imagery

How do I use imagery? Everything I write I have a picture of in my mind, including passages where the characters are reflecting. I try to to true to the image by portraying it as interestingly and accurately as I can, often whilst introducing the reader to something new (I cannot help but attempt to spread knowledge, it is the teacher in me).  This is the process that I use to to communicate with you, the reader, with my best wishes for your enjoyment and increased understanding.

doing them justice

As I fit the characters' lives into the historical facts (and readers will discover a few not commonly known), I wonder in some trepidation whether I am doing them justice, or injustice. How could I possibly know what it was like in those times for which little archaeological and written evidence has been found? (It is believed that what existed has been destroyed or the information sabotaged). At times I have felt quite presumptous in even attempting to represent some of these historically elusive people on the pages of a novel written for the present. Will readers grasp the significance for then and now of this two and a half thousand year old civilisation? When the characters look up to the stars and the readers are prompted to do so themselves, hopefully the latter will feel the connection between these ancient people, themselves and the millions of their descendents denied or fighting for their freedom in the same territory today.

racing steadily to the finish

As each chapter was finished the story would edge to completion and I still would not know how it would turn out. I suppose somewhere in writer's manuals and courses are instructions to plan the plot.  These are for structured writers who need security (and probably not to waste time making plot detours) but part of the absolute fun and anticipation of writing a novel is being there with your characters. You actually live in the book with them. Inspite of the possibility of there being a psychological disorder description for this mental phenomenon it is a type of roller coaster ride amongst the computer keys. But more than that it is the re-composition, in the case of our novel, of lives already lived. Put that way it sounds daunting.

how many words?

We aimed for 120,000 but by 125,000 it was clear we had a long way to go, so we just kept going. How could word restrictions ever be allowed to curtail this important untold story? I started to proudly call it an 'epic'.

posts needed

Now I have neglected the blog (again) I feel guilty for not having confidence that one day it will be read (writer's isolation -relective of 'will anyone ever read the book, or the blog for that matter?). This evening is devoted to catching them up, in the hope that I can remember all those 'blog thoughts' that I failed to record.

cowardice

Doses of writer's fatigue have plagued me, plus the effort of completing the story when I do not know what will happen next. But my co-author who carries the stories of these ancient people in his DNA supplies the bones while I fill out the flesh. I have shirked posting because I did not want to admit that I was beating the well worn path of tiredness.

two months' absence

For the last two months I have focussed on writing the book only. Anticipation of climbing emotional mountains with our key character has been harder than actually getting her over them.  I feel like I have been living their lives.