Weasley
Something for Clare
28/12/10 13:02 Filed in: Writing
Well, Clare, this latest addition to Chapter Five of
The Way Forward is for you. You told me that
you like the character, Kate, and wanted to see her
come back and so I've written her back in. You
suggested that her cousin be Penelope Clearwater,
Percy Weasley's girlfriend, and I've made it so.
I'm afraid that I couldn't build the scene the way you suggested it (with Penelope becoming jealous, thinking Kate's after Percy) but I think the tension in the scene is pretty good anyway. I hope you like it. The next scenes from this plot will have Percy and Penelope going to the Burrow to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley about their wedding plans, to explain why Percy proposed to Pen so soon after Voldemort's defeat and Fred's death, to deal with the mingled joy and sorrow at the thought of a wedding without Fred. Then, of course, Percy will have to tell George. That's going to be a hard scene to write.
Our friend Stephanie has given me another idea for The Way Forward that I hope you like. Steph said she didn't like the fact that the Prologue of The Dealthy Hallows implies that Hermione didn't take a job at Hogwarts as a Professor, even though Neville did. Who better than Hermione to teach? So I'm thinking of having a scene (which would have to be much later in the book) where Minerva receives a letter from Hermione re-enroling in her seventh year at Hogwarts, to complete her magical education. My idea is that Hermione would then go on to a Muggle University for her undergraduate and graduate degrees, before devoting her life to researching the advances in magic that Voldemort made, trying to find ways to use them for good.
What do you think? What does Emily think?
I'm afraid that I couldn't build the scene the way you suggested it (with Penelope becoming jealous, thinking Kate's after Percy) but I think the tension in the scene is pretty good anyway. I hope you like it. The next scenes from this plot will have Percy and Penelope going to the Burrow to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley about their wedding plans, to explain why Percy proposed to Pen so soon after Voldemort's defeat and Fred's death, to deal with the mingled joy and sorrow at the thought of a wedding without Fred. Then, of course, Percy will have to tell George. That's going to be a hard scene to write.
Our friend Stephanie has given me another idea for The Way Forward that I hope you like. Steph said she didn't like the fact that the Prologue of The Dealthy Hallows implies that Hermione didn't take a job at Hogwarts as a Professor, even though Neville did. Who better than Hermione to teach? So I'm thinking of having a scene (which would have to be much later in the book) where Minerva receives a letter from Hermione re-enroling in her seventh year at Hogwarts, to complete her magical education. My idea is that Hermione would then go on to a Muggle University for her undergraduate and graduate degrees, before devoting her life to researching the advances in magic that Voldemort made, trying to find ways to use them for good.
What do you think? What does Emily think?
Contemplating Next Steps
24/12/10 08:57 Filed in: Writing
With Christmas upon us and my first review of The
Silent Goodbye now completed, I'm contemplating
next steps. I can't actually enter the revisions into
my manuscript until Patti has completed her review so
I have some time to move on to other things.
My friend Clare has been e-mailing me about The Way Forward, my Rowling-World novel that follows the lives of three minor characters from the Harry Potter series (which, by the way, is available on this website for your reading pleasure). Clare is a marvellously perceptive reader and an avid fan of Harry Potter so I find her e-mails very inspiring. She is adamant that the Muggle character, Kate, should have a continuing role so I'm asking her to help me plan the hows, whens, wheres and whys of Kate's re-emergence.
I am also starting to turn my mind to the next Phillip Gold novel. As I have mentioned before, I have two completed earlier novels (A Fleck of Gold and All That Glisters) but anyone who has read the first chapters of either or both of them (also available on this website) will be able to tell you that they will need a great deal of work to get them to a professional standard. I think they have good plots and interesting characters: it's just the writing that's substandard.
The question I face is this: are those novels strong enough to make the work needed to bring them up to snuff worthwhile? Or should I just set them aside as necessary practice in preparation for later Gold mysteries?
If I decide on the latter course of action, then I could get back to work on The Final Curtain, a new Gold novel that I have started planning in consultation with my nieces, Alex and Katie. I think this one has an exceptional plot in the works and would be fun to write. I feel like I'm leaning toward this novel as my next major Phillip-Gold project, though I have to admit I have been running revisions to All That Glisters around in my brain for a while.
Complicated. Maybe I should just work on all three at the same time, moving from book to book when I either run out of steam on one or have an inspiration for another. The Final Curtain involves all new writing for Phillip Gold. All That Glisters would require massive revisions based on an existing structure. The Way Forward is very different, working with established characters in a fantasy world, and is being written somewhat in free form.
It may just be that having that kind of variety available to me will help to inspire and keep me working!
