tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81628646428932607082024-03-13T23:18:12.991+00:00The Orchard WallsBethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.comBlogger124125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-66905003355885370172014-06-29T14:50:00.000+01:002014-06-29T14:50:37.618+01:00I remembered that I do, in fact, have a blogMy blog writing has been so monumentally terrible this year (and these past few months non-existent) because I simply haven't had anything to write about. Or, I should say, anything interesting.<br />
<br />
This isn't to say that nothing's been happening in my world of writing - I'm still working on it every day, plugging away at book 3 of my <i>Hide and See</i> series (I'm currently on Chapter 27). But it's just more of the same, and the last thing I want is for those poor unfortunate souls who actually read this mess of a blog to be bored out of their minds. Any more than they already are, I mean.<br />
<br />
So why am I updating now? Well, there's the crushing weight of personal shame that I've been so shoddy with this supposedly-regular-blog-which-will-be-important-should-a-legitimate-writing-career-materialise, that only gets worse the longer I leave it.<br />
<br />
I don't actually have anything new to report. Yet. You see, I'm hoping in the coming months that there might be, even if it's the horrifying self-recrimination that inevitably follows rejection.<br />
<br />
That's right, people: I'm going to be writing to agents this summer.<br />
<br />
Or that's the plan, anyway. I need to achieve something this year, even if it involves tearing out my heart and stomping it into teeny tiny pieces.<br />
<br />
Wish me luck - I think I'm going to need a hefty dose of it.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-67585340775728111032014-03-17T19:24:00.000+00:002014-03-17T19:24:34.387+00:00The trials of an inconvenient memoryAt the beginning of this year I fully intended to get better at updating my blog regularly. As you can no doubt see to the right, that's been going <i>swimmingly</i>.<br />
<br />
(The italics denote sarcasm as, clearly, I suck.)<br />
<br />
I did actually start drafting one blog post for last week but it turned into such an epic, whingey rant about my current employment that I knew I could never post it.<br />
<br />
The other (main) reason I didn't update - besides my laziness and a new obsession with a tv show on netflix - was that I also remembered that it was my older brother's birthday at the weekend.<br />
<br />
Now, I'd like to make it clear that I hadn't <i>forgotten</i> that it was my brother's birthday - I had presents and a card and so on. What I <i>had</i> forgotten, however, was that I'd resolved to write him a new instalment of the fantasy trilogy that I've been writing for him since I was seventeen, but that I hadn't added to for a couple of years.<br />
<br />
This year, however, I thought I could do it: produce a few thousand words and wake the story up from hibernation.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, I only experienced this thought when I was at work - and thus not in a position to do anything about it - and completely forgot all about it when I got home.<br />
<br />
On Wednesday at work, I - at last! - put a reminder in my phone, meaning that on Wednesday evening I finally got down to it: which was atrociously late in the day considering his birthday was on Saturday and that I was continuing to write the third book of the <i>Hide and See</i> series as usual.<br />
<br />
Over the next few days I wrote with a kind of frantic madness each evening (and Saturday morning) and managed to churn out a little over six-thousand words. Likely not very good ones but I did it, and do feel some sense of achievement about that.<br />
<br />
Now I just need to remember to email him the <i>previous</i> section so that he can refresh his memory about what happened last.<br />
<br />
It's okay, I've written myself a note.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-3528702112225751622014-03-02T20:35:00.000+00:002014-03-02T20:35:52.154+00:00Term Time vs. Holiday TimeMy plans for the half-term went pretty well. Although not up to the 10k-a-day writing extravaganza described in my last blog post (for which I should probably be thankful, quality-wise), I did manage to produce four and half chapters over the week, coming it at a little over nine thousand words total.<br />
<br />
Considering a good week is normally when I manage to complete <i>one</i> chapter, I do feel like I achieved something.<br />
<br />
Compare it to this past week, now back at work. I've just managed to complete Chapter 15. Yes, back to just the one chapter. *sigh* It's a bit of a talky chapter too, so it might have to be heavily edited once I read it in the context of the whole novel but for now, I'm just trying to get the story down.<br />
<br />
It was good - if slightly exhausting - to write so much during the half-term week. Now that I've returned to work, and my output has shrunk back down to only a few hundred words a day, I'm really missing that sense of accomplishment which came with completing a chapter within a day or two.<br />
<br />
Is it bad that I'm already counting down to the Easter holidays? Five weeks to go...Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-24137249783491876222014-02-10T19:02:00.000+00:002014-02-10T19:02:16.190+00:00ProgressNext week is half term. As ever, I am <i>longing</i> for it.<br />
<br />
I don't have an awful lot planned for the week yet, other than a trip to the dentist on Tuesday, the prospect of which is naturally filling me with so much joy that I can barely contain myself.<br />
<br />
What I do hope to do is plenty of writing. I <i>am</i> making progress with book 3 - what with my don't-break-the-chain writing - but it's pretty slow going at the moment. Only about a chapter a week. I think I can do better, but I'm so weary by the time I get home in the evenings (and generally by this I mean in the psychological sense) that all I want to do is consume stories rather than create them.<br />
<br />
But I'm hoping that in the bliss that is half term I'll have more mental energy to get something really substantial done.<br />
