Get Closer

This week I had my fourth tutorial. It was very positive but there is a key area that needs work. On the plus side, my tutor is happy with the content and the structure and feels that there is a strong story. I am relieved as the last thing I want to do at this stage is start deconstructing the chapters that I’ve written so far. In addition, if I’m not telling a strong story I’m in trouble. Although my tutor is content with the characters and understands their motivation etc I still haven’t got to grips with the voice. We think that the main reason for this is that in my day job I have been required to write in a very objective way; stripping out all opinion and emotion. Interestingly, I seem to have no problem with dialogue and letters from my character. That’s because I am right there in her mind. As soon as I go back to the third person I become too distant from her. We discussed going back and writing her in the first person but this is too restrictive for the story that I’m telling. We then discussed my writing her in the first person and then changing it back. I have now started to do this and it has made a difference.
This week Emma Darwin has been blogging about this very element of writing. http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2011/10/point-of-view-narrators-3-external-narrators.html
She also suggests the approach that I describe above. Although I wish that I could have achieved the right voice from the start, I do feel that I have learnt something. If I were able to get the story, plot, narrative, characters, dialogue and voice beautifully from the start then I would have been extremely lucky!

Busy Week

This has been a really productive and varied week. I have worked on Chapter Eleven and am three quarters of the way through. I am now at the beginning of the second of three ‘acts’. For me, the middle of the novel is the most exciting. I have laid the foundations of my protagonist’s world and can now really put her through the various scenarios that build on each other and make her a different and better person by the end of it. I struggled when I started the chapter. It is a bridge between her old world and the new but the writing felt naive and lacked something but I was not sure what. I came back to the basic question; what does she want? Even though I was describing her new world it wasn’t enough. There needed to be conflict, however low key that maybe. Once I answered that question, a secondary/tertiary character came forward, the dialogue almost wrote itself and I learnt more about my protagonist. She came alive again. Creating something from nothing is extremely hard work but when it starts to happen it is a wonderful feeling.
I also attended a training session on exploiting electronic journals. It’s great that they are available electronically but finding what you need is not necessarily easy. I am now looking forward to setting a day aside to play with the various databases.
In addition, I have read a lesser known novel by Mrs Humphrey Ward – ‘The War and Elizabeth.’ I absolutely loved it. It did something that novels rarely seem to do for me anymore; it moved me.
Finally, I want to a fantastic seminar run by the Western Front Association. There were four speakers whose subjects ranged from Ploegsteert Archaeology (a subject close to my heart as my Grandfather was there and I have spent many years in all weathers working on an archaeological site albeit pre-historic) to women war artists and the representation of women in WW1 art. It was so good to get out of the study (and my own head) and meet like-minded people.

Review, Plan and Keep Going

I’m back from holidays and have spent the last week or so editing chapters six-ten. I had several things in mind when doing it: is my protagonist driving every chapter?; is it clear in every chapter what she wants and what is stopping her?; use of secondary characters purely to bring out my protagonist’s character; and then language, historical accuracy, balance between dialogue and description etc. Finally, I wanted to ensure that it was working on a macro level. The latter is the part that was most interesting. Each chapter is a scene but it was the joining of the scenes and running threads between them and leaving them set up for future chapters that is my latest challenge. This has meant the adding of another character which not only provided more confrontation for my protagonist but who will also turn up later and cause trouble. I have now sent it off to my tutor ready for a tutorial at the end of next month.
This morning I sat down to start chapter eleven and reviewed my novel plan (in spreadsheet form which I have discussed before). Immediately it was clear that the macro issue needs resolving here before I can start writing. When I did the initial plan I didn’t know my characters as well or much of the detail of their world. I have now commenced going through all my research and linking it with the general plan that I currently have. This is already sparking ideas as to how my protagonist can move through the events that I want her to. I will then review the plan in terms of the other characters and create as many situations for my protagonist that bring out the different sides of her and make a good page turner. I have also decided that I will probably have to give in and have a ‘romantic’ element but there is no way it will turn into a romance. In actual fact, I will probably end up breaking the poor woman’s heart...
I am feeling excited about the next ten chapters. The first ten set the scene and now the action really begins.

