November 25, 2016 @ 3:59 AM
It's the digital age – why bother with a notebook...?
It's true that the computer age has changed – probably forever – the way many writers go about our business. The iPad has quite transformed my working life.
But for all that, I still keep a little red-and-black notebook with me, to jot down any stray ideas, observations, research notes, names, phone numbers and appointments that come along in the course of the day. Usually I have a separate notebook, or set of them, for every project, each book numbered and dated, and kept with the manuscript and file papers. Very useful when checking back at the rewrite stage ... and even more so when revising proofs.
Those scribbled ideas will often clarify, with the .........
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November 18, 2016 @ 1:58 AM
Writing Tips from a professional author...
Somebody asked the other day what I do with all those files and folders I set up on the shelf in readiness for the new book? Isn't it more bureaucratic than creative?
Maybe. But as my stories are mostly based on real people and events, I find the method helps enormously to sort ideas and the historical research into their proper literary sequence.
I use two systems. The first is a set of large ring binders into which I put all the material relating to specific sections of the book.
With the convict story I'll have a separate binder on his youth in England and trial; another on the voyage to Australia and his convict years; a third on his life after he got his ticket-of-leave.........
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November 11, 2016 @ 4:03 AM
Writing Tips from a professional author...
How many people still write books with pens, I wonder? Clearing out the stationery cupboard as part of my cleaning obsession before the new project, I found boxes of ball point pens and sharpened pencils ... to say nothing of expensive fountain pens, bottles of ink, and even an old-fashioned scratchy school pen with dip-in nib.
There was a time when I wrote all my literary work in longhand ... black ink on a white page. Something magical seemed to happen between the brain and the tip of the finger holding the pen, that didn't happen with a keyboard. Only the second draft was transferred to the typewriter or computer.
It's been years since I gave up that idea, and ever since '.........
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November 4, 2016 @ 8:00 AM
Writing Tips from a professional author...
A big day in the life of a book...
Today I cleared a space on the study bookshelf and set up the working folders, basic research papers, materials and reference books for the new work I'll be starting soon.
It's a convict story, and I've put it off for ten years to concentrate on other projects. Now it's his turn.
Actually I've spent the past week cleaning and tidying and putting old manuscripts and research files away.
It's always a good sign. I call it nest-building ... a pretty good indication that a new book is beginning to grow inside.
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