Five Tips to Prepare for NaNoWriMo

Nanowrimo, the writing event of the year for many is around the corner. In my last post I did my very best to persuade you to give it a go. If somehow I’ve managed to convince you, and the idea of writing 50,000 words in 30 days hasn’t sent you running for the hills, then congratulations! Your sanity may be questionable, but committing to this endeavour is commendable. Welcome to the club.  If you’re one of the foolhardy souls who’ve participated before, then you know what to expect. If this is your first time however, you may be wondering what you’ve let yourself in for. Don’t panic! You’re in for a treat. I’ve seen Nanowrimo through to the bitter end three …

5 Reasons You Should Give NaNoWriMo a Go

Summer is officially over. Leaves are turning brown, the ice warning on my car went off this morning, and people are quoting Game of Thrones more than usual. But it’s not just winter that’s coming; in less than a month NaNoWriMo will be upon us. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, is where thousands of people all over the world commit to writing 50,000 words over the course of 30 days in November. Last year 310,000 brave/foolish people signed up for the challenge. Maybe you were one of them. Maybe you’re thinking of giving it a shot this year. Or maybe you think that sounds like the craziest, stupidest thing you’ve …

A bus drives down La Manga strip

The bus to Cartagena and the journeys we all take

The trip to Cartagena started well enough, and the bus ride to the end of La Manga strip was brief and painless. It was only when we stepped off the bus that things started getting interesting. After trying to decipher the timetable outside the (closed) Tourist Office, worried we’d gone to far we trekked back to the previous bus stop. So we took a seat and waited. And waited. After a while a friendly chap came over and in broken English explained that the bus was due 15min ago but it hadn’t come and the next one was due in 45min. After the lovely weather we’d enjoyed so far, we’d all come dressed for summer, but the clouds were out …

A view from the balcony of a swimming pool, with the ocean in the background

The moments between the madness

As I write this, I’m sat on the balcony of an apartment in Spain, on the La Manga strip to be precise. To the right, the sun sets over the Mar Menor. On the left, the Mediterranean stretches out (see photo). I’m with good friends, enjoying hot weather and being by the sea. And for the first time in a long while, it’s quiet. Beautifully quiet. A dog barks somewhere in the distance, a parakeet in the building opposite occasionally whistles inappropriately, but otherwise all is still. Life generally seems to be comprised of one mad event following another, and I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that way. Whether it’s the small things (“Who’s nicked my milk?”) or the …

After the first draft ends

It has been said that the only certainty in life is change. Caterpillars become butterflies. Students become unemployed. Cows become steak. Change. The one thing that has seemed to stand alone in defiance against the tide of change is my first draft. It shames me to say that it has been twenty one months and six days since I typed ‘The End’ on my first draft. In that time I can tell you exactly how much it has changed: not one single word. Not one single letter. Not even a full stop added or taken away. First of all I’d read that you should get some distance after writing the first draft, so you can see it more critically when …

Professional vs Amateur Writing

Being a top level procrastinator, one of my biggest struggles is finding the time to write. I always have a million and one things that need doing, and writing often gets put onto the ‘Tomorrow’ list. So it was with interest that I started reading Stephen Pressfield’s book ‘The War of Art.’ Mr Pressfield puts forward that all of us face an ominous ‘Resistance,’ a force from within that has the sole objective of doing what’s really important (not necessarily what’s urgent, a very important distinction). One of my favourite sections so far is where the book compares the Amateur vs the Professional. After making the point that all of us are professionals in the sense that we work and …

Getting to know the players

Over the past week or so I’ve been working on the character profiles for my work in progress, and it’s been one of the most worthwhile uses of my writing time since I finished that first draft oh so many months ago. I’d already had a good idea of most of my protagonist’s back story, but it’s been great to finally put a face to the name. However, the main benefit is I feel like I’ve finally gotten to meet the other characters for the first time. By casting actors to each part, giving them psychological Myers Briggs profiles and giving them a back story and motivations, I’ve come to know them on a whole new level. Additionally, it’s helped …

Initial thoughts on Scrivener and casting my characters

I know, you probably thought I’d forgotten all about you, but no, I’m still here. As is my first draft. Like an elephant. With a weight problem. Writing out the draft onto index cards was a helpful exercise, and it’s helped me identify more than a few gaps that need a hefty dose of polyfiller. But moving on to actually doing the hard work has been another matter. On the plus side, I’ve been going through Scrivener and it seems like it’s going to be a really helpful tool for getting everything together. The idea of having all your materials from synopsis, drafts, character profiles and research material all together in the same program is really useful.The ability to easily …

85 Index cards later

In a rare and uncharacteristic flash of productivity, I finished transferring my rough draft from the screen onto index cards. 85 of them to be exact.  This was actually a harder project than I anticipated. Doing it this way round involved reading through the rough draft of the story, then considering what the key moments were in each scene. What was necessary, what wasn’t, so a scene could be summed up on a single index card, in nice large letters. If I was going to do it again, I’d undoubtedly try to get the whole story down on index cards first, before writing the draft. Additionally, I’d make sure I had different coloured pens for keeping track of different character …

Tentative pokings of the Wattpad beast

Just a quick post to say I’ve opened up a Wattpad account and posted my short story The Visit (under the name Visiting Hour on there. I’m interested to see how it goes, and whether it’s a good platform for connecting with other writers and readers. If you want to pop over and say hi, maybe have a biscuit and a cuppa, my username there is IcarusWasPushed. The kettle’s on.