Stewing

A couple of weeks ago I finished Chapter 10. This also marks the close of the first ‘act’ of the novel. It’s finished in one sense but it seems more like the beginning of the real work. I intend to leave it to stew for another fortnight while I go away on holiday. When I return I will spend a few weeks editing before moving on to the next ‘act’. Editing is yet another skill in its own right. During my MA and the commencement of this novel, I have improved my ability to read my work objectively and have learnt what my strengths and weaknesses are. For example, I know that I tend to write economically and not fully develop key scenes. This is normally because I feel the need to get something down, as well as a desire to edit long pieces to ensure balance. I have recently come across two interesting web links. The first is from Mslexia http://www.mslexia.co.uk/magazine/features/feature_49.php. This relates directly to editing. The second is a useful post by Emma Darwin on scenes/chapters and how they are linked. http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2011/09/making-a-scene.html.
The latter is something that I will need to consider when editing. Of course, there is also editing in terms of historical research, continuity etc. It should keep me busy but it reminds me of the advice given by many established authors – if you want to write a novel then get on and write. You can do a great deal with a draft but absolutely nothing with a blank page.

Juggling Balls, Spinning Plates and Other Metaphors

I feel that I am definitely into the PhD now. I keep oscillating (with a degree of panic) between the thesis and the novel. In terms of the thesis I need to read a significant number of novels; thirty five published pre-1930 and thirty six post-1930. I am hoping to read all the pre-1930 novels before Christmas and am already fourteen down. I am also busy sourcing them all as cheaply as possible (preferably free). Then there are the critical theory sources to track down and read and I am also making good progress on that. I had a wobble last week because the draft framework for the thesis just wasn’t correct. I had drafted it as part of my application but of course subsequent research has impacted on it. I have re-cast it slightly and can now sleep more soundly.
In terms of the novel, I am going through a very interesting phase. I have now drafted 21% (yes that extra 1% is important) and am therefore becoming comfortable with the tone, characters etc. The most interesting aspect is that there appear to be a plethora of accepted motifs, structures etc related to WW1 fiction. I am referring primarily to novels of the time. These novels are, in turn, closely related to memoir. I have just finished re-reading Paul Fussell’s The Great War and Modern Memory (I love it and strongly recommend it) and it would seem that I have already incorporated some of these motifs etc in my draft so far. This is presumably because I have been totally absorbed in the subject matter. I am seeing my novel in a new way. It is story supported by a detailed narrative but it can also be read in different ways depending on the reader’s knowledge of the socioeconomic, political and cultural context. Whereas I previously felt that I was creating something in a fairly linear fashion, I now feel as if I am weaving a mesh. Research for the novel regarding what my characters could and could not have done was necessary but extensive reading around the place of WW1 novels in a cultural context has been invaluable. What does this all mean to a contemporary writer attempting a WW1 novel? Well that takes me back to the thesis...

Graduation

I graduated yesterday with my MA. It was a really lovely day and it was great to have my parents there. It was strange graduating while still studying but I have to say that the various speeches and seeing the PhD students spurred me on.
At my last tutorial, we agreed a deadline of next July for a first full length draft. I have found this very helpful as I was aiming for almost twice that length of time. This week I have drafted a further 3,500 words and now feel that I am in the world of my novel.

Tutorial Three

I had another tutorial today. I was a little nervous, to be honest. It is hard to maintain confidence in your writing when you work alone for most of the time. There were two main areas of feedback. Firstly, I am still guilty of 'telling not showing'. The main reason I seem to keep doing this is that I am trying to get a first draft down and intend to go back and then start looking at it paragraph by paragraph, adding layers of detail. This is all very well but must be very frustrating for my tutor. Secondly, my protagonist is passive. Apparently this is not unusual for a new writer, particularly a woman writing about a woman. Again, I knew that I was doing this – I mentioned it in my post Journey’s End. Why, then, did I not address it before submitting it to my tutor? I had taken that chapter away with me on holiday with the phrases ‘What is her goal, what does she want?’ written in large letters across it but something was just blocking me. Anyway, the tutorial seems to have unlocked something. I came home and wrote five hundred words in half an hour, purely about her. I feel that I really met my protagonist this afternoon.
I have now reached the 10,000 words mark which is helping me psychologically. My tutor asked if would have a first draft by the end of this year. I must have looked rather stressed and we ended up agreeing on a first draft by next July. I really have to push now that the first six month ‘bedding in’ period is over, which included the bulk of the research. The only problem is that there is the small matter of the thesis. I have to keep the work on that going as well. Thankfully I am so enthused about the subject of my novel and thesis that I can put in the hours and still love it.