Writers' Retreat - Criccieth

I'm off to Criccieth tomorrow, yippee!! It's the writers' retreat, tied in with the Masters degree. We have to read a lot, write a lot, and take it in turns to cook once a week. I am so looking forward to this experience, though feel strangely nervous/excited. Hell, if I can move to Uni lock stock and barrel, I can do this little thing, eh?

I will report on my return.

Novel Talk

Well, I'm finding out more about the novel as I write it. I'm now doing a pov from Grandma's perspective. Her Granddaughter goes to visit Grandma often, and lets her talk about the old days.

I'm writing Grandma's memories in a kind of monologue at the moment, and I'm hoping that works. I say monologue because after an initial short para when Granddaughter goes round to Grandma's, the rest of it is Grandma talking about her memories.

The way I'm writing this novel now, with Grandma's monologues, I'm able to release information about things that might have played a part in making the MC behave the way she is. Of course, we can only rely on Grandma's memory of what took place, so that, in a sense, makes it unreliable, though still, hopefully, believable.

Hmmmm, Time - for New Novel

I've written the first chapter! Or thereabouts. Now, because I'm submitting my novel extracts to the MA workshops, I have to have stuff in and ready, so I'm being MADE to write it.

This is good in some ways, yet I now find myself not knowing enough about the novel I now want to write. Or should I say enough about how the plot might evolve. So with that in mind, I plan to do a bit of planning over the weekend.

I'm going to miss out on subbing some work for next Thursday's workshop, which is fine to do every now and then. I do have something already subbed for next Tuesday's workshop, so while I think and plan I'm still going to get feedback on what I've already written. It'll just give me that bit of extra time to try to find meaning to what I'm writing, a shape or a form, might be a start. I also want to think a bit about story and character motivation.

New Novel

I'm thinking about what to write in a new novel. Over the last few years I've had a few novel ideas, started them, and always, enthusiasm for the idea has either petered out, or it hasn't seemed like the novel I really want to write.

I don't know why this is. I think I need to really look at what I want to say, at the style, content, genre. I want to think hard about this over the next week or so, because I could write this novel as part of my Creative Writing M.A.

I love reading about families, how they function, or not in some cases. It's a good idea to write about what you like reading about, I think. So...thinking...thinking...