A look into the future

As you know, I've spent a lot of time at the beginning of my latest work, looking at it from different angles and deciding which is the best way to begin. Writing it all out has been a new and learning experience as I had a lot of information already to hand. It feels like I'm not having to try too hard to write it all out in full. Slightly worrying, but if that is the effect of planning, the premeditated thought, then maybe that's how it will be throughout.
However, I do know that at some stage I'm going to have to call a halt and take stock as to where I am with it all. I do have some chapters already written from a while back, which seem to fit neatly after the new chapters I've done for the beginning. That is a real positive.
However, regardless of how many chapters I've done, and how many fit together, I'm going to have to stand behind the prologue, look down the line, and see if my story is going in the direction I've planned. And if not, decide if it's the best way to go, or whether I should attempt to change things to make it go where I planned.
This is on top of simply looking at what I've done thus far and checking that the writing is as good as it can be.
Anyone writing a book should do this on a regular basis. There should be no greater critic/editor/proofreader/reader than yourself. You have to develop an eye for problems in your own work. Not just problems, either, but positives, good things.
It's difficult when it's all such a subjective process. So, you have to become objective about your own work. Not simple.
One of the best ways of achieving this is to put your work down, close it all up, and leave it. Not just for a day or two, but for at least a week, maybe two. Enter it in your diary, or your computer reminder system. If you think of anything during this time, then think about it, properly, but not deliberately (let thoughts happen, don't force them) and write anything from this on separate sheets of paper. Then, at the end of that time, go back to your work. You will have removed yourself sufficiently enough to view your work with a little less subjectivity, and I promise this will help you look at things in a better light.
It doesn't take long to begin writing, or amending, and for you to become subjective again, so don't worry about that - you do want to be published, after all!
That's how I do it.

How does it feel?

I was watching America's Got Talent tonight. Having a laugh at Leonid (who I found very entertaining, but impossible to place in any kind of category), a thought occurred to me: 'What would people think of my latest work? How would they regard it?'
The thought had occurred to me ages ago, actually. It's the writer's job to persuade the reader of its merits, so I didn't dwell too heavily on it at the time.
A funny one. My subjective opinion would always hold anything I've done in a sympathetic light. Now that I've begun to write the story proper, and I understand where I'm going with it, I feel I have enough information to go on in order to gauge some kind of public (hopefully!) perception. It's probably evident that I'm enjoying what I'm doing and that's the reason I'm thinking in this way. I don't really want to get ahead of myself with anything I'm doing, but it was a thought that seemed worth exploring.
Music has played a hugely important part of my life, as it does in yours, I'm sure. One of my favourite songs from way back is 'Off The Wall'. I can't listen to it enough times to be sick of hearing it.
I don't mind saying that I believe that this is a serious story. It opens that way and continues in that vein mostly throughout. But there are lighter moments, too, and hopefully with the darker shades will provide a very fruitful contrast whenever they occur.
Yeah, at this early stage, off the wall would seem a valid description. This may still be true of it later, although I do hope that there would be a lot more to add to this description than that. But, for now, off the wall is good.
I've added Off The Wall to the Crawfish video. I wonder what Elvis would have thought of Jacko at his height. He was always complimentary to other acts, but I'd have loved to have heard his opinion.

Great Expectations

Taking Maria's lead, I had a quick look back at what I like to read. And it really was a quick look, as my head is full of thoughts for future writing.
Once again, I found myself amazed at how similar are the writing styles of Great Expectations and The Lord Of The Rings. To me, they could have been written by the same person. The attention to detail is immense. Fabulous works, both. So similar, yet from such different times.
But would they be published today? I wouldn't have a clue. Time moves on and the writing world moves with it. Different wants, different needs.
Koontz and Banks have that touch.
Lots to look at, lots to read later, as that's as far as I can go. I've set them all aside.
A note to myself: study the masters; don't try to become them. Stand on your own.

Accessibility

I remember when Sword was first rejected. Six times in a row from the first six sendings-off to agents. I got some great replies, with compliments on my writing and bits of advice. But ultimately all said 'no'. Boy did it hurt.
'Never mind,' I told myself. 'Keep trying. Someone will want it.'
No they didn't. I got a barrowload of rejections. The most-used reason was 'I can't find a market for it.' The hurt never lessened. Sword now lies in a drawer.
I've since written other things - short stories, the beginning of a short story series, and I've plans for a children's story, although nothing written on that front yet.
Everything has been set aside, though, while I write my latest work.
Once again, I will not entertain rejection. The most important lesson I learned was that without the market, you will be lost. You must have some kind of unique selling point, and you must have market appeal. I'm not writing it from a marketing angle - for me, that would be literary suicide, and a soulless venture - but I do have an eye on the market. Hopefully, I will be proved right. At this point, I don't believe that I'm wrong. And I believe in what I'm doing, and really enjoy the feeling of it all unfolding before me. The more modern style allows me to write quicker, and the chapters (so far) are smaller than Sword. Is that significant? Possibly another confirmation of my new style. Getting there...

