Becoming A Fiction Writer
One girl, one dream … and a whole lot of procrastination
September 30, 2008 by amanda

Vogel winner Andrew Croome and encouragement for me (and you)

You might remember that one of the goals I successfully met this year was to submit a novel to the Australian/Vogel Literary Award contest. I did it – albeit a novel that I think needs a lot of revision, but at least a full verison exists thanks to the deadline of the contest – and the act of sending in that manuscript really meant a lot to me. And I hope to enter the Vogel with a new novel every year until I can’t (which, with an upper age limit of 35, is a sad short few years away).

Anyway, last week the winner of this year’s Vogel was announced. From the 200+ manuscripts they received (and read, between just four judges – what a lot of reading), the winner was Andrew Croome, who wrote a novel titled Document Z based on the events of the Petrov affair here in Australia in the 1950s. If you’re interested, you can read an extract from the novel here.

A couple of things about Andrew Croome’s background and experience have left me feeling a little reassured. First of all, this novel was the first he actually completed – he’d had a few false starts but this was the first manuscript he got all the way to the end of. That’s encouraging, somehow. He also admitted to doing something that I’ve done (but never admitted to):

I did all the nerdy things like go into the book store and look to where my book will be on the shelf so it certainly is hugely exciting.

Yes, I’ll admit that when I’m in my favourite bookshops I do look at the section on the shelf to see where my future books will sit. I’d rather think of it as “positive thinking” than “nerdy”, but in any case I’ve decided that a surname starting with “K” (as mine does!) is a good middle-of-the-shelf kind of place for a book.

The big difference between me and Andrew Croome is that he’s studying (or has studied, the article I read didn’t make it clear if he’d finished) creative writing – up to PhD level. I’m still undecided as to whether studying creative writing is the way to go and while I (hopefully) finish my MEd next year I can postpone the decision for another couple of semesters at least. There are definitely plenty of published writers out there who’ve never studied creative writing (and a fair few who haven’t even set foot inside a university, I guess) so it’s clearly no must.

In any case, congratulations to Andrew Croome and I look forward to finding him between other “C”-surnamed authors on the bookshop shelves sometime next year.

Permalink | Posted in Fiction Comps, Fiction World News, Writing Contests | 3 Comments »

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September 29, 2008 by amanda

My fourth attempt at the 24-hour short story contest

Each time I enter the quarterly Writers Weekly 24-hour short story contests, I try to use a different approach to writing the short story. I’m a little ashamed to say that this year, these are the only short stories I’ve written, but it’s definitely been more of a long fiction year.

Anyway, in the July competition I did a lot more serious plot planning than usual; back in April I did a lot of brainstorming and then a one-hit write. This time round I decided to use a strategy I’d read about during the week from some info I got from the Australian Writing Academy, who sent me a small brochure about short story writing that had some surprisingly useful tips.

Basically, I followed the suggestion of outlining the story in advance, including some obstacles and how they’re overcome, and right at the end – “after” the end, in fact – adding another twist. I was quite surprised about how well this strategy worked. I planned what I thought was, on its own, a complete story, and then continued it by adding a twist, and to me it seems like that has worked out really well. I’m not sure that it produces a particularly “literary” story, but then again, the brochure is about writing short stories that sell, so they’re probably not intended to be too “literary”, so to speak.

I was also very conscious of avoiding unnecessary remarks and doing more showing than telling. A simple example: the story includes two main characters, a mother and son. When I first mention the son (by name rather than “her son”) I used to think I should immediately explain that the man is the son … but I can let readers just assume that – it sounds like he probably is just from the context – and a bit later on they can be sure when he arrives and addresses her as “Mum”. I do too much “overstating” when I write, forgetting that the reader is actually a smart cookie who can figure out tonnes of stuff for themselves. So it was good practice for me to remember this through a whole short (short) story.

One last ramble on the short story contest topic: I do love the chance to write something – more importantly, to have to write something – on a topic that’s not of my choosing. This contest still gives plenty of scope for slanting the topic into something that’s of interest to you, but you have to start with something supplied and then get creative. This is definitely good for me and something I should try to do more often.

