Yes – with a whole 10 minutes left until midnight on 31 August, I completed my read-through – phew! I have a couple of elements to check for continuity and to give a bit of a signpost for new content that came from the additional sections, but that should only take about one hour so I’m pretty happy with that.
The bit I’m less happy with is the ending. I’ve talked about openings to stories before, but now it’s time to think about closings. I want a last paragraph that encapsulates where the narrating character is in relation to where she was at the start, without making it too obvious. I have often found it difficult to finish stories, preferring the openness of a view into the future than being too explicit – leaving characters at the start of a new story, as much as at the end of the one I am telling. It then gives the reader a chance to think about where they would like to see the character as well as giving the sense that their story exists outside of the writing.
At the moment, the story ends with a short piece of dialogue then a description, but I dislike the used of dialogue at the end of books and think it’s a little too predictable, so that is something I will continue to think about.
I also think, having added the new sections, that I will dispose of the prologue, but I’ll read it all through as a whole before I make a final decision…
As ever, in the eternal balance of the writing world, one successful outcome means that somewhere in the world there is a less successful outcome. That, sadly, is my submission. I have put the one I started to one side, looked at some old notes, scrapped them and started again. This is not coming as easily as I would like, and I have to really push on with it – unfortunately, I am supposed to be having this week and next week off – but that’s writing for you! At least I can fit it in around other things.
In other news – I read this week that it’s 200 years since the publication of the Grimm Fairy Tales. As a child I was given ‘The Complete Illustrated Works of the Brothers Grimm’, a book I still have. It is an amazing feat for their work to still engage people today, either through films, books or plays. I wonder if my love of fairy tales, folk tales and folklore (and related areas such as mythology, imagery, ritual, superstition etc) comes from access to stories like these when I was young.
Also this week – Having talked about the brilliant HubbleSite in the last post I found myself watching a couple of documentaries about space this weekend – and this has really spurred me on to start working on a project that I have wanted to undertake for some time: a set of poems about space. This all started with an assignment about love; of a non-romantic type – I chose to write about the Whirlpool Galaxy. After that, I wrote a few notes and watched some programmes outlining different galactic events, celestial bodies and doomsday type scenarios.
After this holiday I would like to dust these things off and really get to grips with the project. So I will use October as project month, and would love it if some of you guys would join me – giving a little time each day to something we really want to do, but never prioritise. It could be creative or practical but whatever it is, we’ll all try to do a bit each day. At the end of the month we win a sense of achievement! Anyone want to have a go?
Now, submission work notwithstanding, I am on holiday for the next two weeks – I don’t know if I’ll be able to post blogs, and for one week I don’t know if I’ll even have internet (the horror!) so please bear with me if I’m not about. I promise I’ll be doing something creative, some of the time…!
Happy writing,
EJ
🙂
200 hundred years! Wow – that is amazing. Not once did I hear that this week and I am an English student … I would have thought someone talking about it would’ve occurred. Great post – keep up the good work! Enjoy your holiday – we all deserved a much needed break. See you in a couple of weeks 🙂
Thanks, and I hope the studying is going well!
🙂
Have a great holiday!
Excellent post 🙂
Thank you 🙂