A few weeks ago, my younger daughter started going through our photo boxes. She hadn't really looked through them before. I'd always pulled out things to show her, and, to tell you the truth, these boxes haven't been in beautiful working condition since, oh, about five years or so ago -they've been jumbled up and out of order. Are you all more organized than this? Hope so, for your sanity's sake!
Anyway, she pulled some black and white photos out that I'd thought were gone. Ths one really struck me, because it shows the house we moved into when I was five almost years old. This picture was taken a few months after we moved in, on my fifth birthday. Weirdly, I remember posing in the front yard for my father just like it happened last weekend.
You can tell from the lack of tidiness of the front lawn, coupled with the lovely shrubs, that it was rundown when we bought it.
This house plays a large role in my novel, almost the role of a character. The novel is, by definition, fiction, but this is the neighborhood that I drew from when I created my novel's neighborhood.
Do you do this? Use old landscapes or halfway memories as takeoffs for your imaginations when you write?
I'm off for the next nine days, and by the end of that time, the plan is to have a strong and complete draft of my novel. I'll be around visiting, but I won't post anything new until after that's done.
Have a good weekend!
P.S. I'm participating in McK's word-count-a-thon as I edit and work on my last chapters. I'll post my daily count in the comments. If you need a jumpstart to your writing, visit McK's blog and get going.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Almost there...and counting...
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52 comments:
Sure do. And I'm pinching that lawn, pronto.
I have a scene in my nov where my MC leans over a railway bridge and as I imagine it, the bridge actaully changes. It's two bridges, really, but they blend into one in the scene. And then there's the UFO and the sylvan fantasy kingdom, but they only merit a line each.
And isn't it great when you come across old photos of yourself? I just love your expression here. Very Hollywood child starlet denied own dressing room.
That's a lovely picture, Robin.
Good luck with the next nine days.
It looks like a lovely house. When I first moved to Northern England, I found it interesting and odd that having a front yard/lawn was a marker of money, so photographs of the barrio where we lived when I was a girl looked "upper class" to my then-boyfriend because all the duplexes had gardens.
I definitely pinch scenes and descriptions of people - I make sure that the broad stroke details are changed enough so that there's no risk of recognition. So I used the layout of our old apartment in Lakewood but I changed it to a small house in Riverside (with an implication that there were more rooms which we never saw). I'm struggling with my novel, which is set in specific places in Scotland. I've not been to the specific locations (which I'm not naming, so theoretically it doesn't matter) but also it's set a few centuries ago. I'm finding that I'm avoiding describing locations for fear of getting something wrong.
Hey Whirl, yeah with the lawn. Notice the weeds growing out over the walkway. Notice the tacky shrubs.
That's a hoot about the pose and expression. I was wearing gray wool slacks, unlined, and I hated them. They made me itch. My dad let me change a few minutes after this and few other pictures were taken, and it pissed my mother off. Still makes me grin, thinking about that.
Thanks, FH! I've been working on the same two chapters for the past two or three weeks - they're making me crazy- I have so much of them written, but I needed some time off to really think through what I need to do to make them work, so I'm happy not to be working for the next week! They are two early chapters (chaps 6 and 7 out of 20)- and all the rest around them is finished except for a reread, fixing typos, cutting redundancies, and some overlong scenes that have been pointed out, so I'm really, really close. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!
Sylvia, I think that's so funny- how people decide what does and doesn't make one 'wealthy' or well off. I know what you mean. Our house was in a barely middle-class neighborhood, in truth, and my family could only afford it because they bought it rundown, and then gradually fixed it up as they could. I livedin this house from the spring before I turned five until I was about seventeen. At the time, of course, that seemed like a lifetime.
Oh, and by the way, Sylvia, about Scotland, i wonder if there are some YouTubes that might help? you never know. I searched for 'George & Pilgrim', Glastonbury, to see if there was anything about a pub that I like to go to when we visit my sister-in-law, and there were films of it from a family reunion or something. So it might be worth a try to see if there's a YouTube of the region/area you're thinking about!
I think I take ingredients of things from the landscape of my childhood. I have learned that my family members are very sensitive to me talking about my childhood on the blog so I guess I don't want anything to be too recognizable or specific so I just mix it up a lot. That said there is a chain-smoking, short-arsed vindictive french teacher in the first chapter of my WIP who is a little too close to a real person. I really should change the character's name! I've set quite a lot of my book in my local area. I've put beautiful places I've come across into it but I've redrawn the geography a bit. I have an idea for a book brewing at the moment which will feature a lot of the landscape of my childhood in it. I hope that by the time I come to write it, my writing will have improved enough for my Peeps to understand that something can be set somewhere real -even be inspired by real events - but still be entirely fictional.
That picture is gorgeous. You were as cute as a button.
Of course I draw on scenes that have made an impact on me. I've taken settings from Connecticut, Vermont, Santa Cruz, New Mexico, Las Vegas, New York, San Francisco, and of course the Gold Country... places that have character to them. If I don't use the setting in the mode of a character like you're describing, it still informs the richness of the story.
There was one setting, however, that I totally made up and truly wish existed. I actually grew emotionally attached to it and wish I could visit it now.
