Anyone up for a novel writing support thread?

[Cel982]

Just thought it might be nice to have a place we could give each other a kick up the bum cheer each other along as we try to get our novels written.

I'm currently on the eleventy-hundredth draft of my first novel - hoping to have it ready for submission in the next month or two. Have been stuck on a niggly plot point for the last few weeks but had a bit of a breakthrough the other night so now the words are flowing again. Am a SAHM with a toddler at the moment so all my writing is done in the evenings when I can tear myself away from the TV. I know, I'm inspiring

So... you?

Thanks Aristotle
What's a pantser?

I tried regular Scrivener and I can see why it's good but I haven't seen it on an iPad. Presumably it will make changes across to all computers or devices where you have it installed?

A pantser is the opposite of a plotter - writing the plot as you go with no planning! (I do have a vague idea of plot, but it needs a lot of fleshing out - v different to what I'm used to). I guess I do a bit of both.

I only found out about the new Scrivener this morning, so I don't know the ins and outs yet. I have it on my netbook, but it takes an age to load (crap netbook), so I've never really used it. However, I've got into the habit of sketching scenes to email myself on the iPad, so I might get on with it better - we'll see!

Wrote a short scene this morning (not sure of wordcounts, maybe only 300 words-ish), but I'm not sure if I'll keep it yet. Did the same yesterday - 435 words. Not v industrious, but I'm hoping little and often... really want to aim for at least 1000 words a day though.

Hi, was here earlier courtesy of one of my regular paranoid name-changes - I'm the one with the historical novel missing an ending. It's a week when I'm in an archive ten hours a day for work, and am half-blind with deciphering old documents, so no writing for me until after the weekend, other than the kind of idea you jot down on your phone on the way somewhere. Also, heatwaves are not writing weather.

I've never used Scrivener, and though people tell me it's wonderful and transformative (one novelist I met recently said she'd never have finished her thriller if it wasn't for Scrivener!), but no one has ever been able to explain quite why it's so special. I don't want to get a free trial, spend a week figuring out how to use it and then slink back to Word because it's too hard!

Well done to those trudging ahead.

I really want to try Scrivener as well, but I do most of my writing on a Chromebook, and it's not compatible without some major hacking. People do rave about it, don't they?

Thanks Aristotle
Re Scrvener, I found it fiddly to learn. The plus is mostly that you can write scenes in separate sections, then compile them in order in word, so if you are writing a bit of chapter two and what turns out to be chapter fourteen, you don't need to have it in order in word. I nearly gave up on scrivener before I heard it could do that. The rest of it I don't find that useful but that's just me.

Confession, I haven't written today, the hot office and commute has rendered me useless. Sorry. My flat is also beyond boiling so I'm lying on the sofa with the curtains closed, two fans on and just MNing.

So I will add tonight's hours to Fruday night, I'm not going out then, so next block of work due Thursday.

Well done Lorelei!! I find plotting so tedious, and that's a great start!

This hot weather has done me in; writing is such a struggle right now.

Thinking is such a struggle right now. God knows how I survived today at work.

I bought Scrivener a while back (it's often discounted for people who do NaNoWriMo - national novel writing month, which happens in November) but I'd already begun my current book by the time I bought it. I'm going to try it with the next project I think, just for the ability to be able to move things around easily without a bunch of copy and pasting.

No writing yet this week. It's too hot, my children won't sleep, and my brain isn't working. Excuses, excuses but it's true.

Have managed a fair bit of reading (on the Kindle, mostly while settling my toddler), though, which I always count as homework for writing :)

Oh I had forgotten about Nano. I wonder if I can get a second one lplotted before then...

I've heard about Scrivener but haven't tried it, I know word like the back of my hands and use the styles function etc which are crucial if you ever want to format for Kindle, and I just don't fancy the learning curve - do like the idea of writing in random order then stitching together though, I guess you can do it in word through multiple docs but that's a pain. I do tend to write in order though so I know where I'm going.

Love 'pantser'! I do some of that and some plotting - I allow myself to go off on random tangents when the urge takes me, and see where they go - it can often result in the strongest writing.

Well done Lorelei - even getting a few words done is progress!

Too. Hot. To. Write.

Yy, well done Lorelei. I've always found just getting something, anything down on paper, no matter what is, everyday, is the key to getting into a good pace.

