Other Voices, Other Times

I recently attended a one day symposium titled Other Voices, Other Times; the aim of which was to explore representation in historical and fantasy writing. It was a wonderful, if rather busy day at one of Bath Spa University’s beautiful campuses in Wiltshire. It began with the keynote speakers Ashley Pharoah (Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes) and Professor Gerard Woodward on writing the seventies. It’s interesting that even when writing about a decade that many in the audience could remember, there are still debates to be had about what actually happened and what people remembered happening.
I then attended the ethical perspectives workshop which covered: the relationship between writing history and historical fiction (this was covered in depth at last years’ Institute of Historical Research conference); voices of the forgotten; and the question of authenticity (this kept cropping up during the day). A fascinating aspect was the role that creative writing is now taking in museums. Indeed, one of my favourite notes that I took of the day was ‘writer as curator.’
The second keynote speakers were Celia Brayfield (reading Fay Weldon’s paper as she was unable to attend) and Dr Ian Mortimer. The former suggesting that historical research need only be basic and the latter that there will always be a gap between the writing of history and historical fiction.
Finally, I went to a workshop that included a paper on one novelists’ experience of researching and writing a novel on the 1857 Indian Uprising. Although my novel is set in a different period, I could relate to the various issues and felt less alone. I came away from the day inspired and very enthusiastic about getting on with my novel (four chapters to go...).

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.

Romance of the Middle Ages

Yesterday I visited the Romance of the Middle Ages exhibition at the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It uses manuscripts, printed books and art to explore the story of the romance from the Middle Ages to the present day. Exhibits range from a most incredibly illustrated copy of Le Roman de la Rose to a pen-and-ink drawing of a knight and lady by Edward Burne-Jones, a hand written page by Tolkien and a letter from the BBC to the Monty Python team regarding The Holy Grail.

There are many elements that I could write about here but the overwhelming feeling I came away with was my love for the physical book. This is beautifully illustrated (no pun intended) by an exhibit named A Shared Book. It a version of the poem Arthur and Merlin and is inscribed ‘This is Robert Jones his booke recorde of Steven Jones and of Robert Webbe and of Misteris Caterne Jones and of many mo good people in the parishe of Tolpudle’. I love the idea of it being passed around the village to be read and surviving to this day.

More on the exhibition can be found at http://medievalromance.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/romance-home

Plodding

I haven’t blogged for a while. The main reason is that I am going through a phase loosely titled ‘heads down and get on with it.’ The writing process is a little like a job at the moment. I sit down on my allocated study days, review my milestones and then keep writing. It’s a bit lonely sitting here in the office most days and self motivation cannot be underestimated. Don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying it but I just want to get to the end of the first draft so that I can go back and start having fun with it. I’ve now reached 80% of the novel although I expect that the estimated total word count will increase. There was a brief moment of panic a few weeks ago when I found a basic error when reading my research notes which rendered part of my novel plan useless. However, due to the joys of the excel spreadsheet I was able to move everything around and it’s actually much better.
Hopefully, by the summer I will have completed the draft. I will also be allowing myself out of the house to attend a couple of conferences.

Progression

The last few weeks have been very busy. I finished editing the first eighteen chapters of the novel, drafted a progress report and finalised my bibliography. What was the reason for this flurry of activity? This week I had a progression meeting at university to determine whether my work is of a suitable standard for ‘upgrade’ from MPhil to PhD. The good news is that I was successful. The feedback on the draft novel chapters was positive but I need to add another layer of detail in order to bring the characters to life. This didn’t come as a surprise and is a result of my annoying need to get the whole thing down before allowing myself to have fun with it.

I also attended the research student poster conference at my university. I was inspired to submit my own next year and have already started to design it in my head.
So what next? Basically I am researching and writing the final eleven chapters and continuing to read a list of WW1 novels published post 1930. That should keep me busy for a while...

Tired

I have spent the last few weeks editing the first two thirds of the novel. I’m just over halfway there. I think that it’s been the most difficult time that I’ve had since commencing this project. The fact that there are 50,000 words is rather daunting in itself. In addition, I find it hard knowing that the remaining third is yet to be written. It’s as if I can’t sleep until I have an entire first draft. I have to get over that. The editing will need to be done at some point; it will require the same amount of time whenever I do it. If I get the first two thirds in better shape the drafting of the last ten chapters should be a little easier.

But it’s more than that. I found the first couple of weeks of the editing process very tiring. The problem wasn’t writers block; it was as if my mind didn’t want to do it. At times, I wasn’t sure that I even enjoyed what I was doing anymore. It was like being a child that doesn’t want to do their homework.

How have I dealt with it? I take a chapter, amend it according to my tutor’s comments and then start editing. The key is to approach it paragraph by paragraph. I literally make myself sit there until I enter that state which is difficult to describe; when the room around you disappears and you are in the world that you are writing about. There were a couple of occasions when I knew that it didn’t matter how much I pushed myself, I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind. There are some days when you really can’t be creative. That’s when I got of the house and went for a run. It really helped.

Now as I compare the second draft to the first I do feel a sense of satisfaction. It’s a slow process but it’s making a difference. Writing is extremely hard work and requires a great deal of determination, self discipline and effort. Never mind the loneliness. I’m tired but the end is in sight and hopefully this will all be forgotten.