Permalink | Posted in Fiction Comps, Short Stories | 3 Comments »

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September 28, 2008 by amanda

Online writing back in 2000: I made money with fiction on Themestream

In the ongoing saga of unpacking my boxes of books, I’ve come across yet another interesting (and practically historical!) find. Back in 2000 and 2001, I was living in Perth (having never left it – I did so in mid-2001) and I was just starting to get back into writing after not doing much since I left high school. It was good timing, because at the same moment, writing online was just starting to take off.

I’ve just unearthed my writing diary from 2001 – appropriately, it was a Dymock’s “Booklovers’ Diary” although they didn’t see fit to put an apostrophe after Booklovers – I’d added it myself with a black marker. In this diary I recorded the amount of writing I did for various websites and interestingly, also kept a record of how much money I earned.

Back then, my big loves were writing for two websites: Themestream and WrittenByMe. Both are long since defunct, and when I see how much they were paying me to write simple, personal fiction and non-fiction, I’m not surprised. For example, my notes tell me that during the year 2000, for writing just a dozen or so not-very-good stories about my unexciting experiences, vaguely cast as fiction, Themestream paid me over A$120. WrittenByMe seemed to pay me too, but I didn’t record the amounts, unfortunately.

And not about fiction, but nonetheless interesting: I was also writing for Suite101 back then, on teaching and assessment, my specialty back in the days before I started teaching ESL. In my diary I can see that I was paid an absolute fortune for these articles when compared to what Suite101 has paid me in recent times for travel articles that receive a whole lot more in pageviews. Unbelievably (I’d forgotten, but remembered once I saw it written in this magical diary) they even paid me US$150 for an article on John Dewey – it wasn’t that long, I don’t think, and we are talking nearly ten years ago so it was worth A$300 to me – and I recall that they actually asked several writers to submit the same article, paid us all and used just one.

These days things sure are different online. Of course, I have higher standards about where I’d write, but there are no magic sites that pay considerable dollars just for page views of simple, unedited fiction. Which on the whole is probably a good thing – I’m sure the quality of what I and others wrote meant it didn’t really deserve to be online or paid for – but it’s still a pity. If I could use a time machine and head back to the turn of the century I’d quit my day job and write my little heart out, and I might be a better fiction writer now (or at least more practiced) and have a smaller mortgage!

Do any of my readers out there remember writing online back in those times? I’d be interested to hear what you think – let me know in the comments.

Permalink | Posted in Fiction World News | 1 Comment »

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September 27, 2008 by amanda

Wil Anderson: Nothing to fall back on

What’s the difference between me and a stand-up comedian? Obviously, the comedian is funny, and I’m not. But that hasn’t stopped me from being a little bit inspired by an article I read in this morning’s West about Wil Anderson, an Aussie stand-up who became famous to me when he worked on Triple J radio as the breakfast announcer.

The bit that inspired me was how he decided to give up all semblance of a “good job” and try being a stand-up comedian full-time. Actually, he got the advice from further afield too, so let me just reproduce it here quickly:

… I was still working part-time and I was watching Oprah, as you do, and she had Roseanne Barr on … and Oprah said, ‘Did you have something to fall back on when you started doing comedy?’ and Roseanne said something that really resonated with me. She said, ‘No, because if you have something to fall back on, you will fall back on it.’

Now obviously (well it’s obvious to me, anyway) I’m not in a position where I can just give up all other work and focus on being a novelist. Among other problems, the bank would certainly have something to say about that if our mortgage payments disappeared for a while. I also think that being a full-time novelist would probably send me in the direction of a mental hospital quite quickly, because I need a fair degree of human contact to stay relatively sane.

BUT, I really like the idea of not having something to fall back on. And perhaps one day in the far distant future I’ll be able to approach writing in such a way. Presumably Roseanne Barr and Wil Anderson did this when they were young and single (I don’t know, but it certainly seems more practical then). Here I am, re-enrolling at uni to finish my MEd to have something to fall back on (yes, these are the exact words I used in making this decision), when I could be jumping in to creative writing study, or something. I justify this to myself by saying that I really do want to continue a few parallel paths – teaching and writing seem to complement each other so well for me, the social and the withdrawn, the interactive and the personal. I think I’m right, for me, but I sure as hell admire people who can just jump right in to a risky, creative career without a safety net.

