Progress is good

On the weekend I worked on chapters 2 and 3 of my manuscript and I'm really happy with how it's progressing. This could mean a few of things:

1. I'm delusional coz I'm actually writing a heap of crap.
2. My standards are low.
3. I was working on someone else's manuscript.
4. My writing is improving with practice.

Let's hope it's number 4! Peter Bishop from the Varuna Centre advised me to focus on compacting description/action into the fewest words possible; that is, to make each word/sentence achieve more than one thing. So that's what I've been trying to do. It's not always easy but I am finding that the more I attempt it, the better at it I get. After all, a good manuscript is a tight manuscript!

I've also been chipping away at the research, trying to do at least 30 mins reading each day. It's not much but it'll add up to something eventually (I hope...)

Jung and shadows

I'm pretty excited because I've actually found something through research that relates directly to my manuscript.

Jung described shadows as "the imperfect being in you that follows after and does everything that you are loath to do, or the things you are too cowardly or decent to do."

Now that's something I can explore that will really help my manuscript. I even know a book I can use as a case study for my exegisis - Sonya Hartnett's 'Surrender', which also has at its heart the actions of the shadow self. I'm sure there are plenty more out there, too.

So I feel that I'm on the right track. Now all I have to do is a mountain of reading. Do you reckon I can train myself to read in my sleep?

Needle + haystack = research

I've had my first major freak-out and (sort of) recovered. Thanks to Kelleigh I think I now (sort of) know how to get started on the research side of things.

When I start getting into it, it's pretty interesting trawling through all these weird and wonderful documents and trying to find something that relates to my topic. But it's far from simple.

What I'm trying to find is documented evidence of teenage girls who 'saw' a face in the mirror that wasn't theirs. I'm sure that somewhere, somehow, there's a written record of this phenomena. Finding it is the tricky bit.

I never experienced it myself. But my friend did. I was with her one night, in her bedroom, when she saw that face. I couldn't see anything in the mirror but I know she did. She was no drama queen. There was no way she was making it up.

But it's not enough that I was in the same room with someone who had that experience. Well, it's more than enough as a basis for a manuscript, but it can't be accepted as 'research'. And to be honest, although I remember the night, I can't remember exact details. Who knows what little embellishments I've added to the memory over the years.

One thing's certain - it's going to be very interesting trying to track the evidence down.

How do you eat an elephant?

...one bite at a time. My good friend Helen gave me this piece of (somewhat strange) advice many years ago and it's something I need to pay attention to right now.

Last Saturday I spent almost 5 hours in a lecture theatre listening to an information overload on research and thesis writing. Am I freaking out? Am I thinking I've bitten off more than I can chew? Am I ready to run for the hills?

Yes, yes and yes!

But I'm going to sit back for a minute, think of Helen's advice (which, of course, really has nothing to do with the rather perverse idea of eating one of our planet's most amazing animals) and work out which tiny bite I need to take first.

Any words of advice/encouragement will be gratefully accepted :)

First chapter 'pinks'

Shouldn't it be first chapter blues? You'd think so, but I've just done another rewrite of my first chapter & I'm pretty happy with it. I actually think it's quite good.
Clearly, I am a failure as a tortured artist. Don't get me wrong, I do have my moments of wanting to chuck everything I've ever written in the bin. And stuff that I wrote years ago that I thought was fabulous can now make me cringe.

But you write, you get a bit better; you write some more, you get a bit better again. That's what it's all supposed to be about, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm glad to have on record at this moment that I'm happy with my first chapter because tomorrow I have to sit through a 5 hour workshop on researching. That's bound to strip the happy bugs from my brain.

And for the record, here is the first paragraph of the first chapter that I'm officially (at this moment anyway) happy with.

Tash twisted the small silver mirror in her hand. A flash of light flared on the ceiling. She froze, her eyes wide, then slipped the mirror back into her dresser drawer.

Hmmm, I think I'll just go rewrite it...

The all important first line

Many people choose a book based on its first few sentences or even the first line. One of my favourite first lines is 'It was 7 minutes to midnight.' (Mark Haddon, Curious incident of the dog in the night time). I love it because it's such a simple sentence and yet it's so precise. I also like how he writes the number '7' (rather than the word), which hints at the narrator's obsession with numbers.

Trying to come up with a killer first line is, well, liable to kill you! But I think often simple is best, as with Haddon's example.

I've yet to come up with my killer first line. In fact, now that I've decided to include a prologue, I'm not even sure where my first line is! Here's the current first line of the prologue:
'Do you ever think about it? About what happened back then?'

And here's the current first line of chapter 1:
Tash twisted the small silver mirror in her hand.

So how far away am I from 'killer' status? I'd like to know what anyone out there thinks.

Excited and petrified

Last night we had the first meeting of our Masters cohort in children's and youth writing. It looks like it's going to be a great year, but really bloody busy.

Although we're all writing for young adults (rather than children) everyone's project is different and exciting. I can see some great books resulting from this year - hopefully mine will be one of them!

The research work (exegesis - what does it mean anyway???) seems a bit daunting but I'm sure I'll get through it somehow (assuming I can find that magic fairy who I'm sure owes me a lot of favours).

The first meeting ended well with us all enjoying a well-deserved alcholic beverage at a local cafe, where the service was electic but nonetheless entertaining. It was my first time at an establishment where the wait staff asked one of the guests to explain the wine list to oher guests, but I'm always up for new experiences!

So the course is off to a great start. Now all I have to do is get writing...