Blogging NaNoWriMo 2014: Of Word Counts and Secondary Characters

Despite my slow start, over the weekend I managed to pull ahead and my current word count, with nothing yet written for today, is 18,021. For reference, that's practically where I need to be tomorrow so I'm building up a dinky little cushion.

Much of my weekend spurt can be put down to attending a write-in with the Leeds NaNoers on Saturday. I fought my usual shyness and won, spending three hours there and getting 3,000 written. And I had lemon cheesecake - always a plus. Hopefully I'll get there again before the end of NaNo. It was a nice environment to work in and I chatted with some good people.

So how's the novel going? Well, I think I'm about a third of the way through which suggests this first draft will be longer than my usual ones (they usually come in at around 55k, so NaNo plus a bit). However, my determination that the whole draft will be finished in November essentially gives me a little more work to do. I want this novel 'out of the way' so I can focus on rewriting another during December so I'm going to have to get on with it. Coupled with PhD stresses which I could really do without, NaNo is making November my most stressful month since...well, September. Overall, this has not been a good year and ending it with a work rush like this is asking for trouble. Nevertheless, we are where we are. My new mantra for when I make stupid decisions.

When I started writing the mother of one of my protagonists took on a bit of a life of her own. She isn't based on someone as such but I have met a woman who does the job she does and I've transplanted a personality onto her. So far, she's one of my favourites to write. I mean, one of my protagonists is snotty and work-orientated and the other one's completely absorbed by her anxiety issues so this woman is a delightful diversion. I am having trouble keeping track of all the residents of the care home though. Perils of having a large cast but it'll be necessary in the end.

My 'reward' films over the weekend were Summer Stock and South Pacific. I can't really be classified as a 'cockeyed optimist' in anything but my writing but...here you are anyway.

Blogging NaNoWriMo 2014: And I'm On My Way

Well, I got started last night, only a day behind schedule but, because I hadn't planned on starting till today anyway, I didn't push myself into achieving anything substantial. So I start day three with only 600 words and a few concerns. 

I'm hoping that my current problem is that my protagonists haven't yet been thrown together. That'll happen in the next scene after some preamble and I'm hoping that, once they're in the same room, things will kick off and the story will run away from me. It probably doesn't help that I'm coming off the back of writing in first person for two months and the first character I've introduced is in third person. I've got my fingers crossed that'll I'll get going properly once I finish my full novel plan but there is one ground rule:

• No actual NaNo writing can be done before six pm on weekdays (unless I'm at a write in). PhD still takes priority and I've got plenty of little finicky bits of that to deal with. 

I must stick to that which'll make my evenings more interesting. Not Calamity Jane type interesting but interesting nonetheless. 

Blogging NaNoWriMo 2014: Reviewing the Situation

Don't worry - this isn't me throwing in the towel before I've begun. However, I am having to do a little more juggling than I would've liked and admit that I'm going to be starting from behind.

For the last month or so I've been rewriting my 2009 NaNo novel ('Lily') for the fifth/sixth/seventh time (honestly, pick a number, it's been through so many drafts and half drafts that I'm dizzy with it). I blogged about my process for rewriting this at the beginning of the month but I'm afraid things have got a little out of control.

The last draft of this thing came in at just under 80,000 words. So I started on the 19th September and happily trundled towards the finish line, trying to write about 2,000 words a day to hit my target. It was tricky but I was managing it and the novel is so much stronger thanks to my additions and small alterations. Everything has been tightened up and I'm proud of it. Except that when I reached 75,000 words the other night I realised that I was still a distance from the finish line. So I checked the last draft to see approximately how many words I had left to go - more like 14,000 than 5,000. I whimpered a bit, realised I couldn't write that many good words in two days alongside a Sheffield trip and other work and decided I needed to adjust my goals.

I don't like the idea of getting behind on NaNo but, I suppose, the beauty of being me is that I'm stubborn as hell. I might start from behind but that'll make me work all the harder to catch up. I'm not sacrificing the chance to make 'Lily' the best it can be ready for submission and I'm not missing out on producing a 2014 NaNo draft with these characters who have been haunting me all year. I'm just not. If I'm going to drown in work, I'll at least be fighting till the end.

See you all again after I managed to get going.

Blogging NaNoWriMo 2014: Tense Troubles

I wouldn't say all is going swimmingly with my NaNo planning. I'm snatching a few minutes here and there to figure out my characters and their connections but my chapter plan is still non-existent and I only have four days to at get at least the first few chapters plotted out so I can dive in and make a dent in my word count on Saturday.

In the meantime, though, last night I hit a mental landmine. It suddenly occurred to me that, though I know my characters, their relationships and pretty much where I'm going with the novel, I hadn't spared a thought for how I was going to get there - specifically, how I'm going to tell the story.

