How to start writing

Series 1.3 - How to start writing

Now that I have found my writing network, am actively engaging with their ideas and even sharing some of my thoughts, I'm ready to begin writing. I have read many times from the likes of Steven Pressfield, Stephen King, Dani Shapiro and Stewart Ferris that the blank page" is the most foreboding part of writing, once you begin it's all free flow from there because you get into what's dubbed as "The Zone." However, you have to begin ....

Bloggers of all ages and backgrounds in writing have also expressed the same sentiment, everything from the challenges of facing the blank screen, to Jeff Goins, one of the most prolific bloggers on writing, who says that a writer must begin with conflict - 'without conflict, you don't have a story." Within these groups I've found endless support for writers, everything from the proverbial pat on the back to writing workshops and free Skype sessions if I would like to talk to other writers whilst being guided by an already published writer.

If it were not for these writers eloquently sharing their ideas I don't think I would have progressed to this stage (the beginning writing phase), as they all illustrated their humanness by sharing their own struggles to begin writing, everything from the very early stages, where one contemplates writing a novel, and is plagued by fears and uncertainty, with the odd am I mad or bad for wanting to go this way. However, as many of you will have also realised, there is no choice because we have to do what we do best, it is a part of us, just as it is for some to play sport, build houses, explore the world, anything that they feel drawn to do they have to do.

A really good quote I have beside my bed says do not live the life that other's want you to live because they do not have to live with the consequences (author unknown). As a parent I've been very mindful of this advice with my two sons, careful not to make them feel compelled to follow a path that is not in accordance with who they are, hence one is studying film and television and working on this own YouTube channel and the other also has a YouTube channel but is also a comedian, and is about to start an acting course as he wants his videos to make people laugh. I can see how they both love what they do and do not see it as work, more like an extension of themselves.

I detracted but another thing the writers have shared with me is the harshness of the "white, blank page" that does not provide any hints on how to begin, and can cause immense existential angst, yikes! Nevertheless, when they fight their inner demons and let themselves be guided by their "muse" they begin writing and all their ideas flow from there, much like writing this post on a Saturday morning. I opened up a new page, looked at it for a moment, did not experience the angst but I'm guessing it is because I already knew what I was going to write and the task was nowhere near as challenging, it's just a 500 word post rather than a 60,000 word or more magnum opus.

I'm thinking of writing only 16,000 to 20,000 words as the novel I'm intending on writing is for both children and adults, a combination of ideas from The Lion King, Braveheart, and The Never Ending Story. When I say ideas I mean really broadly defined. King, in On Writing, gives the advice to not worry about plotting out your story as it can ruin its magic and prevent other powerful ideas from coming in. I think his advice is most sage and have therefore decided to just begin at the beginning, where a girl's father returns from military service, only to have him and her family whisked away, finding herself trying to survive and accompanied by a cat.

Joining a writing network

Series 1.2 - Joining a writing network

Once upon a time I wanted to complete a Creative Writing degree as I believed that I needed to be taught the knowledge and skills on how to write a novel in a formal setting, amongst a community of established writers with formal writing degrees. As my knowledge of novelists, and how they acquired their skills began to evolve, many not even having a formal degree, I began to realise that a formalised setting was not essential. What was necessary was active collaboration with a community of practitioners, all who were learning and sharing their experiences of not only how to write effectively but also how to navigate through the challenges of writing.

   by  Walt Stoneburner 

To find that community of writers I first had to establish what type of writer I was, as within the writing community there are so many different writing communities. I have realised, and this is mostly due to the novels I read, and the short stories that I have constructed in the past that I am a realist writer (with all the ambiguities that the genre entails) that likes to incorporate fantastical elements into my writing. Sounds like an oxymoron but I find that fantasy and even science fiction tend to illustrate powerful ideas about life and human nature often better than realist fiction. I also believe that including fantastical elements, such as talking animals (anthropomorphism) is an effective technique for illustrating fundamental human truths. It is our relationships to animals, or other species, that allow us to be who we are. My toy poodle Sirius Black, seal-point ragdoll Jasmyne and tabby Persian Thorin reveal this to me every day. If they could talk they would no doubt be full of insight.

What does one do when they want to join a community of writer bloggers? Well, of course he or she types into Google "best writing blogs." This is what I did. I decided I was going to check out each blog and if I liked them, particularly if they included authors that wrote novels that I was interested in, I copied and pasted their url into my blogger feed and began reading whichever posts I thought were important for the beginning of my journey. As I began reading blog posts I began to frequent some blogger posts more than others and found the writers that I identified with the most. They provide not only fruitful advice on how to begin writing but also information on how to publish one's novel and become active within the community of writers.

Now that I have found my community of writers I need to begin the writer process but how does one go about it. Do I just begin typing, like I have in the past with short stories? Or does one outline the plot first, something that I do have a rough idea of but have not plotted anything substantial. Or does one do character outlines, and work from there? These are my thoughts as I begin writing my first novel.

