Writing to me is......
my entertainment, my way to explore subconscious ideas, my urge to tell a rattling good story.
I love a good drama. I'm a particular fan of BBC costume dramas, particularly the adaptations of Dickens and Jane Austen, and I love the cinema. I like big films with epic ideas. Favourite films include The Shawshank Redemption and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
To me, writing is like running my own film in my head. You might think this would mean I'm in complete control of my ideas, with everything all neatly planned out to follow a well tied-up plot. But no. I quite often surprise myself, and that is the joy of it, the entertainment factor.
The novel I am working on right now had a character, Zachary, who was supposed to die in chapter two, but in fact he has gone on to become one of the main protagonists. He has a cunning criminal mind, and unsurprisingly I suppose, he has managed to cheat his own death. I am only just beginning to explore and get to know him in this first draft. At the end of it I will know him better and be able to go back and re-write him as a more credible and three-dimensional character.
Often the ideas I am exploring don't come out until the end of the first draft. There is a sort of "aha!" moment then, when I suddenly think, "so that's what I'm really interested in exploring!" Then I'll go back and look at those themes in more depth. My second novel, The Gilded Lily, as well as being an adventure about two girls on the run in Restoration London, (see the lovely engraving) is about the nature of stories themselves - our own, and how we tell them. And what difference the stories people tell about us make to our lives. I didn't know until I finished the book and read it as a reader instead of a writer that storytelling itself was the idea that motivated the story. So that's the subconscious element.The third thing writing is to me - telling a good story - is because I love to read. My house is weighed down with books. No chance of a Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz for me, the house is just too heavy! I always loved it as a child when a story really gripped me and would not let go, so when I'm writing I'm looking for that same effect. And when I'm hooked into my writing I know my readers might get hooked too.
Even my cat loves to read (well, my book anyway!) I think most writers are readers first and writers second. So I am looking forward to reading the other posts on this blog tour, and networking with other writers.The others writing about writing on this bloghop are
1. Paula - http://hardlineselfhelp.com/
2. Stuart - http://bornstoryteller.wordpress.com/
3. Karen - http://karenvwasylowski.blogspot.com/
4. DK Levick - http://dklevick.wordpress.com/
5. Shannon - http://reflectionandreview.com/
6. Corinne - http://www.everydaygyaan.com/
7. Sonia - http://soniarumzi.com/
8. Sulekha - http://sulekkha.blogspot.com/
9. Dora - http://peacefrompieces.blogspot.com/
10. Sarah - http://sarahbutland.com/blog/
11. Marcia - http://insidejourneys.com/
12. Roy - http://royd-spiltmilk.blogspot.com/
13. Janki - http://janukulkarni.blogspot.com/
14. Tina - http://tinahoggatt.wordpress.com/
15. Thelma - http://widowsphere.blogspot.com/
16. Muriel - http://mumugb.blogspot.com/
17. Nolan - http://nolanwilsonfreelance.com/blog
18. Deborah - http://www.deborahswift.blogspot.com/
19. Jennifer - http://remembernewvember.blogspot.com/
20. Grace - http://graceelliot-author.blogspot.com/
21. Dora - http://blogaliciousblogs.blogspot.com/20. Grace - http://graceelliot-author.blogspot.com/
Hi Deborah
ReplyDeleteI love the way you are so honest about your writing. Thanks for this engaging piece!
Hi, Deborah,
ReplyDeleteYou certainly have an interesting blog! I also share a lot of your reasons for writing. And yes, writers MUST be readers!
I used to teach writing workshops and sometimes people would want to write whatever genre was popular so they had a better chance of selling the book.
Well, I'd ask, if you aren't a reader--a voracious reader--of the category you want to write in, how in the world are you going to know what those readers expect?
As an aside, I read historical fiction almost exclusively for quite a few years. I think we are all drawn to particular periods for our own reasons. I have a definite Victorian thing. Used to want furniture from that time period, but don't anymore.
Anyway, really enjoyed your post!
Paula
Thanks for sharing what writing means to you. Nice post:))
ReplyDeleteHi Marianne, Paula and Sajeev,thanks for stopping by. I'll do most of my hopping later on. And paula, I still have a bit of a thing for the Victorian era, but strangely, don't seem to write about it. I love the Arts and Crafts Movement, and turn of the century stuff.
ReplyDeleteGreat Deborah, I always love your writing and I love that your character survived when you thought you'd kill him off. Isn't that odd when it happens. They control us, I think
ReplyDeleteDeborah, You are so right, writers are readers first. A very interesting post and blog, am following you now :)
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. Stephen King said the same. If as writers, if we do not read, we do not have the tools for our trade.
ReplyDeleteGood post. Enjoyed it thks
ReplyDeleteLovely post... 'No chance of a Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz for me, the house is just too heavy!' - Loved that!!!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of getting to know what the sub-conscious wanted to express, by getting to know your characters as your write. Funny how that happens, that an idea can be trapped inside your head and yet you dont even know it until it's staring you in the face.
ReplyDeleteGrace x
Great post! It is amazing the ideas and concepts that you can explore and uncover when you just write and follow the tangent in your mind.
ReplyDeleteI agree when you said that writers are readers first. Thanks for the wonderful post.
ReplyDeleteDeborah - thanks for sharing your writing journey. Like you, I often don't know what I'm really writing about until the end of the first draft. There have been times when beta-readers have told me what I'm writing about. I tell people I write about "stuff & fluff" - but am usually told that's not the case at all.
ReplyDeleteNow you have me intrigued about your current work. A book centering around the theme of story-telling. I'll be looking for that one.
love your post. yes the scenes that play in ones mind are great entertainment, i am glad that you are able to share them with us. thank you for being on the tour. god bless
ReplyDeleteWow, my cat loves to read my stuff, too. And my favorite movie is The Shawshank Redemption--just saw it on TV for about the hundredth time. Coincidence?
ReplyDeleteI'm going on the blog tour and I really enjoyed this post because it was the first to say, in so many words, that writing is fun! :-) Best of luck with your novel.
ReplyDeleteHello everyone, many thanks for stopping by and special thanks to those of you who are now following. I hope I will give you some good value.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading everyone's posts - what a talented bunch! - and I look forward to seeing some of you on the next blog tour.
I absolutely agree, Deborah. It's the power that the words we've read have had on us that compels us to write. I love Jane Austen too!
ReplyDelete"like running my own film in my head" - this is so true. Thank you Deborah for this enlightening post and for joining the blog tour.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes - Dora
http://pandorapoikilos.com