My Writing Process

My writing process by Sam H. Well, I start with an idea, one I really like, I really have to click with it, then I'll work it in my head over and over, it can be anything from a plot I like to a really interesting character to a setting. I'll jot down all my thoughts about it, anything that comes to mind. The end result is a lot of disjointed notes in which there may be the base for a story. I'll fine tune it from there, picking out my best ideas and going with them until I have a general idea of what I want to write. Then when I have a basis for a story, I'll just write. I usually don't plan out my stories, sure I'll have certain events I want to happen by more often than not I'll just let my story flow and take me where it will. I sometimes become bogged down by self-doubt or procrastination my two greatest enemies. but as I said if there is an idea I really like I'll keep going with it even if it takes me a really long time.

My writing process

At best it can be called 'grab the moment'. Some days I have the luxury of a full day all to myself. This can be worse than grabbing snatches of time as it allows me too much time to procrastinate. Other times I'm lucky to get in one hour while the two year old naps. Despite the obstacles this has been a great year. I signed the contract Phoenix Yard Books for my first book, 'The Luchair Stones', Book 1 in The Red Dragon Chronicles. I have discovered that signing the contract is just the beginning. Did you know that it takes up to two years from contract to publication. This involves long periods waiting for my editor to get back to me with her comment as we work through the chapters. Very few writers produce a publishable novel from the polished draft they present to a publisher. The hard work only really starts after the contract is signed. I'm enjoying the whole process. Each and every word has to earn it's place in the book. Sometimes I think it's a bit like being at uni only I'm getting paid for it. In between I work on my adult novel. Every exercise we do in class is written with the idea that it will fit into my book. Feedback from Tracey and the class has been important to me as it helps to keep me on track and motivated. Denise Ogilvie

My writing process

This year has been the most successful for me when it comes to my writing. Although I haven’t yet completed my novel, I have been working towards it as well as writing short stories. I have written a great amount of short stories and I can safely say I am mostly happy with at least ten of them which I have put towards the book I am making. When writing towards my novel, I like to shuffle it around and write what comes to me first. Rather than writing chapter by chapter, I use the exercises that are given to us in class and try to put together a well written chapter, whether it being from the start, middle or end. My biggest problem when it comes to writing is trying to find the motivation. It isn’t the matter of not liking or wanting to write, it’s more the ‘I can’t be bothered just yet’ thought. Over the past few weeks I have discovered a way to try and stop this and it is slowly beginning to work. Rather than just pushing my writing aside, I set out a particular day or two throughout the week which is just for writing. Being a stubborn person I don’t like to allow myself to neglect the days that I have set. Once I am sitting at my computer, the joy of writing hits me, and all the words circling in my head get down onto the paper. My writing process has come along great this year, I just need to learn to sit my bottom on the chair, hands at my computer, and keep it there. So far it’s working, now it’s time to finish my novel! Rebecca Zakkour

My writing process

Well, I promised the class I would lead off the discussion of our own writing processes, but Maria has already beaten me! Good on you, Maria, for not waiting!

I've had an up-and-down year in terms of productivity, where I seem to write in fits and spurts, my most recent spurt being at a writing retreat where I did just over 8000 words in two days. But then there have been the chasms of non-productivity, the weeks subsumed by marking and writing tests and workshopping and class prep and family life, the weeks that frustrate me intensely. This isn't the way I write best. I write best, as most writers do, when my writing is a constant part of my life, when I am at it every day.

I'm not the kind of person who can be working on multiple projects at one time. If it's my novel, it's my novel, though I might write a bit of poetry around this -- but never a short story or another novel. It's all about immersion.

When I am immersed in a project, then that project is with me all day, no matter what I am doing. I can't be writing a short story when my head is mulling over my novel. And that's the problem when I'm not writing regularly enough: I lose that immersion and break through the surface of my own fictional dream. When I return to the project, I have to reacquaint myself with what's going on, where it's all at. This might seem like it should get easier with the more drafts I do, because I know the project better, but it becomes difficult to remember what changes you've implemented or got rid of or changed in each draft.

So, constant writing is the key for me: having a daily practice, prioritising writing over some of those things that distract me from it. Then I can sit down, and not feel the burden of the white page: then I can sit down and let the words flow. Or not. Because even on the days they're not flowing, if I stay put in that chair, facing down that white page, I know I'll get them down in the end.

Tracey

My Novel, thus far

Glass Houses by Maria Vavala This year I've taken to adapting every writing exercise we've done in class for my novel. Albeit to say, I've made a substantial dent in my novel—great, yes? No! Rereading, isn't my greatest strength. I know the first draft is important to get the story out, the second, third, fourth and subsequent drafts are to peel back the layers and discover the real story you are trying to tell, a sure fire method to writing a best seller. My problem, how do you persevere with a story that is—boring! Yes, you've read correct and rediscover the faith you had when you initially started out writing your story? Not so easy let me tell you. I've had to rethink my characters, create a subplot that I believe in and be ruthless with my characters. Who says every person you meet or know in life is a pleasure? Well, for me, the hardest thing I found was making one of my characters not so nice. Of course through no fault of her own—life has thrown her a curve ball and well, she has every right to be selfish and nasty, at least I think so and seeing as she's in my story, I guess that makes it more than okay. The result—I have a new subplot that I think works well. Real life doesn't always mean a happy ending, so why should my story have one too! Will it work, well, who knows, but I'm making sure that everything I write is worth the read, at least, I hope so! I'll let you know when I'm done!

Book review: A boy called M.O.U.S.E

Title: A Boy Called M.O.U.S.E

Author: Penny Dolan

Illustrator: Peter Bailey

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Publication Date: 1^st December 2011

(From the press release: recommended for readers ages 9 and up.)

