Life in progress

Category Archives: Writing


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Inspirational Settings

There was nothing particularly appealing about Kingston, Ontario, when I first started writing my novel, The Great Dagmaru. At the time, I was traveling there weekly to attend doctor’s appointments at either Kingston General or Hotel Dieu Hospital. Two things inspired me to set my story there: one, I was familiar with the geography of the city, and two, this place:

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Kingston’s Grand Trunk Railway Station – source – Wikimapia.org

I started writing my novel about a teenaged girl named Herman, who runs away from home and meets a tall dark stranger on a train. She never makes it where she is going. My initial idea for the tale included the stranger taking her to this train station – hollowed out as it is by a devastating fire – and keeping her there to serve him and his wicked magic. However, as I wrote, the character of the tall dark stranger morphed into Stephen Dagmar, a rich, gorgeous, and talented magician with a dark secret, who lives in a grand Victorian house with a turret:

turret

Hochelaga Inn, Kingston, Ontario

which I wrote about in this post back in July: https://lindaghill.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/a-haunted-visitation/

I was lucky to be able to stay in the house I had envisioned my character living in, and as you’ll see if you read my July account, I even had the thrill of being allowed to sleep two nights in the turret room.

As I said at the beginning of this post, Kingston had no real attraction for me until my characters were born. Gradually as I traveled there for appointments I found myself enthralled with the city.  I could see the places I imagined my characters would visit, and the things they would see with their own eyes. Eventually, the place began to inspire me, like a painting of a narrow pathway curving through a lush forest.

My story had a world.

Here are some pictures I took while I was there: here is the world where Stephen and Herman exist.

Next door to the Hochelaga Inn

Next door to the Hochelaga Inn

Cross, Lake Ontario

Cross, Lake Ontario

girl reading

Girl, reading by the water

Kingston Harbour

Kingston Harbour

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Inside the turret, Hochelaga Inn, Kingston

I have been back to Kingston since this trip to do further research. I found the spot where Stephen’s house will be situated in the story (I expropriated land from the government which currently houses the local airport – I doubt they’ll notice) and I have measured distances from there to various places my characters will visit. I’ve sat in restaurants, sipping wine with the ghosts of Stephen’s and Herman’s characters, and I’ve strolled with them along the shoreline.

One of the first things I ever read about writing fiction was that it is necessary to create a world in which your characters will live.  I consider myself lucky to have found this amazing, inspirational setting for mine.


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JusJoJan 13 – What Blogging has Taught Me About Subtracting

From this:

With the door closed it was very quiet in the room apart from the sound of birds cooing. Herman went to the window in search of the source. A line of tall, thick trees at the perimeter of a vast lawn surrounded the house. Daffodils and tulips poked up through the soil as close to the house as she could see without putting her forehead against the glass. Beyond the garden a cobblestone walkway, wide enough for two people to stroll side by side wound it’s way past a patio sat off to the left. To the right was a small brick building with six or eight sides, she couldn’t really tell from her vantage point. It was made of the same colour brick as the house and had many small windows near the top. It looked to be about two stories high. A shed, or a coop perhaps. She turned her back to the window see if the room appeared as domestically normal as the garden. The walls were paneled with dark wood and the furniture was antique, upholstered with red velvet. Along one wall, to her right, either side of the door hung pictures of landscapes rather than family portraits. The wall opposite the door was covered in fragrantly old books. A computer with a the large flat screen perched upon a heavy ancient-looking desk was the only evidence that she hadn’t stepped back in time.

To this:

The sound of birds cooing beckoned Herman to the window in search of the source. A protective line of tall, thick pines stood like sentries around at the perimeter of a vast lawn, and daffodils and tulips poked their heads up through the soil as close to the house as she could see. Beyond the flower garden a cobblestone walkway, wide enough for two people to stroll side by side wound it’s way past a patio off to the left. To the right stood a small red brick building with six or eight sides and a dozen small windows near the top that reflected the gloomy April sky. A shed, or a coop perhaps. She turned her back on the peaceful scenery outside, to see if the room appeared as domestically serene as the garden. The dark paneled walls were adorned either with painted landscapes or covered in bookshelves containing fragrantly old books, lending the student in her warm comfort. A computer with a the large flat screen perched upon a heavy ancient-looking desk was the only evidence that she hadn’t stepped back in time.

Above is first the original NaNo 2011 version of the beginning of Chapter 5 of my manuscript, and second is what I edited it down to this morning. What do you think?

