Questions for Freda Warrington

[G_wolf_P]

I want to touch upon what mark is asking (or as the case might be,already asked). My question; do you plan your writing "scheduale" differently based upon the genre you're writing? I know I do. For instance if it is realistic fiction I make sure I do alot of research so I know what to tweak without sounding like a dumbass.I try to spend "X" amount of time per day. But when it comes to fantasy....well I just let er rip and see what this head of mine comes up with. (of course I do suffer throught alot of editing, as what comes out of this head does not always coincide with story at hand.)

 

[Freda]

I've never managed to make that 9-5 thing work. I don't know about you, Mark, but my schedule seems to work on a kind of sliding scale. Or do I mean an exponential curve?? What I mean is that when I first start a new project, I find it hard going and may only manage a couple of hours, or many hours but only a handful of words, per day. The further I get with it, the faster it grows and longer I'm able to work. I always find the first draft really hard. My favourite part is the second draft and subsequent drafts, when you can really get your teeth into it and flesh it out. The more I'm enjoying it, the longer I work! By the end, when I'm doing the very final draft ready for my agent, I can be working 12-hour days or more by then! So I guess my procrastination at the start and long hours at the end balance each other out.

I'm just at that difficult first-draft stage again now... I do try to set targets, which can be helpful but can also give me a lot of grief when they come off the rails. Every book is different, but I tend to start with a patchwork of scenes that gradually merge into a picture. So no, I'm not very disciplined but I suppose we have to do what works for us! How about you?

I don't really consider that I work in different genres as such, G wolf, and I just research bits and pieces as I need them really. Ha, I like that - what comes out of your head doesn't always coincide with the story at hand! Me too - so true!

 

[Mark Robson]

Oh, my! We are sooooo different! I find that I throw myself into the first draft and rattle through the opening chapters before getting bogged down for a couple of months in the middle section and then, once I hit the beginning of the resolution phase, I race through to the end. I suppose I expect to write a first draft in about 4-5 months these days, but the editing ... yeuch!

I normally put the first effort aside for at least a month, preferrably more if I have the flex. Then I come back to it, having let several proof readers loose on it in the meantime. I look at their comments and compare them to see if there are any common themes, then I hack through the manuscript with what I hope is a fairly objective view. By the time I've done this, it is usually pretty clean. I then send it to the editor for comments before starting all over again. However, I much prefer the sensation of creating the initial draft to that of editing an existing story. Maybe that's why your description has so much more depth than mine. Every time you revisit the manuscript, you have the opportunity to notice more detail in each scene.

 

[scalem X]

You paint an intriguing picture of Belgian girls walking around with coffins on their backs!

I did date a girl who, among other weird stuff, had a coffin in her bedroom...

Anyway what I really wanted to say is that I tend to take more after Mark.
Go fast, then downtime. Then just finish it and then comes the editing.
I kind off dislike the editing, but on the other hand the major works seem to be done (of course the editing turns out to be the major work, but we keep ourselves in blissful ignorance, don't we? )

Question: after editing, do you sometimes look back upon the original version and compare it with the fully edited one? If so, are there any things that keep coming back.
examples:
-favourite (overused) adjectives
-stress on certain parts that are in fact not part of the main plot
-favourite phrases/parts to dispose of a possibly long subplot (an example could be: "and then he fled with the gold, which attracted a dragon who ate him and thus he was punished for his crime ")
-any other habbits that you have and things you use, while you know you'll edit them out later on?

 

[Freda]

Mark, I envy your ease in rattling off the first draft! I'm not sure I'd swap it for the pleasures of rewriting, tho! The fastest I've ever written a book is 3 months... I wrote A Blackbird in Darkness in 3 months, because a lot of it derived from splitting A B in Silver into 2 books. I wrote Dark Cathedral in 4 months, and most of Dark Blood of Poppies in the same year, but that's really unusual. I usually take at least a year... All About Elfland has taken more like 3 years, mainly because I didn't have an editor breathing down my neck, and also because I've been doing a part-time job...

Scalem, yes I do tend to overuse certain words, phrases, images. Sometimes I know I'm doing it, other times it takes someone else to point it out! I think that's why writing never gets easier, because you become aware of your own habits and you're always trying not to repeat yourself. A lot of editing DOES take place and I often cringe at the things I wrote the first time!

Wrapping up a subplot in a single sentence - not guilty! I do the opposite, wrap them up so completely that the book ends up WAY too long!

By the way, have you had anything published?

 

[scalem X]

By the way, have you had anything published?

Hey I thought we were the ones asking questions .
In fact I haven't. (unless you regard high school and university magazines as being published)
I blame various reasons:
-I write in English and live in Belgium (not that there is a market for any writing in Dutch besides: non-fiction (read as: "the horror the horror!!" and if only it had been horror, that would have been much easier), detectives, children's books, derivates from colums in magazines)
-I am 'only' 19 and hence I tend to play around much and am searching for a normal pattern to build my life on (as in for example: I'm searching a stable girlfriend (preferably non-suicidal or homicidal)). University; which means I have papers to write (hence writing downtime).
-I never have sent anything to an editor/publisher because I tend to 'know' beforehand it won't be good enough.
-I hate editing and finishing stuff (numerous files with ideas and a few pages from a storyline fill my laptop)

I do get the reply:
-you should get this published.
Then again, there is a major difference with the reaction:
-you could get this published.

In the end I should really blame my lack of focus and the fact that I can live with 'not being good enough to get published' without even trying to.

'Oh sweet lazyness, why do I love you so?