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

Confessions of a NaNoWriMo failure

Uh-oh. Anybody see the date today? It’s November 30, or in other words, the last day of NaNoWriMo. And my novel so far only consists of 17,069 words, a long way short of the NaNo goal of 50,000 words in a month.

I think we can all safely assume that I’m not going to come up with 32,931 words in the next twelve hours or so. So this year, rather than being a NaNoWriMo winner as I was last year, I guess you’d have to call me a NaNoWriMo loser!

So where’s your list of excuses for failing NaNoWriMo?

I guess the traditional post here should include a long list of reasons (also known as excuses) for why I wasn’t able to achieve this goal this time round. And trust me, I have a really long list of excuses in my head. But I’ll spare them from you and look to the future instead.

First of all, there’s not law that says you have to finish your NaNoWriMo novel during November. Well, I don’t get any pretty badges for my website, but I still have a third of a novel and lots of ideas on how to continue writing it. I did a few calculations and found out that if I continued writing it at the same rate, I would reach 50,000 words in another 39 days. That’s not so terrible, really, but since the next 39 days includes a two-week holiday over east I’ll be generous with myself and set a new goal: to finish this draft by 31 January, 2009. That still gives me four months to edit and revise it if I decide to enter it in the Australian/Vogel award in May next year.

Second, it should be said that I’m happier with the quality of this draft than with last year’s NaNoWriMo draft. There are a lot more passages of “beautiful writing” in it (well, at least half way to being beautiful) and I felt a lot more creative while writing it. In fact, I think this had a spin-off effect into many other areas of my writing and I’ve got new and creative ideas running all over the place for different kinds of writing that I’d like to get stuck into soon.

Maybe there are no NaNoWriMo losers

Everyone’s a winner! There are just different kinds of winners. Some people are winners because they completed their 50,000 words during November. Others are winners because they found friends on the NaNoWriMo forums who they can talk to about their writing. And others are winners because they’ve got a good start to a novel and tonnes of other creative ideas. (Yeah, that last one’s me).

PS: Last week Dustin at The Writer’s Technology Companion posted an interview he did with me about NaNoWriMo. One of my answers in this interview probably gives another good reason for falling short on NaNot his year, when he asked me how I managed my time during November and I answered – “badly”! Still true this year too.

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November 27, 2008 by amanda

My novel’s not an award winner, but here’s useful feedback

Remember how I insanely finished my novel to enter the TAG Hungerford contest? I knew that a last-minute finish was a bad thing for that novel, but the value for me of actually getting something finished to enter the contest far outweighed the inevitability of not getting anywhere with the contest. But now that the award procedure is almost over (there are three shortlisted novels now, although the winner won’t be announced until February 2009), I’ve got even more value out of the process.

I recently received a “thanks but no thanks” letter from the Hungerford crew, but with it came something very interesting – a judges’ report on the process. Not on my manuscript in particular, but a general overview of how the judges felt, and a few of the points they made were especially interesting to me:

  • There were 28 entries. Apparently this is less than the previous couple of years, but not a bad number. I was surprised it was so low. There are some two million people living in Western Australia now, and the only requirement for entry is that you have not previously published a book. But perhaps it’s really not that common to get a full-length novel ready for submission. Anyway, it’s almost encouraging that there might be less competition out there than I thought.
  • Most of the entries were “realist fictions”, a category into which my manuscript would also land. The judges mentioned that many seemed to be written based on personal experience (yes, some of mine falls in this category too). Trying to write further away from my personal experience is something I’ve been trying to do with this NaNoWriMo novel and it’s been quite freeing. But it’s not easy – after all, doesn’t every writing class say, “Write what you know”?
  • Major problems including careless plotting, poorly-constructed characters, badly-handled dialogue and bad spelling and punctuation. My passion for apostrophes and their relatives rules me out of the last one, I’m fairly confident, but the first three problems – well, I probably still need practice with all of these. But apparently so do lots of other writers!

