As ever, having got to the end of the W.I.P. (cunning plan abandonned!) the begining doesn’t feel right, and so I am rolling up my sleeves and wrestling with another draft. This one feels like much more like hard slog than a voyage of discovery, but more often than not, that’s the name of the writing game.
Since my energy for this is limited I’m taking time out to get some research done for my planned third novel – The Historical One.
Although I’m still inspired to tackle my subject, the idea of writing fiction about a group of real people (however dead!) is quite daunting, not to mention the problem of getting familiar with the minutiae of the period. This post from Second Wind is a good summary of how overwhelmed I feel.
So far I’ve collected lots of references and am trying to organise them using Refworks citation software. I’ve also set up a wiki to store (I think) weblinks relating to characters and background. I have even done some reading, although sadly this has done little more than demolished any ideas I had for a plot. Still, I feel I am now reaching Mastermind status on the theme of my ‘specialist subject’ so can only hope some good will come of it.
(Very) light relief has come along in the form of Twitter (I will not get addicted, I will not get addicted …)
Ali Bacon / Books Etc 
One piece of software that I’ve looked at in the part is Storyboard. It allows you to draw info on characters together with timelines and story threads. Its open source, cross platform and free! Oh and yes it is 5 am. I’m doing overnight shift of vol work and catching up on twitter and blogs!
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Sounds like it would be worth a look – though in this case I haven’t got as far as plotting – just trying to get the historical facts sorted out so that I can decide which to use and which to dispense with (I’m hoping that’s a reasonable way to go about it!)
BTW am I sniffing out a fellow writer here?
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There is a part of me that would love to write, but a bigger part of me that doesn’t feel like I have the application (possibly ‘yet’), or the ideas.
I can quite simply not imagine a bigger thrill than walking into a book shop and seeing a book that I’d written on a shelf.
One problem (and its a very real one) is that I’m very easily distracted by the actual act of using a computer. By that I mean that a computer can be a tool, used to write something, calculate something, or whatever. But it can also be used to do nifty stuff like programming, watching YouTube etc. Of course that is the application bit that I need to crack!
And nowadays I have the distraction of Lizzie too.
Maybe one day.
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“I can quite simply not imagine a bigger thrill than walking into a book shop and seeing a book that I’d written on a shelf. ”
Nor me!
Seriously – with luck you may find that time and ideas come together.
I agree technology is a problem. For me the answer is to ‘write’ on an ancient PC that does nothing else. But now I would like a new one – big decion soon. Application is one thing, will-power another!
AliB
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