Saw an Horizon programme last week on man returning to the moon. They speculated that the reason for this sudden renewed interest was an isotope of Helium called Helium 3. Using this isotope can make nuclear fusion reactors a possibility – clean unlimited power for the entire earth. In fact, mining Helium 3 on the moon could even become financially viable. This set off all sorts of ideas in my mind and as a result I’m re-writing parts of Mervyn Bright and the Marauders. The mines on Starlight and Pershwin no longer supply gold but Helium3. And the underlying reason for the power struggle is over the supply of Helium 3. This device especially beefs up the ending because Mervyn knows that the Space Republic does not yet have sufficient Helium 3 to power it’s planetary defence shield, so it gives him a reason to turn back and attack the Naga’s warship – this act is now a clear character choice rather than an accident of circumstance.

Here are some more statistics: At last I have finished the final draft and made the final alterations to Mervyn Bright and the Marauders. When I say final I mean the last time I touch it before an agent/editor requests changes.

Now I start the difficult bit – getting an agent and a publishing contract. Miss Snark reckons that of the 1200 queries she receives each quarter she takes on only one new client. Of course, if I haven’t made it by this time next year I’ll have to think again. In the meant time I’m forging ahead with book two in the series, ‘Mervyn Bright and the Ark of Knowledge’ – you can find a scene brief for this book by clicking on the ‘Synopsis’ link in the navigation panel on the left.


Issac Asimov apparently said, “The first million words are just practice.” By that measure I have only 800,000 to go
Nathan Bransford (US literary agent) reckons that most writers don’t get published until their third or fourth book.
The average professional writer makes only £15,000 per year – so no giving up the day job then.

For the moment I’ve given up on finding a cheap web provider that meets my needs. I realised what I really needed was something basic, reliable, and easy to use. So I’ve created 15 blog pages on Blogger.com and linked them all together with the navigation panel on the left so they work like a website. I’ve also created a MervynBright.co.uk entry point, using my MS LiveOffice site, which redirects to Blogger.com. This gives me a simple web address to quote on my query letters.

I have embarked on the final re-write of Mervyn Bright and the Marauders. This is the last polish before approaching agents. I have already re-written the first three chapters:-
The beginning of the story has always been a bit slow and the main characters are introduced individually, but to achieve commercial success (to get noticed by agents and publishers) I need a bigger hook in the first chapter. In fact, I need a bigger hook on the first page so I’ve started the story with a brief run in with the Nabob. I’ve also brought Aurora into the story a few chapters earlier and removed the class scene where the students are allocated to their syndicates (never was happy with it) – that all now happens at the opening ceremony. My only real concern now is that having tried so hard to get away from Harry Potter, the opening ceremony is a bit too reminiscent of the Sorting Hat scene. Perhaps I’ll cut that too and have the syndicates pre-determined.
One reviewer has suggested cutting the Aurora Swot scene as it adds nothing to the story. The main purpose of that scene is for Loren to warm to Aurora and learn to respect her. It also shows off the character traits of the other characters. If I cut that scene (one of my favourites - and I’ve sacrificed so many of my favourites already in the interests of propelling the story forward) I’ll have to work that characterisation into other scenes. On the other hand, anything that does not propel the story forward ought to go – the pile of cuts is now bigger than the novel. Another reviewer really liked this chapter and thought it served to fill out the characters. Should I cut it or not?
This final re-write is about character and characterisation. Loren, in particular needs to undergo a bigger character change – from loner to team player, so I’m going to re-emphasis her preference for working alone at the start of the story.

