Books mentioned: The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin, and The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne, by Jonathan Stroud.

Sound for the 15 minutes: rain on the woodshed, by the pied wagtail nest.

This is the last episode of this season. I’ll be taking a break from recording for the summer, but still writing (I hope). If you’re listening on a podcast app, please subscribe so that you don’t miss the next season. It would also be lovely if you could leave a review. Thank you!

Sound for the 15 minutes: what I can hear out of my studio window, including tree sparrows, a whitethroat, plenty of rooks, an oystercatcher and the gamekeeper’s dogs barking (in the distance).

Books mentioned: Rivers of London, by Ben Aaronovitch; This is How You Lose the Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, and Wolf Hollow, by Lauren Wolk.

Sound for the 15 minutes: the six pied wagtail nestlings in my woodshed (now successfully fledged), and their parents.

Books mentioned: The Science of Storytelling, by Will Storr, and Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder (there are specific versions of this book for novel-writing, but I’ve only read the screen-writing one because that’s what’s in the library).

Sound for the 15 minutes: wind in the cherry trees with background cuckoo and lambs.

Books mentioned: Northern Lights by Philip Pullman; and The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock.

Book mentioned (that I haven’t already mentioned): The Strange Disappearance of Imogen Good, by Kirsty Applebaum.

Link to the list of romance tropes I used: https://jerichowriters.com/20-powerful-romance-tropes-and-how-to-make-them-original/

Sound for the 15 minutes: breeze in the cherry trees, with background curlew.

Books mentioned: The Bone Clocks, by David Mitchell; The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger; and The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett.

Sound for the 15 minutes: wind in the cherry trees, with background cuckoo, sheep and farm traffic.

Podcast mentioned: Making Trouble with Molly Naylor: The Trouble with Time, featuring Ian McMillan.

Sound for the 15 minutes: evening garden noises, including a male pheasant strutting about cooing to himself (and some louder noises when he calls - don’t be alarmed).

Book mentioned: The Magicians of Caprona, by Diana Wynne Jones.

Podcast mentioned: Death of 1000 Cuts, hosted by Tim Clare.

Sound for the 15 minutes: the burn (stream) beside my studio.

Books mentioned: The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters, and The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker.

Sound for the 15 minutes: noises from the garden (including common gulls, sheep, and farm traffic).

What’s Helping Me Write Now

8. 1 Prep work. Doing preparatory exercises (which isn’t hard in itself because there are no real stakes to any individual exercise, therefore no real fear of failure, therefore no avoidance) has helped the actual writing feel easier.

   I wrote my first draft of my first novel through ‘discovery.’ I began with a single scene I found intriguing, and then did lots of freewriting to discover new ideas - and even just phrases - that I pieced together to form a story. The result was a lyrical, atmospheric work that made not much sense to anyone except me. The second and third drafts were spent imposing sense, conflict and character arcs. But that was such a frustrating old business that I had to use all kinds of tricks to force myself to my desk (see parts I and II of this series).

   Subscribe now

   Perhaps I’ll look back on this essay in a year and laugh, but I’m hopeful that by doing more prep work this time around, I’ve smoothed the writing process for myself a little. I found Becca Day’s webinar for Jericho Writers “From Spark to Story” especially helpful. In it, Becca runs through lots of exercises to work up an idea into the bones of a story. I did these exercises conscientiously, twice. And then I filled another three notebooks with lists, test pieces, character studies, research notes, questions and, importantly, answers. It means that this time around, I have more waypoints in my plot to navigate towards, and also that I’m more easily able to assume my characters’ voices because I’m starting with a stronger sense of who they are.

   It’s hard to type with my fingers crossed, but I’m going to risk saying that writing the first 20,000 words of my (very rough) first draft has felt relatively straightforward, which means I haven’t had to psych myself into writing.

   

9. Ink. Ink is helping me write in two ways:

   1. Writing with a pen on paper, my clunky wrong sentences aren’t glaring backlit on a screen, followed by a little blinking cursor inviting me to delete them. They’re just sitting there quietly - practically indecipherably - letting me get on with writing more sentences. I’m experimenting with voice typing to transfer my notebook writing onto the computer. It’s a bit fiddly, with lots of corrections required, but I think it might be a good thing to read my work aloud early on in the process (I always do it later anyway).

   2. My cousin gave me a fountain pen to which I have become very attached. I had to buy another one exactly like it when I lost it. (It wasn’t lost; it was by the woodshed.2) I also have a lovely collection of little bottles of Diamine ink. The prospect of being able to refill my fountain pen with a new colour incites me to keep on using up ink (by writing, obviously).

10. Running. I don’t run very far or very fast, but I do try to get out of the house most days. Taking time away from my desk imposes more urgency on the time at my desk. It also allows me to approach my writing with fewer headaches. And motivating myself to do something that doesn’t always feel good at the time, but which helps me feel more virtuous and less time-frittery afterwards, is excellent practice for motivating myself to write.

Those Links I Mentioned:

In this episode, I talk briefly about what needs to happen in acts I and II of a novel in the three-act structure, and spend a little time figuring out what to do with my 15 minutes. This episode is especially for you if you know you’d like to do some kind of creative work today, but haven’t quite figured out what.

Sound for the 15 minutes of focusing time: the stream beside my studio.

Sound for the 15 minutes: wind in the trees, with common gulls, oystercatchers, linnets and chaffinches.

Sound for the 15 minutes: birds in the breeze in the cherry tree (mostly linnets and chaffinches, I think).

Books mentioned: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman, and The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington.

Sound in this episode: Sound in this episode: wind and birds in the beech hedge, including coal tits, a very assertive tree sparrow, and some passing jackdaws.

Book mentioned: The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr.

Sound for the 15 minutes: birds in the cherry tree.

People and things mentioned:

Charlotte Durance, and her play sketchbook.

Poetry Unbound, with Pádraig Ó Tuama.

Maria Dahvana Headley’s translation of Beowulf.

Sound for the 15 minutes: the burn under the bridge. You may also hear a dipper (the UK’s only aquatic songbird!).

Sound for the 15 minutes: SUNSHINE!! (Wind and birds in the branches.)

Share

Sound: the wind in the trees, with very occasional bird noises.

Book mentioned: Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge.

Share Drawing from the Inkwell

I talk for a little under three minutes at the beginning of this episode, so please be prepared to be prepared to do your creative work. A longer summing-up, though, so you can look forward to a break during that.

Book mentioned: How to be Both by Ali Smith.

Sound: more water, of course.