From First to Final Draft - The New Creative Writing Thread.

[CharCharGabor]

Everybody's welcome, if you want to share ideas, techniques, publishing info or just chat about writing. Come on in!

That would be superhero. I can't even spell these days FGS .

How'd it go KHS?

I managed to NOT do anything yet again. I have now vowed to start next Monday, once ds1 has gone to his dad's for Easter. If I stop doing any housework, that'll give me 2 hours every day while ds2 naps.

Fair do's, I reckon.

Well, I amazed myself by writing 1,000 words that I actually sort of liked in about 2 hours, but then life took over again and I didn't have time for anymore until now, when I'm procrastinating again instead of getting on with it. Might have to change my nickname to reflect my superhero status.

It's amazing how long it takes to write not very much-I'm very unhappy about the fact that writing an entire book will evidently take a pretty long time and a lotta lotta self discipline!

But - back in the real world I'm pleased with having made a start and will try to keep it up on Wednesdays, when I have a good chunk of time off. Unless of course I'll have to get a proper job soon.

Good luck with your plan for Easter - sounds good! Let us know how it goes...

Oh well done you. Now I'll HAVE to do some, otherwise I'll have to avoid MN...

I shall update you next week. Maybe we can spur each other on, finish the damn things, get published and not have to do a proper job at all!

That, my dear, is a damn fine plan that would suit me down to the ground!

Meanwhile, I shall be checking in to find out how you're doing, and trying very hard not to procrastinate any more than strictly necessary...

Hi Khs, well done! I've found that just writing anything makes me feel better, even if I reread it & realise its rubbish!

I've finished my short story , am wondering if I dare send it out to magazines?! Just needs a bit of editing...

Do it do it! Nothing ventured, nothing gained...

plumchoc - i have sufered from taking too long and something similar coming out, most annoyinh but atleast shows the idea was good and what doesnt kill you makes you stronger!

Aaagh mrswrite!!

Must write faster.

Must write faster.

I'm back in London after family hol with DP's parents and brother (we all argued, great writing material I guess). I only managed to write a couple of pages (in 8 days) (boohoo).
Is it wrong to like going to work rather than stay home with the kids because it means I get to write on the tube??
I also read a very funny book called "How Not to Write a Novel", I recommend it.
Rosi, send it!!

I'm really down today because I had sent 3 flash fiction stories (under 100 words) for a competition, including one I was very proud of, and none of them made it to the "commended" list (that included at least 25 stories )
I have to learn to accept rejection if I want to get anywhere but I find it really hard...
I also got spoilt first time round because I sent my first story ever a couple of months ago and it got published by Mslexia (just a tiny flash fiction again), so it gave me loads of confidence and I guess I was less prepared for complete failure!
Oh well, I guess it's part of the trade and I'd better toughen up a little.
Anyone else finding it hard to see much-loved work rejected?

Been reading through this thread, as I have just started writing again after a very long break, and I am thoroughly enjoying it (it must have been a VERY long break )

Wondered how everyone was doing? Rosisdreaming - did you send it? KHS? Any updates...anyone?

May I join in? It seems I'm not going to get a part-time job in my sector, so I have started being more open with DH and others about my writing, so must be more ruthless about my need to have time to do it. I have found in the past, at work and with baby, that being organised helps make time. However, I'd like to be nagged a bit, too, and am prepared to do some nagging of my own, try to be constructive and supportive as well.

Having read through the posts so far, I just thought I would add a comment about the Writers' Handbook (guess it's the successor to the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook). Although it's considered an essential resource, and I don't regret buying my new copy recently, I was rather disappointed to find that it didn't include the small presses I know of from my membership of the British Fantasy Society. Given that those presses publish both novels and short stories, as well as requiring artwork, I wanted to highlight that they were missing from the Handbook. If they are missing, what other small presses might be missing? Therefore, writers must not think the Handbook is the sole resource, and if you are a "genre writer" (ugh - horrible phrase), it's a very good idea to join a society. I must admit, though, that the Handbook does have a list of societies (romance, sci-fi, fantasy, all the genres publishers are most likely to refuse in their Handbook entry!).

Okay, wrote about 3 hours this afternoon, then broke for lunch, and then nursery called to say DS had temp, so all finished for now, I guess! Good luck, others, in having productive next writing session!

Can I join too, please?

WingedVictory - 3,000 words! If I could write 3,000 words in a month at the moment I'd be getting somewhere. I seem to be prioritising sleep over everything else at the moment. Do you write fantasy then? I'm guessing it's a book/novel with your word count racing along like that.

Right. I've got two short stories and a monologue in my head that need committing to paper. I am going to aim to get a decent draft of one down by Christmas. That sounds crap, doesn't it? Oh, how I long for the heady days of maternity leave again - long walks in the park coming up with ideas and naptimes spent furiously typing...

Hey, 3,000 words is a fine stretch of work! Surely that's one short story in itself? Or nearly?

As for sleep, manipulating it can have interesting effects. One of our lecturers at university, when discussing "trans-rational poetry" (yes, I know), said such poetry was often composed "under the effect of drink or drugs... or lack of sleep, which is cheaper!" I found that the unavoidable lack of sleep during university occasionally seemed to push REM creativity/idea-processing into waking life, and I attribute some bursts of quite heady inspiration to this. More recently, when DS was born, I was getting so little, broken, sleep that dreams were bleeding into waking life as hallucinations (not quite as scary as it sounds, nor as interesting; it was mostly about feeding).

