Journal Entries
Writer's Block 9
Posted Aug 29, 2012
It's a month before my new course starts, and then it's only once a month. And it's lonely being a long-distance writer. 
I've been keeping going with Dreaming in Stone, but only slowly. At the moment, Alison is working at Les Saules restaurant, and getting to know Francois. Brian is coming up with ideas for making money, but not getting very far. Steve has returned to school (lycee) and met Nathalie, Francois's daughter.
At the moment, I'm in danger of getting in a muddle, because I've got lots of versions of lots of scenes. I probably need to go back and work out which bits are worth keeping and which versions are best. (They are numbered.) I'm afraid that, when I add up all the bits worth keeping, there won't be much there.
At some point, I shall probably need to write a sex scene. 
Our previous tutor, Catherine Smith, was keen on sex scenes, but I'm not sure.
I think there's a point in the middle of writing a novel when you nearly give up. Your initial enthusiasm for your story wears off, and you start realising how much farther you've got to go, and how much work you've let yourself in for.
Of my group, three people have finished their first novels. One of these, a man who has written a very original story, has got an agent interested. Another has sent his work to agents and heard nothing. The third has lost confidence in her first story and is starting a second.
Of the rest, most seem to have stopped writing during the break. Some have abandoned their first idea and are trying to come up with a better one. I'm not sure what shape the group will be in when it reconvenes.
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Latest reply: Aug 29, 2012
Writers Block 8
Posted Jul 9, 2012
Since the end of term, I've been trying to keep going with 'Dreaming in Stone'. But I'm hitting a problem with research.
It was easy enough when I started out, to write about a house in a French village. I could draw on personal experience. But I wanted to send my heroine to work in a French restaurant, and her son to study in a French school (lycee).
I have a book called 'From Here You Can't See Paris", which is set in and around a restaurant in the Lot. This helps with the life of a restaurant, but I still feel there are gaps. Obviously the fiction writer has to make things up to fill those gaps, but you want your fiction to be credible and consistent. I put my kitchen beneath the restaurant - and I think that, in the last chapter, I forgot to send the staff upstairs! I probably need to draw a plan of the restaurant, to go with the plan of the house and its barns which I've already drawn.
As for the lycee, it's easy enough to find facts about schools in France - what age students change schools, what subjects they take etc. But it's harder to find what it's like to be in a French school.
I'm going to France on Sunday. Perhaps I could try asking people -but that means telling them I'm writing a novel. I've been very reluctant to do that. Even to myself, I've called it a story, or a retirement project. It seems such a stupidly ambitious project for a 
whose greatest success to date is 
.
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Latest reply: Jul 9, 2012
Writer's block 7
Posted Jun 3, 2012
The course has finished. 
That's not just because this course has run its course, so to speak, but because the CCE (Centre for Community Engagement) which organises these things, has closed down. The University of Sussex has decided it can't afford to run them any longer.
I can go on writing. As I left my narrative, Brian is reeling from the Mayor's veto of their plans to renovate the barns for b&b accommodation. And Alison has accepted a job at Les Saules restaurant, working for Francois Allombert. I have a plot, so I know what happens next. I have little biographies for my major characters. I need to do some research but I can do it as I go along.
But I need encouragement and feedback. The group of us that has gone through this two year course together has proved very supportive, and cohesive. We've got good at hot seating and workshopping. We've enrolled, more or less enmasse, for a course of Advanced Writing Workshops being run at New Writing South in central Brighton. Many of the courses being run by the CCE are moving to New Writing South, so our previous tutors will be there.
That doesn't start until October, and, even then, it's only once a month. In the meantime, I'm feeling 
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Latest reply: Jun 3, 2012
Writer's Block 6
Posted May 4, 2012
At our last session, we did some hot-seating. This is a means of examining a character, to understand him or her more deeply, and discover the flaws and strengths of your characterisation. So I exposed my anti-hero, Brian, to hot-seating. My fellow students bombarded 'Brian' with questions - from when he was happiest to why he had only one child. It was growing quite intense, with one of my colleagues insisting that Brian needed to be clearer about his budget for the renovation work.
My colleagues said that Brian displayed a striking lack of self-awareness. He didn't really take on board the effect of his actions on his wife and son. When he said he was optimistic and extrovert, he was actually deluding himself. I said 'Oh,no, that means I'll have to rethink him again!', but they said 'No, it's a good characterisation'.
But some people thought that 'Brian' was the wrong name. I see what they mean. 'Brian' sounds tweedy, a man who works in a library and goes fishing. Perhaps he should be 'Bob', who sounds altogether jollier. I'll think about it.
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Latest reply: May 4, 2012
Writer's Block 5
Posted Mar 23, 2012
My course at Sussex University included an agents and publishers day. The day started with a general overview by one of the agents (Nicolar Barr) who proved friendly and open. Predictably, she said that agents get a huge slush pile, and we needed to get used to rejection. However, many of the novels they publish come from the slush pile.
Her advice was to see what books were successful and look for trends. Keep your novel's structure tight; check that it begins and ends in the right places, and know how to sum it up in a sentence. Research agents: check out their websites, and see which writers they publish. Then send a synopsis, your novel's first three chapters and a short covering letter. Don't over-hype your achievements or the qualities of your novel in the covering letter, but do send your work to several agents at once.
I got a ten-minute chat with Nicola (having previously submitted my synopsis and first chapter.) She asked me how far I'd got and whether I had any issues with what I was trying to write. (Yes, I don't think the character of Brian is right.) Encouragingly, she thought that the plot worked, and she described my writing as 'very readable'.
But the truth is that I write because I like writing, and I wasn't expecting to get anything published any time soon. I do wonder what I will do if I succeed in finishing my story, which seems unlikely. Do I just hide it in a drawer, or post it here? Let's wait and see.
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Latest reply: Mar 23, 2012
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