Sandscript in Manuscript
When we stayed for a week in a cottage in a secluded cove, I was glad to discover there was no reception for mobile phones, nor was there a land line in the cottage. At the very top of the cliff, if you held your phone high in the air, you could be lucky and get reception. A peaceful place for a holiday and proof for writers that there are still settings where mobile phones cannot be used; where characters can escape without being traced or where persons in peril cannot call for help.
The plots of crime fiction, spy thrillers and romances changed for ever when mobile phones became ubiquitous. No running along dark lonely roads or knocking on strange doors to fetch help, a quick call on your mobile and an air ambulance or armed response unit could be with you in minutes. No wonder authors enjoy putting their heroes and villains in spots where there is no mobile reception.
But you can’t always trust your characters. Reading through the third draft of the third novel in my trilogy, I realised several of my leading characters, in several scenes, had casually used their mobile phones when they knew perfectly well there has never been any mobile phone reception at Holly Tree Farm. Some minor plot changes were needed for the fourth draft.
Proof reading and editing the manuscript of one’s novel is not just about lost commas, the wrong ‘their, there and they’re’ and ‘from’ turning to ‘form’ when you’re not looking. Whether you work on the computer or from a paper manuscript, continuity is just as important as on a film set. Robertson or Robinson, Thomas or Thompson, Sean or Shaun? Minor characters have no regard for accuracy and frequently change their Christian and surnames from chapter to chapter. On to the fifth draft….
But ‘Lives of Anna Alsop’ will be on Amazon Kindle soon and in the meantime you can catch up with the first two of the trilogy ‘Brief Encounters of the Third Kind’ and ‘Three Ages of Man.’
The plots of crime fiction, spy thrillers and romances changed for ever when mobile phones became ubiquitous. No running along dark lonely roads or knocking on strange doors to fetch help, a quick call on your mobile and an air ambulance or armed response unit could be with you in minutes. No wonder authors enjoy putting their heroes and villains in spots where there is no mobile reception.
But you can’t always trust your characters. Reading through the third draft of the third novel in my trilogy, I realised several of my leading characters, in several scenes, had casually used their mobile phones when they knew perfectly well there has never been any mobile phone reception at Holly Tree Farm. Some minor plot changes were needed for the fourth draft.
Proof reading and editing the manuscript of one’s novel is not just about lost commas, the wrong ‘their, there and they’re’ and ‘from’ turning to ‘form’ when you’re not looking. Whether you work on the computer or from a paper manuscript, continuity is just as important as on a film set. Robertson or Robinson, Thomas or Thompson, Sean or Shaun? Minor characters have no regard for accuracy and frequently change their Christian and surnames from chapter to chapter. On to the fifth draft….
But ‘Lives of Anna Alsop’ will be on Amazon Kindle soon and in the meantime you can catch up with the first two of the trilogy ‘Brief Encounters of the Third Kind’ and ‘Three Ages of Man.’
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message 1:
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Kenneth
(new)
Feb 20, 2015 07:48PM
Do you think story telling is mainly about the ordinary, like mobile reception? I went to a writing workshop that put me off a bit, because I got the feeling from the presenter that writing is hallowed. The writing I enjoy most is ordinary things put together beautifully. Great writing for me lets me feel emotions and empathy through sharing things that I can understand through my experience. I understand that writing should be free as much as possible from conscious direction, I know that a writer should exercise great humility, but does that mean we should think of great works as hallowed?
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Never be put off by writing workshops! One person's opinion. Making a living out of writing is very difficult, some writers have discovered you can earn more by running workshops and writing articles for other writers! But you should write what you want to write.I agree, story telling is most often about the ordinary.I enjoy writing about ordinary people who have extraordinary things happen to them, but they still have to earn a living, cook meals and go shopping.
The great classics deserve to be admired if, like Jane Austin and Dickens, they remain popular because they tell wonderful stories.
The ordinary becomes very interesting when juxtaposed with the out of the ordinary. In Janet Gogerty's 2nd book of her trilogy (Three Ages of Man) she places a 23rd century man in a 21st century world. Suddenly, we are seeing it through his eyes, and the familiar becomes entrancing as he tries to understand it. At the same time, we get to learn how it would be in his own world - his familiar and every day activities are intriguing to our 21st century minds.
Thanks Jean. Some readers have expressed a desire to move to the 23rd century!
Sandscript
I like to write first drafts with pen and paper; at home, in busy cafes, in the garden, at our beach hut... even sitting in a sea front car park waiting for the rain to stop I get my note book out. We
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