The blog has moved

Just to remind anyone interested that the blog has now moved to DGRose.com. I've just posted a new entry, all about what I learned when I caught the bus to Cartagena, which was a surprising amount. I hope you'll join me over there and let me know what you think of the new site. The post is at http://dgrose.com/?p=32. See you there :)

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 you go back to revise. Then, after a month had passed, I returned to the draft and cast my critical eye over it. I circled it for a bit, poking it with a stick to see what would happen. I printed it out, red pen at the ready. After a few pages of red lines and professional looking scribbles, I put the pen down and wondered what the hell I was doing.

Struggling to work out my next step, I found a few willing volunteers and let them have a look at the rough draft. The response was positive, better than I had expected. They let know what worked, and more importantly, what didn't work.

So what did I do with all that good advice? Nothing.

Knowing I had to something, I started reading as many writing books as I could get my hands on. In particular, I felt that the structure and plot needed tightening up, and I read some excellent books on the subject. 'Structuring Your Novel' by +K.M. Weiland and 'Plot And Structure' by +James Scott Bell have both been invaluable in helping me understand a bit more about making a tight well-structured story, whilst 'Nail Your Novel' by +Roz Morris is a book I will return to time and again, all books I would recommend to other aspiring authors without hesitation. I worked on deep character profiles and transcribing my story onto index cards along with many other exercises, all of which were helpful. Yet still the first draft lay there, staring at me in an accusing fashion.

So it was that earlier this week, I came to the end of yet another writing book and started looking for yet another one to read. It was then it struck me, that I've read enough books to do what I need to do, so why wasn't I getting on with it and actually revising this damned book? I realised that reading all these writing books had become a way of me feeling like I was writing without actually having to put my butt in the seat and put pen to paper. I have no doubt I will read many more books on the craft on writing, and I will doubtlessly go on learning more each time, but if I wait until I've read every single one before I carry on with the redrafting, then the story will never progress. And progress is essential.

So no more waiting. No more paralysis through analysis. I'm going to finish up this blog post, and I'm going to go straight out to buy a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Then, I'm going to come back and I'm going to work out exactly what scenes need to be written to complete the novel, and I'm going to actually write them. It's time for change.

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 (hopefully) get paid in our day jobs, the book lists the qualities that define us as professionals, the first three of which are as follows:

1. Professionals show up every day.
2. Professionals show up no matter what.
3. Professionals stay on the job all day.

The book goes on to list other qualities, but those first three made me think. I went to work today at my day job, exchanging 8 hours of my life for a paycheck. I felt completely lousy this morning, having spent the previous evening sick as a dog and getting very little sleep, but I turned up anyway. My boss expects me to be there from 9am until 5pm, so that's what I do. 

So how come as a writer, it doesn't seem to quite work the same? There are plenty of days I don't 'show up' to write, and it only takes the smallest excuse or distraction for me to not just quit writing, but fail to even start. To cut a long story short, if I were my boss, as a writer, I'd have fired myself a long time ago. 

That's why this is going to be a short blog post tonight. Sure, it's been a long day, and the idea of crashing out on the sofa watching TV sounds most appealing. But the boss has had a word with me. There's work to be done. 

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 me see certain things that need to change; actions that were out of character that have to go, and scenes that add character depth that need to be added. In fact many of the key moments will have to change. But I know that the characters and as a result the story itself will be better for it.

On that subject, allow me to introduce one of the main characters. Billy 'Stutterer' Ford (played by Coby Bell, who you may know better as 'Jesse' from Burn Notice) comes onto the scene early on in the book, and is the closest thing that John, the protagonist has to a friend. As I wrote the draft Stutterer stood out to me as the person I would most want to spend time hanging out with. In a world turned upside down, he's one of the precious few that didn't have an agenda. However, it was only after the dust had settled and I explored his back story that I learned why. I won't bore you with the full biography, but suffice to say he had a rough upbringing, bouncing around the foster care system. It was tough, but he was one of the lucky ones. He had a mentor, a role model. Someone who showed him that there was more to life than the fighting and chaos that surrounded him, that it was possible to rise above it. He'd already had enough scars to ensure that a 'normal' life was never an option, but he learned that in his own little way, he could help. He didn't have to be a selfish jerk to survive. And as a result, he could have something that was more valuable. Self-respect. When he meets John, he recognises someone who's more messed up than he is and, just as that mentor did for him, he becomes the friend that John desperately needs. 

And that's where the story kicks off, so you'll have to read the book to find out the rest. I currently have three final profiles to finish off, a structural edit, and then I believe I'll be ready to have the story professionally edited, before November and the joyful chaos of NanoWrimo comes round again. 

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 divide the screen into two windows so you can look at, for example, a synopsis for the chapter while you redraft it in another window seems like it'll be a great help.

Another advantage I'm already making use of is the ability to easily attach photos to the 'index' cards as a synopsis. This means you can write profiles for all your characters then attach photos. In my case, it's photos of the actors I would like to play their part.

This has been a really fun experience for me, but it's already helping me to picture the characters as living breathing people. Whereas my image of the characters tended to change throughout the draft writing process, assigning a specific actor has anchored an image to them. One obvious advantage is that now physical traits won't change over the course of the story. What colour eyes does my protagonist have? Have I mentioned it already? I don't need to worry about contradicting myself anymore. One check of the photo will make sure my descriptions are accurate and consistent.
Another advantage is, having been given physical form, my characters now seem more real to me, having much more depth and personality, which will hopefully translate into the redraft. I look forward to introducing you to them soon.

So what's next? By the end of the day I'm planning to finish writing profiles for all significant characters. Afterwards, I'm going to use the index cards to make sure my story is properly structured, with proper turning points and pacing. Once I'm satisfied, I'm going to input the final index cards into Scrivener to act as 'beats' for the rewrite. And that's how I'm planning on spending my weekend. I've accepted the fact that my draft is going to require more of a full rewrite rather than a quick redraft, but I know I've got 50,000 + words, a lot of which can be salvaged. With more realistic characters and a cleaner structure, I think the rewrite won't be as painful as I first thought.

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 arcs and plot lines. Maybe next time I'll go with a digital version of this idea using a program like Scrive

ner, though I must admit I like the fact I can physically lay out the story on the floor and move bits and pieces around. 

The real test will be to see how this helps with the ongoing revision of the novel, and I'm looking forward to using this to make the story stronger, more complete. The next step though is to get some character biographies completed for all the major players. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates soon. 

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.