My friend Clare has been e-mailing me about The Way Forward, my Rowling-World novel that follows the lives of three minor characters from the Harry Potter series (which, by the way, is available on this website for your reading pleasure). Clare is a marvellously perceptive reader and an avid fan of Harry Potter so I find her e-mails very inspiring. She is adamant that the Muggle character, Kate, should have a continuing role so I'm asking her to help me plan the hows, whens, wheres and whys of Kate's re-emergence.
I am also starting to turn my mind to the next Phillip Gold novel. As I have mentioned before, I have two completed earlier novels (A Fleck of Gold and All That Glisters) but anyone who has read the first chapters of either or both of them (also available on this website) will be able to tell you that they will need a great deal of work to get them to a professional standard. I think they have good plots and interesting characters: it's just the writing that's substandard.
The question I face is this: are those novels strong enough to make the work needed to bring them up to snuff worthwhile? Or should I just set them aside as necessary practice in preparation for later Gold mysteries?
If I decide on the latter course of action, then I could get back to work on The Final Curtain, a new Gold novel that I have started planning in consultation with my nieces, Alex and Katie. I think this one has an exceptional plot in the works and would be fun to write. I feel like I'm leaning toward this novel as my next major Phillip-Gold project, though I have to admit I have been running revisions to All That Glisters around in my brain for a while.
Complicated. Maybe I should just work on all three at the same time, moving from book to book when I either run out of steam on one or have an inspiration for another. The Final Curtain involves all new writing for Phillip Gold. All That Glisters would require massive revisions based on an existing structure. The Way Forward is very different, working with established characters in a fantasy world, and is being written somewhat in free form.
It may just be that having that kind of variety available to me will help to inspire and keep me working!
Back to Writing
04/12/10 11:26 Filed in: Writing
Having put The Silent Goodbye, my completed
second-draft mystery manuscript, on the shelf for a
while, I've been wondering what my next writing
project should be. Even though my subconscious mind
has been working on ways to rewrite my earlier
Phillip Gold novel, All That Glisters, in
the new format and I have a new Gold project already
started (The Final Curtain, from an idea
provided by my nieces), I've decided to put my
mystery protagonist aside completely for a couple of
weeks.
When I do return to do revisions and polishing of The Silent Goodbye, I want to be coming back to it completely fresh.
So, instead, I've decided to go back to The Way Forward, the ongoing Rowling-world novel that I began last year. The rough first draft of the first 40 or so pages is available on this website but I've made the decision to use this free writing time to try to move the project significantly forward.
To that end, I've copied all four existing chapters into one file, moved that file onto my trusty net book and started working.
I really like this novel, to be honest. And, having now re-read all seven of Rowling's original books and seen the excellent seventh movie, I am enjoying the prospect of spending more time with her fabulous characters.
I re-read and revised the first 40 pages this morning and was pleased with what I found. There are a couple of scenes in there that I think are very effective and affecting and the basic concept of the book is sound.
It might seem strange to some people to think that I could spend this much time and energy working on a book that I will never be able to publish or sell but, in some ways, that makes the work all the more joyful. I am writing this book because I love doing it, because I enjoy the world and the characters Rowling created, not because I hope to make a name for myself, a career, or even money from it.
My book focuses on Aberforth Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall and George Weasley. It explores the relationships among the magical races and between them and the Muggles in the world. It unfolds in the aftermath of the late-won war as the main characters attempt to deal with their new realities.
I don't know if I'll finish it and I'm not sure that's even the point. I want to enjoy the writing, the creating, the ongoing immersion in Rowling's world. If a finished work comes out of it, great. But that's not the goal of the enterprise.
When I do return to do revisions and polishing of The Silent Goodbye, I want to be coming back to it completely fresh.
So, instead, I've decided to go back to The Way Forward, the ongoing Rowling-world novel that I began last year. The rough first draft of the first 40 or so pages is available on this website but I've made the decision to use this free writing time to try to move the project significantly forward.
To that end, I've copied all four existing chapters into one file, moved that file onto my trusty net book and started working.
I really like this novel, to be honest. And, having now re-read all seven of Rowling's original books and seen the excellent seventh movie, I am enjoying the prospect of spending more time with her fabulous characters.
I re-read and revised the first 40 pages this morning and was pleased with what I found. There are a couple of scenes in there that I think are very effective and affecting and the basic concept of the book is sound.
It might seem strange to some people to think that I could spend this much time and energy working on a book that I will never be able to publish or sell but, in some ways, that makes the work all the more joyful. I am writing this book because I love doing it, because I enjoy the world and the characters Rowling created, not because I hope to make a name for myself, a career, or even money from it.
