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Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

The joy of rewriting

11/3/2017

12 Comments

 
If there’s a honeymoon period in the transition from writer to author to novelist, it’s got to be the publication of that debut novel. It’s a place which might have haunted our dreams for years, without any confidence we’d actually reach it. No wonder it seems almost magical to see other people with your book in their hands.

By definition, a honeymoon can’t go on indefinitely. There is no fairy-tale happy ever after when real life intervenes. After
two lovely launch parties for my debut, I came back to earth with a bump when I learnt that, as with being married, there’s nothing particularly special about having written a book.

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Gearing up for the publication of my second novel, there’s no way I can recreate the excitement of that first time. But, assembling the bits and pieces for my Spring newsletter, rewriting what I hope to be my third novel and anticipating a couple more events for my first while seeking stop-off points on the blog tour for my second as well countless other non-novel writerly activities, there’s a different kind of satisfaction in the ordinariness of being a writer. As with a mature marriage (if we’re lucky), aside from the usual niggles, I feel extremely content with my lot.

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A recent article by George Saunders in the Guardian Review, beautifully encapsulates “the mysterious process writers go through to get an idea on to the page” and reminds me how much I enjoy it. An experienced short story writer who has recently published his first novel, he brings a fresh insight to “the familiar writerly fix of trying to talk about that process as if I were in control of it”. An artist, he says, mostly “tweaks that which she’s already done”, something that’s giving me great pleasure in my WIP. I wasn’t able to enjoy it quite as much with my first novel because I was overly focused on getting published, and the disappointment of not being.

As someone who’s
turned off by planning and impatient with the creative writing industry’s perpetuation of the myth that there is a straightforward formula for writing a novel, George Saunders’ piece is the nearest description of successful pantsing I’ve come across.

An artist works outside the realm of strict logic. Simply knowing one’s intention and then executing it does not make good art.

We move through a series of incremental shifts, not so much deciding how to develop the characters and story but by acquiescing to ideas that occur to us that seem the best way forward at the time (but we might later reject). A work of fiction entails “conjuring up the pins”, disparate fragments, “thing[s] about which we’re curious” and watching them fall into place:

the greatest pleasure in writing fiction is when they come down in a surprising way that conveys more and better meaning than you’d any idea was possible.

While I recognise the sheer joy of this process, one of the hardest things for unpublished writers is the discovery that one’s novel

quickly reveals itself to be a linked system of problems … Almost from the first paragraph, the writer becomes aware that a work’s strengths and weaknesses are bound together, and that, sadly, his great idea has baggage.

Until one has had sufficient experience of resolving such problems, this can be quite daunting. Yet, although generally
antithetical to looking on the bright side, I entirely agree with the new-agey reframing of such problems as opportunities. For example, well into the early drafts my debut novel, Sugar and Snails, I came across some legislation that would impact greatly on my character. This was good news for Diana but bad news for readers, until I became aware of the gap between the passing of an Act of Parliament and its implementation, transforming what first arose as a plot problem into an opportunity to build tension that definitely improved the novel.

George Saunders also has interesting things to say about writing, hope and empathy, to which I’ll return in another post. He sums up
his experience of writing a novel with these words:

It was a beautiful, mysterious experience and I find myself craving it while, at the same time, flinching at the thousands of hours of work it will take to set such a machine in motion again.

Perhaps, like me, you know exactly what he means!


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I opened with honeymoons because that’s the topic of the latest flash fiction challenge. I’m afraid my knowledge of the term is only as a metaphor or through hearsay: in the almost twenty years Mr A and I have been married we’ve been on numerous trips, but nothing I’d classify as a honeymoon which requires, to my mind, heat, luxury and indolence. Mostly, the word makes me think of the rhyme “The Owl and the Pussycat”, which is more about elopement – and honey. But an hour’s brisk walk served up this:
Without the wedding

We cancelled the wedding, but I was determined to have my holiday. My bridesmaid, and my mother, tried to dissuade me – or invite them along. But what was the point of feminism if a girl couldn’t honeymoon alone?

Admittedly, I wept into my champagne on the aeroplane, but the woman on the seat beside me made me smile. Turned out she was also travelling solo, and en route to the same resort.

Back home, I moved in with her, considered marriage but her church turned us down. I’m not overly disappointed. Our honeymoon photos are sublime.


Okay, even in a light-hearted piece, I can’t avoid highlighting the scandal of the
Anglican Church’s refusal to uphold equality law.

Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
12 Comments
Norah Colvin link
12/3/2017 10:14:21 am

Hi Anne, I really enjoyed the tone of this post as well as its content. I was interested that you quoted a short story writer recently become novelist. That could have been you! I appreciated these words: "the greatest pleasure in writing fiction is when they come down in a surprising way that conveys more and better meaning than you’d any idea was possible". It is so nice when we seem to channel the right ideas and words without even knowing from whence they came but being tickled that they came through us. Love that feeling. It may not be obvious to anyone else, but I love it when it happens to me.
I thoroughly enjoyed your flash and its surprise ending. I was going to say it sounded a bit "tongue in cheek" but I wouldn't want that to be taken the wrong way. I like how you can get your political statement across so well in so few words. Great writing.