So if you can't get the sleep, do try writing under the influence. Even if it needs heavy editing or chucking out later, you might make a few breakthroughs at the most and make rapid progress through the tedious stuff at the least.

Please don't think I'm a complete flake, or someone in search of drug alternatives - I don't lose sleep deliberately (it's far too enjoyable, and dreaming is far too necessary for sanity and also learning) - but it is possible to use sleeplessness for your purposes, rather than being battered by it!

Now, sweet dreams, and back to work tomorrow! Night, all.

I'll follow you over

I have had a hugely productive week - thanks in part to the encouragement after my post in AIBU. 1000 words on Thursday night (DH out on the pi**), and a wopping 3200 yesterday afternoon and early evening (Guilt ridden DH to pick DD up from nursery and stayed on at work).

My novel is pure chicklet - mixture of romance and comedy (well I hope it's funny) set in a more down to earth London than chicklet usually portrays. This week's burst of creativity takes me up to 35,000 words (woo hoo!), I am aiming for 100 thousand.

Artifarti - I used to write lots of short stories and found them much harder to make progress with. Each sentance is more meaningful and has to be thought out for longer. When you write a novel, you get to know your characters so much more and can just flow.

Wingedvictory - your post took me back to a few all nighters at uni! That complete clarity i used to get at What are you working on at the mo?

Nothing yesterday. I thought I would sign in to report, as it felt a bit cheeky to avoid the forum out of guilt.... Well done, other Productive People.

NotAnotherNewNappy, I felt very guilty when you said you should move to London; I hope the smug cosmopolitans haven't been getting to you! I suppose any creative advantage of living here is not so much cultural as public-transport related; people can read and write while commuting, which is impossible if a work/study commute is driven! When I went to stay with my mother one summer some years ago, I couldn't believe how much less I was reading, because I was driving to work (a commute not long before that was up to 2 hours each way - ugh). However, I'm sure the long commute is why people in London seem to stay longer at work: why bother leaving bang on time, when you don't get home for an hour? Also, it makes more sense to hang about a bit so as to meet up with friends after work.... (of course, that is for people without children... and men!)

Incidentally, I have recently bought an A5 ring binder, and A5 paper (from Ryman), to enable me to carry writing with me in my nappy bag. I don't get on with bound-in notebooks, as I need to be able to rip out and re-insert pages. I used to work with an A4 binder, but that's a monster in current circumstances!

Hope this helps make first drafts a bit more portable, for me and anyone else who considers it a useful idea?

Morning all. Well I managed 850 words yesterday which is 850 words more than any other day this month! So, thanks for inspiring me to put pen back to paper, guys.

I am beginning to think that the story I am working on should actually be a novel - it's quite complicated and set over two different times - but I haven't got the guts to go for that, so I'm trying to cram it all into 3,000 words instead. NotAnother - what you said about making every sentence meaningful, that is how I write. I am incredible fussy and pernickety (sp?) and am only just getting used to the idea that the first draft will probably be nothing like the end result. I also find it very difficult to write from 'start' to 'finish' and instead write bits all over the place and then try and weave them all together (I've always written like this - even my essays at university.) So, I find the concept of writing a novel, chapter by chapter, strange and a bit terrifying. Perhaps I will just keep ploughing on, not let myself be constrained by wordcount and see what happens...

I wish I could write on my commute but I usually end up reading as I can just about manage that when I'm crammed up against a stranger! I have been thinking about freeing up time to write and have bought a slow cooker - sounds strange, I know, bear with me - I have about an hour between DS going to bed and DP returning home from work so if I don't have to spend that time cooking I can write! Well, that is the theory...

Happy writing all...

Okay, I haven't written anything today, except what is on Mumsnet (shame, shame, shame, but no point denying it; it's on my profile). Can I excuse myself by saying DS did not sleep normally today, and was very underfoot while awake? or by saying that I love reading "problem pages" and agony aunts as these are real human lives and relationships and manipulations of the "plots"of our lives?

No, I cannot excuse myself. But I can be sorry, and promise to do better.

Well my foot has gone down and I have 'stolen' 2 hours of time usually spent with DH tonight. However, my next chapter is a big one (huge drama, central to the plot) and I don't want to do it half heartedly. I keep thinking 'when am I next going to get a whole day to myself???'

Art - I like the slow cooker idea. Inspired me to make dinner before DH got home tonight so i had more time to write later.

WingedV - I am another londoner, it was Diva that wanted to move. I don't have a commute anymore though and as a result am v ill informed about current affairs - no time for a newspaper!

I don't write in a linear style either. If I don't have access to a laptop, I will make notes but then transcribe these into Word, so that I can move scenes around. I have lost the art of writing straight from pen to paper. I can't imagine having sentances or even whole paragraphs fully formed before begining to write now. I even have to edit my MN posts

I have always wanted to write and when I was young I wrote alot. It got lost along the way and I have thought I would like to try and get something on paper again.
I don't know how to begin tho ... staring at the blank doc ... where would you start really?
Develop a main character, develop the subject of the story, the message it might deliver ...what?????