This week for
Operation Author: 365 Actions to Becoming a Successful Author
I am still plugging away at NaNoWriMo - I must confess, I am falling behind but have some clear space to catch up on writing in the next week.
I'm still doing some marketing activities:
Action 1: I went to a Global Entrepreneurship Week event hosted by Bristol Woman. I was one of the speakers but I enjoyed hearing other inspirational women sharing their stories and advice.
Action 2: I have 2 launch events coming up in the next week and have been putting together bits and pieces and scheduling updates on Social Media.
Action 3: I have been using all my ink up printing off booklets for my guests featuring short stories about my main characters, Tom Sheridan and Sasha Blake. I also have plans to add to this booklet and publish it as an eBook, so watch this space for updates
Action 4: I put some feelers out, inviting writers to share 200 words from their NaNoWriMo's. I've not had much luck, aside from lots of retweets, but it only seems fair that if I'm asking other writers to share I need to lead by example.
Here are 200 (well, 193, but close enough) words from my current project. It's raw, but I hope you like it:
As I've scrimped on the actions this week, here's a feature instead to inform and inspire
* * *
Some books are more magical than others
Like all writers, I am an avid reader.
I am also a slow reader, relishing in every word. As a consequence, reading takes a lot of time and energy from me, I don't do nearly as much as I'd like to.
I am also very impatient. All the advice tells us that writers should read things they don't like so that they can learn from the experience, but my reading time is precious and try as I might, I just can't bring myself to spend that time reading something that I'm not enjoying.
Tweet: Flagellating myself with something I don't want to read is not my idea of fun
If a book doesn't hook me in within the first few pages I give up on it. There are charity shops all over Bristol with books in with only the first dozen pages thumbed.
I go through despondent periods where I just can't seem to find something that I enjoy reading.
My biggest disappointment recently was 'Bring up the Bodies' by Hilary Mantel.
I had been looking forward to getting to it on my to read pile and when I did my disappointment was so bitter it hurt. I couldn't even make it past the first chapter. I reviewed it on Goodreads.
In my review I make reference to common factors that can be off putting for readers - for example: jumping between points of view and shaky use of tenses.
When writers get together and critique each others work these are sorts of things we pull each other up on.
But have you ever noticed that with some books, those mechanical bits and bobs don't seem to matter? The book has a resonance, a magic about it.
So is it possible to break those rules of convention and still write a successful book?
My brain tells me no but my heart tells me yes and to illustrate the point I'm using the book I am currently reading as an example.
Captive Queen, by Alison Weir
This book has that magic spark and I can't explain it. There are 5 sins it commits, yet despite that, I'm still hooked:
Sin number 1: Jumping between points of view
I enjoy being in the head of different characters, in fact, in my own books, The Bronze Box and Solomon's Secrets, the whole story is woven together from fragments experienced by different characters. But in The Captive Queen, point of view changes happen between paragraphs, yet Alison Weir gets away with it.
Sin number 2: The dreaded adverb
Stephen King once said 'The road to hell is paved with adverbs'
Those sneaky little words that creep in with their 'ly's on the end.
The skill of a writer is to get across a sense of what characters are thinking or feeling through their conversations. But when there are long passages of narrative with very little conversation, you can get away with a few of these little blighters.
Tweet: Adverbs are like seasoning, nobody likes tasting something that's too salty or peppery the seasoning should go unnoticed and just bring out the flavour.
Sin number 3: Conversation tags
Characters only ever 'said'. Said is a word that disappears into the text and reminds the reader who's talking. The words they say should indicate how they are feeling and what they are doing.
In Captive Queen, most conversations have examples of a tag other than 'said' - these are some that popped off the page:
'Henry went on'
'Bernard effused'
'Bernard pleaded'
'She chided'
Here's a couple that also include an adverb;
'Eleanor chided sweetly'
'Geoffrey replied sanguinely'
'Henry replied mulishly'
'Henry told her bluntly'
Despite the adverb being unnecessary in all examples, I still kept reading.
Sin Number 4: Awkward conversations between characters
There are several examples where Henry Fitzempress and Eleanor of Aquitaine are having sex and having conversations about their empires and quest for power...
Seriously? I don't know about the rest of you, but in my experience mouths are otherwise engaged during lovemaking and there is usually far too much grunting, sighing and appreciative humming to be making world changing decisions and having complicated political conversations!
Despite that, I still enjoyed the sensuous nature of these scenes, delivered with a such a light touch in the narrative.
Sin number 5: Looking in the mirror
Eleanor describes to the reader how she looks by admiring herself in the mirror.
The only reason this rather dodgy plot device works in this case is because we are reminded throughout the book of how vain and arrogant Eleanor is.
Conclusion
I'm halfway through this 481 page book and I'm yet to be put off.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to curl up in an armchair with a mug of tea and keep reading...
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