Thursday 19 July 2012

How To Edit A Novel.

My little brother, Ben, and I have come up with long routine which will ensure the correctness of the novel. Hopefully it will make it better as well.
We write a chapter, then hand it on to others to edit.
Here is the detailed routine we have created:
1) I write the chapter
2) Ben reads it over and adds whatever is needed
3) He sends the chapter back to me and I add it all in
4) Ben reads it over and hands it on to my Dad and Step Mum
5) I add in any edits they have made
6) I hand it on to my Mum
7) I add in any edits she has given
8) I hand it on to Maisie, who is outside the whole business so will have no preconceptions
9) At last, we move on to the next chapter.

It sounds rather grueling but most of the work is just attaching it to emails and having others read through and edit it for us!
It makes me feel sure that the chapter is the best it can be and will only be edited if changed are made to the novel as a whole - names of characters, of people, new characters, more things to mention etc.

In this way, I hope to succeed in make a successful novel!
I will be away for the next 10 or so days (on a camping holiday in Wales), however, I will not stop writing!
There will probably be some sort of advancement by the time I am back!
I hope to have a few more chapters written :) (Though, I doubt they will all have gone through the rough editing process.)
If chapters had feelings, this process would hurt!
So I say ciao for now :)
M. x

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Chapter Three

I've had countless read through's by friends and family for the first few chapters and have finally managed to sort all of the mistakes they pointed out. Most of them were grammatical but some were things that just weren't clear or just didn't make any sense.
I love to have someone outside my mind read through what I've written. They see it from such a different angle because they have to preconception of what happens next, what's supposed to happen or what used to happen.
It's very hard to proof read my own stuff I find!
Anyway, it was quite touching when, today, my Mum requested the next chapter. She said she was desperate to read on! I have only ever showed anyone the first two chapters of the story and in the third chapter, things change rather drastically!
You can tell things will change by the last chapter but it is not at all clear what the change will be.
So it's a nice thought to know that somebody is waiting for the next installment!
So that has pushed me to write it! Okay, so there's not much formed in it.
The new information coming in isn't very deep or thought-through.
I've decided some things that weren't there until very recently but I'm finding it hard to be imaginative when I'm this tired!
It's 1:54 am where I am. I know, it's stupid of me to stay up so late but, truthfully, I write best at night, for some reason.
So anyway, I've now made a detailed plan of what is to happen in the next part of the story, but the next chapter isn't very detailed yet.
In fact, it's rubbish and very unfinished.
I will have to get back to it tomorrow evening.
Yes, I will have to be nocturnal if I can only write best at night!
M. x

Thursday 12 July 2012

Chapters One and Two

Last night, my little brother and I sat down and wrote the beginning to our story.
It took, roughly, about an hour and a half! Maybe even longer...
I'm not entirely sure whether that's what is expected or not.
Did we right it fast or slowly?
Well anyway, once we'd finished it, we decided we'd leave it for the night and take another look at it the next day.
Before he got back from school today, I wrote the second chapter. I knew exactly what was meant to go into it so it wasn't actually too difficult!
When he got back from school, we printed them both out, and, with a red pen, switched parts around, cut bits out, added this and that, changed things and generally made it FAR better.
We now have two chapter which we are throroughly pleased with!
I have tried to sit down and write this so many times and each time I just couldn't come out with anything brilliant. But now I realise, it's not coming up with brilliance, it's just concentrating fully on the task in hand and simply doing it
So we've now managed to create the first two chapters of the book! 
I'm really happy about them and I'm really pleased we've managed to start writing! 
However, I'm not sure we can go much further yet as the depth of the coming chapters is not fully created. Creatures aren't fully understood, the exact events have been decided much yet. 
We have a lot of planning ahead to do!
One writer once said that the imagination goes into the planning but not into the writing. I totally disagree. Imagination is needed every step of the way!
M. x

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Eleven

Eleven is a scary number for me, so it is a bit scary that The Lightning and The Lightning Bug just happen to have chosen that number of any number.
They have asked us to write a story in 11 words. So here is my story. My horribly true story:

I turned Seven on September Eleventh. My house number is Eleven.

_______
Yes, my seventh birthday was on September 11th.
My house number is 11, I am a twin, the twin towers came down and the towers make the shape of an 11.
It means I have to have a minute of silence on my birthday (unless my birthday luckily lands on a Sunday.)
Now that I think about it, I realise I don't have to have a minute of silence anymore because I don't go to school anymore!
So my birthday can't land on a school day anymore!
Unless they force us into it in university.
I'm not a heartless bitch, I just don't want to think about such depressing things on my birthday!
No. This does not make me a terrorist!

