Category: Writing Tips

Redrafting II

25/6/2016

We had a small group this time but we certainly made the most of it, looking at the minutiae of line-editing and then putting it into practice with a little help from a massive barbarian and his rippling right arm. Check out the link to fully explore the weird, fascinating mind of Hal Duncan.

We looked at ways to improve dialogue, and then everyone in the class took 1000 words of their writing and cut 250 of them. Yikes! Scary stuff, huh? But I recommend this exercise as a way to prove to yourselves just how much you overwrite. No, really, you do. We all do. Go on, try it. Just make sure you've saved the original version first as you might want to put a few of them back in.

And of course, as always, the real stars of the day were the wonderful images you gave us; from Singapore in 1949, to modern day Sorento, via a fictional Scottish island. We had sticky handles, stretched bladders and the smell of onions; a ghost reliving her first school disco; a mysterious birthday card written in advance of a dinner party; and a finger tracing the outline of a delicate tattoo.

It was a really enjoyable day, as Susan and I discussed later over a glass of Sauvignon. But don't take our drunken word for it. Here's a lovely little review written by attendee, author and blogger B.M. Keeling who I'm happy to announce will be making a guest appearance at our next event to talk about her experiences of self-publishing. She'll be on hand throughout the day to answer any questions you might have, as will fellow Yorkshire-based author Marion Dillon. Marion has two novels published with digital publisher Carina and will be talking about her journey to getting published and answering your questions.

So if that sounds like a worthwhile way of spending a Saturday - and how could it not? - there's still time to join us by signing up here. Go on; I'll even try to convince Susan to make some of her lovely homemade biscuits for you. They're rich and good and fattening but totally adverb free.

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Redrafting I

16/6/2016

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Another brilliant workshop on Saturday. Thanks to everyone who came along. If you missed it, we spent a lot of time looking at the common pitfalls of first drafts and how to combat them; from unarresting openings to overly-explained endings, via that good old favourite - the saggy middle. But it was equally great listening to everyone list the things they liked about their works-in-progress. It's all too easy to forget why you started this whole thing in the first place after months (sometimes years) of rethinking, rewriting and rearranging. Try to hold on to those beacons of light in the darkness, whether its a particularly loved character, a vivid, dynamic scene, or even just a beautiful image.

It was also great, from a personal viewpoint, to have the chance to share some of my own work with you. Not something I'd normally do in a writing workshop; it feels a bit like showing off, and that invariably leads to a fall. But both Susan and I wanted you to see the difference between an early draft and a final one.

This Saturday, 18th June 2016, we are continuing the redrafting work but this time looking more at the nitty-gritty process of line-editing. If you'd like to join us, you don't need a whole draft, just a chapter or two to work on in class. We have a couple of places left and full details are available here.

Finally, here's a lovely poultry themed literary cartoon! Visit savagechickens.com for more great cartoons on sticky notes.

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Making Your Writing Sing

14/5/2016

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Goodness, how the time flies! Here I am writing the review of the last Workshop and the next one's just around the corner. Luckily I can change the date on this blog post so none of you will know how terribly inefficient I am. Clever boy!

We spent the morning looking at grammar and writing style, a dry subject to most, I'm sure, but I find it strangely fascinating. Did you know that when you use a list of adjectives there's a certain order you're supposed to use them in? Well, you do, now.

Actually you probably did know this, unconsciously. The order is: quantity, value/opinion, size, temperature, age, shape, colour, origin, material. Try it. Four tall wooden crosses or Wooden tall four crosses? But what about It was a beautiful cold day? Could you get away with It was a cold beautiful day. Maybe. And rules are there for breaking, obviously. Just make sure you're breaking them deliberately. Perhaps the reason that sentence doesn't sound right is because it isn't.

We looked at creating image banks and colourbooks to help keep track of the words you use in your novel. I've recently discovered mindmapping for this. This free site is invaluable, for mapping all kinds of things and avoiding doing any actual writing. Check it out: www.wisemapping.com

We then had fun with hot, salty chips on the beach, and everyone tried to improve Susan's Bad Paragraph (deliberately bad, I should stress). I'm always amazed, when we do one of these "rewrite this paragraph" exercises, how many different and varied versions we get. Most people kept the hot, salty chips though, and I really can't blame them.

In the afternoon I put you all in a trance so that you could explore your characters' favourite places, immersing yourself in all 5 of the senses, and coming up with some pretty incredible descriptions of setting. Apologies to anyone who's still clucking like a chicken. I'm assured the effects will wear off soon. Probably.

So if any of this sounds like fun, why not join us for either Redrafting I or Redrafting II on Saturday 11th and 18th June respectively? Or even both? You never know... there might be chips.

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Redrafting II

Redrafting I

Making Your Writing Sing

TheVoiceofRuss

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