STRONG FOUNDATIONS....

So I'm working on an edit of a WIP. I have given this work to a cold reader, so I have her notes as I go back and work through. Looking at the big picture stuff as well as all those tiny niggly details. Some details are not tiny, as I've changed two characters names already...OMG the mistakes that causes!

I have begun to research how writers go through this structural edit.


I have looked at the Hero's journey...and all the many variations. I have noted where my novel meets these milestones...the 'call to adventure'.....the 'threshold guardians'.

And I have...

Gone off to play in the garden and dream of what will be.

This appears to be one of the many problems I face. Getting down to it. I'm so easily distracted.

I know I should be doing work. Research. Getting my head around...



But frankly I would much rather...


Be on a beach. Somewhere. Anywhere.

I put down some more notes, work on a chapter. Realise that since I've moved chapters around, a description of a character needs to take place earlier.

Hello distraction. I pat the cat, put on a load of washing. Watch the rain fall. Move a pot plant. Or seven. Realise something needs to be done with my horde of pot plants. 

Then I get back to it. 

This three act structure is new to me, learnt about it at a workshop a few months ago. So I read a bit more about it. Take a few notes. Ready for more research and then somehow realise an hour later, that I'm now on Pinterest gaining ideas for a new garden bed.

Forcing myself back, I set my phone's alarm to sound in twenty minutes. I focus. I work. I get up and begin to bake.

Yep....hello distractions....

But I find, even when I am baking/ washing / cleaning/ dreaming...the novel stays with me. I think of a moment that needs tightening. A character that needs a bit more oomph and how I can subtly do that. 

It will be slow a work in progress for quite a while. But it is progressing.


Even with a thousand distractions.

Vicki 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UNTITLED....

Image
I must admit to a difficult time thinking of titles. Most of my work at the beginning has a very bland and often generic title, simply because the computer needs a title to save the work. I do have autumn 1, autumn 2 etc...not to mention many poems that simply have a date as a title. Perhaps it would be better to say these are working titles. 29/05/12 is such a catchy title isn't it? Makes you really want to read it.... But when I do send my work out, not only do I edit, re-read and work on the pieces to make them the best I can, I work very hard on the title. Because this is the first thing an editor/publisher/ reader sees. And we do want it to stand out from the crowd, to grab attention. Every time I open a short story collection or a book of poetry I read the contents page.  Looking for a title that grabs my attention, that makes me smile, makes me ponder, wonder what that is about.  I'm sorry but having a poem entitled UNTITLED is a bit of a cop out. I am left t
Read more

PLANNING AHEAD...

Image
In my day job I do a lot of planning. In fact the school holiday program that runs for two weeks in January was planned four months ago. And we are just about to plan for the Easter school holidays. In so many ways, it is difficult to plan so far ahead. Once chosen, these programs are locked in. They are in booklets and flyers and are advertised. Not to be changed. We have no idea if a new theme or program will work until it has been tried and tested. Just because it works in another library, doesn't mean it will work in ours. Different space, different people, different reactions. And when we trial a new program, which we are next year, as well as new days and times for programs, it is a step into the unknown. Will they work? How long before we know? When can we tweak? When it comes to a lot of the programs, we have to give them a year. And of course during that year we are planning for the next year's programming. It is a continuous circle of planning months
Read more

WHEN YOU ARE FEELING BLUE....

Image
This post was going to be about something totally different but thought I would write down what exactly is happening now. At the moment I can feel that I'm heading for a blue patch. Frankly I want to do nothing more than curl up into bed and pretend the whole world has disappeared. I don't want to get out and about...don't want to talk to people, don't want to see them. Simply want to hibernate. This doesn't happen a lot to me, but it does happen. By now I can see the signs, know it's coming, so I ready myself to ride it out. There is a lot of positive talking. I attempt mindfulness...which as a born pessimist is extremely difficult to do. And I know I have it damned good. I have a very very good life. Have a husband and family that love me...two grandchildren I love to the moon and back, another about to be born. I have a job I love ...doing something that I'm not only good at but that helps the community. I am now volunteering at a Toy Lib
Read more