The End (Again)

I am pleased to report that I have finished the second draft of the novel. It has taken nine months. I took a chapter per week and analysed it in terms of the structure, setting, character and style. This was in tandem with researching the thesis and part-time work.

This will not be the last draft; there will be one more that will take account of my tutor’s comments. Hopefully, I will then be able to send it to an agent. There will then be further drafts...

I’ve treated myself to a break this week and watched some recorded documentaries related to the novel. I have also started to think about life after the PhD but it’s dependent to a certain extent on whether my novel is published.

Poster Conference

This week I participated in my university’s research student poster conference. This is when research students are invited to present their findings in the form of an academic poster, which is examined with and without the student being present. It is also an opportunity for the rest of the university and visitors to see what the researcher community is working on.

It took an inordinate amount of time to prepare for it. Not only did I have to distil a 30,000 word thesis that I haven’t yet written into a poster but also design and create a product that had visual impact. It’s not easy when you’re given an extensive list of elements that must be included and at the same time told that there shouldn’t be too many words! I think I’m the only researcher involved in the arts to produce a graph for such an occasion.

It was a valuable experience. I now have a clear idea of the structure of my thesis and the findings. I also enjoyed talking to people about my research and novel. I was worried that I would clam up but in the end the examiners had to shut me up so that they could move on to other candidates.
On the novel front, I have continued editing a chapter a week. It’s relentless and I’ve had two Sundays off since January. I should be finished by the end of May; ready to start draft four.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

My goodness, it’s a long time since I posted here. I’ve been working flat out since Christmas but the good news is that I’m getting somewhere.
Last time, I blogged that I was out of the tunnel - that was a side one; I'm still in the main tunnel but there's light at the end.
I had a tutorial this week. My tutor had reviewed a further ten edited chapters and was very pleased with the result. The feedback is that it’s flowing and she really likes my protagonist. There are a couple of scenes to revisit but it’s about enhancement rather than starting again. I am still editing and aim to finish by the third week of May.
I have pulled the outline of my thesis together and designed an academic poster for a conference in April. I have fallen in love with PowerPoint; whatever the result I’ve enjoyed the process.
I have also volunteered to write a short story for an exciting initiative - more on this in future posts. Thankfully it relates to the research I have done for the novel.
Not long to go until I hand in (31/12/2013) and with any luck I’ll be able to submit my novel to an agent before then.

Out of the Tunnel

I haven’t blogged for a long while. I was ill for six weeks before Christmas but forced myself to study; scared that I would get behind. In some ways it was therapeutic as it took my mind off things. Christmas came and went and now I’m in the last year (hopefully) of the PhD.

It’s difficult to find anything worth sharing at the moment. If there was a webcam feed from my study it would make for rather dull watching. It’s all about editing, editing and editing. This is the hard slog part of the process. I’ve written here before about self motivation and it continues to apply. It takes effort to get up every morning sit at the laptop and concentrate for hours on end.

I have got stuck into the thesis. I have narrowed it down from what I originally proposed and have a framework in place. More research to be done but I now know what to focus on. I’m planning to submit a poster in March and this is proving a helpful milestone.

Imagine - Ian Rankin

I’m still here and in the middle of editing. I haven’t blogged about it because it’s hard slog and I’m not sure there’s anything about it worth posting. I took great comfort, therefore, from a recent BBC documentary on Ian Rankin (for those in the UK it will be on I Player for a few more days). I don’t pretend to compare myself to him but it was good to know that successful writers also have ups and downs during the writing process.

The documentary included interviews, as well as recordings made by the author using a hand held camera. He was very honest and showed that it’s not as simple as sitting in a lovely study and drafting a polished novel in six months. I wanted to share a couple of quotes which held some resonance with me but please take a look at the programme if you can.

On the writing process, “It’s still a weird rollercoaster. One day I’m enjoying it, the next day I’m not. One day I think it’s ok, the next day I think it’s dreadful and it isn’t working.”

On the novel, “The real world is very messy and incomplete and often our questions aren’t answered and we can’t always make sense of things. What the novel does for me is that kind of therapeutic thing of giving a shape. Suddenly I can take all that mess, all these notes and clippings and give them a shape...an arc, make it into a story and that is very satisfying.”

Encouragement

I had a positive tutorial earlier this week. I submitted the first draft of chapters nineteen to thirty but also the first proper edit of chapters two and three. Good news re the latter – there were less comments in the margins and more ticks. The only issue is that in making my protagonist's desire clearer, she now comes across as rather selfish. Although we see her change dramatically by the end of the novel, few readers are going to find that out if they decide by chapter two that they don’t like her and put the book down. Fortunately, it’s a problem that can be easily fixed.

I started editing chapter six today. After the first read through I was appalled at how bad it is but thankfully I know why and what I need to do to fix it.

I hope to have a decent second draft of the novel by Christmas. After that, I’ll submit it to my tutor and prepare for the inevitable draft three. Yes, I know there will be a draft four, five, six... Writing a novel is not a quick, easy process. It is hard work, challenging and lonely but rewarding when those ticks appear in the margin.

Editing

I didn’t realise how long it’s been since I last posted; I’ve been lost in the world of editing. It’s a fascinating process and I’m learning a great deal. I’m taking a chapter at a time and reviewing structure, setting, character and style. It’s difficult not to address all these elements at once so I’m very strict with myself and take each in turn. Setting is turning out to be interesting – I did include it in the first draft but am now looking at it much more closely from my protagonists’ point of view. My favourite stage is the review of style. Knowing that I’m content (at the moment) with all the other elements I can focus on the sentence structure, vocabulary etc. It’s as if I am seeing the manuscript through a magnifying glass and all manner of mistakes appear. Editing is a very time consuming process and requires a structured approach, as well as patience. It’s worth it. Only twenty eight chapters to go.