Category Archives: Writing a novel

July 14, 2011 · 12:42 pm

Albion Writers’ Group lives on!

Last night we held the third meeting of our fledgling writers’ group in Ampthill. Each session has been quite different with an average of half a dozen of us attending and a total of 10 of us who have shown an interest. At first we are just getting to know each other but since each week we have had new members, all of us have had a chance to explain what we do and give an update on how our various projects are progressing.

Our group includes novel writers, writers of non fiction, script and speech writers, games producers, blog writers, editors, freelance writers, a journalist and a song writer. (Some of us have more than one hat!) One of our new members last night asked what the purpose of the session was and some wanted more structure, for example reviewing one of our member’s writing during the next meeting. This we have agreed to do.

Apart from this one set task, there was a consensus of agreement that the main purpose of the group is encouragement. Writing can be an extremely solitary task and it is such a relief to meet with like minded people and share our successes, expertise, experiences and just as important our frustrations.

Writing is rewarding, all consuming and an absolute pleasure at times and I got the impression that, like me, most of the group felt priviledged to be able to spend a certain amount of their lives letting their creative imagination flow so constructively, but we all agree that we also need endless patience and at times we also need to be pretty thick skinned. That’s why a supportive group is so fantastic.

Next meeting at The Albion, Ampthill in the back room at about 7.30pm on Wednesday Auguest 10th.

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July 11, 2011 · 1:18 pm

Watch the word count 85,000, 90,000, 100,000…

I was interested to read an article in the newspaper recently which discussed the new fashion of shorter novels to fit in the the e reader life style. Novellas are coming back into fashion, as are short stories, bite commuter sized reads to while away the hour travelling by train.

When I wrote   ‘Riduna’ I did not think of an optimum length. I just wrote the story until it was finished and, although the editorial process was fairly vigorous, it did not run to cutting out chunks of the novel to make it shorter.

Thus the final word count was just over 102,000 words; (Not 200,000 as mentioned in one newspaper article and I’m not sure whether it was a slip of the tongue on my part or a slip of the pen on behalf of the journalist! I’ll give the journalist the benefit of the doubt since I was quite nervous to be interviewed in those early days)  The actual word count of 102,000 seemed ok for a first novel but larger than the optimum count I’ve heard mentioned of 85,000 since.

I hoped to aim for nearer 85,000 for my second novel, which I hope to be out before the end of the year, but even then I have finished up with over 98,000. Unlike Riduna, which is a very gentle book describing the weaving in and out of island life through the eyes of my key characters until half way through when the pace quickens and every page is full of drama as the saga unfolds, my new novel is action packed throughout. It would take an expert with an independent eye to trim it down, if it was felt necessary to do so.

In my eyes the length  (within reasonable parameters) makes little difference  to a paper based novel, so long as the story is compelling and the characters believable, except maybe in the temptation to decrease the size of print, but is it the same for e books? If my publisher were to bring Riduna out as an e book would it be better to offer an abridged version?

I’m inclined to think the answer is ‘yes.’ What do you think?

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July 7, 2011 · 2:02 pm

e book revolution – From a writer on the edge

I have read several articles recently about the e book revolution and how it is changing not only how we read, publish and advertise our writing but also that the whole industry is in a state of flux from publishing companies to bookshops. As a writer this can be quite exciting, albeit a bit daunting. Personally I feel as if I’m standing on the fringe, on the outside of a revolution watching it happen, almost as if I’m watching a fast action movie, when you’re left in suspense but your brain is trying to tell you it’s not real.

Years ago I had a similar experience in a space simulator at Universal Studios.  However hard I told myself that I was sitting in a capsule which was suspended over a 3D screen and that we had barely moved half a metre since the start of the ‘flight’, the signals to my brain were contradicting reality and I felt as if I’d journeyed through several time zones, shooting through the air, narrowly missing buildings towering in front of me. Later on in a theatre I even felt mice rushing under my feet. How did they do that?

I digress. Form all the articles I’ve read, I’ve been gleaning how it all affects me as I write?

  • It gives choices barely contemplated a couple of years ago
  • It provides opportunities for writing to be available to an audience almost immediately
  • With Social Media Networking it is possible to reach that audience equally fast, to all parts of the globe
  • The writer appears to have more control over their writing

I’ve said nothing new here so what are the pitfalls:

  • Ensuring that the quality of the writing is not undermined
  • Not being tempted to short cut the vital editorial process. The final novel should still be as perfect as possible before it reaches the public
  • The writer’s time is no longer taken exclusively with the creativity of research, writing and proof reading but in experiencing hands on marketing in a way never seen before, a far cry from the odd book signing or library talk of the past- this can be a positive thing but it is also very time consuming
  • The novel itself, the creation which took months of painstaking work, can be read and deleted almost as instantly as it arrived, whoosh, back into the ether

Do you think the two worlds will be able to live amiably side by side for a while?

I do hope so because as a reader there’s nothing quite like reading a real book and there are those I’ve kept for years because I treasure them so much. Sometimes life is just too instant. How do you wrap up an e book to put under the Christmas tree and think of the festive season without anticipation of wondering which book lies inside the wrapping?

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