Tag Archives: SuperNOVA

November 21, 2012

NaNoWriMo sanity check

By Ellen Gregory

This is just going to be a quick update of where I’m at with stuff (aka NaNoWriMo sanity check).

The most excellent news is that I’m still on schedule to complete the 50K in 30 days and sailed past 35K this evening. There was a mini meltdown on Monday evening, when the pressure of producing so many damn words got to me and I could feel myself getting worked up. So I took myself off to bed with a trashy novel. That did the trick and the next day I was back.

The thing I am finding most challenging is coming up with so much story in such a short amount of time. Clearly I need practice at this! In the past, my slow-burn writing process has provided plenty of thinking and mulling time. I’ve been able to carefully consider where the story should head next, then carefully consider the words used to go there. Not so with NaNoWriMo and this new ‘rough first draft’ I’m attempting. Every night is a new scene and I have to figure out what’s going to happen. Ack!

The thing that got me on Monday night was the completion of a major turning point on Sunday, which meant I not only had to figure out the next scene, I had to figure out where the entire novel needed to go. This sort of thing can take me hours of mulling and brainstorming… which meant of course I didn’t actually have any time left to write, what with the dayjob and all.

But all is good. I figured it out the next day and am back on track again — words-wise, that is. The quality of the story itself remains to be seen. But I think it’s going in the right direction, which is the main thing. There will be much rewriting in the new year. Definitely.

That’s all I wanted to say at this stage, really. There are just 9 days to go, and in many ways that seems like an eternity. Yet at the same time it’s hard to believe I’ve been at this for 21 days already! The time has really flown.

Because it’s Wednesday, and I’m supposed to present my inspiration of the week, I’m going to include it here at the end. And this is the thing that has kept me going for the past 21 days: my writing community — including both my local writing group, my online wana facebook group, and any other writers who happen to stumble upon my blog and say hello. You guys are all awesome! (And for those non-writers reading this, your support matters a lot too!)

 

12 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Feeding the muse, Process, The WIP

September 5, 2012

The secret ingredient to productivity

By Ellen Gregory

They say one of the keys to being successful at any creative endeavour is perseverance. Discipline comes in handy too. Yeah yeah, there are also talent and self-belief, but they’re very hard to control…

There is another secret ingredient I’ve come to value very highly over the years — and that’s friends. More specifically, friends who share my creative passions. Kindred Spirits. People who ‘get’ my need to spend hours and hours chained to my second career. People who understand the down days and comprehend just how amazing the good days are.

These days, social media is a fabulous vehicle for forging friendships with like-minded souls. One of the best things I ever did was join up for Kristen Lamb‘s blogging bootcamp, which provided me with an instant (more or less) community of kindred spirits on facebook and twitter. I just know if we lived close enough for coffee . . .

Fortunately for me, however, Melbourne is not devoid of kindred spirits. I’ve managed to find several I can and do meet for coffee — as well as a whole lot more.

Writing retreats

I’ve just spent a fabulous four days away with a dozen members of my writers group, SuperNOVA (warning: fledgling web site!). We rented a massive house on a lake, and the aim was to write, write, write. We did get up to some other mischief (which has been summarised here and here*), but mostly the house was silent except for the clacking of keyboards, the scrape of pens, and the screeching of cockatoos out the window.

The general consensus, I believe, was that most participants (I don’t claim all) were more productive than normal. This may have been simply the act of getting away from the distractions of home, but I like to think it was at least partly because of the atmosphere, the camaraderie, of being amongst other writers. There was an almost audible hum of energy in the room . . . OK, I’m possibly being fanciful and cliched, but you get my point!

Over the past few years I’ve been on several weekend writing retreats, some with as few as two of us, others with more. Every time, I get a lot more done than if I take myself off on my own for a weekend — which I do periodically. I think having a kindred spirit present helps with both discipline and perseverance. There’s also the added bonus of having a ready-made sounding board for nutting out tricky plot points, or debating word choice etc, if necessary.

