On Writing (And Art)

Every time I reach that point of writing (too often) where I am stuck, I remind myself of that ever present advice - 'just get the first draft down.  It doesn't have to be good. Edit later.'

Just block it in I hear myself saying, and then it hit me this morning. 'Block it in', that is what I do with my art. It was a real revelation.

- Rough outline.

- Block in.

- Details later.

Now I am not sure why I never compared the two before, but as an artist and a wannabe writer it made perfect sense.

In my art classes, I am often consoling students about the early stages of their paintings. "It's just the block in stage, don't stress. All those luscious details will come later. Be patient."

Outline.

So let's compare.

Outline - in painting - Sketch in with paint the basics of your image - a guideline.

Outline - in writing - Plan out your story and break it down into a basic outline.

Blocked in

Block in - painting - Cover the canvas in paint, block in your basic colours until no canvas is showing.

Block in - writing - Write the first draft, roughly, but enough to say it is done. The story is written.

Layers and final details.

Details - painting - Build up your layers, start bringing in all those interesting details. Give your painting life.

Details - writing - Build up your story, edit, bring in those interesting details and give your story and characters life.

Details for both is not just a one off thing, it is about a process of building up, layers, edits, corrections and so it goes.

I have never had any problem building my paintings up using this process, so why shouldn't the same process work with writing.

It shouldn't and with this revelation hopefully I will get over this writers block thing and march ahead, putting on my layers of paint until I can have fun with all those yummy details. 

Blood Moon, Mars and a Northumbrian Noble.

A special blog seeing as we have a wonderful Blood Moon tonight.  What makes it so special? This time Mars will be the closest it has been since 2003.

Blood Moon - Here's one I prepared earlier.
Photo by me as noted by poor quality.

The last time these two events, a total lunar eclipse and the opposition of Mars, lined up was in the year A.D. 792.  And apparently it won't occur again for hundreds of years. How lucky are we?

.Mars has been growing brighter the past few weeks as it slowly approaches a state that astronomers call opposition, tonight, when it and the sun are on opposite sides of Earth. Earth and Mars align with the sun in opposition about once every two years.

But let us go back to the year A.D.792 - What was happening then and why is this relevant to my blog?

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us -   'A.D. 792. This year Offa, King of Mercia, commanded that King Ethelbert should be beheaded; and Osred, who had been king of the Northumbrians, returning home after his exile, was apprehended and slain, on the eighteenth day before the calends of October. His body is deposited at Tinemouth. Ethelred this year, on the third day before the calends of October, took unto himself a new wife, whose name was Elfleda.'

My main character, a Noble Warrior to King Ӕthelred, was right smack bang in the middle of all that drama, especially in Northumbria.  Perhaps he was looking up at the night sky during the lunar eclipse, and perhaps he noticed one star brighter than usual, or then again, perhaps he did not. 

But for me, tonight, I will believe that I am witnessing, or living through, the same phenomenon in which my main character  also experienced, or at least lived through 1,226 years ago.  

Wow!  Ok, so maybe the wow is more exciting for me, but I love that I have this wonderful link with my main man. This wonderful connection between a man who lived so many years ago and me, the person writing about him.

Who was this Noble Warrior you ask?  He is none of those listed above in the Chronicle, but you will learn more as my story becomes a reality.

Organizing your Research

Following on from my earlier post - 'Organisation is a skill", I thought we could look closer at the actual activity of being organised.

Now, I am not saying I have developed this skill, but rather, I have taken suggestions from other historical authors  and how they manage their research notes.

Extra wide dividers with tabs

Let us start with the basic ring binder method. For those who still like to sit and write  with pen and paper ( me), having your research material in binders is a convenient option. What could go wrong? You could buy those cheap tab dividers for starters, you know, the ones that disappear behind your plastic sleeves of information. Answer: Buy the extra wide ones. *see image.

You will also need lots of plastic sleeves for the multitude of information you print up, and more tab dividers and maybe, even more binders. Keep some large white stickers handy to place on your index page for that moment when your change your mind, move stuff around or just add new information to the ever growing file.

If you do most or all of your work on the computer it would make sense to be able to access all your files there too.

There are a number of programs/software available; Scrivener, Zotero, Endnote, Word, Excel, Evernote, Blue Orangizer, Noodle Tools, Research Gate, and Docear are some that have been noted by researchers as their go to tools. Most of which are all suitable for organising and saving research material.

I decided to give Scrivener a go and set up a free account with that purpose.  Scrivener is a word-processing program and outliner designed for authors. It provides a management system for documents, notes and other data. I found it reasonable basic but spent, what I consider, too much time setting it up. It has character and setting templates which were simplified.  I tried moving folders and chapters around but lost one, finding it later in another folder. Having said that, it was most likely just me trying to work things out as a newbie.

