The Writer's Progress

It's a worry...

2011-12-01T22:18:00.001-08:00

Actually restructured some chapters, over due. Seems the hardest thing for me to do but now I'm started, one can hope... Need an image so the blog's not too boring...

Unaware that the bestand most wretched adventure of his real life was about to begin, Dmitri surfed intoRed Square on the crest of a black wave. With the bonfire spires of St. Basil’schurch lighting his back he scudded past Lenin’s tomb, giving the old leader acheerful salute...

2011-10-30T18:21:00.000-07:00

Raffle table at ZineWest'11 Launch. It's the McSweeney's front centre I'll miss the most. Not just the stories inside, but if I could get a ZineWest to look/feel that good one day, I'd be blissed.

Progress?

2011-10-16T01:53:00.000-07:00

Not much progress of late! However some good input from other writers in NEW Writers' Group Inc who also write "long works".

Writing page

2011-07-23T21:37:00.000-07:00

I don't write much poetry, nor am I good at it, but the sorrow of the Norwegians was somehow stronger for me from having been recently in Scandinavia and seeing the locals enjoying the warm weather on green islands... See my writing page

Rushing through Russia

2011-06-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

Have recently come home from a trip to Moscow and St Petersburg via the river, canal and lake system. Such tours are by nature rushed however it was tremendously better than not going. Small matters really appeal, like the unmown grass with flowers/weeds, the double windows and inner courtyards, the dull impression of old apartments suddenly overwhelmed by a church ablaze with colour... We arrived just as the first really good warm days arrived and the locals poured out of their apartments to their dachas, favourite fishing spots, parks and sports fields. Similar joy shown in Scandinavia with a few worrying signs of sunburn on those very fair skins..

No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy

2011-03-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

Have just read this, it was sitting on my coffee table, can't remember who left it there but I didn't buy it.
Have seen five minutes of the film, no more, but Coen brothers stuck close to the script according to on-line reviews. I found this an arresting piece of prose because of what McCarthy leaves out and what he conveys. I had a clear visual notion of many scenes where there was very little descriptive detail. Spare prose does not automatically have that effect, it can just seem dull. So, ok, I'm no McCarthy expert, I think this is the only book of his I've read, but there was some genius in this work and it led me to delete a few adjectives in mine.

2011 NY Resolution

2011-01-22T16:21:00.001-08:00

Write a readable novel.

Self-Publishing, when and how it works...

2010-11-09T21:46:00.000-08:00

NEW Writers' Group Inc ran a small forum on Self-Publishing last Saturday at Merrylands Library with the help of Holroyd City Council. We discussed types of publishers and publishing services, digital printing along the lines NWG Inc utilises, print on demand, kindle/blio et al, but the individual stories of self-publishers spoke the loudest. It can be an expensive road to the book you want. Writers can cut costs without weakening content or presentation if they understand what publishers and printers DO and what tasks they can tackle themselves on their PCs and Macs or directly source at a better price. Designing a basic layout for internals, designing a cover, choosing fonts, editing and proof reading, saving into PDF, are all chores that writers can consider doing themselves. Based on one case presented, we also touched on when it's premature to self-publish. Another draft or two might be all it takes to win a contract with a publisher the writer doesn't pay:) Artist Jacqui Douglas' mini workshop aimed at showing writers how to develop the eye of a designer, needs to be repeated at greater length. All this interspersed with short "show and tells" from a diverse bunch of writers was squashed into an hour and a half... The event was preceded by NWG Inc's AGM and followed by lunch and then the launch of NWG Inc's 2010 Anthology. Pic is of Chair, Carol Amos our indefatiguable president.

Music and Writing...

2010-07-04T22:52:00.000-07:00

I'm often intrigued by the connections between the technical craft of music composition and writing. On ABC FM radio yesterday the presenter said Bellini re-wrote his most famous aria (Casta Diva from Norma) eight times and pointed out how simple and effortless the result seems. The youtube link is Montserrat in the lead role.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIQQv39dcNE

Writing Novels - an excuse?

2010-05-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

If we manage to publish a novel, people will hold off - but if we've been mumbling about it for years and there's nothing bearing our name on the bookshop shelves - people will talk. The obvious criticism is that you're taking too long to get nowhere when instead you could: cook more muffins; weed the garden; ring your aunt; be nicer to friends; or just get a life.

A word about Memoir

2010-01-27T23:02:00.000-08:00

I have a sudden urge to talk about memoir.

There is something stultifying about the amateur's approach to memoir. A painstaking attempt to be more or less truthful (and save yourself from your relatives' rage) is constraint enough, but why also forget the rules of narrative engagement? Why take a trip into the territory of:

we would whenever we could
I used to and we always

If you want to write a nice, air-brushed family record this style might suit, but if you're in the business of winning readers outside the family it won't.