<br />
I used to be able to churn out thousands of words a day. Probably not very good words but still. Now I consider it a productive day if I manage anything above six-hundred.<br />
<br />
So that's my plan. It'll be great to feel excited about something again.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-45406688660214891062014-02-03T19:34:00.000+00:002014-02-03T19:34:19.318+00:00Author Talk - Rebecca AlexanderAfter the cheap and easy therapy of last week's blog post (apologies for the excessive grumpiness there), it's nice to have something more positive to talk about this time.<br />
<br />
On Thursday 30th January published author and writer extraordinaire Rebecca Alexander came to the college to do an Author Talk about her brilliant debut <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Life-Death-Rebecca-Alexander/dp/0091953235/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1391455986&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><i>The Secrets of Life and Death</i></a>, and her craft as a professional novelist.<br />
<br />
I met Reb while doing my MA at Winchester Uni but haven't physically seen her since that time. We've kept in touch via the wonders of the internets, beta-ing each other's work and chatting about our writing. It's something I highly value. Without it I could easily feel cut off from the rest of the writing world and I'm far too insular as it is.<br />
<br />
And now that Reb's published, with a three-book deal from a major publishing house (WOO!), she's in the perfect position to impart her wisdom to the next set of aspiring authors (and I'm including myself in that group along with the students).<br />
<br />
There were two sessions and though the numbers weren't huge, I felt they went really well, chiefly due to Reb's skill as a speaker. She oozed confidence and ease, keeping all of her words relevant, helpful and entertaining. If I'd been in her position I know I would've been an incoherent wobbling mess. The whole thing took me right back to my uni Creative Writing classes and I loved it.<br />
<br />
<i>Ahh - University Nostalgia.</i><br />
<br />
So I say thank you to Reb for a lovely day and urge the rest of you to go and buy her book immediately.<br />
<br />
Seriously. Off you go. I'll wait.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-29592692488089277472014-01-26T20:19:00.001+00:002014-01-26T20:19:59.529+00:00Grumpy BuggerWork has been pretty stressful lately. Not the librarian stuff really - <i>that</i> I like - but the other part.<br />
<br />
Student. Behaviour. Management. <i>*shudders*</i><br />
<br />
If the idea of making hundreds of teenagers be quiet for the entire time that they're in your vicinity sounds awful, it's actually worse. It's confrontation and argument all day, every day. And it gets wearing. <i>Very</i> wearing.<br />
<br />
In a way, it makes it worse that the librarian part of my job - by which I mean the books, the research, the displays etc - is enjoyable, because if I <i>only</i> disliked it, I could quit and find something else. But there's variety and I get to use my brain for a good proportion of the day - and I'm pretty sure this is the first job I've ever had where this applies. I don't want to quit that part of my job - but with each day that goes by, I really want to quit the other half.<br />
<br />
Of course then comes the question of what I'd want to do instead, and beyond library-work-where-all-the-patrons-behave-themselves-in-a-reasonable-manner *, the only other thing I can imagine right now is writing.<br />
<br />
It's my tiny bright spot throughout the bulk of the day (when the clock reminds me that it is in fact not time to go home), where I get to go on my tea break or lunch break and write. I can sink into another world and let the other one fall away, if only for a few minutes. There's a kind of peace which comes with writing, when my brain just focuses on one thing and all the other noise fades into the background.<br />
<br />
I wanted to try to update my blog more regularly this year, especially as I failed so miserably during various times in 2013. I couldn't think of much by way of sunshine and daisies this week, so I apologise for all the gloom you've just read (if indeed you managed to stick with me 'til the end). I'll try to be better next week, pinky promise.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
* I here feel obliged to make the point that not <i>all</i> of my current patrons make me want to tear my hair out. There are many polite, well-behaved students - I just don't get the chance to notice them.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-54341806261408706312014-01-19T18:44:00.000+00:002014-01-19T18:44:03.501+00:00LettersI'd written a draft (a second or third, I can't remember) of a letter to an agent last year. I read it through the other day but found it so unutterably dull that I didn't actually manage to finish it.<br />
<br />
Right. Maybe I won't be using that one then.<br />
<br />
I figure it's probably better to start from scratch, but staring over is always hard - that huge, white expanse of blank page, so completely devoid of the words that you just <i>know</i> must, surely, be rattling around in your head somewhere.<br />
<br />
They say that this letter has to be the best piece of writing that you have ever produced in the history of ever. Ever. So, naturally, no pressure then.<br />
<br />
And I was never really any good at non-fiction. The whole form for me just seems to lack creativity, although I know this is down to a fault of my skill rather than of the form itself. I did, after all, take a module for my MA called 'Creative Non-Fiction' so such a thing must be possible.<br />
<br />
I'll have to start trawling through the interwebs again, looking for hints and tips and how-tos. I know from past experience that it can feel like running through a bog but I suppose it doesn't much matter how fast I move so long as I <i>am</i> going forward.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-13866788089688296282014-01-07T19:57:00.002+00:002014-01-07T19:57:53.445+00:0020142014 has arrived in all its glory, thunder and lightning joining in with the New Year fireworks as the clock struck midnight. I'm trying not to see it as some kind of demonic omen.<br />
