synopsis

How My Writing Habits Have Changed

~ ChanAtkins ~ 6 Comments

I’ve never understood the type of people who refuse to change the way they do things. You know the type. Even if what they’re doing is not going so well, they’ll hang onto the adamant belief that it is the best way to do it, simply because it is the way they have always done it. It’s even worse when it comes to opinions and beliefs. I have strong beliefs and opinions, but I like to keep my mind open and accept that knowledge and understanding are open to interpretation and change. If some new piece of knowledge comes along, I am always happy to admit I was wrong and change my way of thinking. I think the refusal to ever change your mind or admit you were wrong, is actually very dangerous. Anyway, in that spirit, I’ve been thinking lately about how I write now, and how I used to write. You see, over the last few novels, things have changed. And with the WIP I am on right now, and the book I have planned after that, I feel they are changing even more. Here’s how, and why…

  • I edit as I go…Not word for word, not every paragraph, but I do now go back over what I wrote at the start of the session. And I always read what I wrote last before I start writing again. I used to do things quite differently. I would rush out this clunky, crazy first draft. It would be this desperate measure, this way of getting this thing out of my head once and for all. I’m not saying that’s wrong, and I think with some books it’s totally the right way to do it! But I have noticed lately that I’m slowing the process down. I’m going back over what I last wrote and editing out mistakes and typos. Previously I would not care about these in a first draft. I just wanted it done. Now I think I am probably saving myself some time later on, and it is also helping me get to know this story and its characters, to feel and breathe with them as they develop and take form. Reading over and checking what I just wrote is helping me to make sure everything stays on course.
  • I plan more…I used to plan as I wrote the book…so as ideas came to me, I would jot them down and the novel would often change course and follow twists and turns as I wrote it. I would start, not really knowing how to finish. Now, I try to plan the whole novel before I start writing, chapter by chapter if possible. Not in too much detail, and always allowing for change and development and the surprises which will inevitably pop up. But now I like to be able to see where I am going…I like to know the general destination of my journey.
  • I’m aware of my potential audience…This is not to say I am writing anything and aiming it at a certain audience. Doing this with The Tree Of Rebels caused me untold problems (see Did Choosing An Audience Ruin My Book?) so I won’t be making that mistake again. But I do have a better idea of the genre I am writing in before I start writing, an idea of the type of person who would pick this book up and want to read it. I never used to consider this at all, and had a very hard job picking genres and categories for my finished books because of it.
  • I write the log line and synopsis first…Now, to be honest I am only just getting to grip with loglines! They are actually quite hard to do. The idea is you should be able to write a one to two sentence paragraph which explains your book, and if you can’t, you may have a problem. The logline can then help you to shape your synopsis. With early novels, I always left the synopsis to last and found them nothing short of utter hell and torture. How to condense a massive novel down to a paragraph or two? What to cut out, what to leave in? How to lure people in without spoilers? How to pick the right key words? Hard, hard work. With the last two books I penned (The Tree Of Rebels and Elliot Pie’s Guide To Human Nature, both still not quite finished) I wrote the synopsis first. I’m not sure why. It just seemed like a good idea, and I had a general idea of what to say, so I went for it. Neither is perfect and both will need tinkering, but overall, I think they both say what they need to say. Lesson learned. From now on, I work on the synopsis first!
  • I research as I go…This is another thing I used to be quite lazy about. I was in a hurry. I just wanted to get the book written. So I would make up stuff as I went along, noting down that I needed to properly research it later.  Now if something comes up that needs looking into, I do it there and then before I write another word. Again, this saves me time and stress later, and if what I research ends up changing the story in some way, it’s much better to know this early on! Plus it’s fun. I used to put off research of any story because I thought it was boring. Just detail that needed throwing in to make it all sound better. But now I look at it differently. It’s important to the story and I’m also learning new things all the time!

So, over to you followers! Have you always done things the same or have your writing habits changed through trial and error? Does it all depend on the book you’re writing? Let me know!

 

Help me choose the best blurb!!!

~ ChanAtkins ~ 11 Comments

1) 13 year old Danny is new in town. It’s meant to be a new start, but for Danny and his mother the old problems remain. He’s a troublemaker and she has a habit of attracting the wrong men. With his new misfit friends in tow, Danny vows to scare men away from his mother. Enter Lee Howard. Local nightclub owner. Violent control freak. He is about to become a very painful thorn in Danny’s side… What do you do when your mother is dating a real life monster and no one can see it but you? Spanning the decade that brought us grunge and Britpop, Danny’s struggle is accompanied by an eclectic soundtrack. A powerful coming-of-age story of friendship, love and fighting back.

2) Having moved towns to escape his mother’s ex-boyfriend, Danny vows to keep his beautiful mother single and scare away any potential suitors. He soon makes friends with the local misfits and troublemakers and finds himself on a thrilling musical journey. Everything is as it should be for a teenager; good friends, good music and first love. However, things turn darker when his mother meets local nightclub owner Lee Howard. Howard is a dangerous control freak and there are very few adults who will believe a word Danny says. Who is Lee Howard and what does he ultimately want from Danny?

With his own personal soundtrack in his head, Danny explores the power of music in the decade of Grunge and Britpop. This is a story about music, dreams, first love, the friends who would risk anything to save you, and the choice between escaping or fighting back…

3) ‘Never go anywhere without music. I’m telling you. You never know when you are going to need it.’

England, 1993. Danny is 13 and falling in love with music in the decade of grunge and Britpop. New in town, life seems to be the up when he makes friends and feels the flush of first love. Added to that, is his determination to keep men away from his beautiful single mother. His plans backfire however when local nightclub owner Lee Howard enters his life and wins over his mother. Howard is a dangerous control freak who seems to be addicted to violence.

Told from both Howard and Danny’s point of view, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side is a powerful coming-of-age saga about friendship, music and the choice between escape or fighting back…

4) ‘I was always looking for music that made me shiver. You ever felt that? You know, when the words, or the chords, or the arrangement, something, at some point in a song makes you shiver, makes a tingle run down your spine, makes your hairs stand on end. I lived for that. I hunted it down. When it came it took my breath away and it felt like I was falling… I felt the music beating in my veins and I remembered that I was alive, and that this was a life.’

Set on a council estate in the south of England during the decade that brought us grunge followed by Britpop, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side is a gripping coming-of-age-story. Danny is on a journey of musical discovery and obsession, falling in love for the first time and having the best friends in the world. But he’s also got a problem…his mother is dating a real life monster and no one can see it but him. Lee Howard owns the local nightclub and is a control freak who seems to be addicted to violence. This intense and gritty novel follows the power struggle between Danny and Howard, as each tries to get what they want.

5) ‘I don’t have my headphones on yet, but the music is always in there. I have a constant walking soundtrack to my life you see. There is a song for everything. For every bit of pain, for every bit of joy, for every single moment I can see in bright clarity in my mind, for people’s faces and people’s words and for all the things left unsaid…’

In the decade of grunge and Britpop, 13 year old Danny is a music fan in the making. He is also on a mission to deter unsuitable men from his beautiful single mother. With his best friends behind him, a soundtrack in his head and first love on the horizon, things are looking good. Until local nightclub owner Lee Howard comes on the scene and sweeps Danny’s mother off her feet. Howard is a control freak who seems to be addicted to violence and Danny finds there are very few adults who will believe a word he says. A dark and gripping coming-of-age story about the power of music, first love, the friends who would do anything to save you and the choice between escaping and fighting back.