Future novel contests for me

So, practice, practice, and more practice is needed, I think, to improve my writing skills, and a whole lot of editing too. But entering these kinds of contests – respectable ones that could lead to a “big break” for a writing career – is an important goal of my writing, so I’d like to keep the future contests in mind:

  • The TAG Hungerford contest is running every two years at the moment, so presumably my next deadline there is June 2010.
  • The Australian/Vogel award, which is for writers under the age of 35 (a couple more years!), is usually held every year, so I hope to have a novel ready – no, I will have a novel ready – for May 2009. And May 2010. And I think I still scrape in for May 2011, but that’ll be the last one.

Know any more good novel contests? Please let me know in the comments.

Permalink | Posted in Awards for Writers, Fiction Comps, Writing Novels | 4 Comments »

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November 25, 2008 by amanda

Uncovering treasures: A nested story from Lithuania

It’s been a couple of months now since I finally unpacked every book I own into my amazing new bookshelves. My dream of having a room that looks like a library is now pretty much true (except that they’re not catalogued or anything, and there’s no woman in the corner telling me to be quiet).

One of the sections of these bookshelves (I’ll include a picture sometime – there are 48 square compartments to them) includes pretty much my entire collection of notebooks, both from travelling and general fiction scribbling notebooks I’ve kept over the years. Most of them are less than half full – I love pretty notebooks and tend to get all enthusiastic about writing in them until I find the next prettiest book. For me, the most exciting thing about having them all together there is that it actually does prove to me that I’ve always written. Sometimes I think – oh, in university I didn’t have time to write – but then, there’s a notebook covering that time.

My diaries are there too, and I was a consistent diary keeper during most of my teenager years (oh! the teenage angst!) and also while I lived overseas. And also the year I was eight years old, when I carefully kept a record of how the baby tomatoes in my backyard were growing.

The Lithuanian notebook and the story-within-a-story

So, let me get to the point. This morning I picked up three slim exercise books, each with a flimsy, pale green cover. Very cheap and nasty, but in an old-world kind of way. Two of them were absolutely blank, but one was quite exciting and I read it all in one sitting.

Starting from the front, there was the first story. It started off like this:

‘I bought this notebook in Lithuania for 4 cents.’ That’s what’s written on the cover of the notebook I found in my apartment when I moved to Japan. I can’t say I hesitated much before opening it – but I did feel a little guilty later.

Then turning to the back of the notebook (and turning it upside-down), the story-within-a-story starts:

Dear Reader, I hope you’re like me, and always read the first page of a book before you buy it. I don’t want you to spend your money on the basis of my slim fame and then be thoroughly disappointed in me. This book isn’t like my others. There aren’t any Prime Ministers or spies or movies stars in these pages. You’ll only find me, and my lover.

These two linked ideas have set my head spinning, and given me an amazing idea on how to rewrite my first novel draft! In fact, the story that follows about the narrator and her lover is outlined (by me, but it seems so distant that I need to use the passive voice) over the next page or two, and it’s a different story to my first novel, just with a similar setting. I’ll have to think about it more. But it’s all very exciting!

My plan is to gradually read through these notebooks and “mine” them for inspiration and ideas. If I get even a fraction of the inspiration from other notebooks as I did from this one, I’ll be more than pleased.

PS: In case you’re wondering, one part of the stories is true – I did buy these notebooks in Lithuania. The stamp on the back suggests they were bought in Vilnius, but they were first imported from Belarus. Cool. They also have a slogan: “Be yourself. Have a Credo of your own”. Fair enough.

Permalink | Posted in Writers' Notebooks | 4 Comments »

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November 23, 2008 by amanda

Anticipating the 2009 Perth Writers Festival

When the programme for the 2009 Perth International Arts Festival arrived in our house last week there was a flurry of excitement: we love going to see the international films at the outdoor cinemas they set up (although we’re disappointed by the number of French films this year and not enough German ones …); and as for me, personally, finding out about next year’s Perth Writers Festival is exciting too.

