Queer Romance Month
Monday 25 August 2014
Friday 15 August 2014
Rewriting - I did it my way...
Left a note to myself to do a blog post about rewriting. I obviously had something really exciting in mind but Heaven knows what it was at this point :D
Okay. Let me point out right now that what I'm doing at this very moment is avoiding rewriting. Rachel Aaron (2k to 10k on Amazon for Kindle) says that editing is just writing and you should learn to love it the same way you do the first draft; I'm doing my best.
It's the mess that gets me. I don't like mess. All those words lying about in the wrong place, prepositions all over the floor and will you look at this sentence structure, it looks like the cat had it.
Right now I have a shower scene. I should digress to tell you that I'm writing a gay romance at the moment as I found a call for submission that wanted stories about gay men in sports. Well, I'm gay and I like football and I can write, so for once, three out of three.
So I'm writing a steamy scene in the shower (see what I did there? Okay, it wasn't much...) and before that I have a scene where they're talking about how the showers don't work properly - yes, plumbing, get people thinking about the plumbing, nothing like a subtext that involves pipes - and before that there's a scene where they're talking about something else in the locker room.
Okay, too many scenes. We need to get through all this and on to the sex. I mean the post-game angst. Yes. That's what I mean. So I need to combine all these scenes into one.
What I use for this is the index card method. No, I don't actually write all the stuff I've already written onto index cards, that would be an awful waste of time. I cut up the pieces I've written into paragraphs. I should mention at this point that I normally use Scrivener but for this, I'd copy and paste into Open Office Writer or you could use Word if you're into supporting large corporations that are ruining the world, hey, it's your conscience.
Anyway - I paste all the affected scenes into a word processor, then divide the paragraphs up with a few spaces between them all, so it looks like one long enormous scene divided into small chunks. And believe me, at this point, chunks is what some of it is!
Then - you can print it out. I would have printed it out a while ago, but now I've got so I can do it in my head. I just look through it, decide what I want to keep and what I don't and the pieces I want to keep go back into Scrivener in a new file.
But if you want, you can print it out and actually cut it up so it is pretty much like having it all written on index cards - without the bother of writing it all out again. This is why I call it the index card method, although the pieces are not the same size and shape as index cards - what? I'm sorry if you think I'm rambling on but a pernickety eye for detail is part of being a good writer :D
And there you have it. Put the bits back together in any shape you like - try a few different things. Paste them back together and adjust to fit where they join. For me that's a lot easier than starting at the beginning and trying to fix all the mistakes sentence by sentence. Of course if you have sentences you can't bear to live without in some of the bits you're discarding, you can just take them and fit them into what you're keeping.
The good thing about this method is, it's like when you tidy the room and you have boxes for all the different things you find lying about so you can see what you've got. It spaces out the writing so you can see it more clearly and it fools your mind into thinking it's only dealing with a small paragraph at a time so it's much easier to get on with.
Right that's it for me for today. That is rewriting - my way. Off to do my own editing - and then new writing. I don't like the editing hanging over me while I'm writing more stuff, it's distracting.
BisouX, abrazo, liebe euch alle :)
Okay. Let me point out right now that what I'm doing at this very moment is avoiding rewriting. Rachel Aaron (2k to 10k on Amazon for Kindle) says that editing is just writing and you should learn to love it the same way you do the first draft; I'm doing my best.
It's the mess that gets me. I don't like mess. All those words lying about in the wrong place, prepositions all over the floor and will you look at this sentence structure, it looks like the cat had it.
Right now I have a shower scene. I should digress to tell you that I'm writing a gay romance at the moment as I found a call for submission that wanted stories about gay men in sports. Well, I'm gay and I like football and I can write, so for once, three out of three.
So I'm writing a steamy scene in the shower (see what I did there? Okay, it wasn't much...) and before that I have a scene where they're talking about how the showers don't work properly - yes, plumbing, get people thinking about the plumbing, nothing like a subtext that involves pipes - and before that there's a scene where they're talking about something else in the locker room.
Okay, too many scenes. We need to get through all this and on to the sex. I mean the post-game angst. Yes. That's what I mean. So I need to combine all these scenes into one.
What I use for this is the index card method. No, I don't actually write all the stuff I've already written onto index cards, that would be an awful waste of time. I cut up the pieces I've written into paragraphs. I should mention at this point that I normally use Scrivener but for this, I'd copy and paste into Open Office Writer or you could use Word if you're into supporting large corporations that are ruining the world, hey, it's your conscience.
Anyway - I paste all the affected scenes into a word processor, then divide the paragraphs up with a few spaces between them all, so it looks like one long enormous scene divided into small chunks. And believe me, at this point, chunks is what some of it is!
Then - you can print it out. I would have printed it out a while ago, but now I've got so I can do it in my head. I just look through it, decide what I want to keep and what I don't and the pieces I want to keep go back into Scrivener in a new file.
But if you want, you can print it out and actually cut it up so it is pretty much like having it all written on index cards - without the bother of writing it all out again. This is why I call it the index card method, although the pieces are not the same size and shape as index cards - what? I'm sorry if you think I'm rambling on but a pernickety eye for detail is part of being a good writer :D
And there you have it. Put the bits back together in any shape you like - try a few different things. Paste them back together and adjust to fit where they join. For me that's a lot easier than starting at the beginning and trying to fix all the mistakes sentence by sentence. Of course if you have sentences you can't bear to live without in some of the bits you're discarding, you can just take them and fit them into what you're keeping.
The good thing about this method is, it's like when you tidy the room and you have boxes for all the different things you find lying about so you can see what you've got. It spaces out the writing so you can see it more clearly and it fools your mind into thinking it's only dealing with a small paragraph at a time so it's much easier to get on with.