I see this as the result of two years writing experience and endless blog posts which have forced me to write to be publicly read. I see this as the result of two very wonderful people who have critiqued my work and told me in no uncertain terms that I have to put the character in my descriptions. (Thank you so much, Janice and Connie. Honest critique is the most valuable thing a writer can receive.)

In all, I see the second version as something that a publisher might actually look at. But that was one paragraph out of 524 pages.

Back to work!

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Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!


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JusJoJan 12 – Stream-of-Consciousness Weekend

Weekends alone are never long enough so I decided this one was going to be dedicated to that which I have no chance to do during the week or when the kids are here: I worked on my manuscript to the exclusion of all else. My bum is numb from sitting in one spot and my neck aches and it feels great to have made it a third of the way through this stack of papers which now have scribbles on each one of the ones I’ve been through. I still have so much work to do! But I figured if I didn’t start, I’ll never end.

My internet-free weekend has been freeing, in a way. No checking every few minutes to see if I have comments, even though I haven’t been anywhere at all. Aside from my JusJoJan 11 post on my fiction blog last night (and I was feeling it, let me tell you) the only thing that has been going on.. and on and on on my laptop are Buck-Tick videos. They are who I write to and Sakurai Atsushi is who inspires me to write my main character – Stephen.

So that’s it. I have to hit the publish button now before I’m tempted to edit.  I think I may do a stream-of consciousness post once a week. What did you think?

 

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Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!

1. It’s never too late to join in, since the “Jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to WordPress that day, great! If it waits a week to get from the sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. If you write a JusJoJan post on your blog, you can ping it back to the above link to make sure everyone participating knows where to find it.
3. Write anything!
4. Have fun!


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JusJoJan 10 – Lazy Blogging

When I started this blog, I did so with the intention of writing well thought out, succinct, and grammatically perfect articles. They would all be of a decent length as well as entertaining, informative, and interesting. I would write to impress potential employers who would be so wowed by my writing skills that, after reading any given post, they would be standing in line waiting to throw money at me.

Apart from the fact that I haven’t actually applied for a job anywhere yet, I seem to have failed. I’ve become lazy. My posts are getting shorter and shorter, and surely having a goal of “jotting” something down every day doesn’t help me on my quest to achieve greatness with every article.

I’ve fallen into the trap of writing what gets read most often on WordPress – 500 or less words. “Less is more” has become my mantra, and conciseness my overlord. So while I might be getting better at stating my thoughts in short, sharp, crispy little pieces, my personal goal has gone by the wayside.

It’s not that I don’t put a fair bit of thought into my blog posts: most of them anyway. Yes, I’m guilty of just posting what I’m thinking at times, like last night while I was staring, drooling over a picture of a white sandy beach. But for the rest of them, I try to come up with something my followers will want to read.

But this concise writing is habit forming. I find that if I do try to write more, it ends up rambling. Then I edit it to make it sound good and, well, it ends up shorter every time.

It’s ironic in a way, that behind the scenes I’m trying to cut an originally 214K word manuscript down to a more reasonable 140K, and here on my blog I’m whining about not being able to write enough in one article, isn’t it? Perhaps that’s my problem. I’m getting into the habit everywhere.  Maybe I should post the clumps of text on my blog that I scoop out of my novel!

Wow, is this article ever going downhill fast.

To conclude, I’ve decided I need to do something about this. I’m going to try to write a more professional-sounding article once a week that’s between 600-800 words in length. I’m hesitant to commit to a certain day of the week, though maybe having a deadline will help. If I’m ever going to write professionally, it’s a habit I need to get into.

That way maybe I won’t feel as guilty about writing the occasional one-liner with a picture of a beach.

 

 
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Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!

1. It’s never too late to join in, since the “Jot it” part of JusJoJan means that anything you jot down, anywhere (it doesn’t have to be a post) counts as a “Jot.” If it makes it to WordPress that day, great! If it waits a week to get from the sticky note to your screen, no problem!
2. If you write a JusJoJan post on your blog, you can ping it back to the above link to make sure everyone participating knows where to find it.
3. Write anything!
4. Have fun!

 


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JusJoJan 7 – Antsy

In true “Jot It” style, I’m jotting this down on Monday to be posted on Tuesday. With any luck I won’t be feeling it by the time this goes live, but after a little over two months of not pounding away at any major work of fiction, I’m getting squiggly to get writing.

What does getting squiggly mean, you ask? It means that the pads of my fingers are starting to tingle for the keyboard, I have the shadows of psychologically unsound characters swimming around in my head, and I have voices gurgling in unknown languages, reverberating in my ear drums.

It’s pretty crazy in here.

Before you run away and never revisit this crazy lady’s blog, tell me what kind of symptoms you experience when you want to write something but lack the opportunity. Come on! Join the crazy!

