Wednesday 11 April 2012

two down....

Back in January I posted a blog setting out my writing resolutions for the year, now seems like a good time to review how I'm doing.

I have entered both the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger Award and the Good Housekeeping "Get Your Novel Published" competition!  For the Debut Dagger I submitted the first chapter from "Death Penalty", a novel I have been working on since last October.  The opening scene was inspired by a workshop I did at the Cheltenham Literature Festival with Laura Wilson, who passed round photos of the food people had chosen for their last meal before facing the death penalty.  It got me thinking about the circumstances in which someone might choose a tub of Ben and Jerry's Phish Food for their last meal, and suddenly in my head was Emily, one of my main characters, with her tragic backstory....

For the Good Housekeeping competition I submitted the first chapter from "Crime and Prejudice", a rewriting of Pride and Prejudice with Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy as the detectives investigating the death of Mr Wickham!  I first started writing this some time ago and entered it for the Debut Dagger Award in 2011, but with different characters.  I then rewrote it bringing back the main characters from P&P, and submitted it to a couple of agents last year, but it was rejected.  Re-reading it, I decided I had tried to be too clever and make it read like a Jane Austen novel, which meant it was rather slow-paced for modern tastes.  So for GH, I rewrote it with a much faster pace and introducing not only the death of Wickham but a "locked room" mystery, and a jewel destined to be stolen....

So - two major resolutions achieved already!  Which makes me feel better about the fact that I haven't kept to my resolution to write every day.  I still think its the best way of keeping my writing at the forefront of my life, and I feel as if I am writing more often, so there is some progress. 

One thing I didn't really think about when I set my resolutions was focussing.  I'm now juggling 3 different crime novels, all of which have the potential to become a series.  and on holiday in Tunisia recently I got very excited about the idea of a novel looking at a group of holidaymakers, and the impact being on holiday has on relationships.  But there is a real danger I'll get to the end of the year having made some progress on lots of things but not a lot of progress on any one thing!  So I think my Tunisian idea has to be left on the shelf for now.  I'm pitching "Death Penalty" to some agents at the Bristol CrimeFest in May this year so I think I need to focus on getting a reasonable draft of that completed by then....

yes, that was one of my other resolutions!  I've booked the Bristol CrimeFest including the Pitch and Agent slots.  I still need to book for the Harrogate Crime Festival, though. 

and yes - not only have I made a breakthrough in now telling people that I am a writer, I'm beginning to feel more like a "proper" writer too!

till next time

Wendy x

   

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