The craft of writing

 

To paraphrase Emma Darwin, “conscious craft has become intuitive craft” in my own writing.

I noticed when I did my second draft of FRIDAY NIGHT MURDER how often I had filtered the scene through the eyes of my main protagonist. I also noticed how easily I was ripping out the filtering words, without actually thinking about it.

To me this was a sign that I am improving. I also noticed how often I changed -ing endings to -ed endings. I think I even went for direct thought instead of having my chosen character think aloud. Why was he so nervous? Instead of  Jess wondered why he was so nervous.

The third draft suffered more of the same. No doubt one or two examples will have escaped the editing scissors but hey! It is a good step forward, especially since I was doing it without being told to do it or because I’d read an article somewhere.

Kings and Dukes

 

The Peerage is the collective term for peers of the realm. In this case the realm is the United Kingdom of Great Britain. A peer holds a title inherited from a direct ancestor or bestowed upon him by the monarch. The titles are, in ranked order: duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron.

In feudal times, peers were vassals of the monarch. In other words, servants who swore an oath of loyalty in exchange for protection or a fief, usually a bequest of land or money. These barons were periodically summoned to the Counsel or Parliament, which over time morphed into the House of Lords.

These men tied their fortunes to the monarch. Inter-related through blood and marriage in successive generations, their fortunes rose and fell according to the stability of the kingdom and their favour with the Sovereign. In Tudor times many were executed. Henry VIII got rid of almost every noble person with any Plantagenet blood in his veins. He created a new aristocracy from the lesser branches of old families, and from the gentry and knightly classes.

The royal houses of Stuart, Hanover and Windsor have similarly brought new blood and new titles to the peerage. The ranks were further enlarged by the passing of the Life Peerages Act of 1958.

The last three hereditary peerages (excluding royal peerages) were created in 1984, when Harold Macmillan was created Earl of Stockton, and William Whitelaw and George Thomas were created Viscounts. Of these three, only Macmillan had an heir.

England and Scotland had separate peerages until the Act of Union in 1707 The Peerage of Ireland remained separate until 1801, when Great Britain and Ireland were combined under a second Act of Union. Since 1801 the peerage has been styled the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

The establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 did not affect the rights of the hereditary peers of Ireland to their titles, and the Lord Chancellor's Office continues to receive and report on their claims to have their names added to the Roll of the Peerage.

The House of Lords Act in 1999 has greatly reduced the political power of the peerage, but their social influence remains undimmed, and their lives remain a source of interest and speculation to many. And to authors!

Hung up!

 I got into a muddle yesterday over which POV I was writing.

The more I thought about it, the more puzzled I got. So today I am giving myself a brief refresher -

First Person: story is told by "I"

Second Person: a narrator describes the readers' thoughts, words and actions  "You feel your heart race"

Third Person: the story is told from inside the character's head. "she remembered the day"

Third Person Multiple POV. The story is sometimes told from a secondary character's POV as well as the main character.

Omniscient Narrator: As if God tells the story, seeing into every character's deepest motives and thoughts.

Author Intrusion when the author slips personal comments into the scene. Definitely a No-No!

Mixed Viewpoint when first and third POV are both used. Useful in time slip and romance novels.

In all cases, limit information to what the POV character can know. Avoid head-hopping. Give clear signals when changing POV with a physical break or scene break. Name the POV character in the first sentence after the change.

This year so far has been very wet and the result is rampant growth of trees and shrubs. Paths are overgrown and lost, so I thought today's pic was rather appropriate.

Using an alias

 Finally recovered from travelling for two days to get back home.

Journeys that seemed exciting when I was twenty now seem to be

 much less exciting and much more tiring! Especially because 

I'm not doing any driving as I have a uncomfortable habit of 

falling asleep on those long French peages.

Since coming home I've gone back to my writing and am now pondering the big question - do I self publish in my new genre, or should I try the get an agent route?

I just looked at a submission page for a well known agency and  felt  they wanted me to be able to execute many things besides write a good book. Think of a one-line elevator pitch, they said, add a one-page synopsis and name three published books that would stand alongside mine. 

Well, heck, isn't that all part of a PR person's job?

I decided to try my hand at a murder mystery and the second draft is just about complete. I'm also toying with using a different name. Are there pros and cons on this?  My previous books all come under the general header of Romance but there's no romance in this new one. There might be, but not yet.

Swallowed whole

 Still in the clearing up phase of a month in France.

Disappointingly, the weather was not idyllic. Lots of rain.

Soggy fields, some with standing water where they adjoined the stream. Seems weather in France is just as odd as it is in England. It meant we had lots of log fires in the big log burner, and lots of  walks close to the house in case of sudden showers. We did quite a lot of gardening in between said showers, because it was pleasantly warm (in spite of the rain) and there were very few insects to annoy or bite us.

Everything grows at a fantastic rate  over there. There is heat, there is water and what more does a plant need to succeed? The soil is maybe stony and limestone in the Dordogne but that doesn't seem to matter.

We had some adventures with the local wildlife. Because the mill is set in the middle of rural fields and woods, there is a resident mouse population just waiting for the opportunity to break in. While the mill has been closed for quite a while, they had seized their opportunity - no doubt to get out of the rain!

One mouse was asleep in the wrapped up duvet in the cupboard and tumbled out when we unrolled it. Unfortunately for him, our dog leapt on it and we are not sure if she didn't swallow it whole. We found two more tucked up in the depths of the sofa, and this time they shot off at the speed of light in opposite directions, which confused Nala for long enough to make their escape. After that initial "contact" they never came back - that I know of! One was found floating in the pool the day after it was opened for the summer, so I guess there is now one lonely little mouse wandering around all alone. 

We had a fox in the garden that I never saw but Bill got a photograph of it in the middle of the field in the middle of the day. I did see the red squirrel bounding across from tree to tree. The coypu had  junior running alongside and since Bill did the early morning walks he saw a couple of deer.

Big Moments

 I research writing a lot, and I make notes.

I often combine several "experts" into one set of notes on a particular topic, so that if I want to mention such things here, I can't always quote an exact reference.

A case in point is "Cut the Sagging Middle."

This has been written about time and again, but what I gleaned from my research is that in a novel of 70k words, page points 70, 140 and 210 are IMPORTANT.

Now I must confess I never calculated how I was doing page wise but I was aware I should have big emotional moments. I just didn't care too much about where they appeared!

They should include turning points in the hero and heroine's story. (You can tell I was writing historical romance at the time) They should also have a Black Moment and work hard as they struggle to get through the BM to a HEA ending.

Mystery v historical romance

 I recently finished  my first attempt at a murder mystery. 

I have to say it was far harder than writing historical romances.

Perhaps "harder" is the wrong word, for the focus is so very different. In the romance the research is all on costume and period features and once you've got that  in mind you are free to go and write the romance.

In a murder mystery I kept getting my cart before my horse, finding I'd repeated some clue more than once or worse still, missed one out! If and when I do another mystery, I shall be far more involved in the planning stage than I was this time. Truth be told I didn't really know where I was going when I set out. Now that may work out fine for the romance, but it doesn't do for a mystery story.

Lesson learned!