Journey’s twist.

Well, it’s been an interesting time this end of the woods since I last wrote.

I’ve continued researching for the novel in what spare time I had and progressing an ambition of mine in songwriting.

With the family coming to terms with a new arrival in March 2008  (Kayleigh) taking us to three children, life couldn’t of been rosier to be honest. 

Yes… sleepless nights were hard and the routine of family life exhausting at times with work around that, we were getting there.

Paula had struggled with a blocked milk duct for about a 3-4 weeks at the time, and with the discovery of the lump under the arm on a Sunday, we were at the Doctors door early on the Monday morning hoping it wasn’t anything serious.  To be honest, it was thought to be a cyst because of a blocked milk duct and the fact we’d just removed a blockage from the other breast not 2 months earlier, it seemed probable (and yes, they feel exactly the same).

An ultrasound was done and with something not quite right, a Mammogram was done followed by a biopsy all on the same day.  Doctors had said they were pretty sure it was Breast Cancer and expect the biopsy's to come back positive.

So come the 5th January 2009 after test were done, it was confirmed Paula had Breast Cancer and it was not good in terms of how advanced it was.  Risks were very high.  It was potentially a 8+ centimetre tumour (by physical examination), multiple Lymph nodes infected under the left arm and potentially cancer across the collarbone as there was a 1 centimetre Lymph node at the base of the neck that could be felt.

With that news, we went into shock and felt utter devastation as you would imagine.   To be honest, that started way before when the tests were done and the were 99.9% sure (given they have the experience, 100%) is was cancer.

For those in the wilderness of the Internet who take the time to read these entries, I hope you gain an understanding of what Breast Cancer does to a family and what journey through the NHS process is like.  I hope you gain an appreciation from a Husbands point of view who has two very different roles as a Father and devoted Husband.

I’ll be attempting to recall this journey up to the present day in the next few updates and will continue blogging as our fate lays itself down before us.

Plot Summary or DIE?

Just how easy is it to write a plot summary.  With a blank piece of paper and little knowledge about your story, DAMN HARD, for me anyway.

There are ways around this I've discovered and you can do it with limited knowledge / progress on  your story or Characters.

How you ask?  Well... no doubt you have started to ask yourself questions about your story, your characters and  that single idea that started you on the journey in the first place.

Take a time out and searching the Internet for Plot Summaries from other movies.  They may be a similar / same genre or from a totally different background but the important thing is to read them, get an idea of the structure and print them (or copy them to a single document) so you can refer to them for creating your own.  I found saving the summaries into a single MS Word document helped but that's just me.  Can't use a pen if I tried.

NOW, taking your one or two characters and what you think your story is about, use each of the plot summaries and weave your story into each of them.

I recommend 3 - 4 as a starter.  Don't dwell on how perfect it is, this is a rough and ready output that helps you to draft something to

1. Stimulate thought on your story and Characters
2. See your characters woven into a story
3. Help structure your plot summary.

Rough and Ready?  It might take an hour, maybe three.

Now, taking your summaries, draft a single Plot Summary that incorporates what you like and have learned from the 3 - 4 you have done that bring out your story.  Spend time perfecting the phrases you use, the character that stands out as the lead and where it takes you.  Remember, the key is to make it your own so don't try and duplicate, you innovate.

Does it work?  Well, it helped me realise I was going down the wrong path.  Who I thought I was developing as the lead turned out to be a support Character.  Go figure...

Maybe try a few of your characters as the lead and see where it takes them and your thoughts on your story.

Enjoy it and hope this works for you.

Poetry

I was introduced to poetry back in 1998 by a lovely lady called Elizabeth Laughton.  We were working at the same company in Sydney and Elizabeth shared a few poems she had written about her boyfriend.  I was just blown away by the power of her words and just got poetry right there and then.  Before that, I was absolutely lost with it.

From that moment I remember fighting with words until the early hours of the next morning so I could present my first ever attempt at poetry.

I haven't really stopped from that day although time between writing can be hours, days or even years for me.

The following two poems date back to Sept 2005.

WARM TOUCH

An attraction exists, none to compare, your mind as spirited as the wind;
The enticing smile, the desirable wit, mystery shrouds the air.

Your softness exposed, temptation develops, your essence absorbed with no end;
The inviting tones, your alluring beauty, your desires infuse my air.

A depth of character, a welcoming smile, temptation knows no bounds;
To control oneself pains the heart, your discreet touch, sinfully withheld.

© Jason Williams 2005

A little perspective if you would like to know what it represents.  This took about an two hours to pull together and was quite pleased if I'm honest.

Perspective: Written as the person who is attracted to someone to expose their beauty everyone sees except her.  This captures provoking thoughts on an individual who underestimates themselves.

I've tried to emphasise her character and inner spirit while maintaining the desire created by her just walking by and me missing the accidental touch or graze of her hand.  To feel her warmth as it were.

 

The very next day and on the same subject, I created another which was to highlight inner desires.  80% of what you read below is what I didn't use in the first poem the previous day.

