NaNoWriMo - The Handyman Day 30

Potter survived with a little
mad look in 'is eyes

It is done. November is over. In the last 30 days my hair has grown unreasonably long, as did the hair on my face - at unreasonably strange angles too. Some of the summer lustre has disappeared from my skin - now paler. And I do believe there might be a bag or two more under my eyes. Maybe that's just from the count of my years and not just 30 days in November.

NaNoWriMo has at times felt a little like trying to run on ice. It has been impossibly, dangerously fast (god it feels good writing adverbs and adjectives) and at others, like I was getting nowhere.

Above all I entered the month hoping to learn a little more about the kind of writing process that works for me. As ever these things often end up revealing the obvious. I discovered writing isn't about hitting a daily count or monthly targets. It is about giving yourself time to write every day, even if that time is then spent researching the obscure and arcane. It is about finding some way of progressing the story each day even if it's in building the detail of the world and not the word for word. I learned writing is about being imaginatively fearless, believing in what it takes for you as an individual to write the best story and not worrying about others or hitting those targets. I learned I can write upwards of 2k in a day with a full section of the story plotted in my head. That it sometimes takes me two or three days of no words and lots of pondering to get to that point. It is more efficient for me to take these days of no words rather than writing 6k of words because I need something on the page to hit a target, only to later find the story doesn't need those words. Or worse being blind enough to justify keeping them simply because I wrote them.

It feels like I have tried everything this last year in learning the best method for my writing, with the irony being that I've come full circle to the process I started with while writing Chasing Innocence. I do know that the initial translation of mental imagery to the page is the part I struggle the hardest with.

For the baying millions waiting to hear my final count for NaNoWriMo of November 2013 of the common era - it is 23,433 - the most words I've ever been aware of writing in a single calendar month.

I will be continuing with The Handyman now to completion and will be posting progress through this blog, if only revealing the word count infrequently.

< NaNoWriMo - The Handyman Day 27 - The Handyman Day ?? >

NaNoWriMo - The Handyman Day 27

Fifteen beats of the sheet

Before I started writing the actual story of The Handyman, I spent about a month mapping out the fifteen or so key markers I'd need to hit during the story. This process also maps the core plot complexities. Not what happens but why it happens, the character motivations and backstories. The beat sheet for The Handyman totalled some 25k of words before a single word of fiction narrative was written.

In creating the beat sheet for the Handyman I didn't want a standard revenge structure where Daniel went straight out to kill Angela's murderers. Earlier this year I read Helen Zahavi's brilliant 'Dirty Weekend' and loved how she transitioned her heroine from timid victim to effective vigilante. Daniel has never been timid but his fear of losing the memory of his wife keeps revenge in check. When he sees video footage of Angela's murder, he hears one of the killers laugh. The seed for his journey is sown.

The story then to the mid-point is all about him tracking down the murderers. In my beat sheet they are described as The Driver, The Mercenary and The Psychopath. It is Daniel's interactions with the Driver that will lead him to the Mercenary and indirectly to the Psychopath. I intended for the Driver to be part of the murder squad because he has been radicalised. He isn't the guy who laughs or pulls the trigger. Just the driver. For all his hard believing the deaths have an effect.

That's pretty much what I laid out in October. Two days ago I reached the point in writing the Handyman, where Daniel tracks down the Driver, and therefore the moment life has to be breathed into the Driver.

It is very important to me that each of the Driver, Mercenary and Psychopath are living and breathing characters in their own right. Their actions are undertaken with the same kind of convictions and justifications Daniel uses for his goals. So how do you create a living and breathing radicalised twenty-eight year old male with two children and a wife?

The answer is of course - not easily. I definitely didn't want to make him the 2D bad guy terrorist. I wanted to create someone we understand and therefore empathise with as Daniel relentlessly closes in. A similar understanding of character to Simon the child kidnapper in Chasing Innocence.

The last two days then have been about researching the different facets of radicalisation, which is a well documented trait in human societies. Radicals have existed in every culture, religion and ideology through time. They are a result of an individuals belief that the institutions and structures defining law and society are de-legitimatised and need to be replaced. There are usually multiple facets, society, cultural and often family, that have to fail in the person's eyes. Even then most people do not possess the capability to radicalise and then only a small percentage that do, would actually turn to violence.

My driver's first name is Aslan. He has grown up in a largely orthodox family. A strict father who believes the old ways are best, who also views the ruling structures of society to be de-legitimised but change must be achieved politically. Aslan had an older sister he was very close to, who was beaten and died as a consequence while at University - never solved and thought to be racially motivated. The family discovered she was leading two lives, a western life at University and a compliant orthodox life in-front of the family. She had a secret western boyfriend who Aslan believes murdered her. It is Aslan's belief the structures of society covered up the murder. That she didn't matter. Society failed her and so did his father, who's pedantic attempts to introduce orthodoxy politically are as flawed as the ruling society itself. He is frustrated by his communities inward focus at observing doctrine while not doing more to force change in a society that demonises his culture. Azlan believes the deaths of Angela and Molly are part of the vital process for deconstructing the existing infrastructure. Except he is also haunted by the laugh in the car as Angela was killed.

