Fearless Jetset

Plans, destinations, and inspiration for my grand career as a travel writer

Permalink amandaonwriting: Roddy Doyle - On Writing  1. Do not place a photograph of your ­favourite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide. 2. Do be kind to yourself. Fill pages as quickly as possible; double space, or write on every second line. Regard every new page as a small triumph – 3. Until you get to Page 50. Then calm down, and start worrying about the quality. Do feel anxiety – it’s the job. 4. Do give the work a name as quickly as possible. Own it, and see it. Dickens knew Bleak House was going to be called Bleak House before he started writing it. The rest must have been easy. 5. Do restrict your browsing to a few websites a day. Don’t go near the online bookies – unless it’s research. 6. Do keep a thesaurus, but in the shed at the back of the garden or behind the fridge, somewhere that demands travel or effort. Chances are the words that come into your head will do fine, eg “horse”, “ran”, “said”. 7. Do, occasionally, give in to temptation. Wash the kitchen floor, hang out the washing. It’s research. 8. Do change your mind. Good ideas are often murdered by better ones. I was working on a novel about a band called the Partitions. Then I decided to call them the Commitments. 9. Do not search amazon.co.uk for the book you haven’t written yet. 10. Do spend a few minutes a day working on the cover biog – “He divides his time between Kabul and Tierra del Fuego.” But then get back to work. This advice first appeared in The Guardian Roddy Doyle is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into , beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He was awarded the Booker Prize in 1993.
Permalink allthingseurope: Toledo, Spain (by Miroslav Petrasko)
Permalink allthingseurope: la tour eiffel (by liz.rusby)
Permalink allthingseurope: Zagreb, Croatia (by kwsdurango)
Permalink allthingseurope: Over the roofs of Rome (by jackfre2)
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Permalink amandaonwriting: Hilary Mantel - On Writing Are you serious about this? Then get an accountant. Read Becoming a Writer, by Dorothea Brande. Then do what it says, including the tasks you think are impossible. You will particularly hate the advice to write first thing in the morning, but if you can manage it, it might well be the best thing you ever do for yourself. This book is about becoming a writer from the inside out. Many later advice manuals derive from it. You don’t ­really need any others, though if you want to boost your confidence, “how to” books seldom do any harm. You can kick-start a whole book with some little writing exercise. Write a book you’d like to read. If you wouldn’t read it, why would anybody else? Don’t write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book’s ready. If you have a good story idea, don’t assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible. Be aware that anything that appears before “Chapter One” may be skipped. Don’t put your vital clue there. First paragraphs can often be struck out. Are you performing a haka, or just shuffling your feet? Concentrate your narrative energy on the point of change. This is especially important for historical fiction. When your character is new to a place, or things alter around them, that’s the point to step back and fill in the details of their world. People don’t notice their everyday surroundings and daily routine, so when writers describe them it can sound as if they’re trying too hard to instruct the reader. Description must work for its place. It can’t be simply ornamental. It ­usually works best if it has a human element; it is more effective if it comes from an implied viewpoint, rather than from the eye of God. If description is coloured by the viewpoint of the character who is doing the noticing, it becomes, in effect, part of character definition and part of the action. If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to ­music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don’t just stick there scowling at the problem. But don’t make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people’s words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient. Be ready for anything. Each new story has different demands and may throw up reasons to break these and all other rules. Except number one: you can’t give your soul to literature if you’re thinking about income tax. This advice first appeared in The Guardian Hilary Mantel is an English novelist, short story writer and critic. In 2009, she won the Man Booker Prize for her novel Wolf Hall.
Permalink allthingseurope: Beautiful Prague (by Maria (-S-))
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