M.x

Sunday 8 July 2012

Am I Being Stupid?

I have decided to just make myself write. I know the first few chapters now in great detail - but for some reason, I just can't get them down onto paper in an acceptable way...
By acceptable, I mean in in a way that doesn't make me cringe.
I'm now having second thoughts about my beginning. Shall I give my readers more time to understand my main character and the place she is in? Or shall I just leave it as it is?
But is this stupid?
I've been looking at writing help such as "Ten Top Tips for the first few chapters of your novel"
One of the tips was to start the novel when you've finished the rest.
In other words, do it right at the end of everything.
Today I did a big brain storm session with my little brother and we have now come up with characters, plots, new animals, adventures, questions etc. etc.
We have a lot of material now.
But now it needs writing!
Okay, so I know there are more details that need to be looked at but I really think it's time I just write anything onto paper and then read it through.
What I've been doing recently is writing a paragraph then editing it then deleting it entirely.
This, inevitably, gets me no where.
I'm just going to write and find out what spills out of my pen.
Do wish me bon chance!
M. x

Saturday 7 July 2012

Fear Has Caused Neglect

Neglect is, in this case, because of fear.
Yes. I admit it. I have been neglecting this blog.
I created my diary blog to give me something else to do and it turns out I must have created it because of my unknown feelings of fear and a bit of dread.
Truth is, I never really knew what to write about on this blog, so I did the A-Z and then talked about art and I tried to give some inspiration to other writers and I talked about books...but I never really talked about my book, purely because I didn't want to confront the fact that there was nothing to talk about.
Nothing was happening with my book.
So recently, I took action. I gathered millions of books from the living room downstairs which I thought might help me with the creation of the book. Fairy tales by the dozen, small books on insects, plants, birds and the stars; ancient Roman, Greek and Celtic myths and so on.
I envisioned myself being locked away in my room, studying hard on this and that.
Turns out that that is the stuff of movies.
People don't actually have to patience to sit inside and read and note all day. Or maybe I just have less patience than the people who do.
Now that I actually think about it, I realise that writing a novel is a much bigger feat than I ever thought.
When I started this, I thought it would be like creating my own fantasy world and then writing a story in it.
But then I became too ambitious.
I wanted it to be like a children's story with lots of hidden meanings and clever references throughout.
I now want to include each and every fairy-tale, myth and legend throughout while also adding in stuff of my own. But it turns out that that is not possible if I don't actually have the knowledge of myths, fairy-tales and legends.
My brilliant novel which is going to prove me to my family and friends is turning out to be a tad more difficult that I originally thought.
A tad.
It's a nightmare.
Where do I start?
The more I think about it, the more I freak out!
At this rate, only my research for it will be completed by the end of my gap year!
I will never complete this project in time, if ever!
Will I ever publish a book?
Will I end up looking like a fool to everyone who knows about my crazy ambition?

Breathe. I say to myself. Calm down.

Yes, I am the only one who can say calm down to myself, though it angers me a little just because of my associations with the saying. Anyone who knows me well will know that if they were to say "calm down" to me at any time, they may lose some of their teeth and find themselves with a purple jaw...

And then I stupidly decide to embark on another huge project - reading a book a week for a year. (Check my diary blog for details!)
http://ignorantbloggerdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/lively-brain-and-another-project.html

Too much all at once?
Hmm. I wonder. Will any of this ever get done? Do I actually have the patience to do all this at once?

And I suddenly find myself with a purple jaw and less teeth because I've told myself to calm down yet again.
Will I have any teeth left by the end of this year? Perhaps that's why I recently got terrible toothache and had to go for a million dentist appointments?
M. x
P.S. I apologise for any serious over-use of sarcasm and exaggeration.
P.P.S I have changed my blog background because I got bored of the old one. It seems childish and far too colourful for me now. I guess we all change over time and I have grown out of 'pretty' backgrounds! :) Although I no longer like my title thing, I can't bare to remove it yet! It took me SO long to create! And I don't know if I'd ever know how to put it back if I wanted to!

Monday 2 July 2012

Brain-Dead

Okay, so I'm not literally brain-dead - I am known for exaggerating.
I would've called this post Imagination-Dead but it doesn't sound as catchy...
Basically, I have had the most crazy weekend (will soon be explained on my diary blog) so my mind hasn't really been book-focused.
Now that the weekend is over, I am exhausted, sun burnt and craving all the home comforts at the same time!
So just give me some time to recover and I will be up and running again in no time!
M. x