The mind is an amazing thing

Having finished the first two chapters, give or take a word or two, I started looking at the third chapter.
Incidentally, I was always leaning towards a prologue and a first chapter with these first two pieces. When I read the first page of the second chapter down the phone to Noel the Ultimate Proofreader, his immediate reaction was that this sounded more like a first chapter. So, it seems I was right: prologue and first chapter.
The prologue does bother me a little: I like it very much, and it establishes a beginning way into the past while introducing three of the people in the tale. Hmmm, but does it detract from the first chapter? Does it reduce its effect, somehow? A question for later, with a fresher outlook, as they both exist and my thoughts are a bit too subjective right now.
Back to this next chapter, I became a bit anxious - I hadn't really got a next chapter to hand, and was unsure as to what it should be. To the point where I couldn't think of one.
I began to look through my notes. Inspiration was needed.
Suddenly, there it was: three quarters the way down a page I had drawn a line. Underneath, and continuing on the next page, were some notes about a passage that needed to occur near the beginning of the story. I knew about it, and sometimes thought about it now and again, but had put it to one side while I began the beginning. It seems to be a perfect fit. I won't know until later, but it feels like it.
Amazing how you can think of something and not realise why you thought of it. Is this why I couldn't think of a following chapter? Because I had already thought of it? Perhaps there is no better way forward in the story and that's why I couldn't think of another one.
Writing life!

Beginning to dream...

Having half-throttled this cold, and feeling so much better, I took up my latest work again and went over the first two chapters. Things needed to be done, I realised (I knew beforehand, but hoped my last impression wasn't wholly correct).
I finished last night at about 2 a.m., and rather liked what I'd done. This was now so much more how I imagined it would feel. Reading it over again a few times more helped me to retire to bed in a rather buoyant mood.
This morning my cold still bothered me a bit, but not as bad as previously. And I still felt that something extra was needed for me to feel that I could step forward to the third chapter - a chapter which, in the back of my mind, I probably haven't written or created either in my notes or even in my head. Tonight will discover more on that.
I made further adjustments to the second chapter. Suddenly it clicked - I realised I was completing this first passage, not looking for problems or clues. And it reads like a dream. Totally divorced from my fantasy style, written in a modern english and pushing along, with thought, description and action all intermingled. Well, not totally divorced - I like a bit of poetry and description, but I've developed a new style that encompasses everything I've done, but written in a modern way.
I'm sure I'll get better at it as I carry on. Not worrying about it though, as the answers are all there in front of me.
Now then, this third chapter... tonight!

Bug Hunt!

No, I haven't been watching Aliens - I've got one of the worst cases of man-flu ever! Holland & Barrett's share price went through the roof after I raided their shop today. I got Aloe Vera, ginger capsules, garlic capsules, organic green tea, organic wildflower honey (not sure I like the honey), and, just for a bit more comfort, Green & Black's organic hot chocolate. I'm assured it's the best, but I'm sitting covered in sweat from head to toe after a bowl of homemade soup, so I think I better leave that until tomorrow. Oh, and I got some bananas and red grapes, too, with balsam impregnated tissues for afters.
What this means is that I'm in no fit state to write tonight. This is actually a good thing, as I've already revised the first two chapters - they read great (to my way of thinking). I'm getting more and more under the skin of the story; the layers are beginning to peel back, revealing more than I knew was there. It's that belief thing again - once you start doing it, the doubts begin to fade away.
Giving my eyes and brain a rest for a day or two is often the best way of ensuring improvement, if improvement is necessary - you give it all a fresher read the next time.
It still hasn't stopped me thinking about things, and though I know I shouldn't get too far ahead of myself, I'm having thoughts about the second book - title, storyline, why, how etc.
I also need to think very carefully as to where the flashbacks should occur in this first book, and how I should handle their content.
Need a tissue again - catch you later!

Two chapters!

I have actually written more than two chapters, but now I have what feel like the very first two chapters. The style is much more akin to the short stories I wrote as practice for writing full novels. Certainly, the literary style I employed in writing sword fantasy seems rather a long way away from my current style. Mentally, this is causing me a problem, as I always feel that I should be using more of a poetic lyric to get my point across. I know that I will, and so I should if I can. Me, the eternal artist! Uppermost in my mind, however, is an overriding desire that this latest work must be accessible to anyone, irrespective of their genre preferences - though this is definitely not a children's story, nor a story that should be given to children to read.
Neither chapter is the finished article - I may discover something later that may cause me to add to them, or remove something from them. But the main text is there. Moulding them into shape, the mental 'prodding', has begun, so I do feel that I'm writing the story proper, and not dabbling with it, or sparring around it.
I can write parts of this beginning better, so that is what I'm looking to do. Before I go any further I'm going to make it better. But it's good as it stands now, so if I can make it even better then what more could I ask of myself?
At the moment, it's all a ball of fire - but a fire I want to maintain throughout.
Exciting! Frightening!!

