tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6771775388110854391.post6210928775903448004..comments2024-01-29T06:21:11.353+00:00Comments on Sarah Duncan's Blog: Don't Talk - Write!Sarah Duncanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12530089356370140344noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6771775388110854391.post-22780601370900880672012-04-03T14:40:07.015+01:002012-04-03T14:40:07.015+01:00Shauna, you're absolutely right about talking ...Shauna, you're absolutely right about talking yourself out of a story.<br /><br />Jim, that's a really important point - until you've written the story you don't really know it.Sarah Duncanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12530089356370140344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6771775388110854391.post-59752705929537496932012-04-03T11:01:21.863+01:002012-04-03T11:01:21.863+01:00I agree strongly. Just over a year ago I finished ...I agree strongly. Just over a year ago I finished my fifth novel and I felt this pressure to let people know when I’d started the sixth as if I’d suddenly stopped being a writer for the interim period. Now I have some 4000 words written but I’m still exceedingly hesitant even to say this <i>is</i> going to be a novel because I don’t know myself yet. It’s at times like this I wish I was a plotter because by now most of the hard work would be done and I’d just be filling in the blanks which I know oversimplifies the process but I take a very grass-is-always-greener view of those writer who can plot up front. I’ve mentioned to a couple of friends—and my wife, of course—that I’ve started something and that it’s about memory, specifically memory loss, which is not surprising because it’s a subject that preoccupies me, but that’s it and already I’ve completely changed my approach to the problem and ditched my first go. That’s one of the main reason why I hate talking about my writing because I really don’t know which way it’s heading; I’m feeling my way along in the dark. I also take my responsibility as the writer seriously. I get quite irritated by artists who have a band of assistants who do all the grunt work; those aren’t artists, they’re designers. All my wife knew about my last novel—and bear in mind that it took me several years to write it—was that it was called <i>Left</i> and it was about a woman going through her father’s flat after his death and although that’s still the basis for the novel after a couple of chapters it veers off into a direction I did not see coming and was certainly not the book I set out to write; the important thing is that is was worth writing. <br /><br>Jim Murdochhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12786388638146471193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6771775388110854391.post-87331755356994189412012-04-02T07:55:03.146+01:002012-04-02T07:55:03.146+01:00That's so true. It's not about being coy,...That's so true. It's not about being coy, or awkward. In the early stages, the writing and the writer is fragile. I don't share anything (even with my writing group) until my first draft has, at least, gone through one edit.<br /><br />If you talk too much about an idea, you can talk yourself out of it!Shaunahttp://www.shaunabickley.comnoreply@blogger.com