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September 26, 2008 by amanda

Re-learning from Stephen King’s “On Writing”

I didn’t really mean to, but I’ve been having a feast of writing how-to books passing through my life lately. Usually I try to ration that kind of stuff out – because the one thing that’s a whole lot better than reading writing how-to books is definitely just WRITING – but the writing’s been in a bit of a lull and a bunch of how-to books that I’ve had on reserve at the library for ages just all arrived at once.

Which means this week I’ve been devouring Stephen King’s On Writing again. I read it once on loan from some foreign library (in Japan? or Germany?) but I couldn’t remember much about it. It’s lovely. It’s utterly readable and interesting and didn’t make me feel there are a million rules to follow when I write; but at the same time it gave me a bunch of reminders of how I can improve my writing. So for my own good more than anyone else’s, here’s a list of reminders I need, courtesy of my interpretation of Stephen King’s:

  • no adverbs. Well, almost no adverbs.
  • no passive voice. Ditto.
  • watch dialogue attribution. Usually, stick to “X said” or better still, nothing at all.
  • King writes 2,000 words every day. I should write something every day.
  • keep your first draft private. Don’t let other people’s ideas interfere with yours until they’re on paper.
  • story is everything. Characters come next. Other stuff doesn’t matter.
  • good description makes the reader participate.
  • make dialogue honest.
  • 2nd draft = 1st draft minus 10%
  • nail down the symbolism and theme after the first draft, then enhance them
  • re-read 1st draft after (minimum) 6 weeks, and all in one sitting if possible.

A lot of these reminders will frame what I now go back and do with the draft of my first novel, which I hope to make a start on this weekend (a long one, thanks to our Queen’s Birthday holiday).

And also this weekend, the next Writers Weekly 24-Hour Short Story Contest is on and I’m signed up again. It’s on Sunday (my time) so send some creative energy my way, please.

Permalink | Posted in Fiction Writing Tips, Writing Novels | 1 Comment »

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September 22, 2008 by amanda

Update on beard-growing as inspiration for a novelist

Over the weekend I pondered the fact that if somebody was growing a beard and not cutting it or shaving it off until I published my first novel, then perhaps I would feel more obliged to get writing more quickly.

So far, nobody has offered to grow a beard for me (and thankfully, my husband hasn’t read about it … well I don’t think he has. Come to think of it, though, when he picked me up from the train station tonight the welcome kiss was very stubbly).

However, I have had one offer, from my #1 fan and blog reader, my mother. I’ve long known that she reads my blog regularly because she often starts talking about stuff I can’t believe she knows, until I realise that I did, of course, publish it on my blog for all the world to see.

In any case, she rang me up yesterday and said that she’d read my post about the beard-growing inspiration thing. I was fairly certain she wasn’t going to offer to grow a beard for me, and I was right. What she did say was that she wanted to help me with a bit of inspiration, and this was her attempt: “If I die before you have a novel published, I’ll be really annoyed.” (In fact, replace “annoyed” with a stronger word – her attempt to really inspire me, I think).

This was a lovely offer, of course. But I instantly saw a huge problem. My mother, although considerably older than her advertised age of 51, is not particularly old. On top of that, she’s extraordinarily healthy and nobody can believe her actual age, because she looks and acts much younger. Moreover, her own mother lived to 94. Put in another way: my mum’s “inspiring” threat made me feel like I have about three decades in which to publish a novel. She tried to help by saying she’d like to see me publish three novels before she dies but I still calculate that at one per decade. Which is slightly inspiring, but not quite enough. But thanks for trying, Mum!

Anyone else have a “write before XXX” dare or an “I’ll grow a beard/give up chocolate/run 10km a day until you publish a novel” challenge? Leave it in the comments for me.