The first full critique of the manuscript has been sent to me. It contains lots of positives, which is good for my ego, but more importantly, it highlights areas where the story can be improved. Producing a critique of a full novel is a skill in it’s own right. It is incredibly difficult to find people who have the skill, the time, and the willingness to tear your manuscript apart for your. I have been incredibly lucky in this respect – through an online writer’s site (Writers in Touch) I was able to buddy up with Dave who is writing a children’s fantasy novel.
Most writer’s groups are full of poets, short story writer’s, and six-chapter novelists who forever rework the first six chapters of their book. Constructing a novel in it’s entirety is an different skill. Only another novelist can really understand the difficulties involved. Dave is serious about being a novelist. We have been exchanging three chapters at a time for over a year now – it’s the most useful feedback I have every had, and together with what I have learned from critiquing his book, has certainly help refine the novel into it’s current form.
A colleague at work suggested writing to the heads of English at a local school, getting a class to read and critique the manuscript and offering book tokens for the top three reviews. It would cost me £180 to run off 30 book from Lulu.com, so not a bad investment for 30 reviews from the target audience. I believe G.P.Taylor did something similar with his first novel. I might just give it a go.

I have just taken delivery of the first fully printed Mervyn Bright novel, and I can’t keep the grin off my face. No, I haven’t landed a printing contract – this is a self-published, print on demand, version produced though Lulu.com. Working on the basis that some of my younger reviewers are more likely to critique the manuscript if they have a proper book to read, I set it all up last week on Lulu and ordered four copies. The feeling of excitement when I opened that package, even though I know it is not the real thing, was incredible.

I keep taking a copy out of the package, and turning it over and over in my hands – suddenly I understand why people vanity publish. Curiously, the reaction from family and friends for a manuscript that looks like a real novel is far more positive than when presented with the same work in a folder. I keep reminding myself that this is not the objective towards which I’m aiming – the end game is when a commercially published version of the book appears in the best sellers list. This self-published version is just a tool; a step on the way to success.

The bulletin to a Harry Potter interest group on MySpace.com has been up for a week. Hits on my Lulu site have doubled since I posted the bulletin, up by 70. Downloads have increased by a disappointing 2 (2% of hits – both in the first 24 hours). So what is the analysis? Why am I not getting more downloads?

1. The blurb is not connecting sufficiently to encourage downloads.

2. The first chapter (the viewable text) is not connecting to the views.

3. I’m aiming at the wrong audience.

Let’s take the last first. The Harry Potter audience is the one I’m writing for so I’d better learn to connect with them – this is not negotiable, I just need to learn to do better, but that is what this exercise is about.

Connecting with the text: A 2% success rate is not bad compared to a direct marketing campaign, though I would hope for more by targeting an interest group. At this rate, if I assume only 1% of readers will leave a review I’ll need to get 5,000 hit on the Lulu download page to get 10 reviews. I need to significantly improve the download rate if I can. The analytical approach is not to jump in to making changes to the viewable text or the first chapter, but to change the blurb and measure the effect again by posting another bulletin to another HP site. If that fails I’ll then progress to changing the viewable text – being more selective about what I present – maybe constructing the written equivalent of a film trailer. If they still don’t bite I’ll have to consider more drastic changes. Every step though needs to be tested, analysed, and assessed.

I have four aims for Mervyn this year. In no particular order:-

1. Find a literary agent to represent me and find a publisher.
2. Make feedback changes to Mervyn Bright & the Marauders.
3. Construct a Mervyn Bright Website.
4. Complete the first draft of book two.

Finding an agent has to be the main priority for 2007, and I’ve made a start already. I’ve sent three sample chapters, a story synopsis, and story briefs for books two and three to Philip Patterson at Majacq Scripts, the agent who originally showed interest in Mervyn at the Winchester Writer’s Conference in 2005. I know he rejected the original half-baked script I sent last year, but I feel duty bound to give him first refusal at the finished novel.