Reply
Annecdotist
13/3/2017 01:30:13 pm

Thanks, Norah. Although I haven’t yet read his fiction – although I have requested his novel on the basis of enjoying thinking behind his article – I get the impression that George Sanders is much higher in the short story writing echelons than I am, or will ever be.
I’m glad you identify with that sense of joy. I think it’s often evident in your posts in relation to the flash fiction prompt when it seems to spark so many interesting ideas about learning. As Kate says, it’s important we don’t forget that.
I think I know what you mean about the flash being “tongue in cheek” as it’s rather light the way it turns out so smoothly for my character. Also, I didn’t realise until I’d finished it that I hadn’t made it clear that her first partner was a man (although I imagine that most readers would be like me and make heterosexual assumptions) but in the time I felt I could give myself to write it didn’t have time to correct that and get in my rage at the Church of England – and at the government that enables them to get away with it.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
30/3/2017 11:30:18 am

I have to admit that I jumped to that conclusion about her first intended. I guess with rules still firmly in place we can be forgiven for doing so, but fortunately times they are a-changing.

Annecdotist
30/3/2017 01:29:51 pm

So we were making similar assumptions and to some extent I think it’ll always be that way in that we think in terms of the majority, but there are subtle shifts of emphasis in these changing times, which I like.

Kate Evans
12/3/2017 12:34:11 pm

Well done on the publication of your 2nd novel, Anne, and good luck with launch night. I am sorry I won't be there. I look forward to reading your new novel. In my experience, there seems to be a lot of 'stuff' connected with getting published and then with marketing, which I find takes me away from the joy of the writing itself. I find myself having to remind myself of the simple of joy of the being able to create, explore and sustain a story... For myself, even if no-one else reads it.

Reply
Annecdotist
13/3/2017 01:22:03 pm

Thanks, Kate. It is hard work on the publicity and marketing side, although I feel it’s easier this time knowing what to expect and which doors not to bother trying to bang my head against. Also, I know there are some days when that writing joy seems less likely when it feels more productive to get on with the other stuff. Unfortunately, I’m not sure which kind of day today is yet!

Reply
geoff le pard link
13/3/2017 08:25:53 pm

Excellent post and flash; I wonder how much of a pantser you really are? By that I mean at what point does plotting take over, because I realise I pants to start with and gradually plot if that makes sense. I'll try and see if I can come to the launch but it might be tricky. However, London must support the regions!!

Reply
Annecdotist
14/3/2017 10:19:58 am

The regions would be honoured to have your cosmopolitan presence at the book launch, although I do appreciate it’s a bit of a trek.
Yeah, definitely planning on tightening up through subsequent drafts, based on an examination of what’s missing and what’s taking too long to get to the point, but I’d seen that as a component of revising – wouldn’t planners also need to consider revising their plot once they see how it’s panned out? Or maybe not?
I’m nearing the end of the third draft of my WIP and recognising that mapping the plot is the next step (even though I thought I’d done it before I started this draft). I’ve done the end and have about four new scenes to write. They definitely need to be there, but the planning/mapping feels more urgent. Seems a bit daft, but I might just write them because I set myself the goal of finishing the draft by the end of this month, and not sure if I’m allowed to tick that one off if I’ve omitted those scenes!
Interesting question, though. I outline as I go along, but I think a plan is tighter, and I couldn’t imagine even the most intransigent pantser put into publication stage without a plan, even if retrospective. Or is that a map?

Reply
Luccia Gray link
13/3/2017 11:10:14 pm

Great post. When I published my first novel it was a very special moment, but I wouldn't say it was a more special than the next two, or perhaps I'm still honeymooning as a writer! Loved your flash. Although it might seem light hearted, you put forward a very serious and controversial topic for debate. Well done, and I absolutely agree with you.

Reply
Annecdotist
14/3/2017 10:26:29 am

That’s encouraging to know you enjoyed your second and third books just as much. Maybe I will have another honeymoon!
Glad you liked the flash. I’m really not that interested in the church, and so annoyed at myself for getting annoyed about it, except that the bishops still have a role in government so their mental gymnastics to enact their prejudices impacts on the society of which I’m part. It just amazes me that they are allowed to get away with it.

Reply
Charli Mills
15/3/2017 05:40:30 am

From the quotes you've presented, I can resonate with what George Saunders writes and what you further expound. Yet, I feel I want to linger in the wilderness, turning over stones and looking at moss. I'm so thrilled for your second novel, and like Norah, I can see you in the same status as Saunders. His orbit might be broader, but that doesn't diminish the starlight of your own writing path and achievements. And terrific flash, although crazy that the Anglican Church is acting like an evangelical American church. Such nonsense. As one transgender advocate in the US said recently, people don't want "others" existing in public space. Your character in the flash proves her relationship bliss from the sublime honeymoon photos while the public can deny her same-sex marriage existence.

Reply
Annecdotist
15/3/2017 06:02:02 pm

Thanks, Charli, great points well made. I am sympathetic about discomfort around difference, but the theological contortions around this are indeed ridiculous. They should acknowledge their prejudices and strive to do better. But churches have always been about trying – and usually failing – to control sexuality.

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