Friday 31 August 2012

Lost And Found Prompt


Here is a piece of fiction I made up on the spot and wrote in about 10 minutes for The Lightning And The Lightning Bug:
Lost And Found
My Mum lost herself when her unborn baby, Katy, died. I was 16 at the time and I didn’t fully understand what was happening. She hid away in her room from the rest of the world for years. She forgot about me, her only son, and that she already had a family. It was as if Katy had been her sole purpose in life and without any purpose, she had no reason to live.

She didn’t have the courage to actually stop living. She just pretended she wasn’t alive. She sulked a lot and ate a lot of toast, dropping crumbs everywhere or she curled up in her bed and Dad had to sleep on the sofa.
We phoned up Grandma for help but even she couldn’t do anything. Dad then invested in a sofa bed and from then on, it was as if life had been paused for them.

But my life was changing all the time. My future was moulding itself and they didn’t have a place in it. I moved out and went to live with my best friend, Charlie. My parents didn’t say anything.
Grandma decided it was time to do something. So she sent her away to some sort of hospital for mentally unstable patients.

Without a family, I became the independent one in my friendship group. I got a full-time job in a local cafe after I left College, then bought myself a small flat in a tall building in London.

It was thirty years later when I saw my Mum again. I regularly met up with Dad and he gave me updates on her stability but I hadn’t actually seen her for 30 years!

At last, she came back home again – a very different person.

And do you know what made her find herself again? Ducks.

Yes, ducks. See, she’d fallen in love with Dad when they were sitting together feeding ducks. Although she hadn’t found what she used to be and would never be herself again, she did find her sanity. She found what she had turned into. It was like she had woken from a coma.

The ducks were in a small pond outside one the countless hospitals she went to. All she needed was something to jog her memory, like an electric current lighting up all the memories in her life. Dad had gone to visit her and she had been no better than she had been the week before but she was slowly getting better. He took her outside to the ducks and said the same words he had said to her the day she fell in love with him.

Isn’t it funny how one small thing can be so big to someone else?

Isn’t it funny that we always think of the many ways we could help, but we never actually consider whether they would actually help or not?

Isn’t it funny how one small gesture can fix so much?

This should be a lesson to us all.


Chapter Six

I've decided I don't care how many people are listening. This blog is for me to look at how far I have come with the novel. I want to be able to have a database of the stepping stones I've made.
So last Saturday, I packed to go to Italy the next day. (We went for 5 days)

That night, after packing, I had a sudden idea of how to start chapter six! It was strange - I'm so used to doing it in order that I didn't think jazzing it up would do anything! In fact, I thought jazzing it up would simply make the whole process more complicated!
But it turns out that it that provided me with a future, so that I'm not making up my character's tomorrows as I go. There is an aim now and everything that happens all has to lead up to this chapter six that I've just written (which might turn into chapter seven).

Friday 24 August 2012

Is Anybody Out There?!!!

What has happened to this blog? It started off okay but it doesn't really seem to be going anywhere now. So much else is happening in my life that I don't have the time to focus on exactly what to say in each post.
You know, I used to write out each post on Word just to make sure it was good and then I'd copy it on here. I bet that's what everyone else but me does.
Well. Rambling doesn't appear to work. Nobody reads this anymore.

Is The Real Struggle Broken?

I sat down with my Little Brother yesterday and we did a few hours' proper work on chapter four. I think we've pretty much got through it!
Okay, so it needs patching up and I haven't actually written the middle bit yet but I know exactly what to write!
It's just such a dull chapter to write! I think I need to get used to writing about people and relationships rather than what is actually happening at every second of every moment. Barely anything happens in this chapter - that is why I was finding it hard to write!
So I made the simple decision to write little about what is actually happening and, instead, write about the people, the place and the past!
At last, I may have got through this horrible writers' block!
I say 'may have' because I haven't started chapter five yet and that might be as difficult!
Positivism, I say to myself. Positivism is key.
Before yesterday, I had just sat down for a few hours each day doing epic research into mythologies and myths and legends and folk stories and so on. My novel will be piled up to the roof with ancient stories! Okay, it won't be dominated by them but it will have the hints of them all around! :)
M. x