Writing in cafes and pubs

If a weekend retreat is too much, a companionable session in a cafe (or the pub!) can be very effective. I’m currently meeting a few of my writing friends on a weekly basis for a Saturday brunch/afternoon writing session in one of my local cafes. We sit in the back section for up to five hours, ordering occasionally, computers fired up. What I love about this is:

  1. It forces me to write on a Saturday (or Sunday), when otherwise I might feel compelled to do housework. Or something away from the desk.
  2. It combines socialising with ‘work’.
  3. I have ready-made sounding boards for tricky bits.

Last year (when I wasn’t working), a few of us met regularly on Tuesday afternoons in my local pub. And earlier this year, we tried Friday night gatherings for a few months. Those were both awesome habits for the same reasons. It’s very easy to get really busy at work (ahem) and stop writing all together . . . at least if I have a weekly writing session planned, I’m locked in for that time at least.

An epiphany . . .

This post stemmed in part from an epiphany I had on the weekend, as I sat in the corner of the hive, pen in hand, mulling. These were after all my friends I was hanging out with, not just the ‘other writers in my group’. I’m sure I’m not the only writer to despair occasionally, to consider throwing this writing gig out the window and live a ‘normal’ life. (OK, so I was having black thoughts.) But then it struck me that if I did throw it all away, then I’d lose my connection with all these people, these friends, who have become a huge part of my social network. And I don’t want to lose  them. I realised that I’m committed, in for the long haul. This life defines me now. There’s no going back . . .

So . . . If you’re a fellow creative, struggling with all these things, how do your friends and networks support you? Have any writers out there ever tried cafe writing — alone or otherwise? Care to come to Melbourne and write with me?

* If you click through to Jason’s blog post, I’m the one sitting in the middle on the dock… and the one carrying the case of wine…

8 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Process, SF Community

December 8, 2011

In which I ramble

By Ellen Gregory

This is going to be a very rambly post, all haphazard and out-of-control, which is a bit like my life at the moment. I always knew that starting a new job was going to play havoc with my writing (and blogging, and . . .) routine — well, let’s face facts, my routine is completely in tatters — but it’s quite another thing to experience the utter frustration that accompanies the slaying of creativity.

One thing I have achieved in the past two weeks was the completion of the first stanza (13K words) of my novel WIP, which I submitted to my writing group for feedback. It was mostly already written, but I had a host of minor adjustments I wanted to make before anyone read it. In the end I settled for making the coarse edits so that it mostly hung together, then launched it at them.

It was a very useful critique session for several reasons. It highlighted to me areas that are confusing (and where I stuffed up the logic — I still can’t believe I had a character subsiding onto a sleeping pallet twice in about two paragraphs). It highlighted areas that are being misinterpreted — and where I’m holding back too much information for reader satisfaction. And it spawned a few good ideas as well. And of course there were  suggestions on how to improve the prose . . . On the whole, though, it seems to be worth continuing at this stage — which was the main thing I wanted to know.

And now a pledge: I am not going to edit those 13K words right away. Not, not, NOT. I am going to move forward, to the next stanza, and about time too.

I also fully intend to get back to more regular blogging. I still haven’t finished my series of posts on World Fantasy highlights, so hopefully I can get my life back under control and wrap them up. (I went for 5 days last week without even turning my main computer on, which is unheard of!) (As for my Google Reader feed . . . it’s in the 100s.)

A good sign from the past few days is that my WIP is bubbling in my head again as I journey via two trains and a bus to and from work. For the first month of this job I might as well have been a comatose blob, but my mind is finally starting to clear. Ideas are starting to materialise; characters are starting to assert themselves. Soon, I will be back.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Reflection

November 5, 2011

World Fantasy wind-down

By Ellen Gregory

It’s hard to believe that it’s essentially a week since the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego – I’m still recovering from all the people, panels and parties! I had the most amazing time.

This convention was all about socializing and informal networking. Yes, I attended quite a few panels (mainly those featuring the various Guests of Honour), but the best moments took place in the bar, or at one of the abundant parties, or sitting in the sun with a makeshift latte.

I don’t think I have ever before made so many new friends, or spoken to so many interesting and like-minded people. Not only did I make several new friends from Australia, it was great to meet and hang out with so many of the writers from the Manhattan-based Altered Fluid writing group, which sounds a great deal like my writing group, SuperNOVA.