Quite a few of the short stories I've been working on lately are written in the present tense. I'm growing to like it after years of practically hiding away and holding garlic up at it but I couldn't do a Hilary Mantel and write a whole novel using it. Not now and especially not for NaNo - it requires too much concentration from me for a start. However, the fact remains that I need two distinct viewpoints in this novel, and they need to coexist within chapters (I think, I'm still debating that point).

So I thought of Sophie Hannah's effective technique in her crime novels. She uses first-person present tense for her 'ordinary' character then switches to third-person past tense for her police procedural aspects. It works well as a differentiation tool once you get into the rhythm and now it's one of the things I like best about her books.

This technique would actually suit the novel I'm writing. I need immediacy for one of the characters as I get into her head and describe her rather unique set of circumstances. The other character - not so much. Of course, she still has an important story to tell but I feel I can tell her tale in my comfort zone of third-person past tense.

I'm not under the impression that this switching about lark is going to be easy but it's the right choice for the characters. Now all I have to do is finish my NaNo planning. Oh, and finish the novel I'm trying to redraft before NaNo starts. And write the first draft of my thesis conclusion. And do some other work... All before Saturday. Oh, goody.

Bit By Bit, Putting It Together

It's scary, this PhD lark, isn't it? While I wait for something beyond my control to click into place, I'm beavering away at my thesis and, in all immodest honesty, not finding it half as bad as I thought it was. The bits are all there. They need polishing and, in a few cases, joining up so you can't see the creases but, on the whole, it's looking very thesis-shaped.

The main thing I've been doing lately is analysing my thesis by paragraph, making sure that each paragraph has an argument and leads onto the next etc. Now, I know I borrowed this idea from someone and I can't remember who - that's what four years of a PhD does to your brain! If anyone has any clue, let me know because it's incredibly useful and I'd like to credit them.

I'm also attacking those place holder subheadings I've been avoiding for years - and that's before I even get on to significant chapter titles. Have I mentioned I hate titles? Not this month on this blog, I'm sure.

Then there's the little monster scratching in the corner - the conclusion. At the moment, it's the size of a friendly household rat. He's perfectly happy over there, he's not angsty, he doesn't feel I'm neglecting him and he's pretty sure I'll make a good attempt at it. However, if I keep him waiting, he'll mutate. Imagine a thirty-foot rat towering over little old me. Let's try and evade that possibility, shall we?

And continue, bit by bit, putting it together...

Short Story Publication - Aldgate Echoes

It's nice to finally be able to share with you that I was shortlisted in Saga Magazine's ghost story competition and was then lucky enough to be one of the 15 shortlisted entries to be published in their anthology.

Like the publication of my other story this year, "Aldgate Echoes" is a piece I wrote a while ago and reworked for submission to this competition. I still have vivid recollections of the story coming to me while I was walking through a desolate London with a friend. Moments like that are moments writers wish we could bottle!

I'm very proud to be part of this anthology, though keeping the news to only a few select friends until I could be sure was tricky. I found out I'd been shortlisted while I was, ironically enough, back in London for a conference and I was on my birthday trip when I found out I was being published. I like that kind of symmetry - and so does Shamrock!

So the current price on Kindle is £0.51, not shabby for a short story collection. You can buy it here and let me know if you like it!

Classic Film Review: The Lady Vanishes (1938)

The Lady Vanishes tells the story of Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood) and her fellow bunch of travellers who are stranded overnight in an inn before their train gets started the next day. Before she gets on the train, Iris has an accident and is looked after by Miss Froy (May Whitty). After a nap, Iris wakes and discovers Miss Froy has vanished and none of her fellow passengers claim to remember her. Iris reluctantly enlists the help of Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) and they try to unravel the mystery of Miss Froy's disappearance. The cast includes Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne as the cricket-mad Charters and Caldicott, Paul Lukas as Dr. Hartz and Cecil Parker as Mr Todhunter.

This is the third version of this story I've now seen. I reviewed the 1979 film starring Angela Lansbury last year and, though I watched the 2013 television adaptation, I didn't review it. However, Hitchcock's interpretation of the story is delicious and outstrips the others, no question. It's atmospheric and witty without being overblown. The scenes on the train, particularly, are well-executed despite the confined space.

The cast is practically faultless. Michael Redgrave's first appearances as the irritating Gilbert in the hotel felt like a flamboyant sideshow, but once they settled into their double-act 'Sherlock Holmes and Watson' personalities on the train, the relationship between him and Iris was one of the highlights of the film. In addition, Radford and Wayne are excellent in their supporting roles and everyone down to the nun played by Catherine Lacey fulfil their parts properly.

After seeing three versions, it's very difficult to come to the story fresh but it still kept my attention for the most part, mainly due to Margaret Lockwood as the heroine. It's a completely different role to to her partnership with Redgrave in The Stars Look Down (1940, reviewed here) and, as such, demonstrates the versatility of both. Their chemistry sees the film through with able support from everybody else.