The Insecure Writers Support Group - Finish that novel!

Hello there!

It's great to be back to 'normal' posting now that my NaNo novel is finished. I have participated in NaNoWriMo for several years in a row, but this is the first time I feel really happy with the first 50,000 words of my novel. Perhaps that's something to do with the fact that it's been simmering around in my head during my 6-week hiatus in Fiji in July/August this year. As I cruised the Fiji Islands at leisure and chatted to the locals, I was always on the lookout for locations/characters for the story I knew I'd write back in Oz.

Two kava ceremonies turn up in my novel. Hard to do if I hadn't participated in a few!

Funny, I was reading yet another 'how to' book before NaNo, and it said it would be difficult to write about some places, such as Fiji, without visiting. I know what the author meant. There are so many customs, ways of thinking, histories and characters that would be difficult to find on google.

So many quirky characters, so many ceremonial dresses,
so many things to experience - and write about.

Which brings me to the point of my post today - Finish the novel.

Margaret Attwood said it, others have said it - if you don't finish your story, why are you worried about whether it'll get published or not? Similarly, if you don't ever finish anything you start, what is the point of twittering away on social media (if you have opened accounts expressly to promote yourself) if you never have anything to promote? Luckily, I just twitter away promoting other authors and places.

So insecure writers (isn't that everyone?), get that novel finished - first draft, edits, re-writes, whatever it takes, but eventually call it finished and ready to launch into the world. Hopefully, you won't have as many unfinished novels as I have, but how about we work towards at least getting one completely finished? That aside, I consider my unfinished novels the best hands-on writing course I ever did!

• Tell me about your writing journey and aspirations. Have you finished your novel yet? Are you published?

Laura O'Connell speaks on research. Her new novel, Web of Lies is out! Lynda R Young launches Make Believe anthology!

Hello. How are you today? Thanks for coming by. I hope you noticed my Christmas greeting to you!

NaNoWriMo is over and I completed my 50,000 word novel, Fijian Princess, with an eye on the Harlequin Escape market. They're actively seeking submissions and their range is WIDE! Click HERE to read an interview with the editor. Kate Cuthbert.

Today I have two Aussie authors visiting my blog - Laura O'Connell who has just released her new book, Web of Lies, and...

My blogger friend, Lynda R Young, who is launching the anthology, Make Believe which features her story, Birthright. The anthology is published by J. Taylor Publishing. You can read full reviews on the stories at the Reader's Commute.

By clicking HERE you will access the list of bloggers hosting Lynda through this month-long tour as well as those who are supporting her today.

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Now I'd like to introduce you to fellow Aussie author, Laura O'Connell. Laura has just released her novel, Web of Lies. Laura is speaking today of something dear to my heart - research, to me, the real fun part of writing a novel (yeah, I know I missed my calling!)

LEAP INTO RESEARCH

Hello and welcome to those who've read this far and who I hope will continue to read about what's on my mind today. 

I researched Denise’s website before I wrote this blog and discovered she has travelled throughout the world visiting lots of interesting places that she could use to add authenticity to her stories and novels. I wish I could say I’d been to Africa to do some firsthand research before I wrote African Hearts. Africa is on my list of places to visit, but it seemed my muse wanted me to write this story before I visited, so I had to find another way of finding out about this amazing country of contrasts.

Research for African Hearts started with me interviewing missionaries who’d lived and worked in Africa for several years. They were able to give me the minutiae of day to day life in an African village. I viewed YouTube video clips to get views of the landscape and I borrowed a lot of books, fiction and nonfiction, from the library on Africa and immersed myself in the country and its culture.

To understand the current affairs, I read the Ugandan newspaper online daily. This gave me a feel for the day to day issues that affected Uganda where African Hearts is set.

Throughout my life I’ve read a lot of books on Africa. I took copies of images from these books and made a collage that triggered any information I’d stored away in the deep recesses of my mind.

To save yourself some time, prepare a list of questions centred around the focal point of your novel. You need to have a fair idea of what you want to achieve by the end of the research. This will keep you on track as you find the information you need for your story. It’s easy to get side tracked and spend too much time on research, however, as your project evolves your direction of the research may change as ideas come to you. Be open to these little detours they can take you to areas you’d never considered. These are the gems of your work.

While reading, don’t get bogged down in the text. Skim first for what you think you might be looking for then drill into the specifics as information triggers your imagination.

Be aware that research can be a way of putting off writing. Keep this in the back of your mind and know when to stop researching and start writing.

