What Successful Writers Have Taught Me – Part Six – Observation Is Key!

Observe Yourself First

The first practical exercise that Dorothea Brande sets in her excellent book, Becoming A Writer, is about observing yourself.

She writes, You are near a door. … get up and go through that door. From the moment you stand on the threshold turn yourself into your own object of attention. What do you look like, standing there? How do you walk? What if you knew nothing about yourself, could be gathered of you, your character, your background, your purpose in being there at just that minute, that moment?

 I have really taken this one to heart. Especially when I’m writing dialogue. I’ll say the things out loud and accompany them with gestures that feel right for the words and then write that into the narrative. I also think about how I would say something, or how other people I know speak.

I’ve been doing this one for a while actually, so memory can be as good as observation. For example: how did I feel when I was falling in love? How did I look at that person? When I’m angry what do I do or say?

I use it for all sorts of those little every day things that are good to insert into the narrative to bring your character more to life for the reader. It could be a speech tic, such as repeating a certain phrase. When we had some work done on our house, the lovely man who drew up the plans used to say, ‘You’ve got it.’ with real enthusiasm when we were discussing how a certain idea could work in practice. I loved it and I was determined to use it in a piece of writing. I still haven’t yet, but I just know that there will be a character who this will work for. That’s going to be a job for the second draft – pick a character who this will suit.

In fact, I think overall that this intense observation is essential if you want to bring your characters to life. Jane Austen was a genius at it – her characters leap off the page so true to life do they seem.

As an aside, my Year 12 English Literature group are keeping a tally on how many times I say Jane Austen’s name and bring her into the lesson. That’s definitely a character tic of mine – and not a bad one either!

What Successful Writers Have Taught Me – Part Five – Get To The Finishing Line of Your First Draft As Quickly As Possible.

The First Draft Should Be a Sprint Not a Stroll

I am well aware that this is somewhat ironic coming from a woman who took six years to write the first half of my novel. I do have some reasons as well as excuses for the amount of time it’s taken me to get here – the second half of my first draft.

Firstly, as I’ve mentioned there has been an ongoing and terrible family situation that took a huge amount of emotional toll as well as a huge amount of time to get through. That’s the big reason.

The other reasons are more mundane and, I suspect, will chime more with other people trying to get through that first draft:

1. I’ve re-written and re-read the first half of the story so many times. I’ve completely lost count of the redrafts the first chapter has gone through, and it’s still not right.

2. As I’ve mentioned, there’s the sneaking thought that what you’re writing is dreadful; it’s not going to work as a novel, and you need to face up to that. This can cause severe dithering about.

Learn From Those Delays and Get a Sprint On

So, instead of getting all despondent when I read that Stephen King usually takes around three months to finish his first draft, I’ve decided that I should be able to get to the end of the second half of my novel in two months from now. Actually, I think that I can get there sooner, but I don’t want to set myself up to fail.

Therefore, I am sprinting. I am writing, writing, writing. Still only in 15-30 minute blocks, but I’m doing it. I’m not worrying about checking facts on certain things – as King says, that can all be done in the second draft. I’m not worrying about how neatly certain aspects of the story marry up. I’m just writing – running with it. Sprinting.

Anxiety Be Gone

It’s an ideal situation to be in as my anxiety has kicked in again. Sprinting at something means not having the time to agonize over it. And at the moment, that’s the last thing I need to do.

Anxiety – Taking Notice of The Little Things

Pretty Pictures

What Successful Writers Have Taught Me – Part Four – Write For Just One Reader

The Value of the Ideal Reader

Day off, hurrah! Needed in the midst of my rising anxiety, although a long weekend spent mostly pottering at home has helped.

I’ve done my 30 minutes writing – just over actually as I wanted to get to over a thousand words. Yesterday after a very slow journey home from work due to flash flooding, I realised after I’d had dinner that I hadn’t done my fifteen minutes writing. I nearly didn’t do it. As with most days, I don’t have any great sense of inspiration flowing as I wait for my laptop to fire up. But as soon as I started to write, it just flowed. So much so that I carried on beyond the fifteen minutes. There are days when I’m writing and I get quite into it; there are days when almost every word is an effort, and then there are days when it just flies out of my fingers. Yesterday was one of those days. I guess Stephen King is right – if you keep showing up and writing, your muse will put in an appearance sooner or later.

In line with advice from other writers, I’ve been thinking about my Ideal Reader: Stephen King said when you’re writing your first draft, you need to write with the door closed and write just for one person – your Ideal Reader (IR). His is his wife Tabitha.

Muriel Spark said much the same thing in her novel A Far Cry From Kensington. Which is a brilliant novel: wonderful, witty and whip smart. The protagonist, Mrs Hawkins, works in publishing and gives out advice to her authors and the reader – for free as she tells us.

Her advice is as follows: ‘You are writing a letter to a friend…and this is a dear and close friend, real – or better- invented in your mind like a fixation. Write privately, not publicly; without fear or timidity, right to the end…’

It is brilliant advice. One of the real impediments to writing is imagining what other people will think of your writing. Will they find it dull, unbelievable, laughable? But if you write for just one person – real or imagined – you will know what their taste is and you do not need to worry about anyone else.