If he does turn me down again, and I fully expect him to, I’ll start approaching the rest of the market. What happens if I can’t find an agent? Panic, I think. Maybe approach publishers directly, or think or a self publish strategy which attracts their attention, or look for an agent in the USA. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Obtaining feedback from the target audience is proving more difficult than I had anticipated. The children of friends and family are either too old or two young, so I’m forced to look elsewhere. There have been 7 downloads from Lulu.com, but I know that at least two of those are from adults – two others are from placing a bulletin on a Harry Potter group on My Space. Whether any of these leave reviews, or even read the book is hit-and-miss. I desperately need feedback from youngsters so a different approach is needed – what I need is a captive audience, a school literature project or something. Anyone out there interested in getting their pupils involved with a developing author?

I signed up for a free domain name with Microsoft Office Online, but now I’ve discovered I cannot link my website to third party providers to bring in external pages such as this blog or the download page in Lulu.com. I looks like I'll need to pay an annual fee to get what I want. I’ve never joined in the general witch-hunt against Microsoft, but they do seem to want their ‘pound of flesh.’ I’ve had some tips on possible cheaper providers so I’ll try again.

Book two, provisionally called ,Mervyn Bright and the Ark of Knowledge,, is progressing well. I’m currently putting together a scene brief (see previous blogs on the new writing process – if I had a website I’d set up a page explaining my process) and have loads of ideas. I have a feeling this is going to be better than the first book – by that I mean more tightly plotted. Sorting out the cause and effect of the plot at the very beginning of the writing process certainly helps pull everything together. It eliminates that feeling of doubt at not knowing where the story is going. I’m itching to get writing for real, but I know that if I’m disciplined and complete a scene brief followed by an expanded scene brief it’ll reduce the writing time for the new book by a whole year.

This is a copy of the first reader review left on Lulu.com. This reader obviously likes it:-

This is a captivating story and very different to other children's books currently on offer. With dragons, wizards, and elves flooding the children's market each month, this is sure to stand out from the crowd. An impressive imagination, in a book filled with great sci-fi ideas, gadgets, and aliens, truly bringing Mervyn's world to life. Characters have as much focus as plot, and the story is all the better for it. Mervyn is a great hero with a great heart, supported by an unlikely but loveable group of friends. I found this fast-paced with a good flow of events. Tension builds well throughout the story towards a tense and powerful climax. An ambitious book that both children and adults can enjoy.

So far my Lulu site has had 63 hits, the free download has been taken by 5 people, and I’ve had 1 review. Together with the hard copies I distributed that makes 8 people are reviewing the book at the moment. I’m impatient for feedback, and check everyday for reviews, though I realise a novel can take a while to read – in an 11 point font and proper novel format the book comes out at 310 pages, so it’s not a lightweight read.

I’m currently working to get the manuscript reviewed by the English Literature class at my local school because I desperately need feedback from readers in the target audience. Now it’s finished, I’m also sending my selected 3 chapters and story outline to the agent who originally showed interest in my work – give him a second chance to reject me. I kind of feel honour bound to give him a second bite of the cherry even though he’s not a major player in the children’s market.

It’s a slow burn, but assuming anyone is interested in what I’m doing I’ll keep you updated on progress.

As promised I have now set up ‘Mervyn Bright and The Marauders’ as a free download on Lulu.com. If you are interested in reviewing the draft novel (89,000 words), please leave your comments in a review on Lulu.com.

If you know any avid readers in the target age group, 10 – 16 years of age, who would appreciate a children’s action/adventure story, I would especially appreciate it if you could pass the download details on to them and ask them to leave a review too.

The following web address will take you directly to the free download. This will be available until the 01 January 07.

www.lulu.com/content/524068

Enjoy the read.

Almost exactly three years to the day since deciding to get the prototype of this story out of my head and take up writing I have finished the last chapter of the third re-write of Mervyn Bright and the Marauders – 87000 words in all. Now I can go public.

My original aim was to see if I had the staying power to complete a novel length story. Then I realised I had done exactly what I set out to do – I’d written a story not a novel, so I started to learn the art of story telling – the first re-draft. Then the characters took over and headed the story off in a completely different direction. Then I discovered I needed to learn the craft of writing, not just putting words together, but editing and developing a style of my own – second re-write (I’ve cut over 100,000 words in total). Then I just had to pull everything together and make sure the story, the characters, and the style were consistent throughout the whole novel – third re-write. Easy really – not.