My latest release, Web of Lies, is set in Sydney, Mount Tamborine and the Gold Coast. I’ve lived in all of these areas so I know them intimately. It was refreshing to have that firsthand knowledge instead of relying on the detailed research I did with African Hearts. However, research time isn’t wasted if we can find a second use for it in a later project. 

Add authenticity to your novels by leaping into research. You’ll find it’s a lot of fun and your readers will thank you for taking the time to get it right.

Thanks for reading...

About Laura O’Connell

Laura enjoys writing stories about second chances in love and life. She calls the Gold Coast home, however, her curious nature leads her on adventures to locations that surprise and inspire her. Laura has a passion for telling a good story set in places where she has lived and travelled.

Laura around the web:

Website             Facebook              Twitter        Author Page

Book Blurb – Web of Lies

High school sweethearts, Stephanie and Lachlan are torn apart by circumstance, bad decisions and a web of lies, leaving an unknown future for their son, Ryan.

Eight years later they reconnect, but the time apart has changed them. The family had made decisions based on lies and deceit and now must find a way to either reveal the truth or find another option. On the surface, their arrangements seemed flawless, but dig deeper, and the people they thought they knew aren’t as they appear.

Lachlan and Stephanie are forced to confront the consequences of their actions and the entire family is compelled to reveal the truth, find forgiveness, and renew loving one another. But the hardest decision is still to come … where does Ryan live?

Buy Links:

Amazon                  Amazon UK

I hope you enjoyed reading about Laura's ideas on research. Perhaps Web of Lies and the Make Believe anthology would be nice gifts for a lucky someone? Please leave a comment for both Laura and Lynda.

It's great to be diving into the blogosphere again! I've missed you all. I'll be around to visit you asap.

Breaking my NaNo hiatus for Bryce Courtney, author, who died last night.

Hi my friends!

Bryce Courtney

Bryce Courtney was one of my favourite authors. He was born and lived in South Africa for 17 years, then he moved to Australia where he lived for 57 years, so he always thought of himself as an Aussie and wrote so many fictional accounts of early Australian history.

Bryce started his career as an advertising high flyer, but always had stories inside him demanding to be written. He published his first book at age 55 - the inspirational saga, Power of One, one of my all-time favourites. (I was thrilled to pick up an autographed copy recently). It is a great authentic-sounding story, has breathtaking settings in the African landscape and prisons, also authentic, great themes, a chilling view of hatred and apartheid  - in other words, great power in words!

The Power of One, his debut novel, sold 12 million copies, was published in 28 languages, and was made into a movie. I don't usually like movies made from books overmuch, but even though the movie added romantic elements and some of its focus was different - that Zulu singing, Morgan Freeman's role as the boxing coach, and the beautifully-wrought characterisation of young Peekay, made it a memorable movie. I asked a friend at the time who'd escaped Zimbabwe during the civil war, whether the violence shown in the film, especially in the black settlements, was exaggerated. She replied, that no, they were understated. God help us!

article.wn.com

Bryce went on to write 20 more books. He wrote 12 hours a day as a general rule. Not bad for a dyslexic! He was a storyteller always terrified of running out of time, but he believed strongly that we all have a use by date. Bryce's was last night.

RIP Bryce. I'm glad you got that last book published just a week ago - Jack of Diamonds. How did you do it? A new book every November just in time for Christmas! Your timing was spot on as always!

Your grateful reader,

• We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia, but I am very thankful for Bryce Courtney and the words and worlds he created.

• Happy Thanksgiving to those who are celebrating!

Holiday Spirit Blogfest - Please join us! Total Eclipse of the Sun at Palm Cove.

Memoir, Fiction, Recipes, Traditions...and more

How are the holidays celebrated at your home? The blogsphere includes a multitude of countries, cultures, and citizenry of the world. There are as many ways to celebrate as there are cultures -- Thanksgiving, Christmas, Yom Kipper, Hanuka or any variety of holidays of the “giving spirit” during the same season.

In my home we celebrate Christmas as do most Australians. It is an annual celebration to mark Christ's birth (we are well aware this is not the actual time He was born), to celebrate the summer holidays, to celebrate our families and friends who may fly many kilometres to join together again, to just relax by the beach or the pool and read a book (in between eating, drinking and sharing gifts), forgetting about the demands of work -- just for a few days or weeks..

For this Holiday Spirit blogfest (open to the whole blogosphere as are all RFW blogfests), RFW is looking for excerpts of up to 800 words of fiction or non-fiction stories of family tradition, favorite/unique recipes, inspirational articles, etc.; that involve the essence of the holiday spirit.  (Recipes and news articles do not have to adhere to the 800 word limit.) In other words, we would like you to post whatever passes for the Holiday Spirit in your neck of the world. Maybe you would like to post pictures of your decorated home!