OK. I worked on and off (mostly on) for about 12 hours today - putting scenes and sections together for one of the two chapters I have left - and I'm happy to say that Chapter Six is a morning's worth of work away from being finished. (I've done several sections/drafts, but I'm picky. There you you.)
Anyway, today I actually wrote 417 words, and edited a couple of thousand. And organized, took some stuff out, rearranged others, chose one version of a scene over others for severakl scenes. It was a good day, and I sure hope the vibes continue tomorrow. We'll see...
Thanks, FH!!
Hey Robin, good work. Keeping plugging, you're very close. And check your vm when you take a break.
I think everything I do is a mix of things I know, and things I only imagine I know -- and I'm seldom sure which is which. But, I guess I prefer it that way...
Hey kiddo, good luck with this. Great to hear you're so close to being done!
Hi WW,
I'll give ya a call when I come up for air this afternoon.
ril,
I know what you mean. I really do. Separating fact from fiction seems a little pointless, anyway, whne you're writing a novel, so I do think it's better the way you described it, making up your own version of the world.
Hey freddie,
Thanks!
And as for McK's numbers and daily update:
Yesterday I worked for the better part of 10 hours throughout the day. Was able to see what was wrong with the structure of 6 and 7 and why I'd been having fits with them, in one of those epiphanous moments, where the scenes almost seemed to lift off the list on my legal pad, and rearrange themselves in a way that came together. As for words, I read through and edited 4300 words, and rewrote roughly 500-600 here and there throughout the day.
McK, thanks for doing this right now - your timing (Robin said selfishly) couldn't have been better!
I am so impressed that you can sit down and focus on the rewrites like that. After an hour, I'm starting to fizzle and after two I'm thinking, you know what? It's good enough ... or worse, it's so bad, forget the whole thing.
Keep posting your schedule, it's making me work harder :)
All right,McKc. If you're checking...
Today I finished Chapter 6 - and will read over in the morning to see if it all looks good still. I've been working on this one so long because it's a tough transitional chapter, but I think I'm finally there. Rewrote two key scenes (more than once today) - and when I did 'word count' it came to 1444. Most of the words were there, but they didn't sing. I think they do now. I think. God, I'm tired.
I also was able to see that the next chapter (the last one to do- is actually two - because one of the pivotal scenes in the novel has its punch deflated by having two scenes after it. The good news - that part of the chapter is already done- so that leaves a couple of hours of scene work in the morning on 6,just to tweak and be sure, then straight into 7.
(There were 20 chapters in my novel. There are now 22. I wanted 20, but splitting two for effect just has to happen.)
I love photos like that. And the lack of color adds to its depth.
I draw on childhood landscapes also. Some things are so vivid.
Awesome post!
I woke up last night realizing that a scene I worked hard on yesterday had to be cut. It was too much. That hurt.
Today I reread parts of Chapter 6 and smoothed some things in two scenes, roughly 2400-2500 words.
Also reread and separated the second half of Chapter 7 to make the new Chapter 8.
Wrote one key scene for Chapter 7.
783 (actually, many phrases and a paragraph were already there, but needed work and expansion).
I am now officially one tired but happy puppy.
I'll see how happy I am after the tough day I have planned out for tomorrow. Yeah. But I really have been forced to be focused because I have this discrete set of nine days off to finish, and I know I have enough time to finish the little I have left, with the scenes and prep work already done, if I drill down and do it. So there you go.
Update for what I did on Thursday, January 22nd -
Reread the new Chapter 8 I'd separated from Chapter 7, and made a few adjustments.(The new chapter I reread and tweaked comes in at 3952 words - I'd say I actually rewrote around 100-150 words, fiing sentences, etc.)
Then, I spent the better part of the afternoon, several hours, thinking through and writing a key scene for 7 that has been giving me fits. Large parts of it have been written for a long time, but they weren't 'there', and so about half of this scene had to be reworked to make it stronger, and the rest, rearranged.
To be honest, yesterday was a difficult day for me. I didn't get that scene where I wanted it until about last night, and I kept avoiding it because I was worried.
I'm about to reread it now - it comes in at 1885 words.
I use old landscapes and memories in my writing. I believe every writer must. Where else do you get ideas than from your experience of life? They may not physically resemble the things that inspired them, but the inspiration exists.
I agree, WW.
Good writing, Robin. You deserve your badge!
Thanks, McK!
Friday, Jan 23rd:
I continued work on Chapter 7, and went back in and redid a few things in 6 and the new 8, that I woke up thinking about. Less new words and more reworking/polishing up today. I don't know how many words, but many nore than 100, counting the edits.
My goal for today and tomorrow - finish Chapter 7 and have a fully intact manuscript for the first time.
Today, I spent the first hour reading through the ending paragraphs of my manscript, and changed a few lines, tightening some, loosening others. I'd say that was an edit of about 100 words.
Then I moved on through Chapter 7, spent time reading and revising 3005 words.
Tomorrow, I have approx 5000 more words to check through, some paragraghs that need tightening.
Phew.
I was just turning in for the night when I saw smoke billowing from the study. Thank heaven it isn't Geoff on fire.