That's the premise. Now I have to put Daniel and Aslan in the same space on the page and see what happens.

< The Handyman Day 23 - The Handyman Day 30 >

NaNoWriMo - The Handyman - Day 23

Now what the hell am I going to write this blog post about? It is day 23 of NaNoWriMo by 93 minutes. I'm in Birmingham sat in a friend's study. I've had about three Desperado's too many and I have just watched Sucker Punch - which was nothing like the movie I thought it would be. In fact I think it was rather excellent, save for the fact it tried to be too clever by holding onto the secret of reality far too long. Which wasn't even the Sucker Punch reveal. Zack Snyder is an incredibly original visionary but he isn't at this stage the genius story teller he aspires to be. Watchman spoiled him. Classics are not so easily conjured.

Anyway, a few days back I was thinking I'd soon hit 20k or at least be close, then when I look at the posts that was nine days ago - aarrggghh.

It is day 23 as previously mentioned. I have just breached 20k. This is disappointing on two levels. First it means my average word count per day has been less than 1000 words through November. The second is I'm so horribly far behind on NaNoWriMo it makes me shudder to think.

This has been a wonderful exercise though. I know writers who have already tipped 50k this month. I find that inconceivable. While I am writing to a carefully plotted structure the line by line for me is entirely from the characters perspective. What are they thinking in the moment to moment? Creating a scene and having the characters play the scene to the benefit of the story is tough work. I write short scenes, in the main. It takes a while for me to reset between scenes. To properly stage them in my mind.

Of course at 20k I have just finished the hardest part of the book - act one - the bit where we introduce characters and give them substance, set-up all the key markers that will play and evolve through the story to it's conclusion.

The hope is I am now playing these established characters in the story. I have so many hopes and aspirations for how this will play out, that trying to hit a word count feels entirely wrong. Sitting down and trying to creatively tell a sizeable chunk of the story each day does feel good. I will have mentioned it before. The key lesson for me has been to make sure I sit down every day and commit to writing for a few hours. No matter what.

Off to bed now with the hope I will have chance to write for an hour or so in the morning without being too anti-sociable. Am off to a Memorabilia Comic-Con type event at the NEC tomorrow afternoon.

With seven days left and the 25th as my next realistic writing day my hope is to hit 30k before the end of the month.

We will see.

< The Handyman Day 19 - The Handyman Day 27 >

NaNoWriMo - The Handyman Day 19

Wave hello

One of the toughest parts of starting a book, is getting the characters on the page. I'll often see them in my mind but finding the words to convey them as real can take some time.

Invariably there is a magical moment during the process, usually about the time we get into the mix of the main story, when the characters make themselves known. They become real and the words to describe them come a lot easier.

It is a moment I seldom see coming. In Chasing Innocence it didn't happen for Sarah until late - when she was fighting Simon. For Mahrie it was her return after burying her husband, and her reaction to the police waiting outside her house.

When the characters do start waving from the page. It is one of the great feelings.

Of course you may read the following excerpt and wonder what the hell I'm going on about. It might be difficult to know without the context of what happens before. This was the moment for me when Daniel Harper started waving. It will now be about honouring his story that drives me to the end.

Daniel does a last check, makes sure the keys are secure in his rucksack, the change of clothes, clips his shoes into the pedals and freewheels onto the road, merges into the traffic. 

The bike is gleaming, oiled, there are no gears. There are no brakes, the bike's momentum is controlled by the continual rotation of the crank - it stops and the bike stops. The handlebars are seven inches across, left hand to the right, designed so he can filter through traffic, between cars, taxis and buses. He’s spent the morning giving it the once over. He wants to see if he’s ready to work. 

At the station he pulls on his cap because he doesn’t want trouble. The train has to pass through Slough. London is the multi-cultural hub of Europe. He’s nervous. Not the fear of physical confrontation but of being reminded of other people and their anger. There’s a telescopic batten taped to the inside of his bicep, just in case. 

The worry is for nothing. He climbs on the train, lifts in his bike and they rattle and roll into Slough where people pour off and on, the doors close. On into Paddington. He doesn’t think anyone paid him any attention. He has been trained to notice these things. 

The underground could take him to Wimbledon but he needs to get back into the flow. This is where his days were spent, couriering envelopes and packages, criss-crossing through the alleys and roads of the ancient city. Tuned into cabbies and bus drivers, pedestrians with a death wish. Upwards of one hundred daily miles on a seat narrower than his wrist. Decent money and flexible. It could be unpleasant, the weather, the nutters, never worse than sitting in an office. 

