Visions in the New Year
1 Word Back
There is no time for editing on New Years Day - my addled brain will likely make a mess of it but watch this space as no doubt I'll be as cantankerous and tetchy in 2012.
Saturday 31 December 2011
20 Steps Forward and 12 Steps Back
2 words forward
Visions in the New Year
There's something beautiful about a new year - it brings a finality to anything you didn't want to continue from the previous year and gives you permission to dream big about the things you want to accomplish. This year has given me the impetus to re-write my most recent novel which was lost when my laptop died and this project has lead me to consider what influences me in my writing. Undoubtedly the story I will write now will be different to the story I wrote in November because I'm reading, seeing and experiencing different things. In the past I've worked under a print by Juan Muñoz called 'Raincoat Drawing' (pictured above). I've always liked the fact that it is like a blank page with small clues on it. When I look at it I see the start of a situation, one which it is left to me to create. Today I have found a lovely little artist called Edward Gorey (picture below), a man who invented Tim Burton's style before Tim Burton did. I'm sure both of these artists can live in harmony on my desk, but I didn't know Edward Gorey before so I'm equally sure that he will affect my re-write in his own little way.
1 Word Back
There is no time for editing on New Years Day - my addled brain will likely make a mess of it but watch this space as no doubt I'll be as cantankerous and tetchy in 2012.
Visions in the New Year
1 Word Back
There is no time for editing on New Years Day - my addled brain will likely make a mess of it but watch this space as no doubt I'll be as cantankerous and tetchy in 2012.
Friday 30 December 2011
The truth about writing
2 Words Forward
The Trouble With Writing
One of the reasons I wanted to write a blog about writing was to dispel the myths. Believe it or not, writers are normal, if a little eccentric, people - we have trouble with our work, we get frustrated, and we feel lost sometimes too. Another misconception about writing is that the first draft is a magnificent piece of art which only requires the slightest of tweaking to be made into the book that is sold. Want to know how good my first drafts are? They're so wonderful I actually do a full rewrite. This is not because I have difficulties with spelling and grammar - it's because my first draft is the process of the deluges and trickles that form the first writing of a story. There are times when I can't find the words I need and I put others in their place. There are others where I have a scene so clearly that it falls out of my head faster than I can type. This kind of writing leads to a very handy template for further attempts at the novel, but not the novel itself. It's problems like these which are addressed in this blog which I highly recommend to anyone who is concerned that their writing progress is abnormal or that they are not churning out books as good as Ernest Hemingway with the speed of Stephen King.
1 Word Back
I could of been an editor
The main problem with 'could of' is that it is a bastardised version of 'could've'. It is used by people who don't understand that they mean to say 'could've' or 'could have'. I encountered the problem once; I was in a class and we were workshopping a non-fiction piece by one of the students. He used the phrase 'could of' in a piece of dialogue. All of the trainee editors in the room jumped at it, myself included: 'You can't use 'could of', it's not proper English!' Now, as an editor I think I was wrong; in non-fiction pieces it's important to quote people accurately. If someone said 'could of' you should write 'could of'. Likewise, if you are writing a fictional piece and you can hear your character saying 'could of' then you should write it. Outside of dialogue, however, 'could of' will only make the writer appear as though they don't understand the words they are using.
The Trouble With Writing
One of the reasons I wanted to write a blog about writing was to dispel the myths. Believe it or not, writers are normal, if a little eccentric, people - we have trouble with our work, we get frustrated, and we feel lost sometimes too. Another misconception about writing is that the first draft is a magnificent piece of art which only requires the slightest of tweaking to be made into the book that is sold. Want to know how good my first drafts are? They're so wonderful I actually do a full rewrite. This is not because I have difficulties with spelling and grammar - it's because my first draft is the process of the deluges and trickles that form the first writing of a story. There are times when I can't find the words I need and I put others in their place. There are others where I have a scene so clearly that it falls out of my head faster than I can type. This kind of writing leads to a very handy template for further attempts at the novel, but not the novel itself. It's problems like these which are addressed in this blog which I highly recommend to anyone who is concerned that their writing progress is abnormal or that they are not churning out books as good as Ernest Hemingway with the speed of Stephen King.
