Researching the Arts

This week I was allowed out from behind my desk to go to a Researching the Arts conference – research students from the School of Arts presenting papers and performing/reading. The creative part of the brain needs to be fed; this can mean pinning up inspiring pictures on the walls around your desk to visiting a museum. The conference was an excellent way of stimulating this creative side. The performances, whether they were readings from novels in progress or music composed on a laptop, were inspiring on their own. However, the accompanying papers made my brain work harder to find connections between the art forms. Two of the papers focussed on the relationship between music and visual arts. Again, I found myself wondering at just how different mediums allow us to express ideas so very differently. What would chapter six of my novel look like as a painting or a film? What would the accompanying musical score sound like? I hope to present at next year’s conference and am very much looking forward to it.  

The Last Push

I’ve been on my holidays and resumed writing last week. I’m now about to start Chapter 25. It’s so good to be able to type that. It was wonderful to have a complete break, particularly as the story is now taking place in a different country and the tone has changed. It also meant I could read novels that were nothing at all to do with my studies.

I’m now pushing really hard to get the final six chapters done (in first draft) by the end of July. I even found myself using a timer this week and aiming to get x number of words down in an hour. It does rather focus the mind and is working. When I did my BA I did a similar thing and rewarded myself with biscuits but I’m not sure I can do that anymore and get away with it. Of course, this is fine in a chapter that has not required so much micro research but it won’t be so easy when I get further along.