Owner: dark cafe days URL:http://darkcafedays.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 07:48:06 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Blog of Victoria Hume, a first time writer trying to write her first novel within a year. Also includes writing tips that I pick up along the way and my favourite places to write Site statistics:Click here
Belt it out 2007-03-21 14:03:00 I've just come across this comment in Prag Dave's blog: So, where should you start? Assuming you've already written the throw-away prose while finding your voice, I think you're best off choosing a chapter where you feel at home with the material. Belt it out, and then move on to something else fairly straightforward. Make sure you have the voice business nailed cold. Show what you're written to some friends. Get into the swing. Hmm, i wish i'd thought of that when i started. I guess it's a natural reaction to start at the beginning and try to work your way through. But i think some of my most difficult passages and scenes are going to be right at the beginning so it would be so much easier to come back to them after i've had some experience of writing all the stuff in between, so to speak. when i finally have time to sit down and start tapping away i'm going to head straight into the middle of my story and start from there. Incidentally there are some other good tips on hi
bogged down in detail 2007-03-24 21:31:00 I've been getting obsessed with minutiae and detailing how characters walk from one room to another! How totally unnecessary. I'm going to scrap all those descriptions of long corridors and just get straight to the point... although i will set the scene a little bit, i do like a bit of description now and again!I've found reading other books so useful to see how they deal with situations and improve my technique. I think that would be my best tip, read many books and read often.
MEASURING PROGRESS 2007-05-22 04:27:00 I'm not sure if you'll be able to access this file, i'm not very technically minded and it all goes over my head a bit. But i've made myself an excel spreadsheet that records the progress of my story. And it's yours for free (if the link works). You should be able to pick it up from here: Novel ProgressAll you need to do is enter your word count each day and the spreadsheet calculates how far you've got to go and displays the information on a chart for you. Very snazzy. If you can't figure out how it works (or the link is broken and you want a copy) drop me a line x
WRITING TENSE 2007-05-20 11:10:00 When i first started writing a book i started writing in the third person without really thinking about it. But i've just finished reading We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver, which is written entirely in the first person. I really liked the way that writing in the first person made the whole story much more direct and fast paced.When I write in the third person i always seem to be writing about events as they have just happened. I don't feel able to write in the present tense using the voice of the third person, it just sounds odd to me 'He goes to the draw and picks out a knife. He slices the tomato.' I don't know, perhaps it does work, but it just seems odd to me. So, by writing in the third person it's difficult to achieve that same sense of urgency and presence in the moment as you are constantly relating things that have just occured. However, by writing in the third person you can explore many different view points, which i find very interesting. You can also hav
NOAH'S ARK 2007-06-05 05:49:00 I've had a bit of a epiphany. I've decided that my story is going to centre around a modern day Noah's ark that has been left untouched by human hands. The idea of the ark will hopefully be a recurring theme throughout the novel and will bring together the views of Christian's regarding evolution, their search for the ultimate proof of God and the desire to uproot the scientific ideas of evolution and natural selection. I'll also be able to talk about the ultimate goal of modern conservation - to return habitats to their wild and primeval state, untouched by man. I'm really excited about this development and I can't wait to get writing with this theme in mind.There's a great article about the ark written in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah's_ArkAnd here's another website about the modern day search for the ark:http://www.arksearch.com/
BESTSELLER 2007-06-04 09:08:00 There are plenty of online rumours about a new show called Bestseller, otherwise known as Publish My Book! The setup is that it's a reality TV show starring Tony Cowell as one of the judges (brother of Simon Cowell). The show will follow several aspiring novelists as they pitch their books to a panel of judges. The prize is said to be a six figure advance and a deal with a major publisher in America and Britain.After getting in touch with both the BBC, ITV and the production company responsible for the show I can confirm that if the show is commissioned it will probably go into production some time at the end of this year and will appear on ITV (not the BBC). It was supposed to have aired this July but in the Blog: The Novel Gobbler, Tony Cowell is reported to have said that 'the series is being pushed back to the autumn to allow more time to gather entries from writers, and to have publishers read them.'So, I better get cracking with my draft then!If you want more information about
LIKE PROUST BE AN OLD TEAHEAD OF TIME 2007-06-12 06:20:00 I've always meant to read a book by Jack Kerouac. I once started 'On the Road' but never finished it. J.C.Holmes had this to say about it:'Even though they rushed back and forth across the country on the slightest pretext, gathering kicks along the way, their real journey was inward'I find that line so evocative. I've also just come across these words by Kerouac. He wrote a list of 30 cool tips on how to be a writer (from this website: writing classes). Number 11 and 14 are my favourite. I'm quite inspired to write my own list, i wonder if any other authors have similar motivational tidbits?Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joySubmissive to everything, open, listeningTry never get drunk outside yr own houseBe in love with yr lifeSomething that you feel will find its own formBe crazy dumbsaint of the mindBlow as deep as you want to blowWrite what you want bottomless from bottom of the mindThe unspeakable visions of the individualNo time for poetry
NO WRITING 2007-06-11 13:45:00 Blogging is far too distracting... no writing today, no writing at all. I just open up my document and get distracted.There's a baby seagull outside my window. I think it's been abandoned by its parents. It makes me want to cry. It walks up and down the rooftop scanning the skyline and flapping its unformed winglets.