For a while, I struggled with who my IR was going to be. It came to me the other day – I have a close friend who loves to read – to be fair most of my close friends love to read, but this friend fits the bill perfectly. She has already read the first half of my book and nagged me for the rest of it. She reads books in instalments on the app Pigeonhole and said that she forgot that my book wasn’t one of the books on the app. You know, one of the published books! So she is my Ideal Reader, and it’s great to crack on with my first draft with the door closed and only my lovely Ideal Reader for company.

She’s doing such a good job that when I was on my writing roll yesterday, I realised something quite shocking: I’ve nearly finished the first draft. I can’t explain how exciting that it. I started this novel in 2016 for an MA in Creative Writing. I got roughly half way through it by the time I’d finished the course and gained my MA (had to get that in!). Since then it’s been sat on my laptop locked inside Scrivener waiting. The reason for that was a huge family crisis leading to a breakdown – hence the anxious in (Anxious) Woman Working With Words.

Now with just a few weeks of consistent writing the impossible seems to be happening. I’ve nearly finished it. Now that is scary.

Thank goodness for second drafts!

Anxiety, Writing and CGX!

When Anxiety Rears Its Head

Anxiety is flaring up at the moment. I’m getting the palpitations, mini panic attacks and a sense of feeling pinned down by everything. I sent an email to the head and my line manager about the fact I’m struggling.

I know why, as I explained to the people at work, I’ve got a lot on at the moment. It’s all getting a little overwhelming.

I’m a Special Guardian – a person who has adopted a family member’s child because of extreme circumstances. Anyone who is, or who knows, a Special Guardian will understand the stress that this puts on all involved.

I don’t want to go into details. But I know what I have to do to help me overcome it. Speak to people at work to make them aware – done; do things that I enjoy that are just for me – ongoing – not always easy to fit in; exercise – ongoing – I get up at bloody 5.15 so that I can do this, but it’s worth it; see my counsellor – yet to do – but very definitely on the horizon!

On the plus front – I’m sticking, mostly, with my writing schedule: thirty minutes a day when I’m not at work, and fifteen minutes a day when I am.

However, I’m realistic about it as well. Thursday and Friday were both bad days with lots of stress; I had to take the car to the garage to get checked out, pick my granddaughter up first and so on and so on. Friday morning was awful with GD (granddaughter) trying to find some trousers she wanted to wear and me losing all my own time helping her. I had a full-on day at school. I didn’t have a lunchtime on either Thursday or Friday – a student needed help with revision on Thursday, Friday I had to finish some marking and then I was on duty. By the time I got home on both days, I accepted that I wasn’t going to do any writing, and I let myself off the hook.

I’m glad I did. I don’t want my writing to become a chore that I feel guilty about; I want it to be something that I’m enjoying and that I’m able to get a little lost in. And I think it’s working. I have had to be strict with myself today and yesterday, but I’ve sat down, written for 30 minutes and the blank screen – the latter half of the novel – that was a complete mystery to me, is starting to fill up and reveal itself.

The other routine that I have which is vital to helping me when my anxiety raises its head is exercise. I’m starting to have mini panic attacks and exercise definitely helps. It’s good that I’m already in the routine, but I do think that the fact I had to take a few weeks off has contributed to me feeling a little overwhelmed. When I’m doing weights regularly, it makes me feel stronger and more in control – both physically and mentally. Good old Caroline Girvan and her new CGX app. I’ve posted a screenshot below and feel it’s only fair to say that I look nothing like that. My biceps are shrinking violets compared to CG’s.

What Successful Writers Have Taught Me – Part Three – Walking Can Help Writer’s Block

Get Away From Your Desk When You’re Stuck

I’m wondering whether this should be called: What Stephen King Has Taught Me rather than Other Writers as his advise does seem to feature rather regularly. The fact is, I’m re-reading his book and there’s lots of great advice.

I wrote about the scary blank screen before. Just sitting and writing and establishing a routine can be so helpful. However, there is often a point when sitting and writing won’t cut it. That point in the story where you don’t know what happens next and your muse is out to lunch.

I’ve been struggling with how I’m going to resolve the very difficult situation that my character has got herself in for months (years!). Starting writing again helped as the ideas did begin to flow. But the big one – the how is it all going to reach crisis point, and what happens then – that one wasn’t coming.

I read how in his book how Stephen King got really stuck on a key part of The Stand to the point that he considered abandoning it. He started going out for walks, giving himself time and space to think away from the desk, and it worked. Eventually the solution came to him and he was able to get back to writing.

So, I tried it. I found that walking just after I’d written even a small scene in the book helped. I played out conversations in my head, put my character into new places, imagine what she’d be doing there, and it worked. I now have the what happens next sorted. I know how things come to a crisis, and I have a vague idea of how she works it out. At least enough of an idea to get on with the writing again.

I’m just at the crisis point in the novel now and I’m enjoying watching it play out as I type. Finally, it’s starting to feel like finishing it is a strong possibility and not some unrealistic future scenario that never gets any closer.