Right that's it for me for today. That is rewriting - my way. Off to do my own editing - and then new writing. I don't like the editing hanging over me while I'm writing more stuff, it's distracting.
BisouX, abrazo, liebe euch alle :)
Monday 11 August 2014
Guillermo Ochoa's first game at La Rosaleda
I don't think it worked out as he hoped.
First he let one in then he came out to make what would have been an excellent save - if he hadn't missed it. So that was two for Fiorentina.
The problem with not saving goals when you play for Malaga is, they've got nobody can replace them up the other end. There was a lot of action from Malaga midfield, they were passing the ball, they were taking the game to Fiorentina.
But they seemed to find it impossible to score. Lots of shots, they either missed or went straight into the keeper's hands.
Well, it's early days and Ochoa and his defense don't seem to have got themselves organised as a unit yet. I'm sure things will improve for him. He is a good goalie, but he seemed to be in a bit of a panic after the first one went in. Probably realised it would be difficult to make up the deficit.
It wasn't a game he wanted to make a cockup of, that's for sure. First one at home in front of the fans. Oops.
The trouble is, people like their heroes to be perfect. And nobody ever is.
First he let one in then he came out to make what would have been an excellent save - if he hadn't missed it. So that was two for Fiorentina.
The problem with not saving goals when you play for Malaga is, they've got nobody can replace them up the other end. There was a lot of action from Malaga midfield, they were passing the ball, they were taking the game to Fiorentina.
But they seemed to find it impossible to score. Lots of shots, they either missed or went straight into the keeper's hands.
Well, it's early days and Ochoa and his defense don't seem to have got themselves organised as a unit yet. I'm sure things will improve for him. He is a good goalie, but he seemed to be in a bit of a panic after the first one went in. Probably realised it would be difficult to make up the deficit.
It wasn't a game he wanted to make a cockup of, that's for sure. First one at home in front of the fans. Oops.
The trouble is, people like their heroes to be perfect. And nobody ever is.
Lol, they should get Andrés Guardado to come to Malaga instead of Everton - if he's even going there. That rumour seems to have died a death. He's a man who knows how to think on his feet. Like his goal in the Emirates Cup - everyone's running around him, he's like - oh, here's the ball - does a little swivel run and just trundles it straight in. Cool.
Then they need to find themselves a cheap striker - because they've got no cash - who can run really really fast and knows where the goal is when he gets there.
Friday 1 August 2014
Barbeque in December
This is my new blog - I moved from the old one as it was specific to one of the milieus I write in and I realised that could involve me in having an awful lot of blogs.
Since I'm lazy, I decided to combine all my efforts into this one :)
Good morning! And what a pleasant morning it is. A good day to write, oh, about 2k? Shall we go for 2k today? It would be nice to find out what happens next... what, I'm already supposed to know? Lol. I wouldn't do it, would I, if I already knew. Who reads a book when they already know what's going to happen? It's the same with writing one.
I have some idea about it - I even have a plot, because without structure, without a playlist, I feel I'm floating too freely. But after that - anything goes. My characters do what they want, new people turn up and I get much better ideas than I had at the beginning, simply due to the process of being immersed in the milieu and getting to know the characters better.
I think I have the plot because I wouldn't start writing the book without it. I wouldn't set out if I didn't know where I'm going. I'm not one of those people who throws everything in a bag and goes for a random day in the countryside. I've done that. Don't like it. You end up not having anything to eat all day and performing toilet activities without being able to wash your hands. Ew.
Well, I'm sure Stephen King or someone has wittered on about getting from A to B by using a different route, so there's no point me reiterating that here. Back to the book. I left my characters in the middle of a party on the balcony of some old flats - those really old ones where the balcony runs all the way along and everybody's door opens onto it.
It's not their party, it's someone else's. I hope to gods my characters don't have time to stop and have a party or my tension is seriously flagging. The local football team have set up a barbeque on their balcony - in the middle of winter no less. There's beer. A friend of the protagonist has disappeared and my characters are trying to get the partying people to make sense and help them find her. Good luck with that....
Since I'm lazy, I decided to combine all my efforts into this one :)
Good morning! And what a pleasant morning it is. A good day to write, oh, about 2k? Shall we go for 2k today? It would be nice to find out what happens next... what, I'm already supposed to know? Lol. I wouldn't do it, would I, if I already knew. Who reads a book when they already know what's going to happen? It's the same with writing one.
I have some idea about it - I even have a plot, because without structure, without a playlist, I feel I'm floating too freely. But after that - anything goes. My characters do what they want, new people turn up and I get much better ideas than I had at the beginning, simply due to the process of being immersed in the milieu and getting to know the characters better.
I think I have the plot because I wouldn't start writing the book without it. I wouldn't set out if I didn't know where I'm going. I'm not one of those people who throws everything in a bag and goes for a random day in the countryside. I've done that. Don't like it. You end up not having anything to eat all day and performing toilet activities without being able to wash your hands. Ew.
Well, I'm sure Stephen King or someone has wittered on about getting from A to B by using a different route, so there's no point me reiterating that here. Back to the book. I left my characters in the middle of a party on the balcony of some old flats - those really old ones where the balcony runs all the way along and everybody's door opens onto it.
It's not their party, it's someone else's. I hope to gods my characters don't have time to stop and have a party or my tension is seriously flagging. The local football team have set up a barbeque on their balcony - in the middle of winter no less. There's beer. A friend of the protagonist has disappeared and my characters are trying to get the partying people to make sense and help them find her. Good luck with that....
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