1 Word Back
I could of been an editor
The main problem with 'could of' is that it is a bastardised version of 'could've'. It is used by people who don't understand that they mean to say 'could've' or 'could have'. I encountered the problem once; I was in a class and we were workshopping a non-fiction piece by one of the students. He used the phrase 'could of' in a piece of dialogue. All of the trainee editors in the room jumped at it, myself included: 'You can't use 'could of', it's not proper English!' Now, as an editor I think I was wrong; in non-fiction pieces it's important to quote people accurately. If someone said 'could of' you should write 'could of'. Likewise, if you are writing a fictional piece and you can hear your character saying 'could of' then you should write it. Outside of dialogue, however, 'could of' will only make the writer appear as though they don't understand the words they are using.
Monday 26 December 2011
The holidays of words
2 words forward
Where my nose goes
Who doesn't love a little alliteration? It's like the custard on the christmas pudding. But while I've been enjoying the season of gluttony I've also been relaxing. Yeah, I hear you. You're saying: You're a writer - relaxing is your job. And yes, for me you are completely right. Even the stress of writers block or the story that just won't turn where I want it to is relaxing for me. After years in crap jobs these are the things I live to do and I do love it. However, there are times when the old noggin' needs a bit of a break so I switch my place - I read voraciously. My nose comes out from behind the screen and entrenches itself in a book (or five!). But whether you're reading, watching the cricket (if you're in Australia), building snowmen (in the northern hemisphere) or eating far too much (international) have a great holiday period.
1 word back
Putting the 'X' in Xmas
It's okay, this entry isn't R rated. This time of year always reminds me of the importance of 'common usage'. I'm a big fan of common usage. It's what allows us to use words that aren't 'real' words. Basically, if a word or expression is known by enough people it becomes acceptable to use in printed pieces. Take, for instance, the word 'gonna'. It's not a proper word, it's a bastardisation of the phrase 'going to' but it's easily recognisable so it can be used for written work. This all comes back to xmas. According to wikipedia (I don't have much time for research - there are books to be read!) xmas originates from the greek letter X (pronounced 'Chi' but breathe the first part so it comes out like a harsh hiss). The 'X' is the first letter of Christmas in greek so it was abbreviated to our xmas. While some may think it's all a way to take the Christ out of Christmas this is not the case, although as someone who isn't christian you probably shouldn't take my word for it! Still, I always write xmas and I always will because it's a cute little shorthand way of referring to a day that's extremely fun and extremely busy and crazy. Happy Xmas to those of you who do the xmas thing, and for the rest be happy anyway. When you can appreciate the little things, like the wonder of common usage, you can find happiness everywhere.
Where my nose goes
Who doesn't love a little alliteration? It's like the custard on the christmas pudding. But while I've been enjoying the season of gluttony I've also been relaxing. Yeah, I hear you. You're saying: You're a writer - relaxing is your job. And yes, for me you are completely right. Even the stress of writers block or the story that just won't turn where I want it to is relaxing for me. After years in crap jobs these are the things I live to do and I do love it. However, there are times when the old noggin' needs a bit of a break so I switch my place - I read voraciously. My nose comes out from behind the screen and entrenches itself in a book (or five!). But whether you're reading, watching the cricket (if you're in Australia), building snowmen (in the northern hemisphere) or eating far too much (international) have a great holiday period.
