Lucia Gannon
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Hi everyone,
I don’t have any major questions. I would love the course to continue so that I could continue to get feedback on my writing but I understand this is not possible!
I feel very lucky and privileged to have been part of such a wonderful group and to have Debi’s expertise over the past six weeks.
My plot is straightforward and the story is chronological and I have no issues with that.
The main thing I have had to think about is Anna’s character arc. This is going to be the backbone of the story. Everything that happens to her will have to make sense and lead to a coming of age, where she learns to live without constantly craving approval and admiration and learns to love and accept herself.
At the story’s beginning, she has a fraught relationship with her mother and blames her for many of her struggles. Part of her transformation is that as she finds compassion for herself, she also cuts her mother a bit of slack and realises that her mother lived and loved as best she could, which has made Anna who she is today.
If anyone has read any ‘coming of age’ books for older women, I would love to hear about them. Or if anyone has any tips to help me achieve this character arc, I would also be grateful
Thanks for all your input, everyone. I hope that at least some of you will continue to post here so that we can support and motivate each other.
Hi Kate,
I love Katie’s suggestion about a list of options and then going with whatever you think is best.
Your excerpts made me feel that you were telling it from the present, looking back, but I don’t know why I felt that.
It may have been because some of the narration was more relatable to an older narrator. However, Annie’s voice was also strong in those excerpts and central to the story.
So, I think it will work whatever way you do it. I suppose you would have to have a reason for telling the story in retrospect–a lesson learned or a new perspective on the story as a whole rather than simply the story itself, if that makes sense.
I see Katie mentioned Atonement, and I suppose that is what I mean. That story had to be told retrospectively. I read Eileen a few years ago and loved it. It’s so dark—a bit like Eleanor Oliphant but not as hopeful. I seem drawn to these flawed female characters! Ottessa Moshfegh’s latest one is too bleak, even for me!
I’m sure you’ll figure it out.
Hi Julie,
Your story sounds so intriguing, and I know I would enjoy reading it.
I have no expertise with dual timelines, but I have read quite a few over the years. If I were writing this, I would probably write each timeline separately and then see where they overlap. I don’t know if that is the way to do it, but I guess each timeline has to have an arc of sorts, and I think that I would find it easier to achieve this if I concentrated on one at a time. But this might not be right for you.
I saw the elevator pitches and can’t think of anything more succinct, but I’ll give it some more thought, and if anything comes to me, I’ll certainly pop it in.
I seem to be in the minority, Gill.
I’m not sure what ending you should choose, but I think it might depend on Laura’s character arc.
Does she start as a victim and end as a murderer and so has learned to be just like the others in her life? Or does she start as a victim and end as someone who forgives but will never be a victim again? Does her experience weaken or strengthen her humanity?
I don’t think it matters, as whatever way you write it will be engaging and satisfying. You just need to decide what you want.
Hi Cithrupa,
I wasn’t even going to attempt to answer any of your questions, as even reading them made my head hurt!
I know I’m certainly feeling a bit overwhelmed and have a sense of ‘This is it. Get on with it—no more courses. Just finish the book!
And I guess that is what we all have to do. I was delighted to see that Debi does MS assessments, and I have put that in my back pocket in case I feel I need it later. I can’t remember if you are one of the graduates of the UNWC, and they also offer an MS assessment as part of the course if you submit it within 12 months of the competition, so I hope to let this motivate me to have something presentable before next April.
I know you seem to have a long list, but as Debi says, ‘one bite at a time and it will all come together.
I agree that next week will seem a bit lonely!
Hi Alison,
Such big questions.
My vote would be for a ‘late’ start that includes Pretzel as he is central to the story. As Kate said, an opening that intimates that ‘things will never be the same again.’
With regards to publishing, if you have already self-published one book, then you know a lot about the process. I know that sometimes traditional publishers can pick up on self-published books and re-publish them, but I don’t know enough about this to offer reliable advice.
On the other hand, a publisher might publish this one when it is ready and then look to publish the first one.
That’s not much help, I know but the best I could do!