My aim now is to make sure Mervyn and gang get to come alive in print – get published.

New Writing Habits
I’ve changed my job in the last few weeks and as a consequence I’ve had to change my writing habits. I now have to undertake a two hour train journey to work two or three times a week, that’s two hours each way. The rest of the time I’m working close to home. Out have gone the twenty minute slots four times a day and in have come two hour slots two or three times a week. Strangely, I preferred my twenty minute slots, they were far more productive – I have more time so I take more time (there’s a sociological rule for this I believe).
As writers, unless the have the luxury of writing professionally, we have to use whatever time we can grab. Mine seems to be on trains and in waiting rooms. I’m writing this now in a waiting room in a train station in Bournemouth. My train arrives in 45 minutes.

I’ve been playing with two new pieces of technology this week: a digital pen, and Lulu Self Publishing. Still having a few problems with the pen so I’ll talk about that in my next blog, and talk about serialising a book instead..

Now, I know I said previously I would never self publish, and I have not changed my position on that one, but there are two instances in which I might use it;-
1). To get feedback on my draft novel from my target audience.
2). To help get a publishing deal by proving I have a commercially viable market.

Specifically I’ve been researching how to serialise a book on the internet. I read something the other day where someone had set up a document as serialised chapters which e-mailed a new chapter each day to anyone who registered. The bit that really interested me was that once someone registered they were automatically sent the first chapter in the serialisation. Unfortunately it looks as if I might have to pay to have my work hosted to achieve this sort of serialisation. I continued my search.

Then, I found the one and only serialised book on Lulu.com, "The Fall, A Book of The Walking Man". And I knew how I could serialise without it costing me anything: if I publish each chapter as a series of e-books/booklets and charge £0.00 for the download, I could ask people to review the serialisation by download and leave their feedback in the book review section on Lulu. I might even set up “Free Serialised Book Downloads” or “Free Book Serialisation” as a user group on MySpace.com or something similar. Later, when I have a final version, I could even charge £0.50 for each download in the series – don’t think I will get rich that way, but it could prove there is a commercial market. What do you think?

The nature/character of the Space Academy had troubled me all winter. It’s another of those big questions which could make or brake the whole book. The Space Academy is such an integral part of Mervyn’s life that it is almost a character in its own right – like Hogwarts in Harry Potter, but I don’t want the Academy to be so intrusive or so dominating. The main setting for Mervyn Bright is the Galaxy and the main action always takes place away from the school. If I can get this right it will set the tone for not just this book but the whole series – it’s a crucial decision and I’m close to an answer.
I’ve almost decided to make it a kind of summer school which meets in different locations for four to six weeks at a stretch at the end of each semesters (term)). In between, the students continue their studies remotely and online, a bit like the open university I suppose. In fact, the Academy now almost becomes an idea, or an ideal, rather than a physical place. It also mean the eliteness of the Academy can exist as an idea even when the characters are isolated and far away.
On a practical level, it gives me plenty of scope to place the Academy in an infinite variety of settings and alien societies, but also the opportunity to interact with adults to whatever degree is necessary For the first book though, because Sledding is such an integral part of the story, I’m still tempted to limit contact with the outside world.
Currently I’m writing the second draft of chapter 26 and editing chapters 24 & 25. 26 is a transition chapter that takes the Misfits into the climax of the story – at last the end of the second draft is in sight. The first drafts of these chapters were written two years ago and I haven’t looked at them since. A lot has changed since then in terms of plot, characters and writing style – did I really used to write like that?
The link will take you to edited 2nd draft of chapter 24 – Oblivion.

This is the name of a newly published book by Noah Lukeman of "The Fist Five
Pages" fame. I've been anticipating the publication of this book for some
time as it sounded like just the thing I need: a grammar book for creative
writers. Was the wait worth it? You bet. Noah's book will proudly sit
beside my copy of "Stunk and White" on the book shelf.