<br />
Instead, I have decided that 2014 is going to be a good year.<br />
<br />
Regular readers of this blog - or just people who know me well - will probably be aware that optimism isn't usually my style, but this is more of a <i>decision</i> than a wish, so I figure I'm not straying too far from the norm.<br />
<br />
(You can all breathe sighs of relief: I haven't been kidnapped and replaced by an alien clone.)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JpsmP4ulbY0/Usxb7HL_WpI/AAAAAAAAABM/l9A34QSD0Ok/s1600/Don%27t+break+the+chain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JpsmP4ulbY0/Usxb7HL_WpI/AAAAAAAAABM/l9A34QSD0Ok/s1600/Don't+break+the+chain.jpg" height="320" width="237" /></a>Some, but not all, of my good-year-decision inevitably revolves around my writing (as, indeed, does a hefty proportion of my life). I've got myself a nice new shiny 'Don't Break the Chain' poster (left) downloaded from the wonders of the internets (link <a href="http://karenkavett.com/blog/2037/dont-break-the-chain-calendar-2014.php" target="_blank">here</a>). I'm all set to crack on.<br />
<br />
So maybe I'll finish my first draft of book 3 this year (sounds doable - I'm currently on chapter 7).<br />
<br />
And I'll write to agents, pitching my book with the kind of verve and vivacity I've not yet managed to accomplish.<br />
<br />
And maybe, just maybe, if my good-year-decision is strong enough, I'll get picked.<br />
<br />
I'm terrified. Naturally.<br />
<br />
I'd say keep your fingers crossed but that sounds too much like a wish, and I've no time for such nonsense, thank you very much.<br />
<br />
2014. Bring it on.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-21022690259464933722013-11-27T20:31:00.000+00:002013-11-27T20:31:08.302+00:00Well that's that thenI haven't been longlisted for the Mslexia Novel Competition.<br />
<br />
Because I am obsessive (checking my email, asking after the post, looking at Mslexia's website over and over), I searched online for any mentions of someone being longlisted for the competition - and found a blog post by a person who had. Written almost a month ago.<br />
<br />
She'd been notified by email right at the beginning of November. It feels like a heck of a long time that I kept hold of my false hope, but now that I know for sure I kind of miss it.<br />
<br />
Probably not a healthy attitude but hey, this is my brain we're talking about.<br />
<br />
I knew early on that I was placing too much expectation in this competition but no matter how hard I tried to stop I just couldn't help it. Now the disappointment has put me in something of a bad mood, with that annoying voice in my head whispering that it must mean my best writing's not good enough.<br />
<br />
I try not to listen - because I love writing, I really do. I guess I just need to go back to doing it for <u>me</u> now, not some faceless professionals at the other end of the post.<br />
<br />
Right, I'm going to bugger off now. I promise next time I'll try to be less pathetically morose.<br />
<br />
Toodley-pip!Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-3535558500079227912013-11-13T20:12:00.001+00:002013-11-13T20:12:31.226+00:00LimboI've been feeling a little bit in limbo these past couple of weeks, and it's all Mslexia's fault.<br />
<br />
Obviously it's really my fault but it's easier to lay the blame on a faceless external entity. And if we're being truthful here, I would admit that - despite my best efforts otherwise - I have placed far too much hope in this novel competition.<br />
<br />
The longlist is due out this month and since the deadline in September - or probably before that - I've held it up as The Standard at Which to Aim. If I get longlisted, my brain says, my writing is good enough.<br />
<br />
All attempts to get my brain to shut the hell up have thus far been in vain.<br />
<br />
I am perfectly aware that the Mslexia competition isn't the be-all and end-all. I know this. But it doesn't stop the brain and it doesn't stop my first thought on reaching home in the evenings from being 'has there been any post?'<br />
<br />
I need to think about something else. I need a distraction. And a <i>useful</i>, productive distraction (for all that watching <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6Mfi7QxlbK8" target="_blank">cat videos on youtube</a> has its appeal).<br />
<br />
Book three seems like quite a good option.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-15588517456167006692013-10-24T20:25:00.000+01:002013-10-24T20:28:00.708+01:00Oh Half Term, how I long for theeHalf-term approaches - and it cannot come soon enough. There's a special kind of exhaustion that comes with spending every working day somewhat stressed, and I am so ready for a break. Not being what amounts to a professional nag for a week will be rather nice.<br />
<br />
I'm off to York on Saturday with my sister to visit my little brother (that 6'4", 19-year-old, living-away-from-home little brother, who refuses to be anything else in my mind. Younger. I need to think 'Younger'.)<br />
<br />
Horrendously long and boring train journey notwithstanding, I'm really looking forward to the trip. Heck, even the aforementioned train journey has its perks because it'll give me a solid block of time in which to write with few interruptions. Alright, the chairs aren't comfortable and the legroom is downright painful for someone over 5'7" after a while, but with the outrageously priced wifi at least I won't have the internet to distract me.<br />
<br />
Progress on book 3 has been fairly steady if not particularly voluminous. It's coming along in little chunks scrawled down during my lunch breaks, though this does mean I have to type it all up at some point. I think I need to rearrange my desk. It currently isn't very suited for such a task.<br />
<br />
I ironed out a much clearer plan earlier in the week too. I'd thought I'd already done it, actually, but when I went back to look at my Grand Plan for Book Three, it was rather more scribbly-and-on-several-scraps-of-paper than I'd remembered. It's a little more ordered now, thank goodness.<br />
