Xtra News Community 2

....a novel of all things. It's really hard work.

Good for you Rob! (http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/XtraNewsCommunity2/MSN%20emoticons/39emthup.gif)      A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited to sit in on a class at the local high school during a visit by Fleur Beale http://www.longacre.co.nz/authors/beale.html     She was discussing writing, her methods and how to get started etc.   She also answered questions from the floor and it was great to see so much interest from the students.       I have dabbled for years with writing and have quite a lot of material gathered but have never got around to doing anything with it.   Perhaps my daughter, who is better at it than I will take up challenge sometime.
 
I also met a woman while doing a digital art class and she was doing the course so she could illustrate her childrens book which has been very successful in Australia..   http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=VdY_Gov6-p4C&dq=Bill+the+brush+turkey&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=5AHRYipPg6&sig=sgvZkZ8enW2wfYd7L9Rg8LosINI&hl=en&ei=0N2USsDwGIeAsgOpzfTzCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=&f=false      (huge link)  

I also have another Christchurch friend who I would prefer not to name here who won a writers award recently.  


I wish you the best of luck and hope you will keep us up to date with your progress.

It is hard work.

My daughter has taken a draft of a book I wrote when I was childbearing and finished it now, its unpublished, she is looking at a system online where people can buy the book only through the net.  I'm not sure thats the way to go though, most book people like the BOOK!!  ;D

It's nice to have something to put on the shelf eh. A hard copy can be passed on to others too.
Why not try for a publisher LL?

Well, for me, Im all finished with writing, the whole lot is hers now.  Her choice what she does with it.  I think she was looking for an easy way out  ;D

Publishing your own is easy now - but try and tell your kids anything  :D

I trust you know the first thing to do is to detail your characters - all details - hair/eye colour, left or right handed, disabilities etc.

Write down the beginning -- and the end -- and then fill in the middle - and then fill in the gaps.

 ::)

That was told to me by a woman very close to me, she had a couple of books published, though both were fact not fiction.

I also have another Christchurch friend who I would prefer not to name here who won a writers award recently.
But does anyone actually make any money from having a novel published in NZ? I'm getting a bit critical of some of the dross that gets published overseas and finds its way into the local library.
Well, I've got to 4400 words after having typed about 10,000 and erased 6000ish and that's ten days worth.
At this rate it should take about a year.
Write down the beginning -- and the end -- and then fill in the middle - and then fill in the gaps.


I was wondering about that LL. I've got the plot in my head, mostly, and the high points, along with the ending, are screaming out to be written down. I've been writing in sequence though, like eating your veges before tackling the meat and gravy....
I may change the method..

Yep change it .. write whats in your head and fill in the gaps.

We cant all be like JK Rowling, and spew them out in a couple of months, a good novel should take a couple of years to finish fully, that includes proofreading, something you shouldnt do yourself.  Find someone who has excellent grammar and spelling skills for proof reading.  They should also be able to read it for time and motion differences.  ie time: things in their right order, motion: characters stick in their roles, ie a volatile person might have a tendency to punch a wall or have a favourite cuss word.

I did proof reading when i was 13.  ;D  Some in here bitch about what I claim to know.  They dont know what Ive done and who Ive met through my life.  It has all served a purpose.  :)

I'm planning to flick back and forth from first to third person. That way the reader can know the things not apparent to the central character. It also loosens up the need for everything to be strictly chronological.
I've read a couple of novels with that method lately and it's quite effective.

hmm sounds interesting - are you writing them at the same time or doing say first person for a chapter and then fitting in the third person?

Just wondering - I think that would confuse me while writing it  :)  Id forget who I was heheh

Probably the third person bits will be shorter passages fitted in to keep the reader aware of what's happening in the background.

 :)

Rob, remember Oswald Bastable??   ;D

Check this out:

http://oswaldbastable.blogspot.com/2009/08/meddlers-in-time.html

Magoo, my kids read Fleur Beale when they were at the local school. i used to read the books they brought home (being an avid reader and always looking for new stuff to read lol) so I have read most of the stuff she wrote for young teens. It was damn good reading :)

The local school got David Hill in to speak to the kids, which I attended. He also wrote some awesome young adult books, most of which I've read as well(http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/XtraNewsCommunity2/MSN%20emoticons/08emembarrassed.gif).

But my favourite young adult author would have to be John Marsden (I know he's Australian but he's really great - he wrote the "Tomorrow, when the war began" series).

Hi Shef.  Fleur Beale is a very nice person as well as being very talented.   We got to sit and talk before she started her class and she is very passionate about her work.   David Hill was also with her plus one other author I cannot remember the name of.   They were doing other schools and working their way around the Canterbury district for a week.   I have Sin of the Fathers on my list to read.  I haven't read John Marsden.

Books for young people, have you read 'That was then, this is now'?

An eyeopening book for young people.

I only read the John Marsden Tomorrow series recently....they are great.

Do you get any of them in Brownie? I looked at buying the last two 'Ellie Chronicles' books but they're too expensive to buy new, and I haven't  seen any in the local second hand bookstores here.

when looking for second hand books try abebooks.com

Robman.   How is the writing coming along?

Good one Rob!!

I remember that peace you posted a few years back - that looked good...  keep it going!!

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