My book focuses on Aberforth Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall and George Weasley. It explores the relationships among the magical races and between them and the Muggles in the world. It unfolds in the aftermath of the late-won war as the main characters attempt to deal with their new realities.
I don't know if I'll finish it and I'm not sure that's even the point. I want to enjoy the writing, the creating, the ongoing immersion in Rowling's world. If a finished work comes out of it, great. But that's not the goal of the enterprise.
Great Ideas Come to Town
27/10/09 19:38 Filed in: Writing
It's been an interesting couple of days. First, my
sister, Lynn, and her partner, Gavin came to town
from Toronto for a visit. We've been having a great
time. And, as an added bonus, they are both extremely
computer and internet savvy, so I've been picking up
a lot of tips for my website.
For example, I've added a new page to the website entitled "Video". This page allows me to embed the videos I've posted on Youtube so that people can simply access them from this webpage rather than having to find them on Youtube itself. It's pretty cool. I don't know if any of you will take advantage but I like the idea.
Second, and arising out of that first item, Lynn and Gavin have also suggested that I think about videotaping myself reading sections from my creative writing. I can post the videos on Youtube, then add a link to them on this website. That way, you can read my writing or let me read it to you. Sounds like fun. Of course, it will take a lot of planning since I'll have to make sure everything looks and sounds good. I'm also now feeling some self-inflicted pressure to revise the earlier Phillip Gold books before I do the reading. Or is that just a delaying tactic?
I'm quite interested in trying it with The Way Forward, my in-progress Rowling-world novel featuring Minerva McGonagall, Aberforth Dumbledore and the surviving Weasley twin. I wonder if I'll have the guts to do voice characterizations for each.
Third, Gavin showed me how I can put more photos on my website without making the computer file too big. It seems Rapidweaver saves each picture in its original size, even though what you see on the website itself is a much smaller version. By the press of a button, however, I can tell the program to shed the massive versions of the photos and just keep the smaller ones. So the size of the website dropped from about 15 MB to just two and a bit, without any loss of quality on the web. Cool. It means I can get back to putting more photos on the site and not worry about overloading my computer.
Best of all, I actually broke out of my slump, at least for the day, and wrote an entire scene for The Silent Goodbye. I'm pleased about that since it had been a while since I had been able to get myself to sit down and write. As so often happens when you start writing after a long absence, I had to leave a gap between where I left off in the plot and where I started up again; that way I can simply write the bridge section later, rather than having, say, two versions of the same scene to reconcile.
I wish I had a better memory, though. I have already forgotten some character names and many of the physical descriptions. That's really bad. That's why I've had to create the character and setting outlines: so that I can maintain consistency throughout the Phillip Gold collection, in spite of my bad memory.
A good day all around, thanks to Lynn and Gavin.
For example, I've added a new page to the website entitled "Video". This page allows me to embed the videos I've posted on Youtube so that people can simply access them from this webpage rather than having to find them on Youtube itself. It's pretty cool. I don't know if any of you will take advantage but I like the idea.
Second, and arising out of that first item, Lynn and Gavin have also suggested that I think about videotaping myself reading sections from my creative writing. I can post the videos on Youtube, then add a link to them on this website. That way, you can read my writing or let me read it to you. Sounds like fun. Of course, it will take a lot of planning since I'll have to make sure everything looks and sounds good. I'm also now feeling some self-inflicted pressure to revise the earlier Phillip Gold books before I do the reading. Or is that just a delaying tactic?
I'm quite interested in trying it with The Way Forward, my in-progress Rowling-world novel featuring Minerva McGonagall, Aberforth Dumbledore and the surviving Weasley twin. I wonder if I'll have the guts to do voice characterizations for each.
Third, Gavin showed me how I can put more photos on my website without making the computer file too big. It seems Rapidweaver saves each picture in its original size, even though what you see on the website itself is a much smaller version. By the press of a button, however, I can tell the program to shed the massive versions of the photos and just keep the smaller ones. So the size of the website dropped from about 15 MB to just two and a bit, without any loss of quality on the web. Cool. It means I can get back to putting more photos on the site and not worry about overloading my computer.
Best of all, I actually broke out of my slump, at least for the day, and wrote an entire scene for The Silent Goodbye. I'm pleased about that since it had been a while since I had been able to get myself to sit down and write. As so often happens when you start writing after a long absence, I had to leave a gap between where I left off in the plot and where I started up again; that way I can simply write the bridge section later, rather than having, say, two versions of the same scene to reconcile.
I wish I had a better memory, though. I have already forgotten some character names and many of the physical descriptions. That's really bad. That's why I've had to create the character and setting outlines: so that I can maintain consistency throughout the Phillip Gold collection, in spite of my bad memory.
A good day all around, thanks to Lynn and Gavin.