• One Terrific Lie

    Revision and Genre

    My WIP has long been neglected. It was never my intention. Usually, when I finish anything – be it short story, novel, or screenplay – I launch straight into revision, and keep revising (reading it over and over) until I can get nothing more out of it. Then I give it a break, then start the process again with a fresh mind. When I’m certain I have nothing new left to offer, I’ll send my work out to alpha readers. Their feedback will contain stuff that I either can no longer see, or was never able to see. As an author, you have all the answers in your head. But…

  • One Terrific Lie

    378

    Something I consider irreplaceable in any form of writing – and particularly in writing a novel – is getting the first line right. The right first line unlocks everything that’s required for a novel: a way into the story establishing the world and characters finding the road that the story will take. Which is what’s made trying to get started on ‘TFSoLY’ so frustrating. Throughout the week, I sat down and hammered out some openings, but every one felt wrong: one came in at the wrong place, so it felt like I was on some ill-lit side-road to the story; another was summarising too much, which made the first page…