Chick Lit Novel Started...

Saturday I went to a meeting of the Poison Pens. I have had the beginnings of a chick lit novel running through my head for a number of weeks now and attending the meeting gave me a determination to put something onto paper. We were also lucky that Nanna decided she wanted to take Jamie out and picked him up just after 10.30am, thus giving me a few more hours to catch up and prepare something to take to the meeting. Of course there were a number of other jobs that needed doing as well but I have to say that most of them were writing related!!

As usual I am glad I made the effort to get to the meeting. There were 5 of us and the advice I recieved was brilliant. It certainly got me thinking about the next page. Members helped me to identify what type of book I was writing and what I was trying to achieve. Is it a predictable chick-lit book or something different? I hope something different...

Richard kept asking questions: Why did she go? What does she/he look like? Who is chasing her? What happens next? It certainly made me realise that I had not done enough plotting before putting pen to paper, but I felt this time it was important to get something started. Talking through some of my ideas helped push the good ones to the front and the not so sure ideas out of the way.

Since the meeting I have found that the creative process continues as every so often an idea pops into my head. Lets hope I can continue this momentum. I have a spare day tommorrow and hope to plot and plan a little further...

Points from the meeting:
* Sometimes we need to write ourselves into the novel. Your intiail first line might not be your final first line. You may find it starts better later on.
* Questions, Questions, Questions will flush out the real story.
* Names of charcaters are important.
* Writing should be strong enough without the need for explanation marks!

Sometimes I wonder if I am wasting my time with writing, but attending the meeting always inspires me and pushes me forward. I do enjoy the process of writing and all the related activities, and as www.david-hurst.co.uk/ says in June's edition of Writing Magazine (www.writers-online.co.uk/) "Enjoy it. If you are not enjoying the journey, you're on the wrong road". I intend to walk the road for a whole yet at least.