When a story teller goes into detail about a character's background and daily routine, they've usually got a plot agenda. They think you need all that to understand the unfolding drama, the tensions, the narrative twists, the crazy responses of their imagined people.

I complained recently about St Stieg Larsson's details on the daytoday doings of Lisbeth Salander and how I just didn't want to go to IKEA with her. A reading friend quickly explained the dramatic/character revelatory purpose of this and I was humbled.

But I defy anyone to prove that it works in memoir without a plot.
Find some gutsy bits of your story and tell it like it's fiction.

See earlier post about present tense. I've gone back to past but it was an interesting excursion. Hilary Mantel I am not (:

Symphony Orchestras while writing

2010-01-25T19:21:00.000-08:00

I still mourn somewhat for LJ where with every post you added what music you were listening to. Here I have to write a whole post on the fact that the Philadelphia orchestra (conductor Mariss Jansons) is turning my head with their take on Shostakovich's Symphony 11 - a regular writing companion of mine. I mean, if you're going to write about a troubled "Russian" what better music is there? Some differences in volume control and pace from my over-played London Symphony/Rostropovich. Change in this case not preferred but stimulating... if you get stirred by the onrushing horrors of war depicted in sound...

Past or Present Tense

2010-01-14T15:33:00.000-08:00

I'm redrafting a new novel for several members of my family to read through. I tried one scene in the present tense - inspired by Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel which I thought was brilliant, best book I've read in ages. I've often disliked present tense in novels, but for me Wolf Hall worked and characters other than the central one were I thought thoroughly illumined (they're a talkative bunch). Mind you, the central character in Wolf Hall, Cromwell, has good access to other key figures and when he doesn't and is a bit mystified I appreciate the reality of that.

I liked my little experimental scene enough to try out a few other scenes. However I don't have a continuous single POV and readers might find present tense annoying when moving from one person to another. Via Google I found a discussion on Present versus Past Tense that occurred in 2005 on Write Words site and now I'm contemplating the advice of one blogger - write some stuff in both and compare. Another advised if you want to avoid being facile in the present, right in the past first then change over. However when I started to 'translate' some well (sic) drafted scenes from past to present, I found some holes in the substructure... so that advice could cut both ways...

Editing more than writing...

2009-11-12T23:22:00.000-08:00

Riverbeats Live 09 - on the banks of Parramatta River - Saturday 31st October

NWG Inc has been a lot of fun this year - especially the two competitions - ZineWest and Haiku for Riverbeats Live 09. But, add to that our usual work - anthology, gatherings, workshops and a HomeWORD day courtesy of Holroyd City Council, and the workload as usual got out of hand...:)

So not much progress for the writer bit of my psyche - New Year's resolution already formed...

ZineWest 09

2009-04-27T00:27:00.000-07:00

Well, ZineWest is on again and as usual I'm running late. Entrants have til 20th June to submit their work. I look forward to reading the entries - pity we don't have enough room (money) to publish more each year - currently we include around thirty short pieces.

Meanwhile, everyone in New Writers Group Inc has a commission (non-paying of course) to learn how to write decent HAIKU. Just as soon as I announce a rule we discover someone famous who breaks it.... good discipline for poets though I think... We hope to see a selection of our three-liners on the big screen at Parramatta's stellar festival Riverbeats, early November this year.

I might have time to do some of my own writing soon - not sure if that's what I want...

2009 Update

2009-03-02T22:34:00.000-08:00

Resolution this year is each day to do my own work first (writing that is) and worry about everyone else's when my brain is dead and I'm only good for basic clerical duties. Have sent out four emails so far with the wrong dates, so maybe I'm factoring in NWG Inc a little too late in the day...

WRITING PROJECT: My protagonist's early years - tougher than later years which is why I've put it off this long. Disappointed can't go to Russia this year as planned to check out some background.

Been too busy upgrading our NWG Inc website to a nice looking WordPress designed by SiteGround our host to actually update my own stuff so this is my first post in quite a while.

Face Book claimed me briefly because half my friends are on it, but shallow is the word - and if it isn't shallow lots of people get to share your deeper innards - and who really wants that? I still lament the loss of Live Journal - my mates on it don't bother anymore...

Loved the Monet exhibition. It made me think about the composition of poems and stories and even novels.

Looking forward to the next Contemporary Aussie Writers Festival at the NSW Writers Centre.

Vale John Updike.

The Indelicate Art of Blogging

2008-12-01T22:17:00.000-08:00

The problem is honesty - do you really write what you think?

Well, the ZineWest Launch went okay - we filled the upstairs of Mars Hill Cafe and the crowd was friendly. So now I can obsess again about my own drivel (I mean novel). Sad not to go Moscow next year - hard to write scenes in places you haven't been - not that I'm the type to go into tons of description.

Motivation and discipline are not my best mates at the moment, but I'm working on it.