<br />
I think. Gosh, I'm paranoid I'm imagining order where in fact there is chaos. Better go check it again.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-11783384361233984642013-10-09T19:52:00.000+01:002013-10-09T19:52:11.698+01:00Writing the book I want to readI saw a post on Tumblr the other day which got me thinking (always dangerous, I know). The gist was that the writer who'd made said post would rather be reading the book they were writing than having to go through the effort of writing it. Make sense? Probably not.<br />
<br />
While I can't exactly agree with the sentiment because of how much I enjoy the writing process, it did strike me.<br />
<br />
In an extension of my thoughts about readership in my previous blog post, the Tumblr comment allowed me to think about my work as a reader - but not about some other, hypothetical people who might one day read my novel. More what <i>I</i> would want if this was a book I was reading rather than writing.<br />
<br />
It sounds like an obvious thought, typing it out here, especially as this was how I always wrote, back in the day (<i>when I were a nipper...</i>). I don't seem to do it so much anymore. In planning book 3 I've thought an awful lot about what I <i>need</i> to include but not a great deal about what I <i>want</i> to have.<br />
<br />
So I made a list (I do like me a list) entitled 'What Would I Want from Book 3?' And the points I wrote were actually quite surprising.<br />
<br />
But I won't go into the specifics of what my exercise produced. For those who are familiar with my series, there could well be spoilers; for those who aren't familiar, it probably wouldn't make the blindest bit of sense.<br />
<br />
The result is what's important about all this - that I'm suddenly much more excited about book 3 than I was before. I've made only small changes to my plans but it made a big difference to my mind-set. This is a book I want to read as well as write.<br />
<br />
Chapter One's pretty much done and Chapter Two is coming on a treat. I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in!Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-14375403225215720582013-09-19T19:45:00.000+01:002013-09-19T19:45:16.262+01:00Reading like a writer?My entry for the Mslexia competition has been sent off. The acknowledgement SAE hasn't arrived yet, which gives my brain the perfect opportunity to go: 'But what if it got lost? What if it never gets there?' I trying tell my brain to be patient but experience has taught me that getting my brain to shut up is about as easy as squeezing blood out of a stone.<br />
<br />
Entering this competition made me think about my work from a reader's point of view. Not for the first time, obviously, but in imagining the Mslexia judges reading my work, it all feels a bit more real than it ever had before.<br />
<br />
And it got me to thinking about how <i>I</i> read books, which is certainly different to how I did ten - or even just five - years ago.<br />
<br />
Take those ones I read over the summer. Some books were better than others, naturally, and a couple of them annoyed the heck out of me, but for reasons that I'm not sure would have bothered me if I didn't write as much as I do.<br />
<br />
The best of the books I enjoyed were the ones where I got so lost in the story that I forgot I was reading. I could just sit there, compulsively turning the pages, unable to concentrate on anything else. There was at least one which I stormed through in less than forty-eight hours, simply because I couldn't <i>not</i> read it.<br />
<br />
Others... well, one in particular comes to mind. I shan't name names, simply because I wouldn't want - however incredibly slim that chance is - for the author to read it, but it did irritate me. The plot was painfully slow moving, and the characterisation - a bit ropey from the start - became so increasingly ridiculous that it was a mammoth struggle to even finish the damn thing.<br />
<br />
But judging by the amazon reviews for this book, I am <i>by far</i> in the minority in my views. Am I just wrong (entirely possible) or am I so used to reading stories in an editing frame of mind that the smallest mistake leaps out of the page?<br />
<br />
It's so difficult to just read as a reader now, I think, because I've learnt to 'read as a writer' and can no longer switch that skill off. Inconsistencies in plot, an odd clumsy phrase, a repetition of a word three times in a paragraph - it all snatches me out of the narrative in a way it never did before.<br />
<br />
Sometimes I miss being able to get easily lost in a story and miss the little bumps along the way. But I suppose this skill is a valuable one, and will lead me to books which are truly excellent. In my opinion, obviously. One man's trash is another man's gold, or something along those lines.<br />
<br />
I just hope that one day, <i>my</i> writing will be someone's gold.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-50457551639746832392013-09-07T16:31:00.001+01:002013-09-07T16:31:59.989+01:00Back to workI gave up trying to motivate myself into writing a blog post in August. I know a losing battle when I see one. This was probably a very bad, lazy decision on my part but I went with the option that had a great chance of success - namely, waiting until September, when I would go back to work and would therefore be able to compose my posts during my breaks without the oh-so-dangerous distractions of the internet, books and DVDs.<br />
<br />
And so here we are. I've returned to work after my long summer break, of which everyone is very jealous (although they wouldn't be if they saw the resulting paycheck).<br />
<br />
Despite my horrendous inability to run my blog during the summer, though, I have at least been able to accomplish others things over the past few weeks.<br />
<br />
I did a complete redraft of my book 2 (tentatively titled <i>The Hunters and the Hidden</i>), which I now, hesitantly, fearfully, think is ready for a beta reader.<br />
<br />
