The devil in the details

The helicopter is down. The good guys are trapped like rats. Surely nothing can save them now…

Yes, it’s exciting times on Breathing Fire. I’m finally sneaking up on the second climax after what seems like months of work getting from the pre-climax the small matter of a few hundred yards to here. Now I just need to remember things like how many horsemen I had in a scene right at the beginning, and have I forgotten to include the witch, and what are the names of the policemen anyway?

Yep, it’s another instalment of ‘I really wish I’d made better notes as I went along’. Feel free to play along at home.

Don’t know about you, but this time I’m feeling like there’s so much information to retain for the grand finale. It’s most likely a consequence of the sheer length of time I’ve spent on this draft, plus the, er, streamlining of my writing technique. When I was young and innocent I used to keep a spreadsheet recording every scene: whose POV it was from, important beats, time of day and the like. It also became a useful dumping ground for ideas as yet undescribed – things to insert somewhere in the future and important things to unforget.

I haven’t done one for this novel, and I’m really not sure why. Maybe I thought that my ‘outline’, such as it is, would cover all that sort of stuff. Turns out that it doesn’t. Whodathunkit? I think, though, I simply forgot to do it. Maybe I’ll create one for the second draft – all the better for shifting lazy bits of plot around and eradicating holes. I doubt it, though, because the laziest thing around here is me.

As an editor I’ve seen manuscripts in various stages of completeness. Some drafts – I’m not sure how many passes or pairs of eyes have been over them, but by the time they reach me they’re just about ready to publish. Others… aren’t. So I’m never sure whether agents – theoretically the first ‘professional’ eyes to cast over the manuscript – are expecting perfection or a rough work-in-progress.

Anyhoo, Breathing Fire is at present very much a first draft. There’s always the temptation, borne of excitement, no doubt, to go spread the glory far and wide, or at least to beta-readers. As with diets and religions, all temptations must be shunned. Unless you want people to comment on your clunky prose and plot-holes by the dozen, I’d give your beautiful WIP at least a second pass before unleashing it upon the wider world.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I suppose it’s worth finishing the first draft before even entertaining thoughts of a second.

Insert witty title here

This social media thing: it’s a pain, ain’t it?

 

Who’d have thought that something designed to be fun could lay so much pressure on us? To be out there, on display, our words measured and evaluated and pored-over, each one allowing a (false?) insight into our personalities.

 

Once we’re past the arrogance of the teenage years there’s no certainty anymore. Everything is perspective, point-of-view. Almost everything we think could potentially cause offence to someone. Or could just be weak: the jokes, the witticisms that sound so strong in our heads can be as nothing on the page. No-one can see the crooked smile of irony on your lips. Subtlety needs space to express itself. Understatement needs to breathe. It’s a whole lot easier to be angry than balanced in 140 characters.

 

Every time I go to post on Twitter (@RobinTriggs, by the way) I get a sort of mental block. Is what I’m about to say witty? Does it give people any new information? Am I just coming across as a dick? But I have to post something; I’m trying to promote myself, for heaven’s sake. I’m only hurting myself if I let my account lapse.

 

As an aside, one of my favourite authors has recently started following me. Unfortunately, whilst I love his work, he’s not coming across as someone… shall we say ‘politically compatible’? Another problem with social media. There’s the risk of alienating as many people as you impress. And that shouldn’t really matter – you (by which I really mean me) should have the courage of your convictions. If only this wasn’t a PR-driven world.

 

Anyhoo, whilst I can happily slip into the world of my novel and get a thousand or two words down without breaking metaphorical sweat, I struggle immensely with Twitter – and, to a lesser extent, this blog. It’s my own fault for being disorganised. I should be carrying a notebook around with me at all times, ready to record any of my many ‘ooh, I should write about that’ moments. Indeed, that’s one of the most commonly repeated pieces of advice you read about writing: always have notebook and pen wherever you go.  Maybe that’s why I’m still unpublished.

 

I don’t know if there are any statistics to tell us the number of lapsed Twitter accounts vs active ones. I don’t know how many blogs have been abandoned after a lively start. I’m guessing it’s a hell of a lot. It’s kind of ironic that authors should be amongst the most guilty of this. Neil Gaiman is, of course, the exception. But a quick look around the web will show you that the pressure of deadlines, of being so caught up in the professional life of words, causes professional authors more than others to give up on their blogging ambitions.

 

Which means the best place to keep up with the world of words is Twitter. And that’s a very mixed blessing.

 

*          *          *

 

I’ve said before that I don’t make extensive notes before starting on a project: I like to have a start and an end-point, and then work ‘twixt the two, feeling the way with my toes as I inch forwards. I prefer to roll things around in my subconscious rather than scribbling extensive lists and maps and diagrams.

 

These things can be very handy, though. I will, before I start, sit down in a coffee shop and jot down a few important facts about the world I’m creating; and by world I mean the environment in which the story’s set, not necessarily about an actual world. I’m talking names, jobs, relationships; that sort of thing. A very brief (and certain to be altered) cast list. For example, my first(ish) task with Night Shift was to make a list of what jobs would be needed – what roles there were to be filled – in a mining base in Antarctica. Only once that information was down on paper could I try to ‘hire’ people to fill them.

 

But once I’d actually started the story I barely even glanced at these notes. Once the characters were introduced I found I didn’t need them. My characters can tell their own stories a lot better than I can.

 

Things change, of course. After about four drafts of NS I realised that the story was sagging a little about two-thirds through. The solution? Graft in another character. Completely unplanned – a failure, you could say, in my original technique. It did the job, though. After all, nothing is ever perfect first time around. Persistence, a mind open to suggestion and criticism and the strength – the resilience, the stubbornness – to keep moving when you know that rejections will be flying around you: those are the key skills needed by the author these days.

 

*          *          *

 

SITREP: just easing up to 50,000 words of my first draft of New Gods. I reckon that means I’m about 3/5 of the way through. Happy days! I bloody love writing, I do.

 

Hope whatever gives you joy is an active part of your life.