I'm looking at 5000 words tomorrow so I'll race you.
Sagging eyelids at dawn...
Sagging eyelids at dawn it is, Whirl, my good friend. Somehow, I hear Spaghetti Western music in the distance, and I feel the sudden need for a cape, or a blanie draped over my shoulder, and a waterboy named Sergio...
That was supposed to say "a blankie". Sue me. I can't type worth a cral. I mean, crap.
I just dug out what I thought was an old poncho from the shed, but — curses — it was only Paul Michael Glaser sleeping rough.
Looks like I'm Lee Van Cleef for the morning.
it was only Paul Michael Glaser sleeping rough
Hee. I like the Van Cleef thing.
I'm too short to be Clint, and also not a man, so I'll just drape up as a (gorgeous, of course) barmaid, and get to editing...
God, I really do here the theme song in the background. I'm gonna download it on I-Tunes and listen to it for a grin.
Hear. Not here. Dammit.
Just checking in to let you know that the Lee Van Cleef look didn't last very long and it all went a bit Banjo Playing Hillbilly Kid From Deliverance.
I've still got to cut, paste and amend 6 passages, and insert two pages in places I'm not sure about yet. And finish one scene.
So...back to it now, and I'm out of my barmaid outfit, and into my LL Bean sock shoes and my sweats.
Crap, this is hard.
The Koala is very pleased.
I did it. It's quiet in this room, and I've been in front of my laptop off and on, mostly on, for well over 12 hours today, but I did it. My draft is finished. It's the first time my entire novel has been put together. God, I'm tired.
My draft is finished. It's the first time my entire novel has been put together.
Yee haw! After a well deserved rest, celebrate. I'm buying the first round when we meet in April.
Yay! Well done Robiin! That's amazingly brilliant and you deserve to take a rest now.
Thanks, Pete and FH! Thank you so much!
I couldn't go to sleep last night, I was so wired. Finally got maybe four hours. I'll be fun to be around today, first day back in my office in a week. Actually, tired or not, I'll be smiling.
Can't wait to get together, you all. It will be so wonderful to see you, and be able to sit and talk. (And drink. There's that!)
Thanks, Whirl, for going back and forth together with me! I'm sure now that my manuscript is together, after a short little breather, I'll be doing some finetuning of the type you talked about. It's been amazing, doing this as a kind of across-the-pond tag team of two.
And thanks again, McK, for your watchful eye idea!
Thanks, Whirl, for going back and forth together with me!
Now now, don't get smutty.
Very pleased to hear you're finished. I've still only got half a full draft sat in front of me and looking at that is exhilarating enough, so to have the full thing, ready to go, must be great.
Well done.
Woooo, go Robin!!! Congrats!! Get some wine in you, girl, stat.
I did it. It's quiet in this room, and I've been in front of my laptop off and on, mostly on, for well over 12 hours today, but I did it. My draft is finished. It's the first time my entire novel has been put together. God, I'm tired.
Oh my god, that's EXCELLENT! Wow, you have really focused and pushed through. I'm soooooo impressed!
Hurray!
*bounce*
(Meanwhile, my McKoala threat level is, er, looking a bit high. Do you know of any sources for Koala traps?)
Robin that's wonderful news. Congratulations! I know how exhausted you must feel but what an accomplishment! This calls for an explosion of exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well done Honey. Well, well done you!
Sylvia: there are some koala traps here at the bottom of the page.
Still Other devices, such as our Koala Trap, are purpose designed and built to suit certain species and projects.
I don't know how much they will cost you though.
LOL FHH, that's perfect!
Thanks, you all! I've been in the office today, so couldn't come and visit sooner.
By the way, word counts for McK:
Yesterday, I was definitely over 100, but to be honest, I didn't check the amount. I figure a low estimate is 100 per hour for 12 hours, so 1200, not counting rereading, etc.
Today was my 'no words' day off.
(I wanna stay in your good graces, McK.)
Hey, well done! Sorry I didn't stop by sooner, but that's one heck of an accomplishment.
Now you have to suppress the urge to wake up in the middle of the night and tinker...
Thanks, ril!
How did you know I've already been waking up in the middle of the night and thinking of things and making notes?
The plan is to hold off actually touching it for a few weeks, to let it simmer so I can see it more objectively when I reread. Hopefully, I'll make it... (sure I will).
And how's the baby? Is he sleeping well?
During the day, yeah. Nighttime -- not so much...
Word count for McK:
Monday was my zero day.
Tonight I'm going to do a bit of scene work, AND try to figure out the count thing on the sidebar. (Maybe, on that second part.)
McK, if you're checking...
This past week, I wrote, edited (a lot)and sent two queries off into the blue.
Saturday, Feb 7th, I spent five hours reading through and making edits on a chapter I'm barely happy with, and three others that I was double-checking.
Today, Sunday, I've edited for an hour (roughly 200 words), and now going back in to work through the last three chapters that I put together the week I was off, and polish them up. I'll be drilled down for the next three hours or so, and expect to read a couple thousand words, and edit several hundred of those, adding and subtracting, now that I've had some time away from them to take a fresh look.
Hope I still have the koal seal of approval!
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