1 word back
Putting the 'X' in Xmas
It's okay, this entry isn't R rated. This time of year always reminds me of the importance of 'common usage'. I'm a big fan of common usage. It's what allows us to use words that aren't 'real' words. Basically, if a word or expression is known by enough people it becomes acceptable to use in printed pieces. Take, for instance, the word 'gonna'. It's not a proper word, it's a bastardisation of the phrase 'going to' but it's easily recognisable so it can be used for written work. This all comes back to xmas. According to wikipedia (I don't have much time for research - there are books to be read!) xmas originates from the greek letter X (pronounced 'Chi' but breathe the first part so it comes out like a harsh hiss). The 'X' is the first letter of Christmas in greek so it was abbreviated to our xmas. While some may think it's all a way to take the Christ out of Christmas this is not the case, although as someone who isn't christian you probably shouldn't take my word for it! Still, I always write xmas and I always will because it's a cute little shorthand way of referring to a day that's extremely fun and extremely busy and crazy. Happy Xmas to those of you who do the xmas thing, and for the rest be happy anyway. When you can appreciate the little things, like the wonder of common usage, you can find happiness everywhere.
Sunday 18 December 2011
Cool Punctuation Marks
1 word back
I'm interrupting my normal schedule because I found this on my internet trolling today. This article about punctuation marks doesn't deal with our run-of-the-mill punctuation but those that are rarely, if ever, used. It's great to know we have punctuation for situations where other marks won't do, but kind of annoying that we can't use them as they are not well known. There are a couple I'd certainly be very keen on using so if you feel the same let's bring them back (if you're singing 'I'm bringing interrobangs back' to the tune of Justin Timberlake's 'Sexy Back' then we're on the same page!)
I'm interrupting my normal schedule because I found this on my internet trolling today. This article about punctuation marks doesn't deal with our run-of-the-mill punctuation but those that are rarely, if ever, used. It's great to know we have punctuation for situations where other marks won't do, but kind of annoying that we can't use them as they are not well known. There are a couple I'd certainly be very keen on using so if you feel the same let's bring them back (if you're singing 'I'm bringing interrobangs back' to the tune of Justin Timberlake's 'Sexy Back' then we're on the same page!)
Friday 16 December 2011
Of Nano and trying
2 words forward - My ode to November
So Nano has come and gone for another year. For those of you who are new to the writing game or haven't experienced the horror and ecstasy of the challenge Nano is short for National Novel Writing Month (also called Nanowrimo). Throughout the thirty days of November we fearless wordsmiths take to our keyboards and get down all the words, that's right, all the words. Well, actually 50,000 of the words and many are repeated. My point is that in one month we write 50,000 words in the form of a novel. A friend asked me the other day why we do this. I told her it's because we love to write. She then asked if anyone fudged their word count (copied crap from wikipedia or something like that) and I told her no, I've never heard of anyone doing that because it all comes back to the first reason: we love writing.
Sure, I could copy and paste a heap of words into the wordcounter on the Nanowrimo website and make it look like I'd written 50,000 words when really I just have a copy of 1984 saved to my desktop but how would I feel? There'd be no rush of adrenaline each day as I return to my project and attempt to figure out the next twist, the next happening, the appropriate reaction for my characters. Instead I would be heavy; weighted with words that hadn't poured from me onto the page. When I'd hang out with my fellow Nanoers I'd feel like a thief, someone who stole a prize that they earned. And what is the prize? The Nano site offers discounts and even bound copies of your project if you hit the 50,000 before the end of the month but, while that's pretty awesome, they are not the real prize. The real prize is the fact that you are proud of your achievement, you have conquered the 50K, you have put an idea on paper and you can now call yourself a writer when people ask what you do.
That's why I've done Nano for the past three years and that's why I'll be sweating over character profiles and chapter summaries all the way through next October and why at midnight on November 1st I'll be torn between chatting with my fellow writers and hitting the ground running on my new novel: I'm a writer and I love what I do.