I also prepared my entry for the Mslexia novel competition (deadline later this month), which is pretty much ready to go. Hopefully I'll print it off this weekend and send it off next week. I <i>think</i> I've formatted it correctly. The whole thing gave me vivid flashbacks to uni, picking my way through submission guidelines in terror that one tiny mistake would lose me precious marks. It's rather hard to convince myself it's finished. I'm trying to tell myself it's now ready, that I don't need to do anything else to it. The truth is I probably could've sent it off a week ago.<br />
<br />
A fair amount of my summer was spent reading as well. As bizarre as it sounds, I don't have much time to read during the weeks I'm working, despite the fact that I'm a librarian. Surrounded by books for eight hours a day and very little time to open the darn things.<br />
<br />
But I managed to storm through around ten during July and August, which was lovely and - I like to remind myself - beneficial in a more 'professional', writing-as-a-career kind of way. So many times I've been told that a writer must read.<br />
<br />
Strangely enough, I find myself more than happy to oblige.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-29345109484309874022013-06-30T15:59:00.000+01:002013-06-30T15:59:03.013+01:00CharactersI've been thinking about characterisation a lot at the moment.<br />
<br />
At first it was just for my antagonists - wanting to make them three-dimensional, characters with motivations and justifications rather than moustache-twirling cackling villains tying distressed damsels to train tracks. I wanted them to believe they were protagonists of their own story - and I wanted the reader to see it too.<br />
<br />
Then I started considering my protagonists too. Were they complex, multi-layered characters or just vehicles for driving the plot along? The last thing I want to have my main characters be is either dull or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_sue" target="_blank">mary sues</a>.<br />
<br />
And I want them to be likeable. I read an interesting <a href="http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/10-things-you-dont-want-in-your-novel.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+feedburner/tKhz+%28The+Bookshelf+Muse%29" target="_blank">blog post</a> the other day on '<a href="http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Bookshelf Muse</a>', where one of the points was about this. As they said, who wants to read a story about someone they dislike? I know I never do, and have often abandoned reading a book part-way through for precisely this reason, no matter how interesting the plot could be.<br />
<br />
But frustratingly, I'm not sure I'm the best person to judge this - or at least, not on my own. I know the characters I <i>want</i> to write - they are clear in my head, often to the smallest point of their personality. But does that translate to the page? Because when I re-read it, I could just be seeing what I meant to write and using my own knowledge of the character to fill in the gaps.<br />
<br />
And what about personal taste? Not everyone has the same favourite characters in a book or film or tv show. Who's to say that a character I love (either one of my own or from someone else's work) isn't loathed by others? I know you can't please everyone but is there a way to please the majority?<br />
<br />
One way I've come to think of it is by way of a famous example: the Harry Potter series. I have never heard anyone say they detest the character of Harry - but neither have I heard anyone say he's their favourite. Naturally there will be people who hold these opinions but it doesn't seem to be a common view. Does this therefore mean that main characters are better when they're less extreme, to lessen the risk of turning off potential readers? Or are people simply drawn to those more on the periphery, because an element of mystery remains? Or is it another reason entirely?<br />
<br />
Or maybe I'm just thinking about this too much and giving myself a brain-ache.<br />
<br />
<br />Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-71953151644023516722013-06-23T13:54:00.000+01:002013-06-23T13:54:05.133+01:00What if...?Plans for book 3 are storming ahead with new ideas and theories springing into my mind throughout the day, although more often than not at completely inconvenient times - say, at work or when I'm just going to bed.<br />
<br />
But ideas are good and I'm not going to gripe too much about when they appear - I'm just glad that they do. In fact, they've been appearing so much that I'm starting to wonder... is one more book on this story going to be enough?<br />
<br />
There are so many things I could do, mythologies I can create and develop, that I've started almost thinking - a soft, barely-there whisper in my head - that taking it to 4 or 5 books might not be as ridiculous as it sounds.<br />
<br />
After all, the last thing I want to do is try to cram too much into the third book and just end up making a mess of it. I know I have the tendency of trying to squeeze in more than the words will allow and I don't want to leave this story with a half-arsed conclusion because I couldn't fit everything in.<br />
<br />
However, I don't want to become <i>that</i> writer - the one who drags a story out when it should have finished already. The one where you read the books and think 'this isn't necessary; this should've ended two books ago.' And how can we tell when we reach that point?<br />
<br />
But this is all just pondering - nothing's set in stone. That's what the planning process is all about, right? Having a good old think about the possibilities.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-13625076311885457952013-06-05T20:25:00.000+01:002013-06-05T20:25:01.398+01:00Book TwoA couple of weeks ago I hand-wrote a blog post during a break at work to type up when I got home in the evening. In it I went whinging on about how I had almost finished this chapter, but those chapters were <i>still</i> not finished and <i>that</i> chapter was being a bitch, yadee yada ya.<br />
<br />
But when it came to typing it up, I realised that rather than <i>talking</i> about writing, it would be a much better use of my time if I just did it.<br />
