Month: August 2013

A cold, a notice board and some good tips.

· Leave a comment ·

Hello

After my last post regarding my love/hate relationship with research, well love/like a bit relationship, I found myself with a cold which stopped me in my tracks. I don’t like writing when I’m ill whether it be self-inflicted or not but I managed to stop the cold before it could get going. It put me behind on my character profiles though. I did manage to complete 2/3 of a character profile on the secretary, and wannabe searcher and killer of demons, Valerie Marks for my demon hunting story The Searcher’s Want. She is also a possible love interest for the main character. I’m planning on finishing this tonight and hopefully another profile as well. Bloody colds, you great big (insert your own insult here).

Also, I’ve acquired a notice board. My lovely mother sent me a text saying that she had one going spare. When I saw it I remembered it was the one she always used to use in the kitchen when I was growing up. I always like to keep things that have true sentimental value and, though I did forget about it for a while, this is one such thing. Now all I need to do is start to populate it. And get some pins. And small pieces of card or post it notes. And a good place to put it. Round my neck? In the bathroom? On my bedroom door? I’ll pick a good place for it.

I asked a question at the end of my last post, How do you like to go about doing the research needed for any writing that you are about to do or are currently doing?, and received plenty of good, helpful tips.

Sarah Waldock, of http://sarahs-history-place.blogspot.co.uk/, had some particularly good insights into research. She said that she likes to use actual books for research. This made me realise I don’t actually have any books that are solely used for research only. She said she also has a ‘holy shit that’s interesting!’ notebook which she keeps around for when inspiration strikes. There have been countless times when I’ve heard nuggets of information from passers-by and wanted to remember them and use them at some point. I now have a note book that will, hopefully, stay in whatever bag I carry with me day to day so none of these are missed. For all of Sarah’s useful comments, have a gander at my last post ‘Research…Will I ever like you?’ why don’t you.

Colleen Aune Moore commented when I posted on the Facebook group ‘Writing Friends’ by simply saying ‘How much time have you got?’ I replied saying I had a lot. She then advised that following the links from a Google search will get you the info you need. This is pretty much what I’ve been doing but it’s good to hear that others are doing this as well. I did think I was being a tad lazy doing this. Thanks again. Colleen.

Right, back to the character profiles and the research for the next week, ish.

Speak soon.

 

Advertisement

Research…Will I ever like you?

· 6 Comments ·

Hello

Following on from my last post, which was two weeks ago, my fault, sorry, I have looked into buying a notice board. This may seem like a simple task but I don’t want to be buying notice boards all the time. This is necessary I can assure you. (I’m sure some of you are aware of this anyway.)

I also decided to dedicate a majority of last week to research. I have started to research certain parts of two of my stories, the story I’m currently writing which is my take on the vampire myth, The End Solution, and The Searcher’s Want, my hunter/searcher against demons for the fate of the world story I started, and finished recently, for NaNoWriMo.

For The End Solution, I’ve started by looking into the structure of the British Government. Specifically, who the Prime Minister has around him and why. I since discovered that he has around 21 members of parliament who act as cabinet ministers around him mainly amongst others. This has given me the headache of having to come up with possibly 10 new fully formed characters for this story as I don’t plan to need all of them in a complete capacity. And, along with having to write full character profiles for the ones already in the story, this is both bad and good. Bad, all that time it will take. Good, because I know I’ll enjoy it on many levels and it will help to advance the story greatly. Research…Will I ever like you?

For The Searcher’s Want, I decided to start the character profiles. Using the template I found in a post from writerdsnelson entitled ‘Profiling Blake’, I’ve discovered a lot about my characters and some things I can use to enhance their back stories, and create some conflict which I think the story needs, when I come to re-draft the story in the future. What I found out when doing this was some research, which I’d been neglecting about some of my characters, was sorely needed. For instance, one of my characters, the second oldest searcher named Abraham Smith, has been a searcher for 200 years. He became immortal at the age of 55 after being a searcher for 2 years. Now, this brings up all kinds of things when I’m writing about his history. Working out dates and things. It’s as exciting as it is frustrating. I think I’ve got the dates right, which I’m going to go over again just to be sure, to then find out I’ve missed one thing out. And I have to start all over again. Research…Will I ever like you?

I know I have to do research to make sure my story makes sense when it comes to location, dates and times of things, street names etc. But I think I’m just whining because it’s not as simple as I thought. I’m going to continue for the next week and I’m sure I’ll grow to like it. Here’s hoping anyway.

Well, to end this post and push me back into a research and character building frenzy, I’ll leave you with a question. How do you like to go about doing the research needed for any writing that you are about to do or are currently doing?

Cheers

 

 

Looking inside myself…for stuff and things.

· Leave a comment ·

Hello

Following on from the promise I to myself that I would do more writing, I have, in fact, not done that much. Let’s see why that was…

Thursday 1st August 2013:

Got up. Went to work. Got home. Packed a bag. Stayed over at my girlfriend’s house. Fell asleep.

Friday 2nd August 2013:

Got up. Went to work. Got home. Unpacked a bag. Met my friend for a few beers. Had more beers (very bad ones). Had one last beer. Went home. Had another beer. Fell asleep at 4am.

Saturday 3rd August 2013:

Got up. Was hungover. Had a shower. Was hungover. Played on my xbox for most of the day. Was hungover. Had a nap. Woke up with the shakes. Bought a takeaway pizza. Watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (which was very good by the way. I do need to get round to reading those books you know). Fell asleep.

Sunday 4th August 2013:

Got up. Finished the July Edition of Writing Magazine (finally). Did a smeg load of ironing. Played on my xbox. Wrote 674 words of The End Solution (see I do write). Went out to the shop for supplies. Watched The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (which was very good as well.) Fell asleep.

Monday 5th August 2013:

Got up. Went to work. Got home. Packed a bag. On the tram read a chapter of Casino Royale. Stayed over at my girlfriend’s house. Fell asleep.

Today:

Got up. Read another chapter of Casino Royale on the tram to work. Got home. Unpacked a bag. Went for a run (in which I ran 10k in 57mins. I can do 55 minutes. Am I out of shape already?) Had a shower. Played on my xbox. Sat down to write this post.

*I should stress that I did eat, drink and go toilet on all of these days at regular intervals.*

It looks like I play a lot of xbox doesn’t it? I have contemplated getting rid of it but I use it as a reward when I finish writing at any given time. It is also a very good stress reliever, helps to wake me up in morning (not every morning), and helps me to wind down after work.

Seeing my girlfriend is always awesome. I shall keep doing that for as long as I can.

I have been meaning to read more often. The two chapters of Casino Royale should hopefully get me back to my reading ways.  I currently have three books on the go. One which is located in my bathroom, The Curious Case of the Dog at Midnight by Mark Haddon, 1984 by George Orwell, which is in my bedroom, and Casino Royale By Ian Fleming which is in my work bag. I also carry the latest copy of writing magazine in my work bag.

Maybe I need a concrete routine to follow. I have mentioned about wanting to follow a routine but sometimes when I get home from work or at the weekend I just want to do nothing. I’m going to be purchasing an actually notice board to, again hopefully kick start my writing. I know can write more in a week. Hell, I wrote 50,000 words a month once. What is holding me back?

I read an interesting article by Martine McDonagh (www.martinemcdonagh.com) entitled ‘Write-away Days’ which got me thinking about trying to write outside of my flat. Maybe in the local library. Or potentially take a long weekend away and use that to write. I do have a lot of holidays left to take from work?

So, all these words have led me to the questions of the post. How do you ensure you write on a regular basis? And, do you prefer to write at home or away?

 

Cheers