General – Page 138

My graphic is a painting I did of the Glasgow Coat of Arms.

My novel written in a month, ‘Hawk, A Human Hunter’ was completed for the NaNoWriMo in November 2011. Due to concentrating on other projects like writing short stories and assisting a very good friend with the setting up of a blog, I’d left my novel’s re-write on the back-burner. All trace of it has now been removed from my blog whilst I completely rewrite the tale.

: Glasgow – Coat of Arms

A competition has reared it’s head that I can’t resist so I have until the end of March to get Hawk (or at least three chapters of it) up to a publishable standard. It’s okay toying with the idea of doing these things but just like the NaNo challenge I believe it’s time for me to go for the big one.

The original idea saw Phil (The Hawk), returning to Edinburgh after a distinguished military career in the Special Air Service. I used that city because I know it well enough to write an overview of a thriller story based there. My hometown is Glasgow and mainly because I have a far greater knowledge of the city and it’s people I’ve decided to reset the story there. It’s a sprawling city and will give me scope to do a little more with my characters. Other locations I used in Scotland will remain as they were and Edinburgh may even be brought in to balance the books a little in one or two scenes.

Research will be easier by virtue of the fact that my first hand knowledge of certain locations is already good and merely needs refreshing. I’m looking forward to the challenge and to give me a realistic chance I’m refreshing my characters on my story board ready for a start date of Monday 30th January. It gives me almost two months to achieve my goal so most other things will now be put on hold.

My mentoring of a good friend will continue and it will help to keep my feet firmly on the ground as I’m reminded that it’s easy to write, but it’s not so easy to write well. How much I’ll post regarding this venture I don’t know so I make no promises.

The first good thing about ‘HOW NOT TO WRITE A NOVEL’ is the introduction which gives a real flavour of what is to come. If you can go through the examples that have been superbly produced and not find something similar to your own writing then you are already published and no doubt a great author. To you I send my congratulations. The authors, Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark deserve praise for their work on this book.

I found examples that reflected my efforts on at least five occasions. The book is serious in it’s intent but the humour is always there just below the surface, by necessity. For me, this will go on my ‘keep handy’ reference shelf along with my ‘Writers’ and Artists’ YEARBOOK’ and others I hold in high esteem.

Importantly for me the contents list is broken down into easy to navigate sections covering Plot, Character, Style (in detail) and useful pointers on Setting, Research and Theme. I would recommend this book to anyone who is serious about attempting to write a novel.

I will read parts of this book time and again. I know it will prove to be a timeless Aide Memoire.