Writing Course

Notebooks and prompts

 I am a third of the way through the writing course I signed up to through Indie Novella. Maybe you want to know how it's going?

Apart from the overwhelming notifications I get in my Inbox, the course has made me re-think the novella I am currently editing. It seems everyone is submitting work already written or in the process of being written, so I'm not alone. The first week we submitted the opening of our work. This made me look at mine again after the tutorial to make sure I had covered the basics - introducing the main character, their setting, voice, while jumping into the action/conflict. I re-worked my opening and posted it to the forum. There are thirty people in my group, and I can't possibly read and comment on everything, but I do try to do as many as I feel able. I had good feedback on my opening, which pleased me. Every week (this is a nine week course), a tutor picks two people from each group (there are three), and gives feedback on their work. I think this way she hopes to cover everyone once over the nine weeks. 

Week two was the hard one for me as we had to write a III Act plot/structure. I'm a pantser, not a plotter, but at least this was something I had already written (except I am writing a new ending), so I kept the whole thing brief, whereas some others wrote a lot! Again I had a good response, though someone pointed out that I should maybe move one bit to the next. However, it's in the right order, and that is the main thing. It has made me think more about structure in the future. I could certainly do with help in that regard!

This week we are looking at viewpoint. We have to take our WIP and write the opening from a different viewpoint. Mine is in first person, so I've switched it to third. I don't like it because the impact isn't as great. I feel first person is right for this so the reader feels what the character feels as everything goes on around him. I've also written in the present tense. Third person took me away from the character and what he felt. I know third person sees more, but I couldn't go with it. My heart wasn't in it,  maybe because I'm set on first person now. I won't be changing.

I use different viewpoints in my writing. Sometimes I write third person, sometimes first. Often I write multiple characters in third person. Second person is unusual, and not often used because it is hard to sustain and can get repetitively boring. It's used more for short stories. Iain Banks used second person for one character in one of his books. This person had small sections spread out throughout the novel. This worked really well. I once submitted a flash in second person as an experiment, but the feedback I got was negative towards that viewpoint. I still thought it worked, but I changed it and am still waiting to get that flash published. Once you believe in something it's worth pursuing it, and I've submitted it quite a few times now.

The course thankfully doesn't take up too much time. The link arrives every Tuesday by email, and then there is an article with videos before the writing exercise of the week which has to be submitted by Sunday.

Then yesterday I had a panic as I received an email from the holiday company I'm taking my writing and walking holiday with. If I want feedback from the tutor, I had to submit no more than 1000 words for feedback. I vaguely remember something about this when I booked (way back last year), and now suddenly the holiday is two and half weeks away and the deadline for submission is Monday. So, I dealt with that last night and have sent off just over 800 words for my one-to-one during my holiday.

Finally, last Saturday I spent lunchtime and afternoon at a friend's house and we had writing sessions. This friend writes poetry much different to mine, but she wanted to have a go at some of the word prompts I use for writing. So we ended up writing one minute timed sessions with word prompts, poetry using five random words, one short story and a flash. Some things had no prompts! Wild, eh? I loved my friend's short story. It was full of wonderful description, and I felt I was there with this man she was writing about. I think she surprised herself, and now she is keen to do it all over again.

I am looking forward to my holiday and meeting others who write or want to have a go for the first time. There will be plenty of free time, and I'm looking forward to that too. Time to wander and see things, or if the weather isn't great, I can write or read.

I have added a new link to the side of this blog for all you poets. Robin Houghton has a sign-up for her spreadsheet of publications waiting for your work. She lists when windows are open (if known), links to their websites and any other information that might be available. She also sends a monthly email with windows about to close and those opening. It's well worth signing up to. I use it a lot, and have had successes using it too! Best thing I ever signed up for.