Both Dave Pimm and Noel The Ultimate Proofreader have been invaluable in my revision of the beginning. Sorry for banging on about it, but I knew that, unless the beginning felt right, I would find the rest of the story difficult to write. I've got other projects that can keep me occupied well into a ripe old age, but nothing as big as this - on the immediate horizon, that is. It's just me. My thought processes. Or maybe not...
Without revealing private conversations, Dave believed I was overpowering the reader at too early a stage with the hero's thoughts, life, mood and stuff. Noel stated quite clearly that I needed a beginning that took over the reader's outlook, or perspective, of the story from the outset.
These two pieces of advice could be construed as meaning the same thing. Not so. At least, in the context of this story it is not so.
Noel believed that I had to hold the attention of the reader from the first line. Produce something dramatic. Create something deep.
Dave believed the same, but that I was digging too deep within that idea.
Taking these, and my own idea of the kind of beginning I had to write for myself, I've arrived at something I feel quite happy about.
Given that I've written lots more stuff about it all, together with a timeline of events, the future of this dark story seems bright.
The pieces are beginning to fit...
Monday, 5 May 2014
Sunday, 4 May 2014
Back to the beginning
We'd all like to start any project with a great beginning that worked first time. I've never been that lucky - or should it be: I've never been that good! Still, once you get there, or believe you have got there, it doesn't matter. Hopefully, you've learned from it and can then build on it. We'll see.
I was always rather disturbed that I couldn't get the opening lines right. I always envisaged a poem and other things, leading up to the beginning itself. It's important to have a vision. You must have one. At least, I think so. It's there now. I feel better about how things look, how things feel. Of course, it can be improved, polished. It's important to keep looking, refining.The prologue needs a slight makeover, but it must remain. You have to be you, and you have to ensure that the writing reflects that.
One thing I don't have to worry about is where the next chapter is coming from. The timeline I established ensures I only need to check where I should be, and where I should be going, to know what to do next. I don't have to follow that course if I don't want to - choosing the next chapter to write may be my personal choice at that time - but it helps enormously to have a course of events at hand. A form of security. I'll never write a chapter in a day, and I may never write anything of note, but I will have written it in the way I wanted. Important, that.
Incidentally, and I won't go into much detail, but in a discussion with a friend concerning Game Of Thrones (I've not read a thing of it, nor watched a minute of the series, and was told it had dragons and knights and violence and intrigue), I made a prediction: that it was American-written, American-produced, and the writer was no longer writing for himself but for the series. It couldn't have been written by a British writer, nor handled by a British concern. This all started during a discussion about King Arthur - my beef here being that why would anyone be fighting Vikings and Saxons in Glastonbury. A legend is a legend, but the surrounding facts and circumstances needed to be real enough to suspend disbelief. Arthur is a Northerner. Far north, and east. Any story based in the south was pure fantasy ;-) I was proven right about Game Of Thrones, which shocked my friend, who loves it and watches it religiously. I'm sure it's good. Wouldn't argue otherwise. I was rather pleased, though, to realise I knew more about the UK literary and fantasy industry than I thought. Hopefully, my judgment as to what to write about next - coloured by my experience with previous fantasy submissions to agents and publishers - has sent me in the right direction with regard to my own influences. Still, have a look for youself at the circumstances surrounding Game Of Thrones, then look at your British fantasy writers. What on earth happened here????? An argument for another day...
Getting back to my beginning... I'm over that rather large and awkward hump in the road. There are a few more to come, but I'm optimistic. Like most writers :-)
My optimism drew me to having a look at agents. The submission process has changed - Ha! quite a lot of literary agents insist on email submissions - or else! It used to be the opposite. I've withdrawn from that look. When it has been written, then I'll send. The list of agents may have changed by then, even in a few months.
So, on I go. No promises - there can't be - just that I'll write it.
:-)
I was always rather disturbed that I couldn't get the opening lines right. I always envisaged a poem and other things, leading up to the beginning itself. It's important to have a vision. You must have one. At least, I think so. It's there now. I feel better about how things look, how things feel. Of course, it can be improved, polished. It's important to keep looking, refining.The prologue needs a slight makeover, but it must remain. You have to be you, and you have to ensure that the writing reflects that.
One thing I don't have to worry about is where the next chapter is coming from. The timeline I established ensures I only need to check where I should be, and where I should be going, to know what to do next. I don't have to follow that course if I don't want to - choosing the next chapter to write may be my personal choice at that time - but it helps enormously to have a course of events at hand. A form of security. I'll never write a chapter in a day, and I may never write anything of note, but I will have written it in the way I wanted. Important, that.
Incidentally, and I won't go into much detail, but in a discussion with a friend concerning Game Of Thrones (I've not read a thing of it, nor watched a minute of the series, and was told it had dragons and knights and violence and intrigue), I made a prediction: that it was American-written, American-produced, and the writer was no longer writing for himself but for the series. It couldn't have been written by a British writer, nor handled by a British concern. This all started during a discussion about King Arthur - my beef here being that why would anyone be fighting Vikings and Saxons in Glastonbury. A legend is a legend, but the surrounding facts and circumstances needed to be real enough to suspend disbelief. Arthur is a Northerner. Far north, and east. Any story based in the south was pure fantasy ;-) I was proven right about Game Of Thrones, which shocked my friend, who loves it and watches it religiously. I'm sure it's good. Wouldn't argue otherwise. I was rather pleased, though, to realise I knew more about the UK literary and fantasy industry than I thought. Hopefully, my judgment as to what to write about next - coloured by my experience with previous fantasy submissions to agents and publishers - has sent me in the right direction with regard to my own influences. Still, have a look for youself at the circumstances surrounding Game Of Thrones, then look at your British fantasy writers. What on earth happened here????? An argument for another day...
Getting back to my beginning... I'm over that rather large and awkward hump in the road. There are a few more to come, but I'm optimistic. Like most writers :-)
My optimism drew me to having a look at agents. The submission process has changed - Ha! quite a lot of literary agents insist on email submissions - or else! It used to be the opposite. I've withdrawn from that look. When it has been written, then I'll send. The list of agents may have changed by then, even in a few months.
So, on I go. No promises - there can't be - just that I'll write it.
:-)
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