The only problem is the Writers Festival doesn’t seem to be organised as far in advance as everything else, so this programme only gives a quick taste of what might be (and which weekend to keep free) and the actual programme of events isn’t due until the end of January. The festival itself is taking place over a long weekend this time – so Perth people, keep the last weekend of February/first weekend of March free. I’m not convinced that holding it over a long weekend is such a great idea – last year it was held over a normal working Friday plus the Saturday and Sunday (I had the Friday off work) – I’m concerned that a long weekend will mean more people go away and attendance might be down. I guess they’ve thought of that and we’ll wait and see.

In any case, some of the authors that will be attending, according to the tantalising blurb, include:

  • Sebastian Barry – I’m reading his book The Secret Scripture right now, which was Booker short-listed; I’m only a couple of chapters in but it’s “lyrically lovely” so I’m keen to meet the writer …
  • Kate Grenville – a fantastic Australian writer I’ve mentioned before as being a previous Vogel winner – several of her novels have a home in my bookshelves and she has a new book called The Lieutenant
  • Robert Drewe – perhaps an equally famous Aussie writer, but one I’ve never read (I think; I could be wrong) – the book of his that’s most well-known is The Shark Net and that’s on my reading list right now.

I got so much out of attending last year’s Perth Writers Festival – not least of all because it’s in my hometown and nearly every event is free, so I could really make the most of it – so I’m definitely looking forward to that last weekend of February next year. Some day in the (maybe far, far) future, I hope I’ll be on the programme too!

Permalink | Posted in Writers' Festivals | 2 Comments »

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November 19, 2008 by amanda

More than half way through November, and my NaNo draft’s in danger

So I got re-started with NaNoWriMo and then I had another few days where I just didn’t get the fiction writing thing happening. And then today I read the Quiet Rebel Writer’s confession that this year she’s a NaNoWriMo dropout. Not quite what I was hoping to read about.

What can I say? The big problem is I broke my promise to myself about writing my novel before I wrote my paid writing. When push comes to shove, and I have just a little time, then I just have to do the paid writing first or my editors will get mad and (importantly) I won’t get paid.

However, I’ve been so organised this week that I’m way ahead of schedule on my paid writing and now I really have time to continue my novel. There are no excuses. Just the usual procrastination.

This week a friend of mine asked me, when I’m writing fiction, how much of the time I actually enjoy the process. I thought this was a really interesting question. I think the answer is that nearly all of the time I’m enjoying it, or I wouldn’t be doing it. Even when I’m feeling a bit under pressure for word count and the race of NaNoWriMo, I still enjoy it. Heck, I enjoy nearly all of the writing I get paid to do, too. I even like reading what I write (most of the time). It’s a funny thing, and impossible to explain, though I guess most writers feel the same way. My husband described me yesterday as a “real” writer because, from what he’s heard from me and my family, I’ve always written. I just have to write. And it’s true, there’s been barely a time in my life when I didn’t have some kind of writing project on the go, even though I can’t even really give a reason for it. I just enjoy writing, both for the process of it, putting words together in ways that sound good, and having a finished product.

Perhaps this argument is convincing me to get back to my NaNoWriMo draft. One more thing – I’ve been wanting to make it all “better” writing than last year’s NaNo draft – “beautiful writing”, so to speak – but one of the main points of NaNo is just to “get it all out”, as fast as possible, and then work with it later. In a way I’ve been trying to make my life easier later by writing it “better” now, but that might be holding me up. So back to the NaNo draft it is to write things however they come out and to focus on reaching the finishing line with some semblance of a novel draft in place. I know this works well for me because otherwise it’ll take me a decade to finish a first draft. Here goes.

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November 16, 2008 by amanda

Falling off the NaNoWriMo wagon and getting back on again

Regular readers might have been expecting a bit of a report on my NaNoWriMo progress after I started 10 days late but with great enthusiasm.

Excuses for not writing this week? Let me count the ways … or at least give you the abbreviated collection of bad reasons I gave myself for not writing. Starting with going back to teaching after nearly a month off (hey, more exhausting than I remembered) and leading through various dramas up to spending a fair whack of time helping out a friend with a problem, I didn’t even get back to my NaNoWriMo novel draft on Saturday when I probably did have time.