Post on your site, and join Just Jot it January. The rules are easy!


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On Printing a Manuscript

I’m so frustrated! All morning I put off printing off my manuscript (the older one, not my new NaNoWriMo project) which is 503 pages long. I’ve been going through WordPress themes, delivering newspapers, eating… generally doing everything I could to procrastinate. Finally, I said, ‘That’s it! I’m going to do it!’ (Yes, I talk to myself when I’m alone.)

So I went into the room where the printer is, and got started. Two hundred and fifty pages and I ran out of ink in an almost brand new cartridge. 250 pages! This thing is going to cost me $70 to print… and that’s just a draft!!

Who knew writing could be so bloody expensive?

So, my novelist buddies out there in WordPress land, and anyone else who prints vast amounts of text for whatever reason, do you take care of your own printing needs on your home printer? Or do you take it to a professional?

And either way, how do you afford to write?
Ugh.

Blog post of December 3rd, in honour of Every Damn Day December. Check it out! It’s not too late to join in!

 


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Finished!

I just finished NaNoWriMo! 😀

For the record the novel did, indeed, end with a bang. Did everyone die? You’ll have to read it to find out.

*cue evil laughter*

Okay, time for a happy dance!

2013-Winner-Facebook-Cover


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Nature vs Nurture in Fiction

Twins. Part of the plot in my NaNoWriMo project required a case of mistaken identity, so instead of having one protagonist, I’m writing one and a half. I call the twins “one and a half” protagonists because I’m writing in the first person – so I’m getting all of what one of them thinks and only half of what the other does. They’re both good guys, Marcel and Max are. Decent men from a good family – very much the same in many ways.

As usual, something happened in real life which made me contemplate the differences between siblings. In this case it was a  conversation with the lady who manages the dry cleaner on my paper route.  She has two granddaughters who she loves to talk about. She was telling me how unalike they are, even though they’re very close in age. This is a subject (among many) that has always fascinated me, being an only child. My own children didn’t grow up as siblings usually do, since they all have such physical differences,  so it’s something I must study from a distance.

The difficulty I’m experiencing in my novel is that the twins, Marcel and Max, sound the same when they speak. It makes sense to me that they should, but they end up coming out like these guys:

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Not all that polite mind you, but they speak exactly alike.

Once NaNo is done and I can put some thought into it, I’ll work on finding something unique about the two, which will come out in their speech. But in the meantime, I’m wondering what about their natures, and not their nurture, can help my readers to tell them apart.

Have you ever written siblings and come across this problem? Let’s learn from each other!


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What’s in your Main Character’s Fridge?

I’ve been seriously thinking about how much my own tastes influence my fiction. The other day, my characters were in a restaurant and I purposely made them order something I, personally, wouldn’t eat.

It occurred to me that maybe I’m thinking about this too much – micromanaging my story. But the fact is, they’ve gotta eat. And I find it boring and not really credible that they’d like ALL the same things I do. If for no other reason than every character in every story I ever write always eats the same group of foods, I feel like I have to change it up once in a while.

Is this something you’ve put any thought to? If you’re a vegetarian, do you ever have your characters eating a nice juicy steak?

How else do your characters not reflect your tastes?  (Human characters, that is.)


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Write What You Know

Write what you know; write what you know; yes, yes, okay we get it already. But have you ever wanted to write who you know? Fictionally that is.

When I write, I write characters. Plots in my stories, are secondary. I take, for instance, a scenario, ask ‘what if?’ and off I go. Once I have a character in place, they decide what happens in the circumstance I put them in.

I know a few people very well. Family, friends – I can’t help but know them. The people I don’t know very well, I study. I watch the way their expressions change when they talk about certain topics that they love or which scare them… you get the picture, right?

But there’s that saying again. That rule. Write what you know.

Now say, for instance, I was to write about someone I adore. They probably wouldn’t mind. They’d be able to hold my bestseller up high and say, ‘This is about me!’ and they’d be proud to do it. But what if I wrote about someone who I don’t respect? Or someone whose personality is less than scrupulous? I wouldn’t use their real name, of course. And the story would not be the one they lived in real life. But they’d know. And I’d know that they knew. And then I’d have to wonder; are they planning to do something devious to smite me? After all, they aren’t the most the most pleasant person to deal with in the first place. How far will they go?

Write what you know. I know very little about ‘things,’ but I know a lot about people. About characters and what makes people tick.

Have you ever ‘written’ someone you know, fictionally? How would you feel if someone ‘wrote’ you?

Tick tick tick… boom!