The community vibe at this convention (my first World Fantasy) was completely different from the SF cons I’ve attended in Australia. For one thing, the membership is largely professional (as opposed to fan), comprising mainly writers, editors, agents, publishers, illustrators etc. And they all know each other, and look forward to hanging out together and talking shop – but only in the most informal and totally cool way.

And there was catering! For three nights in a row, we had our choice of parties (conveniently adjacent), complete with drinks and nibbles and awesome company. Even better, we were able to spill outside into the mild San Diego evening when the ground-floor entertainment suites got too squeezy. The convention organisers put on buffet meals too, if you turned up in the right place at the right time…

I think it was great timing for me to participate in this convention, which was easily the best I have ever attended. It has fuelled my determination to keep going, to keep taking writing seriously. And it has made me want to attend every year! Next year World Fantasy will be held in Toronto, Canada, and after that Brighton, UK. Ve-ry tempting… Well, OK, I might have already bought my membership for Brighton.

Since this has been rather a broad overview of my thoughts on the convention, I’ll probably follow up over the next week or so with subsequent posts on specifics – including a summary of the panels I attended, mainly to share some GOH wisdom (since I attended most of these sessions and took a few notes).

Finally, one important and awesome thing to note: Australian Alisa Krasnostein was awarded a World Fantasy Special Award for Twelfth Planet Press. You could probably hear the two tables of Australians cheering from home!

7 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Conventions, workshops & seminars, SF Community

August 11, 2011

The WIP and the writing group

By Ellen Gregory

This week’s musings (a day late, sorry) surround feedback on novel manuscripts — as in how to get the most out of it. I don’t know about other writers, but I rather like to share my work. I’m not necessarily talking about a critical appraisal here, I’m talking about just having it read. In fact, I’m quite likely to inflict the opening chapters on unsuspecting friends (as in, “here” <proffers print-out> “read this now“), just so I’m not all alone in my head. (And it also means I can blather on about the plot or events-to-come over brunch and they’ll know what I’m talking about.)

But what about more critical feedback? This is why we belong to writers groups, after all. Sure, many of them become friends, but writers group members are the ones who will slap you for too much exposition (or too little), probe the intricacies of character, and assess aspects like pace and tension. They also tend to know more about the publishing industry, and have a better grip on whether you’re writing something you will potentially be able to sell.

So the question is: when is the best time to show your novel WIP to your writing group?

There are a few different strategies you can adopt: complete the entire novel before begging a few people to read it in entirety for holistic feedback; complete the novel but submit openings and/or problem sections for more intense critique; or get your writing group to workshop chapters along the way.

I have been a little wary in the past of having chapters critiqued along the way. This mainly stems back to when I was a complete novice, writing a ‘novel’ in total ignorance of storycraft, and didn’t have the faintest idea where I was going with it. As a result, when I presented isolated chapters to my then-writers group, I found after a while that the comments from my peers (few of whom, in hindsight, really knew what they were talking about) were impacting the direction of the story.

There’s also the challenge that it can be hard on people to workshop chapters in isolation. They may forget (or miss) earlier chapters, plus they have to consider everything in the context of, not only what is past, but what is yet to come. It requires a different approach to workshopping short stories.

For these reasons I’ve long thought it best to workshop novels in larger chunks (or entirety) if possible.

But . . . The advantage of gaining feedback on chapters along the way is that any logic, plot or structural flaws can be picked up before too much effort is expended. Such early feedback can save a lot of time and help ensure a greater quality first draft. (Unless you are experienced and competant enough to hit the mark every time.)

For my latest WIP I have therefore decided to make the most of my most awesome writers group (SuperNOVA) and have them read chapters as I go along. This time I have a strong idea of where I am going and what I am trying to do, so any comments I receive can be interpreted in light of my known end-goal, rather than serving to fling me off-track. The feedback will tell me whether I am achieving what I intend or unwittingly giving the wrong impression — and will potentially inject some cool new ideas as well.

Just recently I had feedback on the opening chapter, and it was interesting to hear what is working and where some adjustment is required. Luckily for me, comments were fairly consistent across the group, so it’s clear what I need to fix — and it isn’t anything too major. And now I’ve dipped my toe in the water, I intend to submit a greater chunk next time. That will be the real litmus test of whether the novel gets off to a good start . . . or not.