Permalink | Posted in Inspiration for Writers | 2 Comments »

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September 21, 2008 by amanda

I’m a spelling and grammar monster, but …

This is a post of two extremes. To start with, I have to rant and rave about published books that include spelling or grammar errors. I hate that. I really hate that. This week I’ve been reading two books that were both self-published – one a novel, one a non-fiction book – and both are riddled with errors. I’m not talking just the odd missing apostrophe or one or two misspelt words, but the kind of errors that would leave the pages obliterated in red ink if I was doing an editing job on them.

I know some people who’ve read the same novel, and the errors didn’t bother them. It’s possible I’m a bit over-the-top about spelling and grammar, a combination of working as a proofreader and editor in the past, and being an English teacher and writer now. I admit that I’m a tough judge. But it’s a BOOK! If we’re not going to have correct punctuation, spelling and grammar in a book, where will we? (Having said that, I read just two articles in The West Australian newspaper this morning and found two errors there, too). I’ll groan over a missing apostrophe in an email but I can live with it. If you’re going to go to all the trouble of publishing a book, is it not too much to expect that finding a decent proofreader is something that is fairly obligatory?

Now, before you take a magnifying glass to this blog and point out all my errors, I apologise in advance. Nobody’s perfect, but I think my spelling, grammar and punctuation are above average. I even know the difference between “its” and “it’s”. My spelling might vary between American and British usage – I do confuse them now since I write for both markets – but it’s more or less correct.

So here’s the other extreme of this post, and it’s all about spelling. The other week I caught the end of a “grand final” show of some Aussie TV programme which followed a spelling contest for Australian primary school children. I think the kids were between 10 and 12 years old and they’d worked their way through several rounds to get to the final, spelling a lot of tricky words in the process, I guess. But none so tricky as some from the grand final, which I absolutely admit I couldn’t have got correct, like these:

  • stanchion
  • bougainvillea (at least I know what this one means, but I’d have only a 50-50 chance of getting the spelling right)
  • syzygy (I think. Even my spell check doesn’t know this one).
  • staphylococcus (a ten-year-old boy spelled this correctly. Wow!)

When these kids self-publish their books, I’ll probably be able to read them without grimacing.

I feel better for getting this out of my system. I know I’m in a minority of society, the people-who-get-aggressive-about-wrong-apostrophes group, but am I alone? Please let me know in the comments if you’re a spelling monster like me or if you can ignore all the mistakes and just read what a writer is trying to say.

Permalink | Posted in Fiction Writing Tips | 2 Comments »

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September 19, 2008 by amanda

Nobody’s growing a beard while waiting on my first novel

It’s Friday afternoon, after a spectacularly unsuccessful writing week, and I’m in a bit of a silly mood. Which is probably why this article on a Metallica fan at Ananova inspired me today.

The story goes that Metallica fan Mick Cassidy bet his wife that he wouldn’t shave his beard off until Metallica released a new album. His beard grew and grew (and his wife probably grew more and more irate – I know I would) and a long five years went on before Metallica finally released a new album. Cassidy shaved off his beard with relief, because even he said that “The beard made me look like a tomato with hair.”

Which got me wondering about a (very unlikely) situation: what if there was someone growing a beard out there until my first novel was published? Would it make me write any faster or better or in a more dedicated way? Would it make me search out publication opportunities with more zest?

A growing beard is, I guess, just one of the many ticking clocks that writers can imagine as a combination of pressure and inspiration to keep them writing. It’s an almost thankless task, really – how many other professions work away at something (for free) for years and years without any guarantee at all that anyone will ever publish it, let alone pay you very much for it. No builder would even lay a brick on a new house if they were only “hoping” that someone would pay for it. If only writing was a choice, rather than an internal drive I can’t ignore.

Well, that’s my Friday afternoon random ramble on writing inspiration this week. I’ve got a flood of how-to books to inspire me: on the train today I was re-reading Stephen King’s On Writing, which I must have read when it first came out and I’ve subsequently forgotten pretty much every part of it, so it’s proving very enjoyable and inspiring. More on that soon. In the meantime, it’s time to get the paid writing finished so the fun writing can begin.

PS: Don’t mention the beard-growing thing to my husband. I’d hate it if he took up that challenge.