Monday 20 August 2012

A Real Struggle

I would love to say that chapter four is coming along nicely but it is, in fact, the exact opposite!
Ben and I are hugely struggling! We know what is meant to happen in the chapter, but we really don't know what to write, how to make it interesting and how to introduce the reader to the new characters!
I think we need to add depth to the whole situation we have got our main character into.
She is currently living with a whole new society and culture to her own.
We could add a religion?
I need to work on the character's personalities!
I need to understand the culture more and make it far more detailed.
At the moment, I hardly know what it would be like for her there so, all in all, chapter four is a while away!
We are really struggling with this and are desperate to get this chapter done and dusted!
It is a slow chapter - it's not as exciting as the first 3 because we think there has to be a bit of downtime after such an adventure.
Well. We shall see how it goes! I worry that I won't have enough time to write the whole book but, then again, I have about 13 months left!
I am currently doing some research into myths, legends, folk stories and mysteries which could influence me in some way. I am also considering using some directly.
Wish me luck in the writing of the next chapter!
This is what they call writer's block, I guess. Yes. It's the epitome of writers block!
M. x
P.S. Feel free to participate in my poll! I'm interested in seeing what people think is the best fantasy novel out of a choice of 5 novels. It is somewhere on the side bar -->

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Trains

Trains are inspiring. Don't ask me why, they just are!
When I'm on a train, ideas just come to me! Maybe it's because you have so much time to just think, watch, listen and look. (I know looking and watching seem the same thing but, believe me, they are really different!).
When J.K. Rowling is on train she happens to create childhoods for a whole generation and more! She first had the idea of Harry Potter when she was on a train.
So I like trains. I get ideas on trains. So does J.K. Rowling. I like being like J.K. Rowling!
So anyways...while on my 5 hour train journey to Glasgow yesterday, I created games and food and plants and bits and bobs that will hopefully add depth to everything.
Now that I have a relatively quite week in Glasgow, I'm going to try and write a lot more of my book. I haven't got as far as I hoped I would!
M. x

Monday 6 August 2012

Kayaking Adventure

For the last three days, I have been on a kayaking trip down the Wye with my Dad, Step Mum and Little Brother. (Details are on my diary blog)
While Kayaking, I could see long green weeds below me, that actually looked like some sort of weird creature. I have incorporated these into my story and have decided that my two main characters should travel somewhere down a river in wooden kayaks and should get attacked by these creatures.

I now have the basic outline of 2 books - but this project is to complete the first book, so I mustn't get too far ahead of myself!
I'm still struggling with writing chapter four of this book, but I'll hopefully find some time to work on it in the next week in Scotland.
I will be bringing my laptop with me so I'm not disappearing again!
I have planned the events up to 13 chapters, I just need to write it now!
Chapter Three is well and truly on it's way - it is right in the middle of it's editing process
:)
There's not much more to update you on....
Updates on my life in general will be found at my diary blog :)
http://ignorantbloggerdiary.blogspot.co.uk/
Hope that life is good in general for all readers :)
I apologise that my posts have been relatively boring recently - this novel isn't nearly as exciting as I thought it would be.
Or maybe I'm just being pessimistic? I'm in a bit of a dull, down mood, as you can tell.
If you want to know, It's because I'm desperate to just spend some time at home and relax, writing, reading, doing whatever, but I'm packing to go away from home for the third time since July 18th.
I'm tired of going away from home.
And when I'm not feeling particularly happy about something, I find it hard to "switch on the light", as J.K. Rowling puts it...
So there's a little lesson about my personal psychology...
I hope everyone else is feeling brighter than I am!
M. x

Wednesday 1 August 2012

Walks On The Hills

While I've been camping in Wales, I have been adding to the novel.
I would love to say that chapter four is coming on nicely but I can't say it is I'm afraid!
I'm really struggling to make it interesting for the reader and for me to write! At the moment, it is just plain boring! I've decided that after all the drama in the first three chapters, the reader is now in need of some down time to take in everything that's just happened.

Apparently I'm not very good at writing about down-time.

So chapter four may take a while as I need to play around with it a bit more!
Chapter three is up and running in the editing side of things!
It's mum's turn to do the editing!

While in Wales, I took walks on the hills and cliff paths to clear my head and to wake me up in the mornings. This has given me some inspiration for places and objects, humour and details. My walks on the hills gave me a lot of inspiration for a lot of things and, will thought and imagination, will hopefully set me on a straight path again!
I'm thinking of skipping past this difficult chapter four and going straight on to the next chapter, however, this may make chapter four all the more difficult to write as I'll have to stick to the boundaries of how to lead into the next chapter and what things to mention!
Wish me luck!
Hope everyone is well :)
M. x