Sunday 31 October 2010

Editing

Last year I wrote another Nanowrimo novel and managed 60k words in the month of NovemberIt then took me the rest of the year to finish the draft.  It became a real labour and there were holes and gaps left where I lacked the research or drive to write that particular section.  In October I finally finished 117k words of what I knew to be a woolly draft.  The only problem is once finished you have to edit it and the clock is ticking to Nano 2010!

I started a few days ago with a 335 page draft and have edited up to page 24.  The novel is now 343 pages long.  More to edit!  Apart from the obvious corrections of grammar and spelling the main thing I have to edit for is exactly what I tell my class of ten and eleven year old to change - incidents of 'telling' not 'showing'.  In my first drafts I am very bad at adding in detail and description, so for me the second draft is mainly about fleshing out the bones.

Draft one
I followed my father through the warrens of overhanging buildings and passageways leading into the castles, people were everywhere.  I could smell the kitchens and the privies in equal measure.  The table my father led me to was right at the back of the hall, I could not even see the prince or his men.  We squeezed ourselves into one of the long trestle pews and waited for some of the food to make its way to the back of the hall, by when it would be cold and picked to the bone.
        The man next to me opened his mouth and let out a large, gassy burp.  He then giggled as if proud of this amazing feat.
“Just think of that inn in Chichester,” father whispered to me and reached for a trencher of hard bread.
Draft two
I followed my father through the warrens of overhanging buildings and passageways leading into the castle, people were everywhere.  I could smell the kitchens and the privies in equal measure. 
The hall was a vast, noisy and smoky place.  At one end, at the high table, sat distant blobs who were the important people, the table my father led me to was right at the back of the hall from where I could not even see the prince or his men.  We squeezed ourselves into one of the long trestle pews, in between a fat Norman and a drunken groom, and waited for some of the food to make its way to the back of the hall, by when it would be cold and picked to the bone.
        The Norman next to me opened his mouth and let out a large, gassy burp.  He then giggled as if proud of this amazing feat.  I sighed.
“Just think of that inn in Chichester,” father whispered to me and reached for a trencher of hard bread, “there is one I know on the road north, an inn they call The Bell.  Think of it and not of this.  We will have a warm fire in the winter, cool mead from the cellar in the summer.  It is a very beautiful place, you will love it.”
Eventually a plate of food made its way to us, the large dish now mainly bones and fat.  I tried not to think of the other, unclean, hands that had touched this food before me.  I also tried not to think of the Norman’s hand squeezing my thigh.  My eating knife may have been blunt, but it did enough damage to make the Norman squeal and withdraw his now bleeding hand.

When choosing what to write for Nano 2009 I chose a novel that I had been wanting to write for a long time (unlike in 2008 when I just made the whole idea up as I went along).  To write this capably I had to absorb as much medieval history as I could, this is a guilty pleasure but also makes writing somewhat difficult.  If you believe in using as much historical accuracy as possible it makes it hard to describe medieval clothes, for example, which were odd, uniform items made essentially from one piece of cloth.  Buttons were unheard of and sleeves had to be tied or sewn on daily.

Nano 2010 starts in less than 24 hours,  I have written an outline for the new novel (actually a young adult trilogy), and I will have to lay aside editing my medieval novel for a month and instead go run with werewolves.  Perhaps the break will do both of us some good?

Monday 11 October 2010

My first venture into e publishing

Well, I have done it.  I have sent out a book into the electronic ether.  This is something I could not have done alone, thankfully I have clever and wise friends.  John Fitch V is a prolific e author who gave me advice on how and where to publish and one of my oldest friends, Benjamin Parsons, designed the front cover you can see on the right.  Benjamin is an incredibly talented artist and it is wonderful he found the time to create this cover for me, John told me how e published books need a good cover.

This book is called 'The Fallen' and is about what Lucifer would do had he fallen to earth in our time.  I decided he would shag anything that moved and then set up a cult.  Well - he is Lucifer!

I wrote 'The Fallen' in a month as part of Nanowrimo (and yes folks, it starts again Nov 1st so please join in!) and then spent about two years tweaking, nudging and wondering whether I should do anything with it.

Within a day or two it should be on Amazon and I will be very interested to see what happens, although I am aware if I want it to sell I have to do all the pushing.

So everyone, keep your eyes out for 'The Fallen'.  Oh, but only if you are over 18!