<br />
So I did.<br />
<br />
The first draft of book 2 is finished! Hurrah!<br />
<br />
And now I'm feeling a little... lost. I've been working on the damn thing for so long that I can't really remember what I used to do before it.<br />
<br />
I really want to dive right in to editing it but I know that the whole process works better after letting the novel 'stew' for a while. Looking at it semi-fresh eyes will show me what I <i>have</i> written rather than what I had <i>wanted</i> to write.<br />
<br />
So instead, I've started planning book 3. There are a lot of strands I've collected during the first two books which I need to untangle and tie up in the last novel. I also don't want to delve into actually writing book 3 until I know that book 2 is doing at least approximately what I need it to do. So planning for the third book can only go so far.<br />
<br />
This means that once I've done the bulk of the primary planning, and while I'm waiting for book 2 to cook, I'll probably have to start on something completely new.<br />
<br />
Now isn't that an exciting thought? Terrifying, but exciting.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-72629835908202797242013-05-08T10:11:00.000+01:002013-05-08T10:11:13.111+01:00Odds and EndsI'm still in that 'odds and ends' stage, and it's starting to get annoying. I've no-one to blame but myself, obviously - unless you count the sunshine which had the audacity to appear in all its wondrous glory on a bank holiday weekend, of all times. Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes.<br />
<br />
But because of said wondrous sunshine it felt like such a waste to spend all of the Monday in front of my computer, and Monday was the only free day I had of what became a very busy weekend. I did manage to squint determinedly at the family laptop for about an hour in the morning while seated at the garden table though. I typed up what I'd handwritten during my breaks at work, filling in a couple of gaps in chapters 48 and 49, as well as the first five-hundred words of the final chapter, 51.<br />
<br />
The problem, I suppose, lies in the fact that I do most of my writing during these breaks and it's only ever in my notebooks. What I need is a good few solid hours in front of my computer so that I can finally nail these last five chapters down.<br />
<br />
And by 'nail them down' I mean finish the first draft. I am <u>so</u> far away from them actually being <i>finished</i> finished.<br />
<br />
They say that the rain, cold and cloud is set to make its dreary return for the rest of the week, and it certainly looks that way outside my window this morning. I'll have to look for those silver linings and try not to miss the sun too much if it means I can complete this damn draft.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-76880702518203977492013-04-27T15:36:00.002+01:002013-04-27T15:36:43.464+01:00BooksI need to read more.<br />
<br />
This isn't a problem I ever thought I'd have. Especially not now - I mean, I've crammed my bedroom with as many books as it will hold and I work in a library. If there's one thing I'm surrounded by all day, it's books.<br />
<br />
But so far this year I've read less than half-a-dozen new books. Very poor show, I'm sure you'll agree. I'm currently 500ish pages into <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Game-Thrones-Song-Fire-Book/dp/0007491573/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367073322&sr=1-1&keywords=game+of+thrones" target="_blank"><i>Game of Thrones</i> by George R. R. Martin</a> but have found myself a little... stuck. Perhaps I expected too much from it but I'm not particularly enjoying it. I'm even finding it, dare I say it, a bit boring?<br />
<br />
Of course the problem could lie in the fact that I've watched the tv series, though having experienced a story in another medium has never been an issue for me before. It is no doubt a highly unpopular opinion but I'd anticipated more (and therein lies a problem I've <strike>ranted</strike> talked about before - I don't much care for high expectations).<br />
<br />
Part of me wants to persist, though, if only so I can get to the point in the story which I <i>haven't</i> yet seen.<br />
<br />
Another part of me, however, thinks that all that sounds like rather too much effort, thank you. I don't want to have to <i>fight</i> with myself to read - with so many books and so little time, maybe I should be sticking to those books which grab me tight and don't let go until the very last page.<br />
<br />
<i>That</i> sounds like the sort of book I want to read. And, you know, write.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-85489349890440131562013-04-18T09:59:00.000+01:002013-04-18T09:59:22.858+01:00Major Catch-Up, reporting for dutyWow, it has been a <b>long</b> time since I last wrote a blog post. My excuses, which must inevitably arise at this point, start off pretty valid but then sort of peter out towards the end.<br />
<br />
In March I was hit by a rather horrid bout of flu, which left me too pathetic and useless to do anything much beyond stare blearily at terrible daytime telly and feel annoyed at my under-performing immune system. It lasted about three weeks and by the time I was better again the Easter holidays had arrived.<br />
<br />
Here start my excuses which aren't <i>quite</i> as convincing but are nonetheless legitimate. I went to Plymouth to visit my older brother and his fiancée over the Easter weekend and on my return spent the rest of that week participating in the Great Redecorating Feat which is my bedroom. I therefore, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, had little time for blogging.<br />
<br />
(I did reorganise all my books on my lovely new bookshelves though!)<br />
<br />
But as the second week of my Easter break came around (ah, how I love working for a college sometimes!), my excuses become somewhat less convincing. Why didn't I blog during that time? Well... you see... I just... um... didn't. Yeah, that's pretty much the sum of it. Fully recovered from bouts of both flu and decorating fever, I was tragically struck down by a lack of motivation. I knew I <i>should</i> write a blog but not doing it just seemed infinitely easier.<br />
