Thursday 17 September 2015

Writing tired

So, part of what I've been doing while not blogging is working out what's wrong with me. Aside from the obvious - looking back on past posts where I've mentioned being fatigued or otherwise sick, talking to people who have a condition whose symptoms I seem to match almost exactly - I drew the conclusion a while ago that it was Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and I have visited the doctors (when I can grab the time off work, and it's in the week, and the doctors actually give me a frigging appointment, and I'm not so fatigued I can't even) but I get the feeling my regular GP doesn't believe in it. Awks.

Anyway, I have tried to keep on top of writing, even though I find it difficult. I was rereading something I wrote recently, and I could see when I was writing tired. There were so many silly mistakes, stuff spelled correctly that made no sense (he got up at walked of, for instance) because when I get tired my fingers jump over the keyboard and the scenes that are in my head won't turn off and ugh, I hate feeling so shitty all the time. I hate that it's so evident in the stuff I'm writing and I haven't caught it before. I think I always need a beta.

Friday 11 September 2015

Bye bye

So, I don't know how many people read either this blog or my blog that had the second draft of my YA, but I will put this on here anyway. I've deleted as much of the other blog as is possible, so Uprooted is no longer on here.

It's not for any negative reason. I originally posted it to welcome beta readers to go through it and correct it as they saw it needed it. I knew it needed a lot of work.

But a few months ago, I went with Sarah-Jane to YALC at LFCC, and we had the opportunity to speak to an agent one-on-one. I know Sarah-Jane talked about her plotline and the agent was really enthusiastic, but with mine we talked more about technical stuff, about what I could do with a series if I'm trying to sell it. Her advice matched things I had heard at the Essex Book Festival Writer's Day last year, and things that I have heard other writers I admire say about their publishing process. So I need to really overhaul the entire story in order to meet the parameters they're setting in order for it to be publishable.

So for NaNo this year, I'm going back to the drawing board for Lamb and Carter. I'm currently thinking about what is important for THEM in the story, with the themes etc I would like in there. What can stay and what can be thrown away.

Because as a writer, you do get precious about your creations and your characters. Sometimes I think it can be a major hinderance. You can't be precious about every element. You have to pick your battles. If a sub-plot is damaging to the overall point of the story, then there's no need for the sub-plot. The last few fanfics I've written have given me some great practice with writing a story that stands alone and focuses on the main agenda, so I'm hoping that this will help me go ahead with Lamb and Carter's story, even if I have to strip a lot away. And just because the story is getting stripped, it doesn't mean I no longer care for it. I care for it more than ever, I miss Lamb and Carter so much. But it's because I care about doing their story justice that I'm determined to do whatever it takes to get it right.