Intro
Hello!
So yes, this is a monthly blog post once again! I figured
I'd go back to doing a roundup of events, partially because with new things
happening or announced, stretched across different Media platforms, it can be
easy to miss one or two things. The idea of doing it like that is to catch a
different audience at different times, spreading the net as it were, but I've
found recently that when following other peoples' endeavours it can get a
little overwhelming, or annoying if they repeat the same thing across a different
platform but mark it as 'new', because technically it is, but it can leave a
little bad feeling of being duped. So, if that's the case for you, I've
included this roundup so you can ignore all the stretch media and just catch up
on events from the month past in one sitting! Have you missed my voice!? All
two or three of you!? (That might be wild optimism!) Haha.
One of the reasons I stopped doing a monthly blog was
because there was nothing to report on, and it just became an exercise in
rewording excuses. Yeah, that might happen a lot this time around too, but I
want to see if I'm more encouraged to maintain accountability if I'm more
transparent with my achievements. Plus, I'll keep you informed on what I'm
reading, a couple of things I'm planning / have done that wouldn't normally get
mentioned elsewhere, and even answer questions should any of you throw them my
way! :)
I'm going to be tempering with the format a lot, and I
have a sneaky feeling I may have lifted the title from somewhere... but without
further ado, welcome to, The Month That Was - July '16 !
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Achievements
At least I get to kick of the reintroduction of the blog
posts with an actual achievement to shout about!
You well may be aware by now that I take part in
MorgEn Bailey's 100-Word Free Competition every
month. It guarantees you guys some monthly content and me some practise in writing
more concise fiction. The competition is small, and as such I have a fairly
decent track record of at least making the 'Highly Commended' list. (8 placings
out of 10 is no bad thing!) Well very occasionally I get that little higher,
and this month, my entry June entry,
'Mummy's Knight' tied for
third! :)
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New Content This
Month - (What can you actually read this month!?)
All three entries to
MorgEn Bailey's 100-Word Free Competition have been
added to the site. The theme this time was 'close'. (Although, like a foolio, I
wrote down the theme wrong as 'close
d'
in my notes! Fortunately, they were still on point, but it did stop me
including an entry about the word in the sense of 'nearby'!) Don't forget,
'Mummy's Knight' finished joint third in the competition! :)
Two of the Micro Fictions have been turned into my Social
postcards, and hit Media on the first and fifteenth of the month.
(I'm still yet to receive a single entry into the
Micro Pic Competition ! You could have your artwork seen by a wider / different audience AND win a free
coupon to an online Writing Course!)
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The Graft
- (Daydreaming is well and good - you've got to have goals. But what have I
actually done this month?)
I generally tend to stick to a four draft system when it
comes to writing short pieces. That is a first draft, (which I write by hand
and then type up making minor corrections),
a second to make it readable and think of ways to change or improve it,
a third in which I implement the changes and incorporate feedback, and unless I
come up with multiple alternative options that require experimentation or
radical change as a result of further feedback or new ideas, a fourth or final
draft.
It doesn't always work out this way. Some pieces require
six or seven rewrites; pieces from alternate versions lining alongside each
other, different points of view, selective plotting from larger first and
second drafts that are way over the word limit (as always seems to be the case
for me) - that kind of thing. On the other hand some can be fairly settled
after the second draft. It's also worth bearing in mind that most of what I
write is for competition - upon rejection, I might use the same piece in a
different competition that requires another round of editing to fit a new word
limit or such.
A bit of insight / disclaimer there to decrypt what I'll
call my 'Done' list.
Monthly Micros
(Three pieces at 100 words each, set theme)
- Draft 1, Draft 2, Draft 3, Draft 4
- Submitted to Competition
Project 4
(Competition Short Story - 1500 words)
- Draft 1, Draft 2, Draft 3, Draft 4
- Submitted to Competition
MFS (Ongoing
fantasy series, broken down into events, plus any note overhauls)
- Nada! :(
Bigger Project (Aside
from MFS *MFS1 currently occupies this slot until I can finish the first draft!*)
- Nada! :(
TfTT (Special
project)
-Nada! :(
Micro Pics (One
Micro Pic taken from last month's best reaction to recent three Micros, plus
one pic generated from archives)
This month, the popular Pic was of course
'Mummy's Knight', and the
archived Pic was
'Ultimate Penultimate'. Don't forget, by voting on the
Twitter poll each month, you can have an
impact on which Micro gets 'The Complete Treatment'! :)
Peripheral Tasks
of Note
- Devising
this very post / series!
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What I've Read
I feel that as a budding writer, people assume I must
have a critical take on anything that I read and that I must have a solid
understanding of what's 'good writing' and what isn't. I feel like it's my
'job' to review anything I read. Well let me tell you now, I don't. I don't
like reviewing fiction for three main reasons;
1 - People in glass houses shouldn't throw
stones.
Who am I, as a struggling writer, to say anything about a
piece that's made it to print? It's better than anything I've ever achieved!