We all know the story of the farm boy raised by a loving Ma who discovers he's not a farm boy, and his real family are important and wealthy. We also know the story of the boy that survives the horrors of wicked uncles, cruel headmasters, and schoolyard bullies, but runs away and survives through his wits on the mean streets of the city.  

                A Boy Called M.O.U.S.E. takes us on this familiar path of adventure in a Victorian setting with a cast of appropriately caring aunts, talented dogs, fairy dancers, wise clockwork-makers and theatre-folk – all towards an expected but somewhat unconventional conclusion. Mouse is a quick-witted, intelligent, likable hero supported by a strong cast of diverse and charming characters, while his foil Scrope is a conflicted-but-not-wholly-evil uncle who comes to an appropriate end, backed and betrayed by the real villain of the piece, Mr Button.

                Dolan's strength lies in ensuring that bad deeds get their karmic reward, but also in never allowing her characters to settle at the cheap happily-ever-after ending – reunions with unknown blood relatives are complicated and difficult. The reader walks away with the sense that while family is important, the family you make for yourself is just as valuable.

For adults reading to their children, or just wanting to read an enjoyable yarn, the magic lies in Mouse's determination, the way Nick Tock and Vanya scheme to make the Albion Theatre a success, and the interweaving of A Midsummer Night's Dream and other Shakespearean devices – both on the stage and off. For children, it's the misery at Murkstone Hall, the puppets, and Mouse's high-wire escapades.

The real star of the book, for young and old, is the wonderful and devoted Amazing Dog Toby.

Review by Kim Cook

Thinking about what writing is...

Each year the Novel 2 students have a look at F Scott Fitzgerald's quote "All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath" and reflect on its meaning. Here is what this year's class make of it:


Writing is an immersive process that you must submerge yourself into. It distances you from reality as you are viewing the world through the eyes of an outsider, not an active participant. The breath is that part of you that still exists in the real world; it keeps you stable and grounded so that you can always return and catch your breath. If you stay submerged too long  you run the risk of drowning.
-- Sam H


I think that what Fitzgerald means is that to be a good writer you have to take a leap into the unknown, to go into a new place. I think that to be a good writer is to do new things that you've never done before; in terms of your writing it's about taking a risk because you'll never know what you're fully capable of until you've attempted different things. Writing for new genres expands your horizons, and if you truly believe that it's not for you, you can live wth the satisfaction of at least trying.
-- Caroline


It's a battle. You fight for ideas, for words, for something that will work. Then the struggle continues as you write it, flounder to keep it going and push through to the end. But when it's finsihed, you feel the relief, and it is like coming up for air.
-- Rose


I think that this quote relates to taking chances, taking risks in order to succeed. That the only way to write a good piece of work is to just 'hold your breath', and do it.


To be successful in life, we have to take a risk. We have to go that little bit further in life. In order to get somewhere, we have to move. We have to stop being afraid, and just be courageous, be brave for once.


Most of the time we're too afraid to do anything because of the consequences that come with it, but what if those consequences are the ones that will get us exactly where we want to be? What if they're not? In order to succeed in life we need to fail. So we hold our breath, take a chance, becaues there might be something good that comes out of it -- there will be something good that comes out of it.
-- Carla Maraventano


All good writing is swimming within your mind, and it is up to you to hold your breath, dive in and catch it. Good writing comes with good ideas; therefore, it's watiing for you to reach out and grab them.
-- Steph


In terms of producing a good piece of writing, I guess you could say that with both experiences you reach a point where it's really hard to go on, and you think it might kill you.
-- Lauren Brown


I think it means when you read good writing you have a feeling of weightlessness, that the world can wait as you experience the writing. Or maybe because you're about to die, your brain is running out of oxygen and is releasing chemicals to try and get you to react, but your subconscious is misinterpreting it as euphoria brought on by a good story. Something like that, anyway. 
-- Doc Holland


Good writing is not easy to achieve.
Good writing can only be achieved through hard work.
Good writing is tiring.
Good writing is suffocating.
Good writing affects both physically and mentally.
Good writing takes effort.
Good writing isn't easy.
Good writing is thoughtful and suffocating.
-- Anon


I really hope that this isn't the case as I can't swim and holding my breath isn't always easy as an asthmatic. But being a good writer isn't easy, which I guess is Fitzgerald's point. The worst thing I find about swimming underwater is that you can't see ahead. There is no way of knowing what you're approaching, whether it be good, bad or nonexistent. As is the same with writing. You can put in the hard work and swim blindly through the sea of words, but until you come up you can't know if you have accomplished anything.
-- Ash Marks


Your mind is constantly churning around ideas, and if you take too much time thinking about an idea and not committing to it, your 'initial' raw energy is lost, and your story is overworked and overwrought, and the entire initial concept gone.
-- Maria Vavala


In my opinion, good writing can take a lot of time and effort. It's not just about getting or having an idea, but about being able to expand it in the best way you can using your own best voice. When a writer sits themself down to write, it can be as though they are holding their breath under water because it's as though they are holding their pen to paper and mind to the writing, concentrating on nothing but what they will write. To hold your breath under water is one of the hardest things to do, in the hope that you won't die. Writing a good piece of work is one of the hardest things to do in the hope you won't let your writing die.
-- Rebecca Zakkour


If the writing is good it will rise to the top; if not it will drown. You should know when your writing is good, just as you should know that you can only hold your breath under water for so long before you have to surface or drown. you have to know when to let go.
-- Denise


Let your emotions spill onto the page.
Breathing life into words is a rare gift.
Giving birth to a good piece of writing
is a rare gift.
-- Lynette