writing – Page 10 – Ruth Livingstone

Submissions, submissions, submissions.

My aim was to approach a new agent every week. But I’ve found whole process is very time-consuming.

5 Year Writing Goal: May update

I’m taking part in Misha and Beth’s Five Year Project and my five-year goal is to write a novel and get it published.

For those who have been following my progress, you will know I have finished my novel, The Reluctant Scribe, and have been sending it off to agents. Just after my last update, I received my first rejection. It was polite but firm. The agent did not feel passionate enough about my work to want to take it on. Fair enough. Continue reading “Submissions, submissions, submissions.”

Is it so VERY bad?

Yesterday I found an interesting link via Stumble Upon. It was an article with the intriguing title, ’45 ways to avoid using the word very’, and is written by Amanda Patterson, who runs writing courses in South Africa.

Very Certainly worth taking a look at.

The challenge for writers is to avoid laziness and to choose the right words, rather than the easiest words. That can be hard when the story is flowing very easily freely and you want to get it all down very quickly hastily, before you are either interrupted or lose your mojo.

I’m very guilty of using the word ‘very’. Perhaps I use it too much? I’ll be watching out in future.

Here is a link to the original web page: ’45 ways to avoid using the word very’. You might find it very useful invaluable. (Although, you first have to forgive the very sexist blatantly sexist comment in the third quotation at the top of the page.)

In search of an Agent

5 Year Writing Goal: March update

I’m taking part in Misha and Beth’s Five Year Project and my five-year goal is to write a novel and get it published.

This is my update on progress this month with my historical novel, The Reluctant Scribe.

After the last piece of very helpful advice from an experienced reviewer, I have completed the following changes:

Inserted some introspective reflection to clearly explain my main protagonist’s final actions.
Rewritten the ending to include a very satisfactory revenge scene, where the main villain gets his just reward.
Inserted a prologue in order to set the context of the story for my reader.

Continue reading “In search of an Agent”

Time to start sending it off…

The Reluctant Scribe is finished. I think.

The planned changes have been made, new sections added, a final read through done.

In addition, I’ve rewritten the prologue to address some of my readers feedback, “We don’t know where you’re going with this, Ruth.”

Now it should be much clearer.

Continue reading “Time to start sending it off…”

Goal update – January 2015

The passage of time has really helped me to take an objective view of my novel. Now I know what to do and am making the necessary changes.

5 Year Writing Goal: January update

I’m taking part in Misha and Beth’s Five Year Project and my five-year goal is to write a novel and get it published. This is my update on progress this month with my novel, The Reluctant Scribe.

My most recent – and most helpful – critique was by a retired professor of English literature. She suggested my character needed more reflection and more internal dialogue in certain places. And she thought the ending was too abrupt (another reader made the same comment).

I printed off the whole thing and read it through again. It’s 5 months since I last did this, and the passage of time really helped me take an objective view. The final decisions made by my main character seemed obvious to me at the time of writing, but with the benefit of distance I realise that the story would be made stronger with more exposition.

Showing is great. But sometimes you have to do a little telling too!

Continue reading “Goal update – January 2015”