Lukeman looks beyond the rules of grammar and explores how the marks on the
page can clarify, alter and enhance the work. He talks in terms of grammar
encompassing thoughts and creating dramatic effect - just what I need. I
highly recommend this book to beginning or intermediate creative writers.

Sometimes, to achieve your desired goal you just have to knuckle down and slog away – this is where I am with the Mervyn Bright book at the moment. After months of deliberation and doubt I have finally decided to radically chop down one of the story-lines and continue with a single story-line. That’s another 20k words gone – since the start of this project I have now chopped more words than I have written. I expect the finished work to come out at about 100k words.

Why sacrifice one of the story line rather than have two books? Because it would put the project years behind schedule and I need to finish this; to prove to myself that I can do it, to write a whole novel. By this I don’t just mean a finished first draft or second draft, but something which I can seriously submit to a publisher as a completed work. Now the writing course is finished I have shut myself off from all distractions. I would love to spend more time writing and commenting on WIT, but it all detracts from my writing time which is preciously short anyway.

I need to slog my way to the end of the second draft – only 20 to 25k words to go. Then the story-line will be firmly set in place. I can then return to the beginning for the third draft which will concentrate on characterisation, grammar and sentence/paragraph construction. I have deliberately left this to last while I learn the craft of writing. I will also be able to circulate the script to reviewers for feedback.

MySpace.com – ‘Killer Marketing Plan’
Did you see the story about on demand self-publishing via Lulu.com? I would only do it as a tactical exercise to land a traditional publishing deal, but it did get me thinking. It’s a great business plan for Lulu.com: you make as much profit from a million authors selling a hundred copies as from a hundred authors selling a million copies. Probably more, as you don’t have the marketing or editing overheads. From a fiction writer’s point of view; it sucks.
I can see self-publishing working for specialist books like ‘How to Castrate a Doberman on the Cheap Without Losing Your Hand,’ but the audiences are not nearly large enough to sell a descent number of novels – unless of course you have a ‘killer marketing plan’.
The Arctic Monkeys had a ‘killer marketing plan’ which took the commercial music scene by surprise. What they did was allow their early music to be down loaded through MySpace.com and P2P networks until they had a large enough fan base to make a commercial album viable.
Let’s face it: the only real difference between traditional publishing and self-publishing is who pays for the marketing. Does the author pay for a multinational company to take it on or do it themselves? Could the Arctic Monkey’s ‘killer marketing plan’ work for a novel? I believe it could. What I would have to do is release a free copy of the novel for downloading via MySpace.com and similar networks then track the number of downloads. If I could track who had down loaded it so much the better. How many would I need to clock up before I could approach a publisher and demonstrate my novel has a viable customer base? 5,000; 10,000; 20,000?
Alternatively, I could release a taster of the novel, self publish the complete version via Amazon, and inform everyone who had down loaded the taster that it would be available at cost price for one day only. If they like the taster enough and all decide to buy the cut price version I could hit the number one spot in the Amazon best sell list. Apparently you only need 500 – 800 sales in one day to hit number one. Then I’d be approaching publishers as a ‘best seller’.
Perhaps I should experiment on MySpace,com with a taster – it can’t do any harm. If it works, you can expect to see another best seller about how you too could create your own ‘killer marketing plan’.

