During the whole process I have found out that I am better in writing emotional scenes than scenes that are just there to connect everything. When writing the emotional scenes, I can actually place myself in the position of the protagonist and feel the phase that she is going through as if I am living it myself. It is so real and costs me so much energy, that sometimes I am completely exhausted after writing it! It also makes me feel like I want to take some distance from what I just wrote.
May 1st, the deadline, is approaching fast all of a sudden. When I promised my friend 150 pages to take to the publisher, I might have been slightly overoptimistic. Right now I have written about 80 pages. I will do my very best to finish the 150, but in the end I think it is more important to deliver a good story than quantity.
Yesterday I have found another novice writer through Twitter, or better said, she found me. She has found a publisher already and is working on the cover of the book now. That made me think again about a title. Right now the story still has very uninspiring titles like 'version 1.1', 'version 1.2' etc. I want to make sure that I do not overwrite something without being able to go back to the way it was written before. After all, the book has had several beginnings already. Anyway, I trust on the fact that a title will come up somewhere, somehow... Love, M.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Milestone
- Writing is a verb -
Last week I have reached my first milestone: the first ten chapters of my book are finished! Okay, they still need to be rewritten and some things might need to be added, but considered all this, it feels pretty good to have completed this part! All of a sudden it is the beginning of a real story with body, where characters come alive. The good thing about the way I started, with writing short stories per chapter, is that I have already written some material to use later on in the book.
Apart from writing I still keep on doing research per topic. Still looking for tips on how to improve myself as a novice writer as well. I keep on searching for information, confirmation and input to check if I am still on the right track. The question came to mind: 'What makes a novel a GOOD novel?' Well, that depends on who you ask, as it mostly based on personal taste. Of course there are guidelines and formulas to write a book, especially a novel. A great website to consult for this is www.schrijvenonline.org with many forums and tips from professional writers. Another thing I am doing at the moment is rereading novels, with the eyes of a writer this time, to analyze them.
I have summarized tips and personal opinions of readers and came to quite a list. Are you ready? Here it comes! A good story: needs to be original, unpredictable, exclusive and credible, has lively characters, is written in clear language and a fluent way, triggers emotions with the reader, gives the reader something to think about, has to have continuity, contains some threat, mystery or suspense, 'draws' the reader into the world of the book, challenges the reader to come to new insights, provokes the imagination of the reader, shows good research and, last but not least, seduces the reader to read it more than once... Still a long way to go, but I am enjoying the view along the way!, Love, M.
Last week I have reached my first milestone: the first ten chapters of my book are finished! Okay, they still need to be rewritten and some things might need to be added, but considered all this, it feels pretty good to have completed this part! All of a sudden it is the beginning of a real story with body, where characters come alive. The good thing about the way I started, with writing short stories per chapter, is that I have already written some material to use later on in the book.
Apart from writing I still keep on doing research per topic. Still looking for tips on how to improve myself as a novice writer as well. I keep on searching for information, confirmation and input to check if I am still on the right track. The question came to mind: 'What makes a novel a GOOD novel?' Well, that depends on who you ask, as it mostly based on personal taste. Of course there are guidelines and formulas to write a book, especially a novel. A great website to consult for this is www.schrijvenonline.org with many forums and tips from professional writers. Another thing I am doing at the moment is rereading novels, with the eyes of a writer this time, to analyze them.
I have summarized tips and personal opinions of readers and came to quite a list. Are you ready? Here it comes! A good story: needs to be original, unpredictable, exclusive and credible, has lively characters, is written in clear language and a fluent way, triggers emotions with the reader, gives the reader something to think about, has to have continuity, contains some threat, mystery or suspense, 'draws' the reader into the world of the book, challenges the reader to come to new insights, provokes the imagination of the reader, shows good research and, last but not least, seduces the reader to read it more than once... Still a long way to go, but I am enjoying the view along the way!, Love, M.
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