SOMETHING SPECIAL

My infatuation the drug with your love as the cure;
The resultant dose the fix, an absolute for evermore.

Your pinnacle so high with the passage so long;
An exhaustive journey to your heart, better tasted than gone.

To live is to yearn, is to dream is to caress;
Your lust will suffice but your touch eternally missed.

© Jason Williams 2005

With poetry, trying to find a subject is the most difficult thing I think.  When I do, I have a major burst of creative output.  I just can't stop and when your thoughts flow freely, you feel like nothing can stop you. 

A great feeling I must say.  Just a shame it doesn't happen more often :)

There's a method to madness in Writing

Since I'd never written a novel before, I needed all the help I could find to progress the idea into a story and flesh it further out to a complete novel.  I searched high and low for ideas on how to approach this and had many questions. 

1. Do you just write what comes to mind and wing it?
2. Is there planning you can do to help you through the creative process and write chapter by chapter
3. What is planning when it comes to writing?
4. What structure is there to a story?
5. Are there different ways of approach writing a novel.
6. Terminology is drowning me, Help!
7. Arrrgh, my head hurts!

My first port of call was to download software available as demo's on the Internet related to writing novels, screenplays and other formats.  I searched on Google and found Story View,  Dramatica and various others software packages.  I thought by using these products it would help establish the structure of my story and to come to terms with the terminology used.

I found Dramatica could do this but was over the top for me as a novice writer but the up side was it gave me more keywords to search for.

Story View is a different product to Dramatica, is simpler to use and helped with structuring my thoughts into a logical order quickly.  I still needed more to help me put pen to paper though. 

I couldn't sort out a plot and how to weave this throughout a story let alone my own.   I didn't feel I could create characters yet as all I had was an idea.  This is not to say I couldn't, but I didn't have a complete picture of the story and how I was going to tell it so couldn't establish what character types would help me achieve this.

I'd found editor websites with many topics which were good reading and one key phrase which stood out was "First Draft".  It was marked as a first milestone to celebrate as an author when writing a novel.

Questions flooded my mined:

Just what was a First Draft?  Was it a complete story that was perfectly written, had all the detail, correct grammer?  Just what was it?

Turning to Google, I found www.essortment.com.  The content covered many topics but of interest was posts on Stories and Books.

So... I discovered that what I should have been looking for was Writing Technique and the site had great posts on writing a better novel covering three stages and describes what you are doing at each stage.

1. First Draft

2. Second Draft

3. Final Draft

It looks quite obvious doesn't it but I didn't know what was involved to get to a first draft let alone consider completing a second draft or finalising a manuscript.

The posts are well worth a read for someone starting out in writing.

It was interesting that the first draft is seriously underdeveloped as a story and at each stage you are concentrating on specific aspects your stories development. 

Also from www.essortment.com I found a post on writing longer fiction and from it found ideas to outline the story even more and interweave more related subjects.

So... taking everything into consideration with the best interests of the novel at heart, I have diverted my attention from writing the novel to outlining my story in Story View to simplify the process of writing the novel and coming up with a number of potential subjects to weave in as I go.

Well... I say divert.  I'm sure I'll write snippets as they come to mind.  I just can't help myself.

Opening your eyes...

This is a book I couldn't put down.  It gave a great perspective on the universe and beyond in a way that's easy to consume and opens your eyes to just how insignificant we are in the vastness of time.

Are we unique?  Who knows but the probability of there being no other in such a vast space seems unlikely.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson Read more about this book...

Really enjoyed the read and was desperate for more.

Turmoil as the ideas flow

This writing thing is quite interesting.  I know this might be stating the obvious but it's the same as writing a poem, a song or the creative process you go through to write the music for the song.

You hit a wrong note that just sounds great and all of a sudden you're off in a new direction.  Your fingers just can't stop.

My idea for the story was simple but developing more around it proved difficult.  Just when you have your potential start and end points, you don't have an instrument that unfolds it to the reader.

I'm finding that although my idea was slightly developed, there are key moments when inspiration clicks and allows you to move the story forward, be it right or wrong.

I'm sure this will change again but it was just an interesting insight to the world of writing a novel I wanted to share. I wasn't expecting it to be so close to writing music.

So, I have an instrument that will allow me to unfold my story to the reader that's clear in my mind (as it can be).

The good news is Everest doesn't look that frightening now.  My experience with music shows me that the cyclic nature of creating means :- you may think you known where you're going but where you end up is usually somewhere different.  Just follow what sounds good to get you to the elusive first draft.

Does this mean I'll get a completed first draft?  Who knows but I'm up for the adventure.

Starting at the begining

And for the new writer out there, where the hell is that? What I'm discovering in researching my topic is the endless cycle of the three i's as I call them. The vortex of ideas, information and imagination overwelming you in every direction. It feels like you have Everest in front of you.

Anyway, with the research started and ideas gathering momentum, at least I've started.