I've recently had a college course to finish so it's been a bit quiet on the writing front but I'm back at it now. I've been looking at various software packages to plan the novel and Scrivener seems to be the most popular however I've just had some experience of Gingko which I've found quite useful for academic purposes.
Gingko is built around a series of cards which can be linked into family groups but to be honest if you want to know more you're best off having a look at the website - here. If anyone has any feedback on Gingko for novel writing then it'd be good to hear about it.
Monday 22 December 2014
Thursday 20 November 2014
So why now?
If I've been wanting to write for so long why has it taken until now to get started? Or a better question would be - what was the trigger to start writing now?
Well, in a nutshell, it's because of Kindle. I didn't realise until recently that you could just write a book and then publish it straight to the Kindle store with no middle-men involved. Obviously the editors, publishers etc play a useful role but to me they were a hurdle to be overcome before the adoring masses could get their hands on my masterpiece.
When I discovered I could write whatever I wanted and put it out into the marketplace without jumping through hoops the last barrier was removed. It now seems like finishing the book is the goal and the publishing is just part of the tidying up whereas before finishing the novel was, in many ways, the easy part. Or at least the part you had direct control over.
I'm sure anyone reading this knows more than me about how the Kindle program works but for anyone not familiar with it here's a link to have a look at - Kindle.
I don't doubt that for many people and probably for aspiring professional writers in particular, the Kindle method isn't ideal but for people in my situation it seems like the obvious choice. If anybody has any experience of the pro's and cons of Kindle publishing I'd love to hear about it.
Well, in a nutshell, it's because of Kindle. I didn't realise until recently that you could just write a book and then publish it straight to the Kindle store with no middle-men involved. Obviously the editors, publishers etc play a useful role but to me they were a hurdle to be overcome before the adoring masses could get their hands on my masterpiece.
When I discovered I could write whatever I wanted and put it out into the marketplace without jumping through hoops the last barrier was removed. It now seems like finishing the book is the goal and the publishing is just part of the tidying up whereas before finishing the novel was, in many ways, the easy part. Or at least the part you had direct control over.
I'm sure anyone reading this knows more than me about how the Kindle program works but for anyone not familiar with it here's a link to have a look at - Kindle.
I don't doubt that for many people and probably for aspiring professional writers in particular, the Kindle method isn't ideal but for people in my situation it seems like the obvious choice. If anybody has any experience of the pro's and cons of Kindle publishing I'd love to hear about it.
Sunday 9 November 2014
A Blog? About a Novel?
Yep, that's exactly what it is. The idea of this blog is to document the ups and downs of trying to write a novel when you've no real idea what you're doing. Or why.
The type of novel isn't important, it's a type of genre fiction and that's probably as much info as you need on the subject for now. I don't want to scare of horror aficionados by telling you it's a historical romance or turn off sci-fi enthusiasts by writing about true crime. Instead this is about how I get on with a novel from scratch. As hinted at above I've never tried to write one before and my main motivation has come from a sense of "well I could do that...".
So let's see what happens, I've an idea for a couple of opening chapters which I think might work, a style of writing in my head, a list of things I don't want to happen and that's about it. Oh, and I read "Writing a Novel and Getting it Published for Dummies" about 6 years ago so to be honest I reckon I'll have it done in a few weeks.
At the minute I'm having the "plan or pants" debate - should I sit and start planning or just fly by the seat of my pants. But planning doesn't seem to just be about the plot, I'll need to plan all kinds of stuff; writing software, character development, new writing laptop, timetable and associated colour coding, blog background themes, world creation etc etc etc. I think I'm already aware this blog may well become some sort of procrastination device!
If you've been in this situation before feel free to leave a comment below to share your experiences and if you're currently in the same place let's hear how it's going.
The type of novel isn't important, it's a type of genre fiction and that's probably as much info as you need on the subject for now. I don't want to scare of horror aficionados by telling you it's a historical romance or turn off sci-fi enthusiasts by writing about true crime. Instead this is about how I get on with a novel from scratch. As hinted at above I've never tried to write one before and my main motivation has come from a sense of "well I could do that...".
So let's see what happens, I've an idea for a couple of opening chapters which I think might work, a style of writing in my head, a list of things I don't want to happen and that's about it. Oh, and I read "Writing a Novel and Getting it Published for Dummies" about 6 years ago so to be honest I reckon I'll have it done in a few weeks.
At the minute I'm having the "plan or pants" debate - should I sit and start planning or just fly by the seat of my pants. But planning doesn't seem to just be about the plot, I'll need to plan all kinds of stuff; writing software, character development, new writing laptop, timetable and associated colour coding, blog background themes, world creation etc etc etc. I think I'm already aware this blog may well become some sort of procrastination device!
If you've been in this situation before feel free to leave a comment below to share your experiences and if you're currently in the same place let's hear how it's going.
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