Cold, is wisdom

'Just keep thinking' was great advice! Well, it is my blog, set up to chronicle and assist me as I write my latest work. I nearly closed it down, once, but solvey (he of the maggotfarm) persuaded me not to. Glad he did!
I have, at last, managed to find a new name for Leon. In keeping with my agreement with Noel the Ultimate Proofreader (and he is 100% correct), I really mustn't discuss my latest story in any more detail than that. So I won't reveal what I'm writing about until I've written more than enough to enable me to send it to agents - in about six months, perhaps.
It's such a strange feeling coming up with this new name and substituting it for the old one. It feels rather like a betrayal, as I've been using the name Leon for a couple of years - from the first idea until the planning and writing I've thus far achieved.
There is already a book and film about someone called Leon, neither of which have been viewed by me. I know next-to-nothing about them, not even whether either, or both, were successful - though I know that Gary Oldman was in the film, so I guess I probably would enjoy the film, at least.
I feel a whole lot better for finding a new name - one that I can't find reference to in anyone else's story. Still can't relax, though. How can I, when I've really only just begun writing it all out in full? It's still great fun, but it's also become very serious. Serious fun - you can't beat it!

Just keep thinking

Every now and then, during the course of writing, you hit on a problem. Something doesn't match up; something doesn't follow. A bit like tripping on a paving stone: with a bit of forethought, a bit of care, you would have seen it coming and you wouldn't have tripped up.
However, some paving stones look perfectly fine - until you step on them and they tilt into a small hole, splashing your shoes and trousers with muddy water, and sometimes even worse things than that.
Yep, sometimes you can't see the problem until you've finished a piece of writing and have read it back. Well, don't panic. Just think. That's all you need to do. Don't gloss over things, don't pass over it, believing: 'Oh, no-one will notice.' They will. The people who will get you published will see, for a start: the agents, the editors. Your intended audience won't get the chance to see.
It's amazing, really, the number of times I think I've hit on a problem which threatens to send my latest story in a different direction to the one I intended it to take. It happens on a regular basis. Complications set in. Life is complicated, after all. But solutions can be found to anything if you put your mind to it.
The answer is to just think. You'll get round it. You'll think of something. Just don't panic, don't get the creeps. Just think. It can take a while for the answer to come through - days, weeks even. But it will.

Then I had an idea!

Taking a giant leap forward, I was thinking about the ending. How does it end? What are the circumstances leading up to it? Is it a valid ending?
Then I had an idea: the ending itself, happening where it does, leaves unanswered questions. Questions so important that they demand a second book be written in order to arrive at the answers. Fantastic! I now have something tangible upon which to base a second book - and, just as important, there is always the possibility of a third book. Only veiled thoughts of the future have happened inside my head, but they are there, growing.
Perhaps, some day soon I hope, the idea upon which the third book is to be based will come to me.
I do know that there doesn't have to be a third book, nor even a second. It's the quality that counts, not the quantity. At the very least for me. Just I always have to explore the possibility of future works.
Getting there...

About 30 pages...

I had a good look last night at everything I'd done in the way of planning and writing for the beginning of the book. Not strictly all of it, just what I thought was relevant to the very beginning.
I've got roughly 30 pages of handwritten notes concerning everything. And some chapters already typed up, which I didn't look at.
After a short while, I began to feel really pleased with what I'd done so far. The history, where it all began, was taking shape and the relevance to the present and the future was a lot clearer than it had been. As ever, the problem lies with that dreaded word 'exposition'. In this story, it's vital, and the illustration of it equally so.
I've just mentioned history. Well, this particular history began hundreds of years ago, and the absolute beginning is either a prologue, or the first chapter. Not 100% sure which, just yet. The explanations are really rooted way in the past, with the present and future continuations of this past.
Flashbacks. Can't do it any way else. Frightening! If they work, brilliant - if they don't, disaster! The first piece is a flashback on its own and works really well, introducing three of the people in the story very well. Just gotta be careful.
But I really like what I've done. Really like it - though I'm scared to death of it all, too!
Noel the Ultimate Proofreader likes it, too, and is as aware as I am that I have to get everything completely right. His laser-light questions and observations have me thinking long into the night.
It's clear that I'm spending a huge amount of time looking at the beginning. It feels like I'm on a knife edge, which is great - if the story, the narrative, can reflect this knife edge, then I will be doing rather well.