Also I'm not formally trained in any sense, I'm technically 'just having a go'
and hoping to make it through will and gathered experience. I don't feel
qualified to say anything critical, because I can't back it up with anything
other than opinion.
2 - I want to read
to read, not evaluate.
As soon as I made the change from casual reader to
aspiring author, I'll admit, everything changed. I stopped reading for
pleasure, and eventually just stopped reading altogether. I got it into my head
that I couldn't unwind with a book anymore, and instead had to be paying full
attention to technique and structure, language, flow, character forming... it
just got too much. It's taking a long time to detach myself from that line of
thinking, and progress is slow, oh so slooooowwwwww.
3 - I should be writing
It's a guilt as a writer that you just cannot shake! Yes,
as Stephen King is often quoted as saying
“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”
but it's so hard to justify the time! I am
somebody who enjoys reading, but the crushing weight of creating my own worlds,
and finishing ALL the stories I have ideas for, before Father calls Time is
something Atlas would struggle with...
So, don't expect me to review the things I list here. I
don't care if you think me spineless. It's why I've put this kind of thing off
for so long. I might mention a few points I like or found interesting, but I'll
never outright criticise.
When a new book comes out in a series that I like, I feel
I MUST re-read the entire series up to that point. It's just me! One of my favourite authors,
Mark Lawrence, released the final book in his second trilogy, set in the same world as the
first,
The Wheel of Osheim, in June. I've been a bit slow with my reading recently, even by my standards,
but the release of this final installment got me excited to drop the other
series' I was reading and go back over to catch up. So far I've only managed to
get through the first,
Prince of Fools , and part way into the second,
The Liar's Key .
I love this world, and I love the parallel series. I've
said before that the crossover moments are something I hope to emulate in my
own writing in MFS, and give me a clear example of how it can be employed
successfully. Although I've said above that I don't like to review structure as
I read, reading
Prince of Fools has been really interesting for me, because it's now the third
time I've read it through, so I am noticing more writing structure and
techniques adopted.
Beginning - Middle - End has been the thing that's struck
me most, especially looking down at the percentage read on the Kindle. It
actually feels like clear sections in
the writing. Sometimes as a writer you feel that basic premise like the three
section story are beneath you, but this was a clear indication that done right,
basic can sometimes be best.
The other thing that struck a chord was that he's
effectively re-skinned the structure from the first series. In
'The Broken Empire' series the main character, Jorg, has his memory locked away and it's gradually
revealed in a clever '5 years ago' type parallel story that leads up to the
present expertly. In this series, a similar tactic is adopted through the
secondary main character Snorri, who has a penchant for recounting old tales
around a campfire or in a tavern which does much the same function. There's
similar scenes in slightly different settings, such as both of their first
encounters with a particular enemy in a remote area (No spoilers!) that could
almost be synonymous, but you don't feel duped by a re-skinned or re-hashed
piece of writing, it's done really, really well.
**********
This is also a re-read, and I've only read the first two
stories. Call it geeky, but I must have cost my dad a small fortune collecting
these models as a kid. I was never any good at the modelling or painting side
of it. Battling was exciting, but by very design it cost too much to do without
turning to a life of crime. 'What are you in for?' 'Wanted to add a couple of
plastic archers to my disgustingly expensive regiment box set. Might even be
able to play a 500 point battle next year if I can hit a couple more banks in
the next week or so...' It was always the world building and literature that
had its hooks in me. They've never let go, I think about this world all the
time. It's the idea of carving out a little empire of your own in an already
established setting. Oh the campaign ideas I had! Haha. Watch this space... It
has a huge, and I mean gargantuan, bearing on TfTT that I hope to achieve some
time in the future...
Part of the introductory material I got with signing up
to the Writing Group (more on that later) recommended reading more about what you intend
to emulate. Having signed up with the intention of writing shorts, it led me to
this book compiled of some of the best short stories released in the past year.
I've not really got stuck into this yet. The opening piece was longer than I'd
anticipated called 'Black Dog' by
Neil Gaiman. I've heard a lot about this author without having
read anything by him so my curiosity was peaked. But having bought the book for
short stories I felt a little underwhelmed. The story was... okay. Written well
but research heavy in my opinion. The next was shorter, more the length I'm looking
for and I enjoyed it, but that's as far as I've got.
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Useful Articles
I've read
I don't read enough articles on my craft. What's more
than that though, is that I don't ACT enough on any good ideas I've read.
Articles can be very hit and miss. A lot of the time any article you read comes
at the wrong stage of your career or process to be immediately applicable. You
file it away as good advice for later, maybe even go so far as to digitally
file it in a folder, but then it slips from mind, and when the time comes for
it to be useful it has lost its impact on you or you've forgotten about it, or
in the world we live in, is no longer relevant. I have tonnes of folders like
this, full of little details that might come in handy 'one day'.
