Finally, I picked up the never ending story (my fantasy novel Earthwitch, which I have been writing sporadically for the last two years). It's been almost-complete, in first draft form, for some time. One of the things I thought I'd have time to do when I started my MA was go through the story so far and edit it. As usual, things didn't turn out quite the way I'd planned.
So yesterday I started reading, editing pen in hand. It hit me then. All the things we've been looking at this term fell into place; I could see exactly what needed cutting or improving, where I'd repeated myself or had slipped into cliches.
I'm still working on it. Perhaps the distance also helped; I was able to look at it objectively. All of chapter 2 has gone, and elsewhere whole scenes have been deleted. It's a liberating feeling. I have to strip it back before I can build it up again. Just because I like a particular scene is not a good enough reason to keep it in.
The good thing is that the structure seems to be pretty much there. I compared it to The Hero's Journey, and it it's not too far off.
Looking at Earthwitch again has also helped me decide that I'm probably not going to use it for my MA. I'm going to try and get a second draft up together over Christmas, but I want to start something fresh for next term. Now I've just got to decide what.
Showing posts with label teen fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teen fiction. Show all posts
Monday, 22 December 2008
Sunday, 23 November 2008
Reading, writing & dreaming
Two blogs in one day? What's going on?
I ditched my earlier plan to go into uni and work on my website there. It kept raining, and I was nice and cozy at home with a cup of tea and a Penguin biscuit. I can't remember the last time I pppppicked up a Penguin. Unlike some things fondly remembered from childhood, Penguins haven't lost their allure. Clubs biscuits aren't nearly as exciting, and Creme Eggs have definitely shrunk (although they're still pretty damn good).
I've just finished reading recent Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winner The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I raced through it, and now I'm left feeling slightly unsatisfied. The reason for this is that it's the first in a planned trilogy. Which is great, because that means there's more to come, but it also means I'll have to wait some time for it; I'm not sure the cliff's strong enough to support me.....
One of the things I loved about this novel was the strong voice of the adolescent protagonist, Todd. If you want to get technical about it, I suppose you could call it skaz - a particular way of speaking with a lot of slang and idiosyncrasies. This is enhanced by spelling some of the worlds phonetically, such as 'direkshun' for direction. You get the picture.
Without wanting to give too much of the novel away, Todd lives in a world where all men's and all animals' thoughts can be heard; a phenomenon they call Noise. Noise is represented visually through different typescripts on the page, giving it an almost graphic feel. I haven't seen that done before. It's an effective technique, which reminds me of some of the children's picture books I've been looking at recently and the way picture books are now starting to play with text on the page.
I'm quite drawn to the idea of combining writing with illustration or photography, or some combination of all three. I know they've got a good collection of picture books and graphic novels down at Woodlane, so I'm going to try and head over there tomorrow and see if I can find some inspiration.
I ditched my earlier plan to go into uni and work on my website there. It kept raining, and I was nice and cozy at home with a cup of tea and a Penguin biscuit. I can't remember the last time I pppppicked up a Penguin. Unlike some things fondly remembered from childhood, Penguins haven't lost their allure. Clubs biscuits aren't nearly as exciting, and Creme Eggs have definitely shrunk (although they're still pretty damn good).
I've just finished reading recent Guardian Children's Fiction Prize winner The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. I raced through it, and now I'm left feeling slightly unsatisfied. The reason for this is that it's the first in a planned trilogy. Which is great, because that means there's more to come, but it also means I'll have to wait some time for it; I'm not sure the cliff's strong enough to support me.....
One of the things I loved about this novel was the strong voice of the adolescent protagonist, Todd. If you want to get technical about it, I suppose you could call it skaz - a particular way of speaking with a lot of slang and idiosyncrasies. This is enhanced by spelling some of the worlds phonetically, such as 'direkshun' for direction. You get the picture.
Without wanting to give too much of the novel away, Todd lives in a world where all men's and all animals' thoughts can be heard; a phenomenon they call Noise. Noise is represented visually through different typescripts on the page, giving it an almost graphic feel. I haven't seen that done before. It's an effective technique, which reminds me of some of the children's picture books I've been looking at recently and the way picture books are now starting to play with text on the page.
I'm quite drawn to the idea of combining writing with illustration or photography, or some combination of all three. I know they've got a good collection of picture books and graphic novels down at Woodlane, so I'm going to try and head over there tomorrow and see if I can find some inspiration.
Things are on the up.....
This weekend has been pretty productive; I'm feeling really positive right now.
After doing some story analysis on a couple of books I've read recently, I've got a clearer idea of the 12 point story structure. Reading Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey has also helped. It still took three tries before I found a story idea I felt comfortable with that I thought worked. Once I'd plotted the outline, actually writing the first two parts of story was fairly stress free.
But now I'm starting to think - was it too stress free? Am I missing some vital piece of information? I posted it online last night, so I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. Time to move on.
Before Tuesday rolls around again I really want to do some more work on my website. I've just started learning Dreamweaver. It's quite different from anything I've done before, but I'm enjoying the challenge. I have a vision of what I want to create; now I just have to realise that vision.
After doing some story analysis on a couple of books I've read recently, I've got a clearer idea of the 12 point story structure. Reading Christopher Vogler's The Writer's Journey has also helped. It still took three tries before I found a story idea I felt comfortable with that I thought worked. Once I'd plotted the outline, actually writing the first two parts of story was fairly stress free.
But now I'm starting to think - was it too stress free? Am I missing some vital piece of information? I posted it online last night, so I'm sure I'll find out soon enough. Time to move on.
Before Tuesday rolls around again I really want to do some more work on my website. I've just started learning Dreamweaver. It's quite different from anything I've done before, but I'm enjoying the challenge. I have a vision of what I want to create; now I just have to realise that vision.
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