It’s nine miles to Wimbledon, it takes him forty minutes. He’s an hour early for his appointment. Sits in the park to cool down. Knows the child voices and the mothers aren’t Molly and Angela, has to stop himself hoping. Watches them with his body heavy with loss, a malevolence wants to twist inside. For those who robbed him. A tension he lets flow to the cool autumn. He thinks of Angela and the love she had for life. 

When he’s ready Daniel takes his lock from the rucksack, the sort you’d get for a high-end motorbike. A long chain of thick links encased in a kevlar sheath. He removes the bike wheels, takes them with him. Only the frame is shackled to the bike rack. He changes in the public toilet, the cloying bleach and piss. He sprays deodorant. He knows Wimbledon well, he used to see Doctor Mistry at the Neurological hospital, after he came out of the army. Daniel likes to be respectful. Would never wear his cycling gear to see a Doctor. When he leaves the toilet he’s wearing his wedding suit trousers and a shirt. Polished black shoes. The wheels in one hand in a special carrier, rucksack on his back.

  < NaNoWriMo - The Handyman Day 18 -  NaNoWriMo - The Handyman Day 23 > 

NaNoWriMo - The Handyman Day 18

Keeping the study warm
while Potter feverishly
creates pearls of fiction...

And then there were 18 days of November almost gone. Life has kicked in the last few days and I have not written a single word of fiction since the 14th #gulp

I knew I was going to struggle Fri for the same reasons I mentioned in the last post - I was trying to find an innovative way to introduce the video found footage. Sitting down on Friday I thrashed through the details, working through potential scenarios. I didn't want the found video to just arrive through Daniel's letterbox or be nailed to a wall or something - although I seriously considered these as solutions. I wanted some interesting angle, and how I vexed myself.

1.6k of debating words later, which is how I resolve plot issues, by writing down the debate in my head, I had some great additional ideas for the story but nothing original for the found footage.

Then the weekend kicked in and projects I was working on with other people took precedence. Chasing Innocence is getting a fresh proof and copy edit to try and get the last few rough edges out of the text. I'm starting a business and needed to get business card designs ready for the printers.

Saturday I finally came up with the found footage solution by thinking outside of the problem and looking at which characters could solve it for me. I came up with an excellent idea - hoorah to that. Now It's Monday and business needs took over again. So it's 16:00 and not a NaNoWriMo word has been scribed since Thursday night. I need to get back into the mindset, to get going. 20k of The Handyman beckons. I'm currently at 15,500 words. Wildy behind schedule but the set-up and introductions of act one are almost over. I'm about to move into the fun and games of act two. It'll be easier, words will be plentiful, I keep telling myself.

I'll let you know how it goes.

< NaNoWriMo - The Handyman Day 14 - NaNoWriMo - The Handyman Day 19 >

NaNoWriMo - The Handyman 14

It happens like this just about every day, at least those days I'm supposed to be writing a blog. I'm just about to pack up and go to bed, when it suddenly occurs to me I haven't written the damn NaNoWriMo blog.

I then spend about ten seconds deciding whether to give it a miss or not, the outcome of which will largely be determined by whether I bunked off the night before. In fact last night I didn't give the blog a single thought. So here we are, sitting here at 00:23hrs on the 15th November, trying to be insightful.

Today was one of those writing days, NaNoWriMo or otherwise, when the needs of the character changed the needs of the story. In my extensive plotting of The Handyman, I had cleverly created a moment halfway through act one that would serve as a catalyst for the rest of the book. It was a moment when Daniel looks through the pictures of his dead wife's camera having dreamed of her asking him 'What do you see?' I go through this whole section as he hunts through the pictures as if we are looking through found footage. He sees her life and world through her eyes. One largely unknown to him. It is a lovely moment and frustrating for him because he cannot see anything that might lead to her murder.

I wrote the scene today. I like it a lot and it works real well. This moment pays off later in the story. It immediately leads onto a scene with actual found footage of her murder, taken by the murderers. In looking through the footage he hear's one of them laugh and his revenge gene kicks in. He is now on board for the main story.

It all sounds cool, and reads pretty well in a story outline. The trouble is in writing the two back to back found footage scenes you get found footage overload. The two scenes show different mediums of camera and video, have largely different content but have very similar narratives. They are essentially the same scene played out twice in a row. Readers will disengage.

The solution so far is to move Daniel doing the camera review to a much earlier stage during the setup in the first half of act one. And then think of some imaginative way of revealing the video found footage, which I haven't quite come up with yet.

Hopefully next time we meet in the middle of the night, which should be Saturday(ish) at the latest, I will have. See you there.

<NaNoWriMo - The Handyman 12 - NaNoWriMo - The Handyman 18 >