<br />
But I suppose the blog-writing isn't really the most important casualty of all this. It's the novel writing which, while not having suffered a complete halt, has slowed down far more than I'm happy with.<br />
<br />
I did manage to keep <a href="http://dinosaurbouf.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/dont-break-chain.html" target="_blank">my chain</a> unbroken during the last month and a half, writing every day when I was ill, if only a couple of sentences. Some of it even managed to make sense, I discovered later when I typed it all up.<br />
<br />
But the fact still remains that I'd hoped to have finished the first draft of book two by now and I haven't. The final five chapters have all got bits and pieces - the earlier ones more so than the latter - but have yet to become whole.<br />
<br />
So now comes the task of filling in the blanks - and doing it without going horrendously over the word count. Oh well, miracles do happen.<br />
<br />
And I have a major catch-up to do on everyone else's blog posts which I haven't read in so very long. All in all, I've been a very bad blogger.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-88867652637340176352013-03-06T19:19:00.001+00:002013-03-06T21:26:57.635+00:00Character DepthChapter 47 is under way, though now because of work I'm back to the bits-and-pieces method which means that I need to type the past couple of days' work up at some point and fill in the gaps. I seem to be writing it in an even greater number of places at the moment which means that a big part of my next page-to-screen transfer will be actually finding all the bloody stuff.<br />
<br />
I'm still reading <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/High-Lord-Number-Magician-Trilogy/dp/1841499625/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362597341&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><i>The High Lord</i> by Trudi Canavan</a> - it's so good I want to eat it. Or cry. Or cry while eating it. I read 350 pages on Sunday but have had to slow down considerably since then due to the inconvenience that is Real Life. I've a little over 100 pages to go and I don't want it to end (this is more where the crying part comes in). I'm also terrified that one of my favourite characters is going to die. It's a dangerous thing to grow emotionally attached to a fictional person over whom I have no control. I find I don't care for it.<br />
<br />
But back to characters over whom I do (theoretically speaking) have control over. I read an interesting quote online yesterday - '<span class="words">You don’t really understand an antagonist until you understand why he’s a protagonist in his own version of the world.' It's by a writer named John Rogers and, alas, I'd not heard of him before. But I do like his quote very much.</span><br />
<span class="words"><br /></span>
<span class="words">It made me think about my own antagonists and whether they had enough depth. When I was writing my MA dissertation - for which I used part of <i>Hide and See</i> (aka Book 1) - I was told to try and think more about the backstory of my characters. I wrote one piece relating to my main character's principal adversary. It's less than 1500 words, just a small but defining scene from the woman's childhood, but it helped to explain her motivations - motivations which I hadn't really considered before I sat down to write them. And although that piece won't make it into any of the books, it did - and continues to - make her more human.</span><br />
<span class="words"><br /></span>
<span class="words">Somehow, though, I need to recreate this deeper knowledge of her onto the page without stating it explicitly. <i>How</i> I do this is something of a mystery - is this a thing I need to do consciously or will my deeper knowledge of the character bleed through subconsciously when I write her into the story? I have no idea.</span><br />
<span class="words"><br /></span>
<span class="words">What I <i>do</i> know, however, is that I'm finding this character to be far more interesting than I ever imagined she would be.</span>Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-86924522681132599482013-02-26T19:16:00.000+00:002013-02-26T19:16:48.898+00:00A reader reaction to aspire toThe latter part of my half-term break did end up being rather productive. Yes, I know, I'm surprised too.<br />
<br />
I wrote Chapter 43 on Wednesday, 44 on Thursday and Friday, and 45 on Saturday and Sunday. And just as I finally, gloriously, got into the swing of writing for the bulk of the day again, work reappears, rudely waking me from my creative bliss to remind me that, alas, real life <i>does</i> still exist.<br />
<br />
Not that I'll stop writing now that the holiday is over obviously. I'm still committed to my Don't-Break-the-Chain method and will continue to write every day, providing no great calamity occurs or that I just don't bother waking up and getting out of bed one day. Believe me, it's a very tempting thought sometimes, especially when winter just WON'T BUGGER THE FECK OFF!!<br />
<br />
Yeah, I'm needing me some sunshine.<br />
<br />
During the break I also finished <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Novice-Number-Black-Magician-Trilogy/dp/1841493147/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361905758&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><i>The Novice</i> by Trudi Canavan</a>. I've said it before and I'll say it again - my goodness it is an amazing book. The standard of the writing, the characterisation, the intricacy of the world, the imagination behind it all... I just can't help but gush.<br />
<br />
When I finished it, I literally hugged it. Yeah, we're all perfectly aware that I'm a nerd etc etc, but if someone, somewhere, ever loves something I've written enough to hug it, I will be a very happy author indeed.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-44192248383866400112013-02-20T12:22:00.000+00:002013-02-20T12:22:00.772+00:00Half-termI don't think I've even visited my Blogger homepage since before the weekend, meaning that I am behind on reading other blog posts as well as updating my own. Shame on me etc etc.<br />