Permalink | Posted in Inspiration for Writers | 1 Comment »

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September 13, 2008 by amanda

Reading and listening more than writing

I’ve been swamped by day job and night job tasks recently – with an extra teaching load and a bit more writing to do, and I have been almost completely ignoring the actual writing of fiction. But I haven’t been ignoring the idea of fiction writing at all, as I’ve been immersing myself again in podcasts and books that have given me all kinds of great ideas and inspiration.

This week on the train I whizzed through the newest Armistead Maupin book, Michael Tolliver Lives – and it was such a pleasure. Almost ten years ago I borrowed the whole Tales of the City set from a gay friend of mine and something about Maupin’s fresh and honest style really impressed me – along with the interesting characters – so I was really pleased to get the new one. I tried to figure out just what it is that makes me read Maupin so easily, and I can’t put my finger on it. I just wish I could write books that others would feel the same about. One day!

Simultaneously (because I always have several books on the go – it just depends on my physical location as to which one I pick up) I’ve been reading the second novel written by a teaching colleague of mine – The Woodchopper by Cry Bloxsome. It’s independently-published and therefore not usually in mainstream bookshops, but somehow he’s got it in to the big chain Dymocks in the city – seeing it there made me feel just a little bit more confident about me seeing my own book there one day. He’s also promoting it with bookmarks and yesterday on the train a woman next to me had his bookmark in her (cheesy romance) book – I guess she probably picked it up at Dymocks. Knowing someone who has published novels floating around certainly makes me feel like it’s not an entirely unachievable goal.

You might be wondering about the progress of our buddy system for getting more writing down during this semester. We’re wondering too! All kinds of life things have got in the way for both of us but now it’s time to take stock again – I’m going to rewrite my chapter-writing goals a little and then get diligent. I promise – really.

Permalink | Posted in Inspiration for Writers | No Comments »

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September 1, 2008 by amanda

An egg timer of writing per day: Inspiration from Jeffrey Archer

One of the podcasts I regularly listen to (see – I promised I’d be listening to more podcasts again soon) is actually produced by a huge chain book store that I actually don’t really like that much, but their podcast series is great. I guess I have to tell you what I’m talking about – it’s the Barnes & Noble Meet the Writers series and the interviewer, Steve Bertrand, just does such great interviews with various writers that I always enjoy listening to them. That, and they’re short – usually under 15 minutes, so it’s a great podcast to listen to if I’m nearly home.

Anyway, this week I listened to the Meet the Writers interview with Jeffrey Archer. Sorry, Lord Archer, as he now is (I think). Personally, I’m not a fan, but he’s undeniably a very successful writer, and there’s got to be a few reasons for that.

Something Archer said that really made me prick my ears up was that he writes in a very disciplined way. And I mean disciplined. He has some beautiful sand timer (I was going to write egg timer, but it’s longer than that) that runs for an hour. He always writes for two-hour sessions, meaning he turns the timer over once. And I can’t remember exactly his pattern, but it was something like writing from 6am-8am, 10am-12pm, 2pm-4pm and 6pm-8pm, every day.

Now obviously writing a novel in such a way is not going to pay the bills for me in the same way that it does for Lord Archer, well at least not yet. But it did inspire me to re-think my approach to my writing buddy system for writing my second novel, which requires me to write one chapter per week. Apart from being a little behind schedule, I also only manage to sit down to actually write these chapters when the deadline is looming very near (or has already passed). I’m making more progress than I would have, but I’m still writing under a pressing deadline and therefore writing stuff just to fill the page at times, or just to move the story in the right direction.

But the sand clock idea got me thinking, and I’m going to try a new idea this week. If I wrote a bit of my novel for 15 minutes every day, I’d have a good chunk of it done when I got to the weekend and needed to finish up and submit a chapter. I can set the timer on my phone to ring after 15 minutes and then sit down and just type. I know, it sounds so simple, but I hope other struggling writers out there appreciate how difficult it sometimes is to get these things done. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Permalink | Posted in Goals and Motivation, Inspiration for Writers | 3 Comments »

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