From First to Final Draft - The New Creative Writing Thread.

[CharCharGabor]

Everybody's welcome, if you want to share ideas, techniques, publishing info or just chat about writing. Come on in!

[CharCharGabor]

Hi! I haven't had anything published yet either but I'm planning to start sending some short stories in once I've got them edited and polished. My dream is to publish a few novels though.

[CharCharGabor]

Interesting useless fact I have just read - apparently the dot of the letter i is called a tittle

[CharCharGabor]

Right, I'm off to have a read. I'll bump this tomorrow and see if anyone else wants to join in Night!

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

Hi, I'd like to join, have got novel started and re-started etc etc but I'd like to know just how do you get time to write??? I have two small dds 3yrs and 1 yr at home with me, once they are in bed dh is at home and likes to have evenings with me. SO unreasonable . So I have my novel going round in my head but no time to write it down. Sigh.

[CharCharGabor]

Hi Claudia, welcome DP works shifts so I usually spend 3 nights a week on my own. I get most of it done then when I have the urge. DP and I do tend to do our own things in the evenings sometimes too so I'll have a write then. Try and set some time apart for yourself each week, I'm planning to do the same.

[BlaDeBla]

I'm trying to make a bit of time to write too. It's easier said than done! I'm writing a bit of dialogue at the moment and not entirely sure where it will lead, but it's beginning to have a shape of sorts.

[stroppyknickers]

Hi - I just finished writing the first three chapters of my book last week (finally!). I have only ever had couple of things published - runner up in short story comp etc. Think biggest problem is getting over the whole novice writers sit in the slush pile before getting binned thing...

[CharCharGabor]

Hi and welcome Sorry wasn't about yesterday, went to put my feet up. I've got one short story finished, am halfway through another and have done about 3 chapters on my novel, although that's been on hold for a few months.

[phdlife]

hello - thankyou CharChar for that fabulous piece of triv, I am going to share it with EVERYONE

I have 1.5 chapters to go on my novel - have been there since November but moved countries in between and the heat here melts my brain. In addition to, y'know, the 22m-old and the gigantic bump making it hard for me to reach the desk! Am writing an academic thing atm but soon as it's done any day now I think I'm going to give myself license to finish the damn novel. That is, if #2 doesn't arrive too early...

[CharCharGabor]

phd, I was made up when I read it. Wow only 1.5 chapters to go, that's fab! Are you going to try and get it published when it's finished?

[rosmerta]

I'm in the same boat as well, trying to find time to write with a 3yr old & a 11wk old! I do keep my journal every day though, even if its a couple of sentences as I feel writing something is better than nothing!

I've got a question though, how do you go about finding people to help with research? I guess a lot of it can be done on the internet but what about if you're writing about police procedure or jewlry makers? How can you find people in these areas to help you make it seem real when you come to write?

[KayHarker]

Hello! Thought I'd plug in for a bit of moral support too. Discipline. 'tis what I need.

[rosmerta]

Kay, go write now

whip

Did it work?

[KayHarker]

Flarping hob, yes it did. Just redrafted my opening, and I'm much happier with it. I know exactly what happens, and have done for months, but everytime I've written it, what should be quite mysterious and exciting just feels so pedestrian.

So, instead of trying to rewrite and rewrite the opening incident, I've jumped ahead to a bit where the main character is feeling pursued, and told the incident in anxious retrospective, and it's worked much better.

Flexes all-powerful narrator muscles

[Litchick]

Hi.
I'm a writer - mostly novels, some journo stuff and most recently a radio play.
I am the queen of moral support and stiff talking tos.
My most basic tip would be - make sure you write very regularly. Your writerly muscle is just like the muscles in your arse - without regular work outs it turns to mush.
Second, don't get stuck on re-writes, edits etc until the whole thing is finished. Don't sweat the small stuff until you've typed The End.

[KayHarker]

oo, no, no agent, just a copy of The Writers Handbook updated every two years or so.

Litchick, I've written The End, now I'm doing all the tedious stuff. One of the reasons I write lots of sub-standard fanfic is to keep up the writing muscle (totally misread your arse-analogy, and have only just realized you meant pert-little-bottom muscles, not keep-you-regular muscles )

[Litchick]

Rosemary - yes I have a lovely agent. I know writers have different views on them but mine has been indespensible.
First, I had no connections whatsoever in publishing and couldn't possible have sold that first novel without him. Ditto x100 for foreign rights.
Second, he acts as my first line editor, giving evry perceptive feedback before my editor even sees my work.
Third, he acts as a barrier between the publishers and I so if we tiff over edits, covers etc he does all the arguing so that my personl relationship remains in tact.
Yes, he gets a hefty % of my cash but for me, it's definitely worth it.

Kay - fantastic that you have finished. The vase majority of writers never get to this point so you are well ahead of the game. Polishing and editing are bloody hard, though. Be ferocious. Put a red pen through anything that doesn't earn it's place. But don't carry on forever. It will never be perfect but at some pont you just have to take the next step. The very best of luck with it.

[Litchick]

Char - never ever be worried about sending work to agents to sit in the slush pile. That's what most first timers do. It's certainly what I did.
Contrary to popular belief, agents do take their slush seriously. At the heart of their business model is finding the next great thing and the slush is where they'll find it.
If you have a book that is good to go - get iit out there.

[stroppyknickers]

Think I may be guilty of using fear of the slush pile to stop me writing! - but I am definitely getting there - I totally love what I have written this time and there is less effort involved. Lit chick - I remember you being v encouraging on a prev thread, thank you for taking the time again.

[popsycal]

[kickassangel]

hi, having just become a sahm, i'm finding time to write & have got about 2/3 of a novel done, though i think it's prob quite a short one.
i live for stories,addicted to reading. love films & am starting to enjoy writing (too impatient when younger)
however, i have NO idea how to turn this hobby into cash, or even if i'm anywhere close to good enough. how do i find out? am living in the US without a work permit, so could only be published in the uk, how on earth would i find an agent?
are there any industry guides i could tap into?
would also like to know if there's a standard format, e.g. font size, line spacing etc? in the Us they don't have A4, so would have to send it in on some other sized paper, or can you send it electronicly?

[KayHarker]

You have to carve the time out. I find it helpful to actually schedule some time into the week, bolt myself away in my bedroom on the laptop and just write. I have a few different things on the go, and if I'm not in the place to be writing one thing, I just have a go at something else.

I've done quite a bit of work on the book this week, and I was in danger of over-working it, like pastry, so I spent yesterday and some of today writing something completely different. I personally find I swing between needing silence, and having earphones in and music on. I seem to write more when I've got music on, though, dunno why.