<br />
Half term is finally here! Yipee!! We are, however, already halfway through which isn't rather dampens the enthusiasm a little, especially considering I haven't got quite as much done as I'd hoped. I guess I shouldn't be surprised - I'd needed a bit of a rest but now really do need to kick my arse into gear.<br />
<br />
Chapter 42 is done and 43 in underway. I'm aiming to get 43 done this afternoon/evening. I think it would be good to write a larger chunk in one day because I sometimes worry that the bits I do during breaks at work sometimes lack consistency. I'm usually writing them out of order and in a couple of different notebooks and I think the narrative often suffers for it.<br />
<br />
But that's what rewriting is for - and I'm sure I'm going to have one hell of a job when it comes to editing this draft.<br />
<br />
I'm also a good way through <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Novice-Number-Black-Magician-Trilogy/dp/1841493147/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1361362647&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><i>The Novice</i> by Trudi Canavan</a>. Bloody hell but she's a good writer. Of all the books I could have picked to break my embarrassing-lack-of-reading streak, I'm glad it was this one. The copy I had, however, did have about ten pages around the middle of the book which had the first line chopped off of each page due to some rather creative binding by the printers. A quick stop at my local library had me grabbing another copy. Thank goodness for public libraries.<br />
<br />
Right, back to task. My main characters are in a race against their enemies and I need to use google earth to decide their route. Writing is a strange business.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-63338868611730714352013-02-11T19:32:00.000+00:002013-02-11T19:32:18.782+00:00Ten chapters to goToday I started on Chapter 42, which means I am ten chapters away from finishing the first draft of book 2. Put like that, it feels like I'm on the home stretch - then I remember that that's still around twenty thousand words.<br />
<br />
In terms of story rather than word- or chapter-count, it certainly has the air of approaching the final climax of the narrative. I'm about to write the last chase, leading to the last fight. It's all very exciting - or at least I hope that's how it's going to read.<br />
<br />
It's half-term next week and I aim to get three chapters done within that time. By the time I go back for the second half of the term (ugh, why am I thinking about <i>that</i> already) I should really be on my way towards the end.<br />
<br />
What I haven't done a lot of lately is new reading. While I'm always reading (and re-reading) bits and pieces here and there, I've not read an entire new book this year and that's just ridiculous. It's February for heaven's sake! So another one of my half-term tasks is to pick up one of the many books waiting patiently on my shelves.<br />
<br />
I'm thinking <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Novice-Number-Black-Magician-Trilogy/dp/1841493147/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360610907&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Trudi Canavan's <i>The Novice</i></a>, the second book in her Black Magician Trilogy. Her writing's always just fantastic in such an effortless, easy way. I bought the book months ago and really should have read it by now. Shame on me.<br />
<br />
That's the problem with travelling to work by car - it's not really all that appropriate to read at the same time.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, I'm going up to Bristol this coming weekend (woohoo!!) so I'll have time to do some reading on the way. It really seems as if being on a train is the only way I can guarantee some quality book time.Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8162864642893260708.post-7460804821611074402013-02-04T20:27:00.000+00:002013-02-04T20:27:45.108+00:00A Fantastic WeekendMy trip to London this past weekend was amazing. As someone who is not a fan of London to the point of actively avoiding going there, I am pleased to have had such a lovely time. A big chunk of that is down to the company of my younger brother, but also to the 'show' (for want of a better word) which I talked about in last week's blog post.<br />
<br />
I have tried to describe to people just what I was going to see/had seen but 'show' isn't specific enough. However, I don't know a word for an event in which there are book readings, songs on topics like science, Harry Potter and fish, questions answered on a timer in which the loser gets slapped in the face, and, among many other things, a heck of a lot of cheering.<br />
<br />
It all sounds bizarre when summarised like that - and yet it was incredible. In fact, it was better than I'd hoped even though I broke my rule and went in with high expectations. It was like two hours crammed full of in-jokes, but ones you share with several hundred people rather than just a couple of friends.<br />
<br />
The show was so diverse, crossing from hilarious one minute to deeply thought-provoking the next. There was a good chunk of literary discussion to delight my bookish soul, with John Green talking about his novel in a wonderfully mature and confident manner to a crowd who were mostly in their teens, proving that he truly believes what he preaches in refusing to talk down to young people as if they lacked intelligence.<br />
<br />
But now it's back to my own novel. The trip meant a good deal less writing this weekend, though I did manage to do some both days (don't-break-the-chain is still intact!) - now I just need to type it up. It all got a little confusing last week. I thought I was writing Chapter 40 during my lunch breaks when, in actual fact, that scene goes in Chapter 41. So both are - at this point - about equally incomplete.<br />
<br />
Two weeks until half-term. It'll be great to have several days in a row to really knuckle down and do little else but write!Bethany Coombshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06146233440298677137noreply@blogger.com0