I think this is going to really help me stay on track. In any case, I like the idea of having readers with me on the journey.

2 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Process, SF Community

June 15, 2011

WriMoFoFo writing challenge

By Ellen Gregory

The SuperNOVA writers group is undertaking a writing challenge at the moment. It’s inspired by the well-known NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), when writers attempt to splurt out a 50,000 word novel during the 30 days of November. But since this is just, well, CRAZY, we’ve evened out the odds a little.

Our WriMoFoFo (Write More For Four) is implemented for any arbitrary/convenient four-week period and has a slightly more modest target of nominally 20,000 words. This is flexible though, depending on individual goals. The basic aim of the challenge is to write (or edit) more than we would normally in a four-week period. The current challenge started on Saturday 11 June and will run until Sunday 10 July.

Since I’m not working at the moment, I don’t have much of an excuse for not meeting the 20,000-word goal. In fact, I should probably try to exceed it. However, I’ve already lost four days due to the Continuum convention over the weekend . . . Plus last week’s post contemplating the importance of the first chapter has proven somewhat prophetic. Turns out I’m not happy with the few chapters written so far of the new novel . . . So I’m starting again.

But it’s all good. I’d much rather be happy now about the direction it’s going than leave it for fixing later. That way lies disaster.

WriMoFoFo is coming at a good time for me. These are probably the last four weeks of my idyll, and I’m going to have to find a daytime job soon. So that’s extra motivation to make this writing time count.

 

2 comments   |  tags: , , | posted in Process

June 13, 2011

Wrapup of Continuum 7

By Ellen Gregory

I’ve spent the past 3.5 days at Continuum 7, Melbourne’s own speculative fiction and pop culture convention, and I’m knackered. It’s been an awesome frenzy of panels and meals and bottles of wine and talking and generally fuelling the literary flame.

One of the guests of honour was the incomparable Catherynne M Valente, fantasy author and poet, whose 2009 novel Palimpsest (which I am currently reading) has been a winner or finalist of all kinds of awards. More recently, her novel The girl who circumnavigated fairyland in a ship of her own making has been a major YA hit and her latest novel is Deathless. She appeared on various panels that I attended over the weekend, providing insightful comments on topics from folktales to feminism to immortality. Her obvious talent and brilliance is both inspiring and a teeny bit intimidating. I tried to get to as many of her panels as possible!

Other memorable sessions I attended (and to be honest I didn’t attend all that many) covered vampires,YA fiction trends, a tribute to the late feminist icon Joanna Russ, and a late-night discussion of how something horrific can be depicted as beautiful. It was also fun to sit in on the live recording of the monthly podcast The writer and the critic, hosted by Kirstyn McDermott and Ian Mond with special guest Cat Valente, in which they discussed the following books: Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King, Among Others by Jo Walton, and EmbassyTown by China Mieville.

I’ve come away from the con with a long list of books to read and movies to watch, as you might imagine. These particularly include Joanna Russ’s The Female Man and How to Suppress Women’s Writing, plus Morphology of the Folktale by Vladimir Propp.

But events such as this are as much about socialising and making new friends as the panels, and it was great to meet and catch up with a few folk from interstate, plus hang out with some of the SuperNOVA crowd. I hate to think how many gallons of wine we consumed either in the bar, or at dinner, or in Steve’s palatial room in the con hotel.

Now it’s time to come down off the high, re-gather my wine-soaked brain and leap back into the writing zone.

 

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Conventions, workshops & seminars, Reading, SF Community

March 22, 2011

Books by friends

By Ellen Gregory

Over the past year or so, I have had the great thrill of being able to purchase and read debut novels published by several members of my writing group, SuperNOVA. I can’t express how exciting it is to live vicariously through their experiences. Even though each of these novels was completed prior to its author joining our group, I still feel a tremendous connection with each of them. These are my friends’ dreams being realised!

Solace & Grief, by Foz Meadows (Ford St)
This young-adult tale about a coming-of-age vampire and other creatures was launched in February 2010, with its sequel, The Key to Starveldt, due out later this year.