A Writer's research routine

Series 1.1 - Beginning Writing

What I have realised is important for anyone about to write a novel is having a PKM routine. What is a PKM routine you ask? In a previous blog I wrote about how a writer, or anyone who is regularly blogging about something they love, will need to have achieved Personal Knowledge Mastery. In order to achieve this mastery they would need to have a routine, albeit an evolving one, but nevertheless a routine that enables them to research, keep track of their research and organise their ideas.

If you're anything like me you may read about how others go about organising their writing day and establishing some kind of routine but you will always modify and adapt the suggestions to suit what works for you. This is why your PKM routine will be unique, it will be personalised to suit your lifestyle and will be something that will be realistic for you.

In the table below I have used Jarche's framework of: Seek > Sense > Share to illustrate my current PKM blogging and writing routine. I do have my preferred tools but occasionally, and due to irresistible curiosity, I will venture off and use other tools, particularly if I think they are better. However, this is how it looks at the moment.

Annelise's PKM routine

PKM	PROCESS	TOOLS AND STRATEGIES
SEEK	Search for information and for valued members of knowledge networks	·         Feedly ·         Chrome bookmarks ·         Google+ ·         Facebook ·         Reddit
SENSE	Reflect on and put into practice what I am learning	·         Write posts on my blog ·         Use Diigo and Mendeley to make notes and categorise the information ·         Write my novel
SHARE	Exchange resources, ideas and experiences with my networks	·         Blog ·         Google+ ·         Diigo ·         Mendeley

As you can see from the above table I use Feedly as my aggregator for my preferred blogs and newsfeeds. I get most of my news from Facebook, Reddit, and, of course, friends and family. I avoid watching television and occasionally may listen to the radio in the car, but only when I don't have my phone to listen to Audible or Youtube. I, like Jarche, carefully select who I follow, as I am only interested in following those who share the insights, observations and commentary that will help me grow, or at least, keep me entertained. I also bookmark websites into particular categories using Chrome. Only within the last month have I shifted most of my focus on this blog. 

It is through the blogging medium that I intend to share with my fellow bloggers or anyone who stops by. I see this blog as my online journal that records my ideas and something that will continually evolve. It will also hold me accountable, something that my paper journal never did. :)

What is your PKM routine? Do you have a writing routine?

Who should write a novel?

Series 1 - Beginning Writing

To begin my adventure into writing my first novel I will explore why beginning to write your own novel poses such a challenge and how I navigated my way through the abyss of "everybody wants to be a writer" and "only very few (almost microscopic) will ever achieve any success." This is a question that has been one of my most fundamental challenges throughout my life. In the end I realised that regardless of what happens I will write because that is what I love to do. 

I have always thought that writing a novel was something that only the privileged or the really talented could do, and only because they had began writing stories throughout their childhood or teenage years. Writers that I particularly admire seem to fulfil this stereotype, such as George Orwell, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Roald Dahl, George R. R. Martin, Mario Puzo and J. K. Rowling, to name just a few. They all wrote for many years, usually beginning in their adolescent years and only becoming successful after at least a decade or two.

I'm sure you have heard of these stories as there is definitely no shortage of the narrative. However, that is just it. It is a narrative that had been popularised in our schooling, where we would learn about great authors, almost like child prodigies, who would go on to become successful writers only after many, many years of writing. What these narratives failed to illustrate was how many authors achieved success later on in their lives and that the key to writing successfully for all authors is the fact that they loved or love what they do. I learnt that it is only when you love the craft of writing that you will persevere with the art.

It was a relief to begin reading and listening to Steven Pressfield, author of the War of Art, who said, "[u]nlike many writers that [we] hear about, [he] did not know he was going to be a writer until well into his later years." He had always loved literature but he did not recognise it as his calling. I fall into this latter camp. After finishing schooling I entered the working world and became a young mother. My world would be my sons for many years, where I would, however, read prolifically, a combination of fiction and non-fiction. What I did notice throughout this time was how much I was drawn to the ideas in novels, and how much I wanted to express the ideas, similar and different, in my own writing.

And now when someone, and there will be many, tells me that "everybody wants to be a writer" and that it is 'incredibly difficult" to publish a novel my response will be, "I write because I have something to say and maybe their are others who want to hear it. If not, at least I am enjoying what I do." 

In this blog my attempt will be to illustrate this journey, and share with you how I learn to write my first novel. This will entail providing you with my ideas on plot, characterisation, and mostly importantly, themes. My learning journey will be structured in a "series" format for the purpose of following me on this journey and for organising the steps of the novel writing process (i.e. Series 1.0, 1.1 ... ). This technique will also separate entries that refer to other areas or ideas that I write about.