Warning: Creative Juices Depleted...

Hello war with the Middle East,
bush fires, Brexit and EVERYTHING ELSE.

We're a week in. Everyone coping so far? Yeah, I know world events haven't exactly eased us in gently. Huge chunks of Australia continue to burn. World War Three was trending by the 3rd. Best not check back in with the news. Not for a while, anyway. 

Focusing on the mundane might be all that is possible. What can we fill our time with if we're going to attempt to ignore the impeding doom around us? Well, it's different for everyone, of course. Some were straight back to work after Christmas. Others enjoyed a final week of chilling before real life kicked back in. For me, I've still got that completed first draft that needs metaphorically ripping apart and rebuilding. (Not that metaphorically, probably.) The thing is, it was all I filled my head with from June to December, and there were many early mornings and middle of the nights where I typed away, ignoring sensible sleep patterns and anything else that might be conducive to a healthy mental state. So now it's done, I need to give it, and my head, some space. I can still remember what I wrote. I want to forget before I pick it up again and read with fresh eyes. 

John Niven, the writer, once responded to the question 'How long should I leave my first draft before editing?' with 'Put it in a drawer and leave it for six months.' I completely agree with him (even if I can't find his original tweet saying that, and so I've had to paraphrase the exchange and hope for the best.) I don't have six months though. I mean, I do but I can't wait that long. I've not got my finger in a bunch of other pies that can occupy my time. Instead, I'm giving myself three weeks. Three weeks of January, not re-reading, thinking or editing Book 3. And the way I'm going to fill my time is going to sound like a big skive, even though it is not.

Ready for it? Oh well, I'll tell you anyway. I'm going to watch films and read books. No, honestly, it's an essential part of the process. I promise. My creative juice store is bare. Properly empty. By the time I was writing the last chapter of the draft a few weeks ago, I was writing utter drivel. And for plenty of the chapters before that too. I was getting in the basic plot points, but with the most jagged and literal dialogue going. Nothing of beauty, nothing that was pleasing to the eye or ear. Just going through the motions to get the thing done. And that's OK. For now. Because when I come to edit and rewrite it, I'll address all the rubbish then. But I can only address it, if I am fizzing over with ideas, literary devices, and narrative tools at my disposal. So that's what I'm going to do; spend three weeks replenishing my creative juices so I have the wherewithal to get back to it once again.

'Go Away I'm Reading'
A genuine hoody of joy from a
 mate who did not know
my January plans. Spooky.

For those who still need convincing this is not a self-indulgent skive, I've had a breakthrough already. My rough draft is a chronological, linear narrative. My nagging suspicion in recent weeks is that it won't grip readers to keep going. If it's A to B to C to D, what will make them keep reading to Z? All the information is laid out in order, and there's no suspense beyond liking the characters and wanting to see what happens to them. I'm not sure that's enough. It's been a thought I've had for the last couple of months without really knowing what to do about it. Anyway, by 2nd January, I'd completed step one in my 'Restore Nicky's Creative Juices Plan'. I had read The Ex Pats by Chris Pavone. A grippy thriller that takes place in several places (like my story) with several characters (like my story) but with several timelines chopping and changing, and revealing snippets of clues about what's to come before the reader really understands them (not like my story in the slightest.) It showed me how a structural change to the narrative would lift it immediately. It gave me food for thought and a bunch of ideas about what to do next. (I'm envisioning postcards blu-tacked onto a wall as I mix up chapters and work out a new layout of reveals. Exciting!) 

So there we go. Two days into a three-week break and by simply reading a novel for pleasure again, I've had a creative boost that will help the next steps of my book. All English teachers know this to be true. If a child reads books, they will have the tools to write. If they don't read, then they won't. So I've got three weeks of reading ahead of me which will provide me with replenished juices and a store cupboard of tools. And then, when I've emerge from that legging and hoody phase, blinking into the light, I'll be ready to rip up that first draft and write the hell out of the second. 

Have a lovely week, folks.