Because of the special nature of this Holiday Spirit blogfest, we are allowing up to two submissions; however, they must be in two separate categories. Meaning, you could post your favorite recipe AND an inspirational 800 word excerpt; or a link to an inspirational news/magazine article and a recipe or true story; but not two of each (two recipes, two memoir posts, two articles). If you are posting two separate submissions, please add your blog link twice and add to your name/link what it contains - eg - Donna Hole, 1, Recipe, so participants know to look for two separate posts.

The linky will open on December 12 and remain open thru December 21 to encourage linking to the direct post. However, if you decide to link then schedule a post (or two) later, just leave a comment to let everyone know when your excerpt will be available. The RFW hosts will be checking the comments and links, and if a direct link is available, we will edit your link(s) if you haven't done so. (RFW uses Inlinkz which allows you to delete your own link and add a new one.)

Please join us in celebrating life, love, presents, good food, and of course Family Traditions of all types within diverse cultures.

This is not a competition - it is a sharing. We hope we'll all get to know each other better!

Happy Holidays everyone; and best wishes for your NaNoWriMo projects. Let us know how you go.

Total Eclipse of the Sun (love that song, but we had the real thing yesterday.) Palm Cove, north of Cairns in Northern Queensland, was the best spot in the world to see it, and thousands of people arrived from all over the world to this usually empty stretch of beach to gaze at nature's wonder. Many weddings and engagements took place.

They came from all over the world to experience the total eclipse which was awesome!

Go here to experience glorious professional pictures of the eclipse which shows the wonder of it.

• Do you know a holiday celebration that is not mentioned above? Please share in the comments.
• Are you going to join us for this blogfest? The more the merrier.
• If you're doing NaNo, how is it going? The halfway mark - 25,000 words yet? I'm lagging a bit...
• Please watch for the linky announcement on December 12.

Thirty Days and Thirty Nights of Literary Abandon

Click for list...

Hello there!

Today is the day to post for Alex J Cavanaugh's Insecure Writers Support Group. This group consists of a ton of bloggers who blog about what they're struggling with, what they've learnt, what they'd like to share, or...what...ever.

I was going to miss posting today but decided to post about what I'm doing - NaNoWriMo. Not everyone agrees with the idea of whipping yourself into a writing frenzy for 30 days, and of course there are negatives as well as positives. I choose to paddle my own canoe and think it's a brilliant idea, gives me the excuse to say 'no' to many onerous commitments etc, so I'll be participating for the fifth time.

Like most things I do, I abide by my own rules. Last NaNo I spent most of the month researching the issues surrounding the Afghanistan Wars. I probably wouldn't have a fraction of that research completed except for the motivation of the month. By the end of November I had what was mainly a 50,000 word knowledge dump, but hey, that's important when you choose to write a novel with big issues that you need to get right, even if you'll never use most of it. I know Alex used a NaNo month in 2010 to work on his second Cassa novel and managed to get the words down on the page. 

And I probably never would have started my first novel, a Harlequin-style category romance, except for NaNo four years ago. I can't just concentrate on one thing at a time, so I have been busy finishing all my NaNo novels. Recently I decided to take the plunge and submit my first novel to HarlequinEscape. A few tweaks to go (which I will be doing in conjunction with writing my new novel, Fijian Princess, which I AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT!) This time I have outlined, researched (well, I had to do something writerly during my 6 weeks in Fiji, lol!) and am going to start with the final chapter, work backwards, (I know how it begins and ends, but the middle will be a surprise) and hope it all comes together.

So I won't be posting often during NaNoWriMo unless something comes up that just can't wait for December. I'll be displaying my Word Meter so you can check on my progress. Failing floods, famines or pestilence (whoops, I shouldn't say that. I live in Australia, the land of natural disasters!), I will write 50,000 words of Fijian Princess and finally complete my first NaNo novel, Ruby, because, you know what--it may not seem so, but I am one very determined cookie when it comes to my writing.

Here is a link to a great list of resources to help you write a novel, courtesy of Nathan Bransford. It'll take a month to get through if you follow all the excellent links, but well worth it, especially for a debut novelist.

As Donna Hole (my co-host) and many of our members are also participating in NaNoWriMo, RomanticFridayWriters will be on hiatus as always during November. We kick off December with a Holiday Spirit blogfest. I hope some of you will join us and tell us what the holiday period means to you - traditions, recipes, celebrations...Click on the badge to learn more...the Linky will be going up soon...

I wish all participants well. I'm 'parisden' if you want to buddy up. 

Now if you have time, click the IWSG badge and read some more posts...