Enough procrastinating:; the plot needs to move forward, as does the novel. As an experiment I split out the two story-lines into separate plots. It works quite well so I will continue with the two novel approach. I’m currently working on revised story-lines; they both look a lot simpler than the original, which is good. Both stories come out at about 40000 words which is too light for a novel, but gives both a good start.
I intend to finish the second novel first as this is the most developed plot so it’s back to the last seven chapters with a vengeance.
However, I have drafted out a 700 word prologue for the first book. I’ve reproduced it below:

Deep in the uncharted wastes of the Galaxy a time-bubble popped into existence. It bobbed around on the gravity currents of a black hole’s event-horizon: the point of no return. Any closer and even the Mage’s awesome command of matter would not save it from destruction. Slowly, the bubble expanded until a watcher, had there been one, could have seen two beings appear inside it. Only through such extravagant precautions had the Mage continued her covert fight against the Centaph for so many decades. Her people were few and their powers failing steadily. Unless she could drive the Centaph from the sacred spaces her people would lose all their extraordinary powers and their one remaining homeland.
The Mage’s companion was a sacred futurologists. "Your Holiness," he said bowing a wrinkled head. "We have identified a new flash point in our campaign against the Centaph," he pointed to a telepresence representation of the Galaxy floating beside him. As he pointed, the image zoomed towards a central cluster of stars near the galactic hub. The cluster nestled a safe distance from the red sphere marking the extent of Centaph control. Even as they watch the red sphere expanded towards their star cluster.
"The Galactic Republic of Free Sentient Beings; pretentious, are they not?"
"Yes, your Holiness, but well intentioned and formed with our help."
"And the odds?"
"The odds of success are low, but can greatly improve with our intervention – this could become our best opportunity yet."
"What sort of intervention?"
"Two races are of interest. Neither as yet part of the Republic: Ethigians and Humans. Using the Grositack classification: lone hunters, social herders and social hunters, we would identify Ethrigians as social herders and Humans as social hunters. Either has the ability to lead the Republic against the Centaph."
"Social hunters; like the Centaph – rare indeed. Tell me more of these Humans?" The bubble lurched as a yellow sun, stretched into an oval by the black hole’s immense gravity, shot over the event-horizon and was torn to shreds. Even the light from it’s dying burst was sucked towards the hungry giant ahead.
"The humans are few, maybe only hundreds in number. Refugees from the galactic slave trade ."
"Can we trace their home world?"
"All attempts have failed – even they have no idea. They are adventurous, resourceful, aggressive, and adaptable; Like all hunters they are risk takers."
"And the Ethrigians?"
"Dominated by tradition and rigid social rules; highly politicised; great negotiators; feudal of course, and they exist in vast numbers on their home world of Ethrigia. Intriguingly, the humans are drawn to the Ethrigians by their remarkably similarity – they could almost have evolved from the same stock."
"Convergent evolution probably: species occupying the same niche in different eco systems often resemble each other. Though, there is some evidence the ancients seeded species on new worlds before the great merging," the Mage said. "How do you propose we maximise the chances of success?" A planet broke into uneven chunks as it followed it’s unlucky sun. The Mage wondered briefly if the planet harboured life, if so extinction was only seconds away.
"With respect, your Holiness, only the most difficult scenario comes top in every simulation."
"The m

This is the most important question I need to answer to get the novel(s) can progress with any real momentum.

We know he is brave, resourceful, focused, and a skilled pilot, but none of these things give him sufficient drive to deliberately put himself in to a prejudiced position at the Academy. More importantly, they don’t provide enough drive to keep him there. Why wouldn’t he just give up?

If I move the attack on Starlight sequence to the beginning of the first book I, he could want revenge. Trouble is Mervyn isn’t a revengeful sort of guy.

He could want to be a Sled pilot, but why would that take him to the Space Academy. He could want to be Galactic Sledding champion, but again why the Academy?

I think he wants something else, but at the moment he’s not telling me. I’ll have to keep looking.

After eighteen months of hard slog, the Mervyn Bright has come off the rails. I’ve know for some time that the plot wasn’t working, but two events this week confirmed why.
My homework for the writing course was to sum up the plot of a book in fifty words. I thought I would be clever and summarise my own novel. After a week of trying I gave up: it was impossible to sum up the plot. Why? Because I have two completely different plots of equal weight, one in the first half of the novel and the other in the second half. No wonder I’ve not been able to reconcile these two story strands.
The second even was comprehensive feedback from one of my reviewers which identified much the same problem. Though he also identified a few other issues.
This effectively leaves me with two half written novels and my project plan shot to pieces. There is an upside to this of course: firstly, I can get on and complete the last seven chapters as planned without having to reconcile the first plot, and secondly I how have seven books in the Mervyn Bright series.

