General – Page 137

In my opinion it’s always good to keep things in perspective and an important time is when you feel as an individual that you’re under pressure. It doesn’t matter if it’s self-imposed, just as it can be a lot of the time being a writer – it’s still there bearing down on you. For many years I’ve dealt with pressure by imagining how my case would match up to the circumstances that somebody else is dealing with. I know it’s extreme, but if we go back to the days of gladiators I think we find a time where pressure on the individual was as real as it can get.

Rome - Collisseum 33 — The Collisseum - Rome

My photo above shows the Collisseum as it looks now with it’s representative piece of rebuilt staging at one end. Yes, it’s nice to get some idea of what it might have looked like, but the key area for me when I took the picture was the area below, where all those waiting to fight or be sacrificed would be spending some time. Now that for me represents real pressure.

What’s my point, apart from stating the obvious? I don’t believe that those of us who like to call ourselves writers produce a good result unless we put ourselves under some pressure. Okay, I’m not suggesting I strip off, grab a trident, a net and go looking for a fully grown lion. I apply my own pressure by keeping more than one project on the go. Invariably it’s three short stories but at the moment things are a little different.

I have the novel writing competition I mentioned in my previous post, of which I’m now pleased to report I’m in control. I’ve completely re-worked Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 of my chosen entry, ‘Hawk, A Human Hunter’. For the first time I’ve now also written a synopsis, which I found more difficult than rewriting the story. Those two chapters and the synopsis are saved and stored for a week before I revisit them. I’ve decided to get my mind focused deeper into the plot by continuing with the next logical chapters. That should keep the story uppermost in my mind even if it’s not the competition chapters.

I’m also working on a short story for a web-based competition and a sci-fi short story and synopsis for another web-based competiton. I wrote a poem yesterday about emotions and one today about the changing seasons. I haven’t written poetry regularly since December. I may ration myself to one or two verses a week so I can concentrate on my storytelling. Apart from being creative writing in it’s own right I’ve found that writing poetry serves two other purposes for me. First and foremost, it gets the brain cells warmed up and working. Secondly the practical aspect of typing out the work gets me settled onto the keyboard in preparation for my other projects.

Apart from writing I’m delighted to report that Carmen, the fellow writer I’m mentoring is doing particularly well. Her own writing has improved considerably in just a couple of months but her proof-reading of my work is demonstrating that she has that all important eye for detail we all wish we had. I must admit that I sometimes find things like figures slip through the editing net. Those occasions when in my haste to write or rewrite I overlook ‘3’ when it should be ‘three’ or ‘four thousand’ when it should be ‘4,000’. I’m getting better, but Carmen is proving to me I am still careless on occasion. So I’ll take this opportunity to say a big public ‘thank you’ to my distant friend.

In between all the other activities, like any writer worth his (or her) salt, I’m also reading. I’m about half way through ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,’ which I downloaded onto my Kindle a few days ago.

My images are photos I took whilst visiting Scone Palace, in Perth, Scotland. This is a token selection of the international range of trees on the estate. The decision to produce woodland that was representative of so many countries would not have been taken lightly, but the men who suggested they would do it, stuck by their word, took many years and produced a splendid example of tree species from around the world.

Scone - Gardens 2 — A snapshot of the variety of trees in the gardens of Scone Palace, Perth, Scotland

As a writer it’s easy enough to suggest you will undertake a particualar task, like entering a competition. We can all throw caution to the wind and make a claim like that but it’s getting down to the hard work that is the test. I know I don’t have to write a complete novel in a short time span but I do know that in the next few weeks I have to produce my best writing to stand a chance of being taken seriously.

A word count of 5000 is not a big deal to show a sample of a writer’s work. Making every word earn it’s keep in the entry is the task. I have the novel written and I have already spent hours editing the first two chapters. My introductory work now shows the protagonist take unexpected action which is followed by dialogue. The dialogue doesn’t explain the reasons for his actions but serves to further complicate the introduction into the plot. The action is maintained with traces of dialogue but still no full explanation because I want it to come in a later chapter.

The second chapter shows the protagonist in an entirely different setting. He is no longer a serving soldier and is now setting himself a task that some would suggest was foolhardy. He meets a lady who will be a close companion and ally throughout the tale but she has a secret she will not divulge to him until almost the end of the story.

My attempts at a two page synopsis have so far ended in frustration and a lot of lost hours of writing, but having now consulted different reference books on the subject I feel more confident. Making the synopsis as good a read as the novel is a challenge although I have to remind myself that the novel should also mirror the standard of the synopsis. I have six weeks to produce my prize winning effort so armed with a fair knowledge of Glasgow, my hero’s home turf, my plot, cast of characters and a host of reference material I’m off again into a world of my own.