Madigan Mine, by Kirstyn McDermott (Picador)
Launched last August, this horror tale about a man who may or may not be haunted by his dead ex-girlfriend is garnering fine reviews and as of today is on the shortlist for the 2010 Aurealis Awards.

The Darkness Within, by Jason Nahrung (Hachette)
Published in 2007, this is unfortunately a little hard to find these days, but I’m nagging Jason to make it available as an e-book. It’s a dark romantic tale about family, vampires and a magical inheritance.

Paragon, by Natalie Potts (self-published)
Set in a sealed biosphere 200 years after global catastrophe, this is a young-adult tale about a society that starts to buck its ‘big brother’ style regime and look beyond the dome. It’s available now from Smashwords in all e-book formats, or direct from Amazon for the Kindle.

I should mention that we have acquired a few established authors into our group as well, which provides fabulous insight for those of us still trying to break into the industry.  And I believe one or two others in the group may have forthcoming debut novels as well. It’s certainly a vibrant and dynamic group to be a part of, and it is my mission to keep reading the works of my friends as they are published.

Leave a comment   |  tags: | posted in Reading

March 7, 2011

Backup plan

By Ellen Gregory

The calamity of a fellow writer’s hard drive crash saw us discussing backups during the SuperNOVA critiquing session yesterday. It’s always a huge wake-up call for me when this happens, because no matter how diligent and disciplined I am with backing up, there’s always a corner I’ve cut somewhere that could catch me out.

The most likely reason a backup file would be required is hard drive failure. I’m extremely fortunate this has never happened to me, because until about six months ago, my backups were sporadic and shamefully occasional. Moreover, I’d only backup the absolutely essential files. Every so often (frequently after several months) I’d email a copy of my most recent file to work and/or store on a USB drive. Lazy.

More recently, I purchased an external hard drive which automatically backs up every change to every file as it happens. Plus it retains incremental copies of all the files, should a recent one become corrupted or accidentally deleted. Fabulous peace of mind, but . . . it makes my computer run so s  l  o  w  l  y. At the time of yesterday’s discussion, I knew that the hard drive was unplugged due to my frustration with this and had been for about a week. (Squirms of guilt and mild panic ensued.) It’s plugged in now, so all is well again, except for the periodic slow patches when it creates a recovery point or backs up the entire hard disk. I can’t figure out how to stop it from doing this.

But . . . while brilliant insurance against hard drive failure, the external drive is not going to help against fire or — as was pointed out to me yesterday – theft. I admit I naively convinced myself that only the most cruel house thief would steal both the laptop and the external hard drive (doh!) and how likely is fire anyway?

Not really good enough. So how does the average person implement a regular offsite backup? There’s ‘the cloud’ perhaps, but a) how safe is it from hackers (and is this a serious issue anyway)? and b) is it possible to implement something automatic (for only automatic backups will be really effective)? Something for me to investigate.

Otherwise I can only see manual methods that are limited in either volume or regularity (as impacted by afore-mentioned diligence and discipline) – such as save to USB drive and keep in one’s handbag (not always practical), burn to CD and leave with a friend or family member, or email selected files to same. None of these are entirely satisfactory, but I guess they’d be better than losing everything.

I’m interested in people’s thoughts and approaches to offsite backups.

3 comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Process

February 19, 2011

Among friends

By Ellen Gregory

I met with my writers group for brunch today. As is our wont, we sat around and talked shop over our flat whites and eggs, lingering into the afternoon, when we cracked open a bottle of pinot noir. Good friends with common interests, having a drink.

This for me is one of the best parts of being a member of a dynamic writers group like SuperNOVA. Sure, we get together for serious hard-hitting critique sessions on a monthly basis, but socialising every other fortnight grants us the latitude to discuss process, craft, blogging, conventions, markets, marketing and so on.

I remember back to when I first started writing, knowing no-one else in the SF community, not knowing there was such a thing as a community. The path I’ve taken to reach this point has been long and twisty, but I feel as though I’m about to arrive somewhere. Not sure where that is exactly, but  it feels good to be among friends.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , | posted in SF Community

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