Having people in on your "Process"
November 11, 2020
My new writers chair which made the couch redundant.
I want to be a better writer. I want to be open to new ideas, new concepts, things that will help me. So I am reading books recommended to me by my mentor.
On writing by Stephen King
I have read this book so many times, I am like Buffalo Bill (from Silence of the Lambs not the old west guy) wearing Stephen Kings skin and hoping like hell that just a smidge of his "amazingness" will soak into me.
Yes I would kill to have his talent and no, I am not joking. I'd also love to have his balls (not literally) his hutzpah. His ability to tell the world to "go get f*cked, I am who I am, I write what I write and if you don't like it, suck my fat one". (Wow, far too many genitalia references in that paragraph) Obviously we do like it, in fact we love it.
The most frightening experience of my life was being 12 years old and reading Carrie. I had to hide the book from myself. I accidentally came across it three years later and scared the crap out of myself again. I love the fact that if his wife Tabby hadn't fished Carrie out of the rubbish bin, wiped off the cigarette and and potato peelings and read it, he wouldn't be who he is now.
Its the same for me, if it wasn't for my Scotty too Hotty *shudder* geez I don't even want to think about it.
Save the Cat by blake Snyder
As I mull over his book feeling very genius/wanker about it I remember George R R Martin say...
“I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they're going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there's going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up. The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don't know how many branches it's going to have, they find out as it grows. And I'm much more a gardener than an architect...'
Totes George, me to bro. I can't write to a plan.
At the risk of seeming really pretentious I am going to tell the honest to god, guides honour, truth. I don't know how my characters come to life, also, when they interact they tell me who they are and what they are going to do and I just write it down. Also, every single time I have tried to plan ANYTHING I have fallen on my face, good and proper, splat, ouch.
HOWEVER the beat sheet is a brilliant guide to keeping your story on track. Structure is everything, I know that *grumble grumble* I must embrace change and growth *grumble grumble* I never felt as old and set in my ways as I did when I finished reading the book. Now I really have to read it again. For my sake and I have to pry my mind open because as the great Leonard Cohen says, 'A crack is where the light comes in.'
I am about to embark on 'Bird by Bird' by Anne Lamotte
I have started this book and it has passed my test ...the first five pages are amazing, and as I settle down on my new studio bed with a coffee and cream I will tear through this gentle beast...or maybe no so gentle, and get back to ya.
Signing off...After being told to write a 'Tagline' 'Blurb' and 'Synopsis' I have come to the conclusion that writers should NOT have to do these for their own work. So, I did a survey on that facebooks and these are some of the reasons people pic books to read and it is full of the 'usual suspects'
Author, eye catching cover?
I'm terrible for finding an author i like and then binging on their entire portfolio.
Courtney, Balladucci, Nesbo...❤️
I do that
I open the book in the middle and start reading or I read the back cover blurb
Either author or read first page...
Same with me...
on the shelf? Cover first, read the blurb...
recommended, nz author, appealing cover
You don't it picks you?
Off the shelf? Recommended and then I read reviews online
An enticing title
Subject matter, sometimes just picking a book randomly and start reading till finished
Author 1st page blurb..
By recommendation, gut feeling. And finally reading the introduction
Sticking to authors that I know then read all of their books, recommended by a friend (or a cousinwill flick through pages and be addicted enough to have to read or not, cover
Word of mouth
Back cover description with A bit of prologue or bit of first chapter
I’m the same re finding an author and reading all their books (#bdbforlyfe). I also find a lot of books through the goodreads website. Their book lists and award nominees ?
I go to the little Cannons Creek library. The librarian there picks the best books from the main library. That makes it easier to choose!
I open it and read a little first - certain authors I will just buy without doing this as I like their writing style so know that I'll probably enjoy it
A librarian once told me to read page 39
Ka kite ano
A xxx
Posted by Olivia Giles.
Kia ora everyone, I am Olivia, I am a writer, and an artist, welcome to my hectic mad world.
