Debi Alper
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Done.
Hey Gillian. This is appearing with strings of html code. Can you edit it?
Hey Chithrupa. I’ve realised I can delete posts, though it’s something I would never usually dream of doing. I’d like to delete your previous exercise so there’s no confusion. It doesn’t seem fair to the others for you to have posted two versions but I didn’t want to delete it without checking with you. Is that OK with you?
The Sanctuary for Reliable Relief would make a banging title for a novel, Steven. 😀
Yes, that is a concern, Richard. If you get a deal, the legal department at the publishers would advise. If you decide to self-publish, you may be able to get advice from the legal team at Society of Authors. I’m sure it’s something that Marnie Summerfield must have encountered too. https://www.yourmemoir.co.uk/
Aw thanks, Lucia! I sometimes forget I’m an author too. Might be worth pointing out that I didn’t start writing until my 40s, when I had two very young children, two part-time jobs, and had never been to uni or attended a creative writing class. I always had a vivid imagination though and a love for reading. It was only when I look back now at my writing that I can see how I was unconsciously using tools, which I could share with others. I also look back and see things that now make me cringe! The learning never stops.
Oh, get IN there, Katie! Fabulous stuff!
Up to you, Katie, but the longer you live with them, the harder it might be to change them. Also, don’t use a global find/replace! I speak from bitter experience when I changed a character’s name to Ed and ended up with an MS littered with things like lookEd.
Ha! Well, this discussion has headed in a suprising direction. 😀
Richard – I’m so excited by the way you’re broadening the scope of your memoir. One of the biggest challenges when writing autobiography (or fiction with a character who’s closely based on ourselves) is that it’s easy to forget that the reader knows nothing about this person and comes with a blank slate. They don’t know the things about us that are intrinsic to our identity. Things we take for granted about ourselves might be immensely fascinating to an objective reader. Don’t hold back!
As for titles, we don’t devote a whole week to them but they often come up in week 6. Still, as they’ve cropped up here, I’m not mad keen on Transition, not because it’s been used before but because it’s so generic. It seems to me like a no-brainer to have references to fire or burning in the title, eg Firestarter to Firefighter, A Fascination with Fire, Burning Ambition.
It’s a step in the right direction, Paula, so don’t beat yourself up.
This has made me teary, Lucia. It’s wonderful when we see the lightbulbs flashing on for people so early in this process. Your analysis of published novels as a result of reading fiction like a writer will stand you in good stead. There are lots more revelations to come!
I love, love, love the thinking you’re doing here, Katie. This is still a fragile little seedling and it needs to take root before any outside interference, so I’m not going to raise any questions. Only one thing – I’d be tempted to reconsider the names. Eve, Mae and Ida are all three letters, and Mary is only one more. Also, the first three are all two vowels and one consonant, and Mae is similar to Mary. There’s enough similarity to make it potentially hard to distinguish between them.
I’m not being kind, Kate. If I say something positive, it’s because it’s true, as far as I’m concerned. For now, sit with the global questions about where she’s standing. On the micro level, watch out for qualifiers – things like nearly, almost, quite, rather, somewhat. They water down the strength of the prose.
Such an important thing to have uncovered, Chithrupa. You’ve created Xander. Now leave him alone and let him have his voice and trajectory.
This is interesting, Gillian. So pleased you’ve carried on the conversation. With the tense, I hear what you’re saying but I wonder if you might think differently after week 4. Even if you don’t, it’s so useful to be open to possibilities.
Does interiority not go with dialogue? It should, yes, but I’ve seen some MSs that read more like a script.
I have used dialogue a lot, to show what goes on right now, in the present, between people in various difficulties. and included snatches of inner thought. I do use a lot of dialogue all the way through, but there is lots of prose too. As long as we get to see any gaps between interior monologue and spoken-out-loud dialogue, that should be fine. There’s no ideal ratio of dialogue to prose but novels need more of the latter than the former. An exception is a novel like One Day, which is heavily reliant on dialogue. Interestingly, David Nicholls was a scriptwriter before he was a novelist.
I don’t think I understand what you mean by calling the present a ‘divisive’ tense. I’ve heard some agents saying they hate it; others say they feel it’s overused. That’s personal taste but, because novels were traditionally written in past tense, present does tend to divide the crowd. Most agents will say they don’t care about the tense as long as everything else works in a story but it is worth knowing that some might be put off straight away.
