Quantity versus Quality

I used to think that it was incredibly important to get my writing as good as possible straight away.  I spent a lot of time writing directly onto my personal computer and then editing and re-editing the work.

I got very little done and nothing published.

My approach these days is to write by hand and not worry if I do not get it right first time around.  Creative writing is an iterative process. Its important to realise that nobody can write a story all in one go.  Not if its going to be any good.  Get 'black on white' as they say (I actually used a blue tipped pen at the moment but hey!) get something substantial to work with and worry about details and revising at a latter date.

I wrote chapter one and half of chapter two of my novel today using this approach.  Providing you have an outline / plan for your work it will be okay.

Location, Location, Location!

In my upcoming novel I am attempting to create a visceral sense of place.  I am setting the story in a alternative future for the Stroud Valleys.  Should be fun!

I see my novel coming to life more every day. Every where I go i see potential settings and my imagination is running riot.

Its really important to be able to strongly visualise the geography of the story. If I can't see how it will look how can anyone else?

Of course the beauty of fiction is that, well its fiction... Poetic License is a wonderful thing and I'm enjoying tweaking the 'look' of my home town.  Hopefully its going to a fun experience for the readers as much as it has been for me in the design stage.

So no more spoilers from me.

Too many projects and not enough time!

There are times in my life where I struggle to find ideas for writing and other times when my imagination is like a powerhouse...

Talking to other writers over the years I have found that a common problem is spreading the creative assets we all have too thinly.  I can only really make progress on a writing project (or anything else in fact) when I shut out all the competing pressures and distractions.  These include other writing projects!

I've been working on various ideas for years.  One major source of inspiration was my time at university where I spent far too many hours role playing (and drinking!).  That time was fantastic fun and has given me a lot of material for my current work. Too much at times.  It is the ability to organise and express the ideas bubbling in his or her head that makes a writer successful. 

One thing at a time Fisk!

I am the worst offender when it comes to dashing off onto a wild goose chase.  I currently have two novels in the design stage and a number of short works pending.  I also have a day job.   Being prolific is great but it has too be done in serial rather than a parallel manner.

I'll give more details of projects underway soon.  Until then enjoy your writing.

Successful weekend of 'Word Bashing!'

Yesterday (Saturday) I managed to complete the rough draft of my short story 'The Coming of the God'  It will (very soon) be ready for publication as an ebook.  I hope to have it available on www.smashwords.com and later on the ibookstore, Amazon, Kobo and maybe some other places. 

It will be a free download.

The way I write is to use the tried and tested method of pen and paper.  I design the story on paper listing the concepts and themes I wish to explore and I make a list of the major points in the plot that are likely to occur.  I'm not bound by this design. Its just a guide and the story supersedes it.

Once the rough draft is done (The stage I'm at with 'The Coming of the God') I need to put the words into Microsoft Word.  from there the revising process begins.  After a proof check the document can be formatted for publication.  For Google that means a PDF and an Epub file to be generated.  Other channels have other requirements (ie Amazon likes plain HTML for its KDP conversion process. It will accept other formats but the Kindle Direct Publishing route works best for simple HTML)

And then publication.  And promotion. I am not there yet but I am working on it!

I will post more details when I've reached the next stage.

Where do the ideas come from?

If I had the luxury of choice I would spend my life as a 'Professional Daydreamer'... If I did that and wrote it all down I would be a writer. If that writing was sufficiently cogent and was acknowledged by others I could claimed to be a published author.

Well ideas come from all kinds of places.  A writer needs to do his or her research but the starting point is a spark of inspiration for a story or a character or both.  'Internal Research' is a term sometimes used by writers... 'Daydreaming' is the correct phrase I feel!  I'm not belittling the importance of this process.  The continual renewal of ideas is absolutely esstential to writing a novel or even a short story.

My ideas come to me at the most inconvenient of times.  When I'm driving my car and don't have the ability to make notes for example. Or in the middle of the night and I just don't want to make notes! I've a long history of dreaming up stories from seemingly nothing.  Its good to point out that reading other peoples work plays a very important role in the shaping of a writers craft.  But the subconscious has to be used to filter and 'mix up' the imaginative inputs in order to produce a unique output.

I'm currently working on various short fictional works.  I also have a couple of novels planned out and will be putting pen to paper again on them very soon (I do use a 'pen' rather than a computer at first instance.  More on that later)

That's enough for now.  I hope to post to this blog at least once a week so more will follow soon.

New beginnings

Well its been a little while since I kept a Blog.  This one is going to be about the great love of my life that is creative writing.  I've been trying to put a book together for more years than I'd like to think about.  I've tried writing straght onto a computer but finally I'm making progress by handwriting the stories. 

The problem I currently face is that a friend of mine suggested I look through my old notes and 'see what you can discover'...hmm thanks mate!.. Two complete novel designs...Gizillions of stort story ideas I can't concentrate on it all, my head hurts!... Actually I do need to work on one project at a time.  

Well next time I post I will describe my writing process and maybe hint at some of the pieces I hope to publish soon.