Rachel writing

Ever since I can remember I've always written stories.

My first ever story was about a horse saving all its barn yard buddies from a fire. Luckily I don't think that story has survived!

After that, for years, I wrote fanfiction about whichever celebrity I most adored at the time (I feel myself cringing saying that!) although I don't think I ever finished a story I started.

After I left university I started writing my own original characters. It started out as a romance novel set by the coast and I played about with it for a little bit, adding a few words here and there and a few characters here and there. I worked on getting that story finished during Nanowrimo 2006.

That story eventually became an urban (well, rural?) fantasy story involving selkies.

That was the story I slaved over for years, polishing it and trying to get it to make sense. I think I got it into a pretty readable state just before Nanowrimo 2010 but decided to shelve it - it wasn't what I wanted to write anymore. It was mostly a story that glorified broken characters who had dubious moral values - not something I'd want to put out into the world.

During Nanowrimo 2010 I wrote a story that was much more in line with the sorts of themes I'd want to write about now.

Fantasy is still my favourite genre and still the most fun to write.

After Nano2010 I took a pretty long break from writing whilst I got my head together and worked out where I wanted to take my writing - it's pretty hard to suddenly change everything you were doing and decide you were on the wrong path after all that work!

Now I'm back working on a new story featuring a world that's been polluted with magic.

After a while we realised that most of our short stories wanted to be much longer.

We decided that we would each write a novel - with each chapter being inspired by a new prompt each week.

Those stories started off with the photo below.

We finished those original prompt stories in the first half of 2010 - mine needs a lot of work if I decide to go back to it one day.

Early in 2011 we decided to get back into swapping prompts again and I started a new story - I made the image opposite as a "book cover" for the new prompt-based story.

Check out my writing blog (further down this page) to find out where I am in the story.

I doubt that you haven't heard of it, but if not, National Novel Writing Month takes place every November. It's a challenge where you have to write 50,000 words in a month.

When I tell "non-believers" about it, they ask me what you win at the end. Well, you win a first draft, a sense of achievement and the first step on the ladder to the ultimate dream (at least for me!): publishing your very own book!

I know a lot of people in the publishing industry sneer at National Novel Writing Month but I would not have a manuscript to work on now if I hadn't taken part in that month-long writing challenge.

I love NanoWrimo!

It's important to remember that a month of quick writing is just the very beginning of writing a novel.

I've taken part in Nanowrimo every year since 2006 and plan to again this November. In my first year I wrote 100,000 words. The most I've managed to write is 200k (100k per story).

I use NanoWrimo as a way of getting all of my initial ideas down onto paper - my finished story is going to look nothing like my first draft but I know there's a good yarn in it somewhere!

I was lucky enough to be a part of Nanowrimo 2006 and get a free copy of my book from Lulu.com.

This was just my rough first draft and I've scribbled edits all over it!

I'm pretty sure I'd cringe if I read this version - I bet it barely makes sense!

Next time I "properly" finish a story I'm going to order a printed version for myself to celebrate!

I've come from a very arty/crafty background so I always go back to visual things to help me get over Writer's Block.

Below are a few of the things I've tried over the years.

I'm a very visual person. I need to see something in order to describe it.

When I was really stuck with one of my stories I made a book full of laminated collages using images from google.

I've fuzzed the collage out because these aren't my images - but that doesn't matter, no one's going to see them. They're just there to help ground my story in a reality.

I haven't done this for very story but for the first draft I finished I made collages for:

Each character, including "casting an actor".

Setting and Landscape.

Scenes that gave me trouble.

I don't make collages for every little thing - I learnt that if I could describe something without needing help then I just wrote it.

Don't waste your time making something you don't need.

I've even made textiles pieces based on my characters - like the piece opposite.

Why would I bother making textiles pieces based on my novel?

Well, I'm primarily a textiles artist - that's what I know and how I think.

Making a textiles piece of a particular subject makes me focus all my thoughts on that subject.

You can get a lot of important thinking done whilst your sewing, as opposed to doing something like watching TV!

You can find out a little more about this piece on my Doodle Lens.

This piece was going to be a sort-of map of my invented coastal village.

It was also an object in my story - a magic wall hanging. I'm a textiles artist, what else am I going to write about?!

Remember when I said about not wasting time if you didn't need the help? That's probably why I haven't finished this piece yet!

Recently my favourite way to start brain-storming a story is to make a map - like the one pictured below which I made for Nanowrimo 2010.

Check out the link to Holly Lisle's Map Workshop below - it's great for inventing new worlds and places.

I've edited my way through one novel so far - and I took a long long time to do it - I'm hoping the next time will be a bit quicker!

Recently I've been using Scrivener to help organise my first drafts - Scrivener helps me organise myself after my crazy seat-of-my-pants writing.

I like to print 4 pages to one sheet of paper because I can then see more of the story at once. This helps me work out where I need to shift a chunk of writing and also how any changes may impact something later.

I use post-it notes to write down any details that need adding.

It took me a while before I learnt that this was one of the last things you should do to edit your novel. Now I start by working out what I wanted to say and whether each scene is along the right theme or not.

If I had the money I would do Holly Lisle's How to Revise Your Novel course - it sounds awesome - even reading what happens each week in the course can steer you in the right direction!

Currently I'm blogging at least once a week whilst I work on my new prompt-based story.

During Nanowrimo 2010 I made a video every day and you'll find these all on my blog.

You'll find links to my most recent posts below.

Opposite: A segment from my current story's map.