MY OWN TIPS 2007-06-17 02:55:00 I've been trying to come up with my own Jack Kerouac style tips. I've managed five so far:1. Confound each character2. Randomise your mind3. Never answer all the questions4. Be a magpie of life5. Dream about your worldDoes anyone else have any good stream of conciousness tips?
The word with the most meanings 2007-06-21 05:15:00 Someone asked me a riddle the other day.... what English word has the most different meanings in the Oxford English Dictionary. I spent hours puzzling over this one but my boyfriend guessed the answer straight away. I'm going away to Yorkshire for a week and will publish the answer when i come back. But until then does anyone have any guesses? Here's a hint, it's a very short word. Of course, if you get too impatient you could google it before i get back. But that would be CHEATING!
GNOOKS 2007-05-01 08:28:00 I came across this website called GNOOKS. All you have to do is type in the name of three authors and it will suggest a new author that you might like to read based on people's preferences, which is pretty cool. I tried it and it suggested i read a bit of Euripides. Apparantly Euripides is also a big hit with the Nancy Drew fans out there (i'm not sure if they mean the Nancy Drew teenage detective or whether there is an author out there who shares the same name).If you want to check it out here is the website:http://www.gnooks.com/trip.php
New exciting words! 2007-07-10 11:56:00 Just came across this new word in my autocorrect whilst i was writing about ombrogenous mires.UmbrageousSo, i went to look it up and apparently it means someone who takes offence easily, being angered at something unjust or wrong or something filled with shade, or shadowy. What a great new word! I'd heard of the phrase to take umbrage before but never of umbrageous. I love learning new words. Read more:exciting
ENTICING SENTENCE STRUCTURE 2007-07-10 03:55:00 I haven't posted in a while because i've been away in Yorkshire and busy working. For any of you who were interested in the word with the most meanings i've posted the answer under the comments for that entry.I've been thinking about language and meanings recently so it was with some interest i read about Zeugma in the Guardian's Review on Saturday. A Zeugma occurs where a sentence becomes joined together by a single verb or noun. For example in the example by Wikipedia:“She conquered shame with passion, fear with audacity, reason with madness.” (Cicero)The verb to conquer is used to yoke together several different phrases that mean different things.A syllepsis is a zeugma in which one verb or noun may be employed which has different meanings when applied to the various subjects of the sentance. It is often used for comic effect. For example:"Oh, flowers are as common here, Miss Fairfax, as people are in London." (Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest)The word common i
Absence makes the heart grow fonder 2008-09-01 03:41:00 I've been so remiss lately, I haven't blogged in over a year and have been avoiding Blogger totally. I've been working very very slowly on my novel. I still haven't even completed the first chapter. But i've signed up to an online course at the London School of Journalism which i'm hoping will focus my efforts into something readable.I've discovered that i'm the type of person who loves the thrill Read more:makes
NEW EXCITING WORDS 2 2008-09-23 08:17:00 Here's another new word that I recently fell in love with:INCARNADINE As an adjective it refers to something that is the colour of flesh, or a blood red colour. However, incarnadine can also be used as a verb, which is the process of colouring something blood red or crimson. I don't know if I'll be able to use it in my story as I'm supposed to be writing a childrens book so i'm avoiding unknown wo
BLACK FOXES 2008-09-19 07:20:00 A rare genetic strain of black fox has been filmed in England.See the telegraph for a report:-rare-black-fox-spotted-in-Britain.htmlThe idea of the black fox intrigued me so I decided to look into it further. Apparently, black foxes were once considered symbols of dark portent and were able to hide in a man's shadow.Looking on the web there seem to be various myths out there concerning these creat
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