A few days ago I was stuck. Not stuck exactly in the
writer-block-thing but more the exercise that the Writing for Children Course
had suggested was consuming me and causing me stress. I have experienced this
kind of thing before....so I bit the bullet and sent an email to Nina Milton
(Tutor and lifesaver).
As always she told me that I should move on, my email, while
rambling (my opinion), demonstrated that I had learned the intended lesson and
I needed to forge ahead.The dam burst and I was back reading through the course
looking at structure and recognizing plot, plot types and story models easily.
The enthusiasm flooded back.
One exercise calls for you to look at interviews with
Jacqueline Wilson and Sophie McKenzie talking about how they write - trouble
was that the websites listed either had changed or been dropped - no joy. It
annoyed me I must confess BUT after a few minutes of frustration I moved to my
personal book list read so far and began to surf. I looked up the sites for
David Almond, Patrick Ness, Derek Landy and Michelle Paver.
It is clear that the process of writing and plotting is as
varied as the writers themselves - no news there I guess - each one fits the
writer and I concluded that finding what fits me might be the hardest part of
this chapter.
Derek Landy –
(website/blog entry address –
http://dereklandy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/up-for-air.html) writes in his
blog how he hammered out the plot to his book in 84,726 words BEFORE he pushes forward with
the writing itself. I saw this as his way of building the scaffolding or bones
of the story before the flesh is applied (ironic because the book includes a
magical skeleton detective!).
David Almond
advocates an organic approach - writing, playing with words and day dreaming -
he doesn't mention plotting in the way that Landy does.
And then on the OCA website ( http://oca-student.com/node/66680) I listened to Jacqueline Wilson talking about how she
writes; rising in the morning and writing five hundred words (about half to
three quarters of an hour) and then she has "written something". In
my opinion this is someone who feels the pressure to produce (which we all do)
and if you have written a certain amount then you have DONE something.
This I can relate to because when I have written something
even if it is meandering and obscure I have little problem with my insomnia - my head hits the pillow and I am gone (if only for a few precious hours of
deep sleep). Then it occurred to me that
I already do this in a way that suits me and especially works when ploughing on
with the course. My partner rises very early and so goes to bed around half
eight in the evening (spending 30 minutes with head in book) - I sit down at my
computer at that time and allow myself 30 minutes for emails and catching up
with news headlines etc. After 30 minutes has passed I start work - whether it
is exercises, re-reading or writing something for the course assignment.
The OCA website videos and the reading of the advice of
established authors shows how the process has to fit you as a writer – right from
whether you prefer pen and paper first draft, computer second and then edit
quickly before sending off to the agent/publisher (like Jacqueline Wilson
stated in her video) or you spend over eighty thousand words plotting out your
novel before you get the write the story itself.
Hearing and reading that these
authors write in so many different ways is comforting because it makes you
feel, as it did with me, that it is a process and all you have to do is keep at
it, find your path, because it is there and it fits you.
And if I get nothing done for the rest of this evening at least I have written this blog entry.
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