Third Year of the Novel

Well, another Year of the Novel day has happened and this particular session was really what I needed to kick me into gear. It is always very motivating to hear other people say they have been writing religiously every weekend etc and to realise that I have not been utilising my time the way I should be.

At the moment I have some time and I am really enjoying using it for writing.

YON Number Three was great. We had a little field trip outside where we were to stalk someone and write down characteristics of them and also, create what we wanted their inner world to be. This was fun and also very good to do as an excercise. I often find myself doing this naturally, if I'm sitting at a bus stop or at a coffee shop, I like to imagine what the people are talking about, where they are going, what they're thinking, are they happy? Many things. So this excercise was good and the girls I went with were fun.

A glass of wine (only one) and a walk, what more can get your creative juices flowing? I enjoyed having conversations with the people in the breaks, discussing their projects and their lives to some degree. The support one gains from this is enormous because we don't feel alone in pursuing writing.

What Veny taught was excellent as well. It is always very informative and strangely what I really need to learn at the time, so I am really happy about that.

For example; I had been thinking about how I needed to put more detail into my novel, more beautiful detail as in the sensual details, sight, smell, sound etc and that was what he was talking about. Making sure that we use detail and make the novel a sensual experience. Of course, I have read this before and learnt it through courses but it was just what I had been thinking was lacking in my novel in the past weeks.

Veny also talked about "Verbal Sensitivity" which is constructing beautiful phrasing and making the story "sing". This is also something I had been thinking about in my work. I always want to do this. This is what we want in art, to read, see, hear something beautiful something that takes us out of the everyday and maybe even (if we're lucky) we can taste the Divine...who knows?

I love imagery, and "cadence" which is what I have written above my desk. Cadence - I need to read through my stories and chapters and writing a lot more to "hear" how it flows or doesn't as the case may be. I have long known and wanted to improve this in my work. I know that sometimes I have achieved a good melody with my words, but I think the writer is always wanting more of that and to make it better. The endless quest.

Also, he talked about "originality and accuracy" being original and not copying other's styles. I believe that even if we do attempt to copy other people's styles if you are a true artist you will be totally original anyway. For example, when I researched and read Van Gogh's letters to Theo a few years ago, he was saying how he was copying all of the greats of Dutch painting. The paintings he said were imitations of these "masters" but they were nothing like the masters, because I got to see what he was imitating and his drawings but what you could see was his individual stamp on the work. Something only he could've achieved. This amazed me and made me less afraid of that learning period where we study others and try to imitate, but hopefully we are doing our own thing really. Bob Dylan did this with Woodie Guthrie, while Bob was discovering his own voice he was seen as almost a Woodie Guthrie impersonator, because he mimicked everything down to his clothes, the way he stood and sang. However this was only for a time and now who in all of pop music history is considered one of the most original artists that has ever been if it is not Bob Dylan.

My highest compliment was paid to me the other day. Someone who read my collection of short stories, said to me:

"I really liked your collection, I thought it was really original. Especially the middle eastern story."

Originality is the biggest compliment for an artist because they know that they are doing their own thing. Really my highest achievement would be to be considered completely different to anything that's going on. We can only dream. However, I lived on that compliment and it still makes me feel good now. (You've got to take what you can get...hey?)

Thirdly, he talked about intelligence and using our wit to make our stories interesting, amusing and to question the way things are. This is also something I love to do through my writing. I remember reading "The Lives of Girls and Women" in Year 9 at school, being taught by my lesbian English teacher and being amazed at how a novel could, through narrative, comment on the way things are and question whether they should be this way. I decided that I wanted to write books like this, that incorporated philosophy and told a story.

I have also, interestingly enough, started to think about the humour topic as well for my novel.
There is fortunately a lot of humour that I can draw into my new novel idea and before the session I was thinking about how I can incorporate this to make it more fresh and interesting to read. So this was another area, where I went "yes, I have been thinking about this...excellent."

Anyway, consequently I am very motivated in the last few days to keep moving forward with my novel.

However, there has been one snag due to the antagonist, whilst present in memories and phone calls, is not physically present throughout the whole novel. This is a large problem that I will have to address in some way...difficult, but I am ever so grateful that I am doing YON because at least I know where I am going wrong, otherwise I would be labouring in the dark. I am very glad I can see where the problem is and that I can change it before I go too far. I am very happy to be doing the YON and Veny has been extremely helpful with certain issues with my novel. Also, the people are wonderful to spend the day with, funny, attentive and interesting.