Uninspired by the idea of flashbacks I haven't paid much attention to the blog hop this month and in my defence I've had a migraine for 37days (I suffer from chronic daily migraine) and the second title from Devine Intervention is craving all the non-painful non-working hours. But this morning I thought I'd give it ago only to find out that ....
Maybe I should have listened to my teachers all those years ago and read the question properly!
So my writing flashback? What first piece of writing would I post and what advice would I give to my younger self?
Back in December 2009 I found a box under my desk of stories I'd written during my teenage years. These are my first novellas and I took a walk down memory lane. They're all hand written so I can't post them without typing them up and we all know if I was to do this I'd end up posting a re drafted version not the original - LOL - hey I'm being honest!
I think the one that stands as out the most exceptional to me was one about an orphaned girl who ran away from the children's home one summer and fell in love. This was actually the back story. My story began when she returned to the town of her first love after she left the children's home. Naturally true love doesn't run smooth and my character didn't get the happy ever after she went looking for. Her road suddenly looked very long and very lonely. Years of heartbreak followed before she found out who she really was, the knight in shining armour and her happy ever after.
I was swept away by this novella from start to finish. I was blown away by the characters because they jumped right off the page. I experienced emotional triggers that if I could have written then how I write now I'd have cried when the world came crashing down. There I was, twelve year later, slack jawed and blinking at the end thinking Did I really write this?
What would I say to my younger self?
My innocence was written all over it so I'd tell myself to stop living in a bubble! I'd suggest reading more newspapers and watching more TV because I never did that as kid and get some ideas about real life.
I'd tell myself to think about the setting the scene a little more. Props are good, my characters tend to put their fist through thin plaster boarded walls or throw expensive crystal vases when they're angry these days.
Another one of my most favourites is the senses: touch, smell, taste, hearing and seeing. There is a difference between the physical way something feels and the emotional way something feels, such as a kiss. The reader is living and breathing these characters. They need to experience what the characters are experiencing.
My final piece of advice would be a skill I don't think I've quite mastered yet myself and it would be to chose your wisely. A novel is 50,000+ words strung together over 175 pages. A published novel is 50,000+ words carefully crafted into an unput-down-able page turner. And Shakespeare isn't famous four centuries later for no reason!
I have re worked Finding Holly and I've every intention of making it one of my single titles but... I'm actually daunted by the prospect of taking on my fifteen year old self.
Erin
Writing Flashback is the topic for this months Fellow Writers Blog Hop
Other blog hops topics include:
Inspiration - Where Does It All Come From? - June 2011
Judging A Book By It's Cover - I'm Guilty Are You - April 2011
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