too - welcome bite-sized pieces as relief from thinking of over-hauling the novel.

Richard wrote: "Clare wrote: "Leave your first good draft for several months before re-reading it to get a more objective perspective. Sometimes I'm horrified by what I've written at first, other times I'm very pl..."

Sorry, slow response. I think I should have emphasised first _good_ draft.

I tend to write like this: Write a half decent first draft quite slowly. Immediately go back and revise things I wasn't happy with or make changes that are needed as a result from changes to the original outline. Carefully re-read the whole novel and revise again.

Usually by this point I have a first good draft and want to show other people for feedback. And it's at this point I really should shelve the novel for as long as I can stand to get some distance from it. It allows me to re-read it with a bit more objectivity and also allows me to take criticism better!

Like you say though, this part of writing is a very personal thing and different approaches work for different people.

I did put together a short page on my website about the location of my novel in the end. Although I'm still in two minds about it, it has proved useful. My novel is called Pennance, a fictional village with a genuine Cornish name, set in the UK. (I also liked the pun on penance which was appropriate for my novel.) It has been useful being able to clarify this on the website for some people.

Quite a few of the people who've read my book have been from the US and haven't been to Cornwall, and the coastline (where a lot of the novel is set) is quite different to a lot of the US coastline.

The photos I've added to the web page are locations that inspired me when writing the story, but unfortunately lack the atmosphere of the novel - quite a dark novel set in winter. I do worry that this may detract from reader's mental image, but so far I'm glad I've added this information to my site.

This is the page I added for my book:

http://rclareashton.wordpress.com/set...

Leave your first good draft for several months before re-reading it to get a more objective perspective. Sometimes I'm horrified by what I've written at first, other times I'm very pleased. I've only ever managed to do this once with a novel though. It wasn't through self-discipline either - had to have a baby to keep me away.

Was thinking only just the other day how good the Kindle would be for reading trash and complete filth!

These are great! Love the Wuthering Heights one.

For my novel Pennance it would be: Paranoid haunted woman finds solace in company of neighbour's family - a mistake!

Thanks everyone. That's great feedback.

Hi,

I've been putting my website/blog together to support my novel, but am in two minds about including background information about the novel - mainly location information. Sometimes I like seeing photos that have inspired an author, or photos of real settings, especially if it's a unfamiliar location, other times I find it spoils my mental picture from reading the novel. I find it worse with
pictures of people.

What do you think? Is there any other background information you like associated with novels?

Clare

Paula wrote: "Clare wrote: "Lisbeth Salander. The conversation is likely to be dire, but maybe she could hack into Amazon and stick my book at number 1!"

Funny you mention this, Clare - I'm reading The Girl Wit..."

I'm really kicking myself about this series. I watched the film (Swedish version) of Tattoo after reading it, and then ended up watching all three of them. I'm hopeless at reading books I've already seen the film version of so I haven't read any further. If you don't mind subtitles, I can really recommend the films though - just for enjoying the fantastic settings if nothing else.

Lisbeth Salander. The conversation is likely to be dire, but maybe she could hack into Amazon and stick my book at number 1!