Today's work

I have some good news: I did an hour and a half of editing today!
The not-so-good news is that it had absolutely nothing to do with my book, but my sister's own projects.

Still, any practice is good practice, right?

Tis a very short one today, but tomorrow should more than make up for it!
Also I have briefly edited the synopsis section so you can check it out (and send some inspiration fairies my way!)

And there were words

Histories - Part II - And there were words

As I was saying, for a long time all I knew of my book was that it would be wonderful, revolutionary and life changing. 

Eventually, while sorting through symbology, I came across alchemy and the twelve keys of philosophy, which are the steps that lead to the making of the philosopher’s stone, also known as the Great Work. And I wondered, ‘Well, what if these were physical keys that opened something, thirteen keys you had to get by proving yourself worthy’, and ‘lo and behold, my plot was born. It took me quite some time to realise that going after twelve keys would make my book drag on forever, and I settled for three.

But even then, most of my plotting was centred around references to Greek myths (you are more than welcome to look for them – they are still there somewhere).

The wonderful University of Essex, as empty as it was then.

Then in the summer of 2007, I don’t know what came over me: I started to write (it might have been that I was alone on an empty campus doing an internship in Essex). All I know is I spent my evenings actually writing scenes. Words came to me. In English. 

I have forgotten to mention something quite important. Until then, all I had written was in French. It was mostly notes, but it was all in French. I don’t know if my years of full immersion at university were responsible - or maybe my French was just getting poor - but the words were now coming to me in English. And slowly but surely they started adding up.

I didn’t write in any organised or planned way, though. I wrote scenes as they popped into my head, and I could write one scene in one sitting then spend months without putting down a single word.

The funny thing is I can remember very well where I was when I first wrote some parts – in particular at my grandmothers’, where there isn’t much else to do except watch Question Pour un Champion.

I built my world and my characters' backgrounds, which is slightly more useful than what card suit they represent. I developed my theme – I had finally picked one. But something was missing. It took a chance encounter while I was working at Waterstones to find out what, and that changed my story forever. 

Not to be overdramatic or anything…

Drawing

It's a short today because of the late hour - technically this is the post for yesterday. I do apologise. Long story short, my singing lesson was cancelled so we went to a kareoke box instead.... Anyway!

This is a drawing I made of an actor who looks like what I imagine one of my characters to look like. 10 points if you can guess which character it is and another 10 points if you can name the actor (the answers are on the blog somewhere).

 I always need to copy drawings from a model because I am incapable of drawing from nothing, and this is as good as it gets, but I must be getting brave: singing kareoke, doing a blog on my book, and now sharing drawings... What a week!

In the beginning

I thought I would write a few posts about how the book emerged from some vague ideas and became what it is now. Today I have the pleasure of presenting to you...

Histories - Part I - In the beginning

When I say I have been writing this book for ten years, what I mean is that I had the idea ten years ago.

The truth is I spent a lot of these years not writing. University, for example, was almost a complete write-off. I was too busy… studying, obviously.

I also spent a lot of time working on my book but not writing. In fact after a couple of years I had a grand total of one scene written. Instead I thought of themes and deeper meaning to my book, which wouldn’t be like anything the world had ever seen (oh, the modesty of teenagers!). I thought about symbols behind my characters’ personalities and how words are like magic too, without bothering with such trivial things as plots.

 

I had just started being obsessive about Harry Potter (still not cured, I’m afraid) and realised that I could combine my love of writing with my love of magic – somehow the idea had never occurred to me and until then I'd insisted on writing stories about animals. More specifically I thought I would write about fairies, like the ones I drew on my notes at school – honestly Spanish lessons have done more for my drawing skills than any art class I’ve ever taken.

Childhood references.

I decided I would write a story with fairies in it. And witches – I’d been into those since my Sabrina the teenage witch years, and so I wanted my witches to be more Sabrina than Hermione. No magic wand, but cool clothes. I'm not sure they've really turned out like that, but that's perhaps for the better (you tell me).

I also had an idea about an old stone covered in symbols that would take you to another world. Like a door into a dream world. I went into a big theory about how art is only a window to these dream worlds, but these Doors would physically take you there. I thought it was a brand new idea – obviously I’d been deprived of stories involving lions and wardrobes as a child.

I also wanted my book to be quite philosophical (like I said, modesty...). I am actually very attached to the theme and message of my book (some would say - and have said - too much so) and the only reason I'm not going into a big thing about it is that I don't want to give anything away. At the time, though, I had only made a list of possible themes (none of which have made it into the book), and philosophical element was as non-existent as the plot. 

I spent the time developing my characters, got to know them quite well, but they weren’t doing much. They were just hanging around in my head.

Obviously, I did start writing eventually. But that’s another story. 

Mess! (and cat)

This is my mess (cat optional). 

It’s all the notes and bits I’ve accumulated over the years. If you look carefully you will be able to see:

- 3 notebooks (including one in French)

- some doodles - actually, no, the cat is lying on those

- the feedback report from the book doctor (sad face)

- postcards I’ve collected for inspiration

- pictures I’ve taken on a trip to the Broceliande forest (more about this later!)

- and lots of loose pages, because it would seem I write on random notebooks or bits of paper that are not my actual writing notebooks, and then I end up with, well, this.