But because all of you out there in internet land know that I’m trying to do NaNoWriMo, I can’t fail. At least not yet. One of the “pep talk” emails that the NaNo people sent this week mentioned that this year we’re lucky that there are actually five weekends in November, so we have an even better chance of finishing. That gave me some extra inspiration, and since I know I can write fast when I have to, I started out again this afternoon.

The interesting thing is that everything I’ve written so far is kind of the back story to the real story I plan to write. Or, it’s the part of the character that I hadn’t imagined yet. The story I have for Agnetha, my main character, really starts when she’s around thirty, but I started the novel in her childhood and right now, she’s in her mid-20s and about to marry. The story is twisting around in directions I never dreamed. I’m seriously hoping it will twist the right way to get me into the story I actually want to tell once she hits thirty, which should be next chapter.

I know I talked a lot about having a good plan for this novel before I wrote it, but really, I don’t. This first few chapters are coming out completely unplanned, simply following chronological order, and otherwise everything that seems to be building the main character’s personality and everything that will have a bearing on how she behaves in the future, when I get to the “real” story, is coming out from some completely subconscious part of my brain. It’s an interesting process.

To reiterate the plan thing, I still would, someday, like to write a novel that is superbly planned before I begin to write. One of two things could happen: I could confidently write the novel, knowing where it’s going and therefore planting all the seeds I need in advance; or alternatively, I might discover that whatever I planned has no way of really working out on paper and my characters take me all over the place, to completely uncharted waters. I have a feeling it might be the latter, but I’d still like to try it, just in case having a detailed plan actually does make everything flow better. But I guess that’ll have to be next NaNoWriMo. For now, I’m going to struggle to get this one done: current required word count is 2,900 words per day. Do-able, especially with two more weekends after this one, but I wouldn’t want to get any further behind. Please send me good writing vibees …

Permalink | Posted in NaNoWriMo | 2 Comments »

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November 10, 2008 by amanda

Because this blog’s about procrastination, too

A funny thing just happened to me.

I was procrastinating about getting a bit of work done – or I could fudge that and say I was taking a bit of a break after getting a stack of work done this morning (that’s true – I wrote my first 2,500 words for NaNoWriMo and also did a heap of blogging).

In any case, one click led to another and I was suddenly taking a 20-question quiz on procrastination. At the end they told me my score was 30/100 and that meant my test result is low – I don’t procrastinate very often. Well, you can imagine I was kind of surprised by this, because I think I’m the Queen of Procrastination.

But it turns out it all depends on what counts as procrastination. Paying bills late, for example, is an example they use of procrastinating. I’m a stickler for paying bills on time (my father was a bank manager; although ironically I suspect he doesn’t pay his bills on time. I’m sure my mother does, though). Calling people back within an appropriate time means I’m not a procrastinator. The most ironic question was one about a situation in which I urgently needed to do some work, but my desk was messy – would I clean it first or just sit down and work? Because I’m even better at being messy than I am at procrastinating, I chose sitting down and doing the work.

One bit that made me think perhaps my procrastination problem is not as bad as I thought was the realisation that when it comes to work issues, I don’t procrastinate badly enough for anyone else to notice. Very few of my editors would think that I get my work in late. Certainly in my teaching job I don’t do anything that approaches procrastination. And quite on the contrary, some colleagues and friends who know the combination of teaching and writing I do have commented that I’m actually super-organised.

Hmm. So where does this leave my excuses for not writing? I’m starting to think that the majority of my procrastination problem really is centred on fiction writing, which is tragic when it’s one of the things I love the most in life. That’s why events like NaNoWriMo are perfect for me, because they add that external pressure that I need, the deadlines that all other parts of my life seem to have that help me overcome the procrastination urge. That’s something for me to think about.

And in the meantime, I know there are a few fellow procrastinators who read this blog, so if you need an excuse to waste a few minutes, do the quiz and tell me your scores. Maybe you’ll be as surprised as I was.