For Christmas, my wife enrolled me on a writing course at the local art centre. I attended the first session last Tuesday.
I had no idea what to expect, but maybe I can make some useful local contacts. Seven prospective writers attended the first session. I say prospective because I do not consider myself to be a proper writer until I have something published. Until then I’m just playing at it.
Everyone else had either attended previous courses with the teacher or knew loads about literary fiction. We did an exercise trying to guess the origins and first meaning of words. Everyone except me seemed to have a working knowledge of Latin and French. In the end I gave up and tried to convince them that Tandem meant an early name for a blue and yellow fish which lived in the Mediterranean – just for the hell of it really.
The evening consisted of a series of exercises designed to improve descriptive skills and observation. This is in fact exactly what I want: something which stretches my writing in different directions and challenges me to improve. I enjoyed the evening, though I did feel like a Tandem out of water.
My wife has never read anything I’ve written, but to be fair I have never wanted her to – not until it is finished. She is very supportive and I appreciate that; last year she bought me the Writer’s and Artists Year Book – very useful. I’ve already planned everyone I’m going to send the book to once I’ve completed it. All I need to do now is bring it to a close, but for some reason that proving a bit of a problem. I’ll have to think some more on that and write later.

Experimenting 2 – Directing the Director
Having mastered the Extended Brief, I found another article on The Writer’s Store entitled ‘Directing The Director’ and is about using implied screen directions within the prose. It suggests writing camera angles into your initial draft then converting these into prose so they become implied, i.e. (zoom in on bead of perspiration running down protagonists forehead. Wide angle to protagonist and antagonise staring eye to eye while balancing on log across raging river. P and A swing swords at each other, cut to close up of blades striking together.) I have found this really focuses my writing on relevant parts of the scene. It especially helps me think about how I can visually convey feelings and emotions.
I now include camera directions in my extended brief together with directions on pace, i.e. (slow action and increase detail to create tension, short sentences and paragraphs to increase pace, longer sentences and paragraphs to slow pace and ease tension.) I really ought to invent symbols for these direction so I don’t have to keep writing them, I just haven’t got round to it yet.
To some this may seem like a mechanical way to write, but I find it creatively liberating while helping me control the story construction, focus and pace – I told you I was weird.
How does anybody else tackle the first draft?

I’ve been experimenting with different ways to set down my initial draft for the new chapters I’ve written. An articles from my favourite website The Writer’s Store helped me develop the new style. Although the article is concerned with screen writing the method suit my style for novel writing. It could be that I just happen to think in visual terms anyway – I’m weird like that – but it seems to me that screen writing techniques transfer very well to modern novel writing especially as everyone is so familiar with TV, computer games and DVDs. I think fiction needs to work visually in the mind of the reader.
The article concerns itself with producing the ‘Extended Brief’[http://www.writersstore.com/article.php?articles_id=525]. This is a scene by scene summary written in the present tense. It needs to include full descriptions of every scene, setting, prop, and character. Including every character’s dialogue, emotions, thoughts and aims, and cover all the senses (touch, feel, smell, sight, sound). It doesn’t matter if the detail is relevant to the story or not at this stage the idea is to pack in as much information about the scene as possible. When you come to write your first draft you cherry pick the details relevant to the story and convert to your chosen tense. Using this method helps me to remain flexible and get a good feel for each scene without having ‘committed it to paper’. It also helps me work out the cause and effect between each scene without having to cut too much when it’s wrong, because it’s only a summary. The first time I tried it I was surprised by how few details I left out of my first draft. It also improved my active writing no end.
Does anyone else use anything similar?