However it’s only the tip of the iceberg, because being modern and all, I now have a writing software, scrivener, where I store all my background information. My book, on the other hand, is in Word, for technical reasons that aren’t really interesting and a bit stupid on my part.

On the screenshot from my Scrivener sidebar you might notice that I have procrastinated taken the time to add little icons for each subheading. Aren't they pretty! You might also see the background information on my world include: politics, economy, education (obvs!) and clothes. In fact the last one is perhaps the most extensive. If you are interested, I have a pinterest account with a lot of pictures I have wasted time finding painstakingly collected.

World building is one of my favourite parts of writing fantasy (the other one being, you know, the actual writing), so I might be temped to post more about that later on. Let me know if that would be of interest.

Some data

In the first of my daily updates this week, I present... (drum rolls please)  ... my to-do list!

Oh yeah, super exciting, isn't it?

But it is! And, also, it's big. Terrifyingly big.

Before I start, I'd like to give you an idea of what is already there:
32 chapters
398 pages (in font 12 double-spaced)
111, 677 words (I know it's too long for a Young Adult novel, gna gna gna, no need to remind me I need to cut).

And now the scary part: what I need to do:

Chapters to write from scratch: 5
Scenes to add to existing chapters: 8
Existing scenes to be changed: 17

Eeeeek! That, and serious pruning. Someone might need to lend me a chainsaw.

Now obviously some of these will be more work than others. One of the chapters I need to rewrite, for instance, is my first chapter, which I've already entirely rewritten once, and I've written an outline so I know what needs to happen in it, but it just... won't... arg! Keeping this one 'til last, then?

I'll keep you posted on my progress and you are more than welcome to demand updates on how I am doing. And nag me if I'm not making any.

Something wicked this way comes!

First of all, I wanted to say thank you for everyone who's stopped by in the last couple of days, it really means a lot. I have witnesses that I actually did this:

So, to keep you keen (and also because this blog needs bulking up) I've decided I'm going to post something every day this week. Not necessarily something big, but I have to post every day. Just this week, but considering I come back from a day of teaching behaving like a sloth, it's already going to be quite a feat.

Then, to round off this week of magnificent updates, I've got something special in store for Saturday. No, no. No point in asking. You'll see. Just stay posted!

Reading guidance

As a warning, this blog comes with a huge dose of exaggeration and self-deprecating humour. Now you know.

Writers Anonymous

Ten years.

That’s how long it’s been since the idea of a girl going into an imaginary world popped into my head – very original, I know, and believe me I thought I was breaking ground here.

And yet the ruddy thing is still not finished! Well, it has been finished. Many times over. I am currently on version número cuatro (I know cool people like Ellen Page say it in French but for me switching to my mother tongue mid-sentence is a problem and not to be encouraged). Even though it’s been written and edited so many times, I’m still not happy with it, and neither was the book doctor to whom I showed my first chapter. That was in 2012. And there’s virtually no difference with the version I’m working on now. Where did 2013 go? A whole year lost.

So this is it. This is the year I finish. It has to be. And you are to hold me accountable (no pressure).

That’s the first reason for this blog: you bugging me until I finish. Demons whispered in my ear I’ll spend more time blogging than writing, but I expecto patronumed them away: after all, the reason I didn’t write in 2013, other than the lack of time, is that I lost touch with my world. This blog is to be my anchor.

The other reason is that writing is a lonely thing. 

Yes, I am a misunderstood writer.

For most of those 10 years I never even told anybody but my close family that I wrote. A mixture of shame and misplaced pride. I didn’t want to be one of those annoying people who like to place in conversation (cue posh voice), “Oh, yes. I’m writing a book, don’t you know?”.

And at the same time I didn’t want to risk anybody shattering my wildest dreams of being the next JK Rowling – you might think this is quite ambitious, but you might reconsider knowing that my wildest dreams also include building my own eco-house, owning a team of sledding tamaskans and saving the elephant from extinction.

Seriously, though, I was worried people would tell me it was rubbish, or that the story sounded naff. Because that’s the question that comes after, isn’t it? What’s it about? Still working on that hook…

Then came along a girl in a small office in Brussels, and for some reason I disclosed to her the top secret information that I wrote. And it turned out she did too. She introduced me to the world of writers’ forums and Nanowrimo. And since then, my friends, what a journey it has been! I have been to a writers’ conference and given excerpts to be critiqued (read criticised) by professionals. I’ve given the whole book to friends to read. I’ve even posted a (now old) version of my first chapter on a writing forum for * gasp * feedback.

And you know what? I’ve lived to tell the tale. I realised that all these years I had kept my writing private so it wouldn’t be a big deal, but talking about it is what made it not a big deal. And it’s not so special after all: over 400, 000 people took part in the Nanowrimo writing marathon this year.

But it’s still scary. It’s a bit like being on the X-factor: you put yourself out there and up for criticism. No, it’s worse than that: it’s like being naked on stage for the X-factor. That’s how vulnerable it feels.

That being said, this is what this space is for: sharing the ups and down, getting feedback or pep-up talks, bounce ideas around, and most importantly share this world I created so long ago.

And this is where you come in: please comment, critique, advise and support me. I’m done with secrecy and shame.

And because it’s starting to sound more and more like an AA session, here is how it starts:

My name is Soizic and I write. This is my blog.