The other problem is that I'm always behind my intended
schedule, so reading an article seems even more unjustified than reading
generally. You could argue it's a few minutes out of your day, but I'd counter
that even that can become a daunting commitment when it occupies a whole space
on your to do list at the start of the day. 'Finish this, edit that, read that,
create that, file that, respond to that, read that' knocks more puff out of
your will than the comparative 'finish this, edit that, read that, create that,
file that, respond to that, then if finished read that possibly if you want to'...
That said, I've been enjoying reading a series of
articles by
Dan Purdue that I'd highly recommend. He's going through the alphabet with a topic on
writing for each letter and giving great advice and insight on a regular basis.
You may remember
Dan as the writer I found via a shared experience in a disappointing competition
fiasco called Chapter One Promotions... My first real competition placing
marred indefinitely and a warning to all budding writers.
You can read back on
our accounts of events here -
My Experience -
Dan's Experience +
Dan's Resolution
Competition Results
+ Reader Contributions
I've yet to receive any entrants to the
Micro Pic Competition that I run on this site! :( Don't forget you can get more exposure for your
artwork, and even win a free coupon to a online writing course!
At time of writing, the current Competitions that are
open are;
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Any Other Business
- Project 4 has been submitted to its contest! It's a
themed contest that guarantees publishing for all entries. Although it bore a
hefty entry fee (for me), sometimes it's nice just to have something out there.
I expect exposure to be minimal, I mean, who actually wants to sit and read a
bunch of stories deemed not good enough to make the shortlist... but most of
the fee is because I chose the option to have feedback from the judges. This
may seem a rip off to most of you, and you're right, it certainly will be. I
don't expect much more than very general suggestions that could apply to any
story regardless of the plot, but you know what? I've been pretty bummed out
recently at the lack of reaction to ANYTHING I've created. Woe me, it's hard to
get an audience. You could write the best thing ever, (totally subjective,
mind) but it's a waste if nobody sees it. Think in stock phrases like
'speculate to accumulate' and you're where I'm at, paying for views. But at
this point, I just needed a boost.
On the back of this contest, I made an unusual decision
to sign up to the associated site's writing group. Again, it is monetary. The
idea that appeals to me is the rule that for every draft or piece you upload
you need to offer feedback on at least three other peoples' work. I'll admit,
I'm not convinced it works in practise. The two main problems I can see are
that there's no enforcement of the rule, it's just expected, and that not
everybody (myself included) is good at giving critique. I've already seen lots
of 'I think that was good!' without actually helping in any way and of course
it's difficult to slam somebody you don't know (especially when the sole reason
for looking at their work is just a non-subtle 'critique me back!' plea). I'm
just using it, for now, as a means of getting better at making a subjective
judgement on a piece of writing that isn't my own, to see if it changes the way
I look at my mine. Plus, Scrooge is practically my spirit animal, so the fact
I'm paying ANYTHING means I'm hoping it'll keep me committed to more regular
uploads for my money's worth.
- Also this month saw the next set of archived Micro
Fiction stories generated into the competition schedule, so be sure to have a
look for extra time on your entry in the
Micro Pic Competition !
- Right, so I constantly fight this battle between
focussing on a bigger project, or creating more consistent output via shorter pieces
for exposure. But after talking to
Dan in the comments on an article in his series -
F is for Finishing, I'm pining to actually
complete something bigger! I can't believe I've been calling myself a wannabe
'writer' since
2009 and only ever
finished one first draft on a single Novella! It's not acceptable! :(
It may not seem like it, but I have a big to do list at
the start of each day that I must run down before I can even think of creating.
Maintaining a presence is a lot of work, and unless I get a PA (haha!) it's not
going to change anytime soon. As things stand, I rarely get time (or more accurately,
lack the willpower and sustainability) to run through the list and go onto
creation - and when I do there's a smaller project or rewrite blocking the path
to anything bigger. On the rare occasion I do break through, the entire session
becomes about reacquainting myself with the project, by which time another day
has gone, and another small thing has cropped up that puts things back on hold indefinitely
and so forth. I dream of the days I used to get up, think about writing the one thing I'm working on, and just dive
straight in where I left off! :(
As such, I am aiming to tone down the smaller projects
for the rest of the month! I've not actually committed any of the current
smaller pieces to any competitions (in the sense I've not prepaid for entry)
but it does feel wasteful to have the ideas for a specific competition in mind relegated
to general use! :( Also, the timing is bad because I've just committed money to
the writing group... And, I've just started this blog going again... But! I
want to get slightly back on track, so for August - I'm ignoring shorts,
scaling back some activities, continuing the Micros, maybe having a stab at TfTT
(hopefully) and spending the rest of the time on MFS1! Yeah, I know, we'll see
how that pans out...
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Outro
So uh yeah, sorry for the long post! The first was always
going to be! In future I'll aim to get these out on the 3rd of each month! Make it worth your while though by letting me know in the comments
if you like a feature, any reaction to what's happened and whether you yourself
prefer monthly installments like this over stretch media! It all helps!
Until next time, buh-bye!
