Poised...for 'write bytes'

I am poised to begin another redraft...though I know ( AND HAVE HAD FEEDBACK) that's I 'm nearly there it still seems daunting. The only way is to look at what I now have to do in terms of 'write bytes ' - discrete sessions where I focus on one or two tasks. I will now - after I've downed another cup of tea, get on with the redrafting of the latest chapter I tutorialed with Emma last week and integrate it into the manuscript.

On Sunday I interviewd a PhD student at London University SEES to check again the detail of the back story of my novel and make sure I have accurately portrayed every thing according to the cultural norms and chronology of the time period. The interviewee was immensely helpful - also with language issues - so I now have a template for Almir's speech pattern, but will probably leave this aspect until I have done everything else as I will have to go through the entire novel from start to finish with only this in mind.

Bren Gosling

Letting it brew !

Have now recieved all four sets of feedback from my trusted guniea pig readers - overall very positive but I do need to make some changes and complete another redraft. Had a 2 hour tutorial with Emma Sweeney my mentor yesterday which was really helpful as usual. I have distilled what I need to do , what I don't need to do and what I can do optionally. But it seems an endless task, this writing a novel business! I completed a re working of my synospsis (last tackled well over 12 months ago) which was a very helpful excersize at this point in focussing on plot again. I took the best part of 7 hours - split over an evenning and an afternoon - to get it shaped into a tight 500 words. It reads much more 'immediate' now. I am having a day off from writing today. After yoga in my hotel room then breakfast I went for a long walk along the Altoner Balkon (I am in Hamburg for Queer Tango) in the warm autumn sunshine(such lovely weather, it would have been a crime not to be out enjoying it) then had something to eat and now I am back, need to rest before going out later to dance tango. Even though I know having a day off from writing IS the right thing to do I still miss it and still feel guilty I am not at the page with a pen poised.

Bren Gosling

Waiting in the wings and doing the right thing.

I have had feed back from two of my four readers - and both are really positive, although I'll need to make a few more tweaks and probably need to add one more scene/chapter. Waiting for the other two sets of feedback is a bit like waiting in the wings to go on stage. I am plagued with angst about the impression my "performance" will give to my audience.

I was a little miffed when I had dinner with one of the four readers on Friday, expecting a full feedback only to discover the reader had only got as far as page 35 and, contrary to my specific requests, had embarked upon a close read and mark up. This particular reader is the only one of the four who knows my characters to any real degree. He was my original mentor, though is not specifically a creative writer - more an academic one. That explains his habitual inability to refrain from marking up I guess. I did feel rather flat after seeing him though as he said to me he felt he knew what was comming in the novel, because he already knew the story . This is partly true but not really. He did know alot about the story as it stood when it was a short piece more than 2 years ago but it has changed almost beyond recognition. It has made me think that probably it's not a good idea to give your manuscript to people who already know (or think they know) too much about your plot and characters. This reinforces what I thought about holding off from showing anything more to agents who've asked to see more - other than the completed finished manuscript in it's enitity when it's ready. How else can one gauge what impression someone will have of the novel as a whole. If they 've seen substantial bits, in my view, the overall impact is lessened as they can half guess what they think will follow.This may or (in my case) maynot be accurate. So I think have done the right thing in holding off from submitting anything more to agents until I have the whole manuscript ready.
And this is now only a few weeks off.
Ben Gosling

A question of chronology

Today's editing has revealed that there are a few markers in the plot in the middle of my novel that don't fit. It's a detail that might easily be missed by readers but I think its important.It' about total believability, so everything has got to be historically accurate. I have a scene with one of the main characters being stood up by the protagonist(his lover)...and put in this scene what is on TV that night - a popular programme that was on at that time(May 2002). I had to get this spot on because what comes immediately before on the plot timeline, and what comes after are crucial to the overall plot. I picked Big Brother series three - first episode but when I got to the subsequent scene this didnt work as chronologically I was somehow a week short! So I had to go back and find something else, something from the previous Friday to make everything fit.It needed to be a programme that was also popular and one readers might remember..as luck would have it , I found something but I cant seem to get the TV schedule for that night to find out what time this programme started. Oh well! I will have to' ask a friend'.
Bren Gosling

Enforced seclusion brings rich rewards

I have a fithly cold. I should now be dancing tango in Oslo but I had to cancel and as H is in Berlin, here I am alone in our big Walthamstow pile. This misery has become an opportunity . I am hard copy reading my completed manuscript for the very first time, along side my four ginuea pig readers who recieved their copies yesterday(ohh, er...!!!). It's a chance to hone the text even further aswell as see how the characters and plot develop in one uninterupted weekend. So far I 'm at Chapter 19(of 42). I am also taking a close look at chronology especially the time line of the novel. My story takes place primarily in London between February and July 2002 and so it's intersting now to check details of those few months - the weather - if Ive given a date then is this the correct day of the week in my telling of certain sequence of events. What was on the tele then?What was major in the news (I already hvae researched this some time ago) and how would such news filter through my characters eyes into my novel and how can I make this not seem like a broadcast. When were there full moons(yes, you heard me correct- read the novel!).
I am finding this whole process totally absorbing. I may have a stinker but I 'm totally immersed in another world - events that played out almost 10 years ago in my neighboorhood - it seems real to me - yet of course it's all made up in my head. This is the buzz writing fiction gives me.It's real but infact it's all made up!
Bren Gosling

Another milestone passed.

Last night at just before 10 I completed the draft manuscript of my novel Sweeping up the Village. I say finished. I am expecting more edits but the back has been broken. This draft I will send to my four carefully selected guniea pig readers today. When I get comments back I'll incorporate these into the further draft that then goes out to agents.
Bren Goslings

Back from a week in the wilds of Northumberland ...

where I managed to get some writng/editing done and also some walking(despite the almost constant rainfall). Now I am so close to the point of no return(sending the completed manuscrpit out to my four guniea pig readers and then the agents) I'm getting seriuosly nervous and thinking it's just crap. If you are a writer reading this you will recognise my angst no doubt. I had a good tutorial with Emma my mentor just before going away so shouldn't be disheartened but it's a scary psychological ride, writing a novel.

Hi RUTH MIDDLETON and thanks for becomming a follower of my ramblings.
regards
Bren Gosling