1 word back - Try and read this
As well as being a writer (I'm allowed to call myself that now, see above for details) I'm also an editor. While I'll talk writing for 2 words forward, 1 word back will be dedicated to the work of taking other writers sculptures, firing them in a kiln and adding a little glaze. Today I'm going to start with a phrase that's been popping up a lot lately and has been getting to the point where I need to bite my lip to stop myself from yelling every time I come across it: 'try and ...'. But what is so harmful about 'try and ...'? Why does it elicit such a strong response? The harmful aspect is that it doesn't mean what people who write it thinks it means (as I'll explain below). The strong response is because I not only see this on facebook and twitter - places where my editing brain turns off for fear of burnout - but in published material. Even worse, a lot of those published works are really well written.
So, let's pull apart 'try and ...' and put it back together again. If someone tells me to 'try and read this' I'll do both - I'll try and I'll read it. This is because that's what you are asking me to do. There is no option for failure, you must try and you must succeed. On the other hand if someone tells me to 'try to read this' then I'll take a shot at reading it and hope I get through it. To all the 'try and ...' users out there, I'm sure you just mean that you want me to have a go at reading something, the problem is that you're telling me to do both and I don't think that's what you mean.
For my sake and the sake of people like me who read literally please try to avoid the phrase unless you want me to try and put down your book.
So Nano has come and gone for another year. For those of you who are new to the writing game or haven't experienced the horror and ecstasy of the challenge Nano is short for National Novel Writing Month (also called Nanowrimo). Throughout the thirty days of November we fearless wordsmiths take to our keyboards and get down all the words, that's right, all the words. Well, actually 50,000 of the words and many are repeated. My point is that in one month we write 50,000 words in the form of a novel. A friend asked me the other day why we do this. I told her it's because we love to write. She then asked if anyone fudged their word count (copied crap from wikipedia or something like that) and I told her no, I've never heard of anyone doing that because it all comes back to the first reason: we love writing.
Sure, I could copy and paste a heap of words into the wordcounter on the Nanowrimo website and make it look like I'd written 50,000 words when really I just have a copy of 1984 saved to my desktop but how would I feel? There'd be no rush of adrenaline each day as I return to my project and attempt to figure out the next twist, the next happening, the appropriate reaction for my characters. Instead I would be heavy; weighted with words that hadn't poured from me onto the page. When I'd hang out with my fellow Nanoers I'd feel like a thief, someone who stole a prize that they earned. And what is the prize? The Nano site offers discounts and even bound copies of your project if you hit the 50,000 before the end of the month but, while that's pretty awesome, they are not the real prize. The real prize is the fact that you are proud of your achievement, you have conquered the 50K, you have put an idea on paper and you can now call yourself a writer when people ask what you do.
That's why I've done Nano for the past three years and that's why I'll be sweating over character profiles and chapter summaries all the way through next October and why at midnight on November 1st I'll be torn between chatting with my fellow writers and hitting the ground running on my new novel: I'm a writer and I love what I do.
1 word back - Try and read this
As well as being a writer (I'm allowed to call myself that now, see above for details) I'm also an editor. While I'll talk writing for 2 words forward, 1 word back will be dedicated to the work of taking other writers sculptures, firing them in a kiln and adding a little glaze. Today I'm going to start with a phrase that's been popping up a lot lately and has been getting to the point where I need to bite my lip to stop myself from yelling every time I come across it: 'try and ...'. But what is so harmful about 'try and ...'? Why does it elicit such a strong response? The harmful aspect is that it doesn't mean what people who write it thinks it means (as I'll explain below). The strong response is because I not only see this on facebook and twitter - places where my editing brain turns off for fear of burnout - but in published material. Even worse, a lot of those published works are really well written.
So, let's pull apart 'try and ...' and put it back together again. If someone tells me to 'try and read this' I'll do both - I'll try and I'll read it. This is because that's what you are asking me to do. There is no option for failure, you must try and you must succeed. On the other hand if someone tells me to 'try to read this' then I'll take a shot at reading it and hope I get through it. To all the 'try and ...' users out there, I'm sure you just mean that you want me to have a go at reading something, the problem is that you're telling me to do both and I don't think that's what you mean.
For my sake and the sake of people like me who read literally please try to avoid the phrase unless you want me to try and put down your book.
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