Permalink | Posted in Goals and Motivation, Organisation | 2 Comments »

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November 10, 2008 by amanda

A 21-day NaNoWriMo attempt and inspiration from Zadie Smith

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The relatives are safely back in Switzerland. I’ve nearly caught up on all the work I got behind on while they were here. November is rapidly ticking by. All this can only mean one thing: it’s absolutely, undeniably time that I got started on my novel draft for this year’s NaNoWriMo.

While other writers have been tapping away at their keyboard since November 1, I’m starting today. Since NaNoWriMo winners have to write 50,000 words before November 30, that leaves me with a daily target of 2,380 words (if you start on time it’s 1,667). Since in the past I’ve done such ridiculous things as write 15,000 words in one day, this doesn’t scare me too much, and I’ve decided I’ll make my daily goal 2,500 words to give me a bit of an emergency buffer.

What’s more, my solemn promise is to write these 2,500 words before I write anything else – before I write all the stuff I have to write to earn a dollar. There are two good reasons for this – one, that my mind will be fresher for the novel writing, which is the most creative writing I’ll do; two, if I know I have deadlines to keep with my paid writing and can’t do that until I’ve done my NaNoWriMo target, the procrastination problem should be less. Fingers crossed.

One of the things I struggle with most in fiction writing is finding my voice and having a good style, one that I think is appropriate for the story being told. Last week I heard yet another writer say that while they’re writing a novel, they don’t read other fiction, or at least no fiction that’s anywhere near the same genre, because then they have more trouble with voice and style.

Of course, other writers think otherwise, and me – I’m just not quite sure what I think yet. What I do know is at the moment I’m reading Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, and if a little bit of her style rubbed off onto mine, I wouldn’t be complaining. She writes so beautifully that I can even remember some of the lines the next morning, that’s how much they impress me. This morning when I woke up I was still thinking about this line which opened the last chapter I read:

Summer left Wellington  abruptly and slammed the door on the way out. The shudder sent the leaves to the ground all at once, …

What a great image. If you haven’t read any of Zadie Smith’s novels (I also love her first two, wholly and equally – White Teeth and The Autograph Man) then you should. And with that thought, I’m off to begin the terrifying process of NaNoWriMoing.

Permalink | Posted in Inspiration for Writers, NaNoWriMo | 3 Comments »

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November 2, 2008 by amanda

NaNoWriMo began yesterday, but I didn’t (yet)

The arduous yet addictive novel-writing feast that is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, for the uninitiated) began yesterday, November 1 – but I was busily holidaying in the south-west of Australia. I’ve got a tough week coming up relaxing on Rottnest Island with my in-laws from Switzerland, and only after that will I be seriously getting into NaNoWriMo.

But I’m excited about it. After last year’s NaNoWriMo “win” (that’s the term they use if you successfully complete a novel of at least 50,000 words during November) I know that I can do it. I’ve also got a list of four ways to make NaNoWriMo easier this time round and I’ll be able to do most of these, especially planning better before I write and writing dialogue better; unfortunately, after vowing not to be behind on word count from Week 2 like I was last year, I’m going to be even further behind because I won’t be seriously starting until November 8. But that’s life.

As for what my NaNoWriMo novel will be about, I’m scarily (and probably stupidly) still oscillating between two ideas. The first is to write what I always call my “Bratislava novel”; I have a first chapter of this, and a good plan as well. The second idea is something I’ve been brainstorming about for a few months now (but not confidently enough to mention much about it here); I’ll call it the Agnetha novel, because she’s the main character. If I was starting right now I’d write the Agnetha novel and I’m guessing that’s what will happen. But things can change in a week.

Anyone out there who’s already NaNoWriMo-ing – I wish you lots of good luck and good word counts. Let me know how you’re going. I’m still limbering up and will be trying to get some start made during this week, but the serious word-count writing will definitely not start until next week. But I’m determined to be a NaNoWriMo winner for the second time!

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