I did nothing yesterday. But I agree, this week is not a week to be stressing about writing. We spent the day at a local beach yesterday.

So. Much. Sunshine.

Combined with Whitby's steps and the walking to and from and along the beach I ached everywhere. Even my arm muscles ached and they haven't done anything

It's a mercifully late start today, we're going iceskating. I could have wrote this morning but I slept and drank coffee instead.

dd is enjoying herself and not missing her sister too much, that's the main thing. We've kidnapped her cousin for the week, who is being dragged along on our adventures with us.

I have few weeks off work in August, I'll catch up then.

I'm deifinitely a panster. I can't plot or write out character profiles. It makes me feel very unprofessional. I write in order and the story develops as I write. I have a rough idea of the start, middle and end but it can change as I write.

I'm a plotter, but I write scenes as they occur to me in a completely random order. Have managed that reasonably well within Google Docs to date, but Scrivener does sound very handy.

Same, Cel. I roughly plot, write when I'm inspired and often have to weave random scenes together.

Hilary Mantel, who is a goddess, writes in completely random order.

Personally, I get snarled up if I go out of chronology by forgetting how well X and Y know each other by now, and whether Backstory Event has already happened or not.

I really need to read some Hilary Mantel.

No writing yesterday or today - first day of summer hols here, so I'm not expecting to really. Need to do something proactive though so I may go mad and download the Scrivener app. Will report back.

I couldn't get on with Wolf Hall, just found it a bit meh. I like historical fiction but it didn't grab me. Prefer Anya Seton, less literary for certain but I found it evoked the period more for me.

I have to write in order but I do write scenes in my head then note down the gist, that way when I come to write them I'm prepared...I often mull them over late at night which then keeps me annoyingly awake with the creative rush!

Hope everyone is getting on well today.

I have a Hilary Mantel from the library at the mo but I forget which one.

I think it takes real natural talent to pants (so to speak).

I have a question I'd like some feedback on if that's okay on this thread?

You know sometimes you get confused about stuff when writing - even though you read all the time! - I'm just wondering, how important is it to know the roots of a relationship? so for example, if I'm saying that Lorelei and Spider had been friends for a long time, I don't need to explain how or why do I (I hope)?

Especially if they are just family friends?

Likewise, someone who is using prostitutes fairly often, I'm hoping it's of no interest where he found them? That's the sort of information I often skip over when reading I used to read it assuming it would be relevant, but so often it isn't relevant, or the author wants to tell you the colour and make of the car being driven when I don't care and I already know about the character's socio economic status - so I am leaving out those details. Do people think that's okay?

thanks.

My characters have background that exists only in my head and not in the book i.e I know their background but the reader doesn't and may never.

Me knowing it helps me write them but unless it's releveant to the story I leave it out of the writing or mention it briefly.

I think the only way to know if that omission leaves a gap in the reader's knowledge is to get someone else to read it. It's very hard to be objective when you, as the author, 'know' your character's backstory anyway.

Thanks for your thoughts, I think I'll omit it at this stage and add it later if I need to
I did 90 mins of outlining and planning tonight. Plan is to do the same tomorrow night. 90 mins seems to be as much as I can do in one session!

My novel is based on real people, so I have huge amounts of information about them that never makes it onto the page. Ironically, pruning down how much of my research is on the page has been one of the things I've struggled with, I think because I was trying to tell the 'whole story' as I saw it, rather than the crucial question which is - wait for it -

What exactly does the reader need to know now for this scene/chapter to work?

That simplifies it helpfully for me and stops me clogging things up with too much backstory.

Hello, can I join in? I am battling through a project from hell and I need to make sure I keep going through the summer holidays - ought to be manageable now my kids are 6-11.
YA historical set at the Tudor court, I have a crappy first draft and many notes for the second.

welcome along Countess! A complete first draft is what I'm aiming for so I'm impressed that you have one, I'm sure it's not crappy anyway.

Thank you!
It is crappier than the first draft of my last book, iyswim, but it doesn't matter, I don't mean it in a self-critical way or as an indication that the final product will be crap, just that it feels more like a draft 0.5 than a draft 1!

I've been having the same problem as Pauperback in that I have mountains of research to leave out and it's taken me a long time to figure out what the story is and which characters really matter out of basically everyone at Henry VIII's court.

Countess, your last book? Are you a published author?