Hi Steven,
Just butting in here to thank Debi for clarifying the ‘not head-hopping.’ I am definitely overthinking things!
I thought the ‘as-if’ must apply to Serafina, but of course, now that it is clarified, I can see that it applies to Lester.
I know exactly what you mean, Katie.
I started this novel while doing an MA in Creative Writing. I then did the Jericho UNWC, another course called Write with Jericho, which is free with premium membership, and now the editing course. So, already, I have re-written and submitted a lot of the writing a few times!
Once I accepted that my first draft of anything would be awful, I felt the burden of expectation lift. So, I imagine that most of us here have already written a few drafts of our writing, even if it is not the exact excerpt we share. And still, the improvement in everyone’s writing over five weeks has been phenomenal. I can’t say that I wish I had done this course earlier because I think I was not ready for it until now. As they say, ‘When the pupil is ready, the teacher appears.’
I know a young man who is in his early thirties, and he writes full-time. He relies on bursaries and grants and a little bit of teaching, but to date, he has published one book of short stories and is awaiting the publication of his first novel. He is quite talented, but he still has to graft away, write, and re-write to get it to the stage where he is happy to send it out. Whenever I feel despondent about my slow progress, I think of him and immediately feel better! If it takes a fulltime writer that long to get it right, I need to have realistic expectations for myself.
Even worse for a Monday evening, Cithrupa.
HI Cithrupa,
I don’t know Shari Lapena, but I might look her up.
I’m sure you heard of and may have read, ‘Lessons in Chemistry.’
I wanted to like this as it had such great reviews but I was completely thrown by the change in POV in the first chapter. It goes from the MC to her daughter. I finished the book, but I think I lost faith in the author at that point, and despite the wonderful plot , character and setting, this constant changing of POV mid-chapter threw me. I also found reconciling myself to reading a dog’s POV difficult. But that’s just me. People loved it and it is now a major series on Netflix.
And that was before Debi’s editing course!
I get a bit spooked ‘under’ the sea but still use tunnels when I have to.
I love the big, vast ocean, though. Would happily do a cruise if I ever get the chance.
Love that word too. Am going to save it and surprise someone with it at some point.
Ha, I have had quite a few visits from the green-eyed monster since starting this course.
I try to move them immediately to the ‘motivation’ file!
Hi Gillian,
I’m sorry I didn’t get to give you feedback earlier. I had such a busy end of week!
I see you have by now received lots of feedback, including Debi’s insightful analysis, and I certainly can’t improve on any of that.
I liked the office scene. I did struggle to follow who was speaking, but that is easily fixed. I hope you continue to post here when the course is over.
Hi Cithrupa,
Just jumping in here to say that I submitted an elevator pitch too. I didn’t know until now that anyone else had. I didn’t see anything about comp titles so I just went with
‘A successful doctor’s carefully constructed life is shattered when she makes a fatal mistake.’
Nothing to lose by throwing it in.
Would love to befriend both yourself and Kate on JW. Must have a look over there. So many things to keep up with! But all good things!
Me again, Katie,
I meant to say that I loved the inclusion of the ivy. I’m sure you knew what you were doing when you included this but I just wanted to let you know that it added a lot of depth to the scene and I felt it was symbolic of what a cult can do to a person so it felt so appropriate that she would notice it and consider on it at this time.
I think it works as a symbol of how something can look lovely, decorative, and benign on the outside while actually attacking the solid structure of the stone wall until, eventually, the whole structure is replaced by destructive, malignant ivy.
Ida is as insidious as the ivy, worming her way into Mary’s psyche softly, slowly, with apparent benevolence until eventually, Mary will be obliterated, replaced by something that looks the same on the outside but has no inner strength.
I live with lots of ivy. I know its destructive powers while, at the same time, it can be a safe haven for insects and birds, and I feel bad stripping it off walls and trees and hi have to make myself do it.
There is an old monastery near here that is being restored Because of the ivy, they have to do this stone by stone because some of the walls have no actual stone. It has all crumbled but the structure is still maintained by the ivy. So I loved this added detail!