Sex education

2008-06-27T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well, a letter published in the SMH isn't any great event, but it's better than no publication at all! Over the years I've managed to get a few in there - mercifully they ignored some of them....

Dear Editor

When our beloved leaders explain that it's up to parents to protect children from inappropriate sexual images I wonder if they've got a solution fit for those giant smack-you-in-the-face billboards asking "Want longer lasting SEX?". Do senators expect parents to blindfold their kids in public? Do we really want this to be the biggest ad our international travellers see as they exit the airport? I think the NZ solution* of pulling them down is a great one.

They took out the word 'beloved' - ok so it's a bit hackneyed....

Back From America

2008-06-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

Only a few more excuses to go before getting stuck back into the painful business of redrafting a novel. Oh joy.

Memoir

2008-05-01T00:44:00.000-07:00

No time for writing novels right now - hey, maybe I need a break. Too busy writing family bios for a family memoir folder being organised by someone else. Maybe I've discovered my main writing problem. I've started this mini project three times and every time more memory hops in and wants to take centre stage. Events, jokes, characters crowd in and totally disrupt a logical flow. I've ended up with a hybrid of very boring facts and truncated humour....

However, pardon the pun but I'm childishly pleased as Punch to discover at this late age that my great grandfather edited the Melbourne Punch from 1893-1908 - he died after experiencing chest pain reading the proofs at night. Something satirical to aspire to....

I originally put an image in then realised it was the English Punch talking about oz, not the Melbourne Punch. Then got worried about copyright - hence no images here.

Contemporary Australian Fiction Festival - NSW Writers' Centre & UTS

2008-04-04T17:06:00.000-07:00

If you are a writer (especially one with something still to learn) and you had one day to spare for a literary festival somewhere in greater Sydney, which would you choose? One day at the biggest - the Sydney Writers Festival - or the one day only of the Contemporary Australian Fiction Festival? Your choice of course – consider the programs – but today at the CAFF, for the price of a cheap literary lunch - I visited Callan Park, the blissful grounds of the Rozelle Hospital, and heard an eclectic range of Australian writers on different panels talking about their inspiration, their writing journey, and the nuts and bolts of getting published. I found a parking space, two sets of loos, three cappuccinos, a glass of pinot noir, and something good to eat. Plus there were all those other writer folk to chat up and ‘network’ with. So many panellists were excellent speakers – relevant, entertaining - that for me it was impossible to pick a stand-out. However, although all the panels I attended were first rate, the Varuna session was a nose in front. The Chair, Peter Bishop of Varuna, knew all writers on his panel and was very familiar with the works they talked about. This meant that he was able to elicit more layers of revelation from each writer, although as soon as I say that I recall how well other writers conveyed the depth and complexity of their experience on panels where the basic format was to speak unprompted for twenty minutes. If you haven’t discovered this festival yet, make a note for next year!

The Contemporary Australian Fiction Festival is the child of The UTS Centre for New Writing and the NSW Writers Centre. This year it was opened by Federal minister for the Arts,

Trees and uncomforting symbols

2008-03-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

Things are so depressing that I've livened myself up with a picture of dead Mountain Ash in the Snowy Mountains. Unlike many other eucalypts they don't recover from intense fire by sprouting along the trunk and branches, rather they regenerate after fire from seed. Hence the little bluish children at their ghostly knees. So if I were to read this image like a bunch of tea leaves, I'd decide to write something new, rather than revive the dead wood. However, I doubt I'll take that path just yet.

The Past Efforts

2008-02-08T14:45:00.001-08:00

Because I want this blog to log the process as it occurs, here's a short summary of what's already happened.

I've written two books of around 100,000 plus words each and they are first drafts. Modified at times, but first drafts nonetheless.

I'm now trying to revise the first book as opposed to fiddle with it. The second book I wrote was a bad attempt at a sequel. It has to be re-written from scratch and I have drafted a few chapters. The first book now under revision is actually the middle part of a longer story. I have a few chapters drafted of a 'prequel'. In other words three possible tomes where the characters overlap.

The idea is that each of these books could stand alone, even if they would be more enjoyable read as a series.

The Beginning - for me anyway

2008-02-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

Who wants to admit to a beginning? Especially when one is past sixty and has friends who've been asking "What's happening with The Book" for nearly ten years...

I'll say now, that like Dostoevsky's man Underground, I cannot guarantee to always tell the truth but this bit is for real.:

At first I thought Blogger.com rejected my proposed url of a writers progress and missed the fact that the writers's progress was accepted. After a short battle I came up with a writers experiment which fits my personal history better. All my first efforts at writing a novel are labeled "Exp1"; two rejections have been received, so the word experiment sounds more apt than the word progress.

However a little hope sits at my knee and there's a fraction of light hovering...

What I have yet to decide is whether to use real information here, names, dates and places. But then who is afraid of a failed novelist whose blog is never read?