EverNote is an application which comes with a browser add-on, Zotero is an add-on for Firefox, and is helpful for managing and organizing bibliographies and reference materials.

Excel file with Census data

Excel files can be used in many ways. Whilst doing my family history research I used Excel to set up my massive accumulation of Census files from one particular line. It was a wonderful way of keeping track of all family members over the years , 1841 - 1911.  I also colour coded the different family groups. It is at this point I want to add that the English census is not only wonderful for family history, but also for researching a particular person in history who fits into that timeslot.

One cannot go past the hands on text books with their multitude of information, placed in a very accessible spot near your work space.

Whatever your method of filing, it is most important to keep track of the source from where your information comes from. There will always be someone who reads your book and says - 'That can't be right.'  And so you flip to your point of source and say, 'yes it is!'

My last point - save everything. 

Mystery Tour - Day 3

6th may 2018

It was too nice a day to walk in the shadows of  city buildings  or hover in dark alleys.

I took advantage of the perfect May weather and booked another River cruise. This time I headed the other way, out to Williamstown and back, a two hour journey.  I was directed to a smaller and older boat which I enjoyed more. It had character and everyone knows a boat with character is much more interesting.

David and Goliath

Again, I pushed my camera to work hard for me and in doing so broke my last record by accumulating over one hundred photos. Ever grateful for the invention of digital cameras.

As the boat navigated out of the Yarra River,  large ships moved slowly past us,  their little helpers tugging along beside or behind them.

Metal Giraffes

I fell in love with the giant metal giraffes as they guarded the Port, ever watchful,  heads high into the cloud.

Cranes pretending to be AT-AT

 Nor can I forget  those mechanical walkers, roaming the port like giant AT-AT vehicles. 

Shag on a rock (Pied Cormorants)

Bird life, fishermen, and buildings, all added to my growing number of images.

I spent most of the time on the small deck with a few others, enjoying the cool breeze on my face and the warmth of the sun across my back.
 

Wind in my hair

Nearing the end of the journey and motor trouble  became  obvious as the captain steered the boat in a wavering manner, stopping and starting the engine constantly. Something about the boat's character perhaps.  All good and no need to adorn our bodies with those vibrant accessories called Life Jackets.

Good to know

 

Back and safe on dry land, where I grabbed some lunch from a street stall at the Art Centre.

A few more photos of buildings in Flinders street , having spotted them the week before and had to have them for my 'building collection.' Yes, I actually have acquired enough images now to call it a 'collection'.

Day done and one thing I have learnt from these travels - you have to think like a tourist to appreciate what your city has to offer.

Mystery Tour - Day Two

29th April, 2018 - Melbourne

The weather started gloomy and the dark clouds promised rain as we headed off to the city. Today I had a companion, my sister Wendy, another soul in need of mystery adventures.

The Docklands was our destination, and sometimes you just have to plan ahead to know what tram to take or how much walking is involved. I guess my mystery trips are not as mysterious as I had originally planned.

Melbourne Star

We hopped on to the no.70 tram after a quick dash to catch it, (we waited at the wrong stop - although in our defence, the sign did state it stopped there.)

First stop "Melbourne Star'.

 In its early days, when the wheel was having major problems, I vowed I would never, ever go on it and here I was about to board the ride.

Following directions and finding some very helpful staff along the way, we made our way up to where you enter the cabin. Although the journey to the cabin is not complete without passing the smiling photographer who urges you to pose for photos, a special record of your trip.

My sister and I had the cabin to ourselves and learnt that you have to move reasonable quick to board the moving cabin and being ever watchful of the tiny little step as you do. An important point suggested by another lovely, smiling staff member.

Compass on ceiling

Safely on, our journey began. Slowly moving out and then upward. A voice  overhead tells you about your map and to check out the compass on the ceiling- a guide to let you know where various locations are. So we get out the map, turn it, check and turn it again. Content that we finally have it right we glance out the window at our lovely view. 

As the cabin rose higher my ability to stand close to the window slowly diminished, much to my sister's amusement, who managed the height issue brilliantly.

. . . and the rain came.

The dark clouds had kept their promise and the rain came.

Droplets of water blurred our view, but we were not disheartened as the effect added to the interest. As the clouds moved on, streams of light shone down over sections of the city creating a glorious glow, a lovely contrast against their shadowed neighboring buildings.

We made a friend

The top reached and as we started rolling downhill we became level with the cabin before us. To our delight a young boy sat by the window and was waving to us. A photo opportunity not to be missed and we waved back putting a smile on his little face.

Feet on the ground  and we had to weave our way through a maze of tunnels to find the exit. Passing through the inevitable souvenir shop and almost at the door when we were greeted by a young fellow, smiling of course, who reminded us of our earlier photo shoot. For a bargain price of $40 you can have a booklet with your photos in, thus costing more than the actual ride itself.

We passed on the offer and went off to grab some lunch, a kids serving of fish 'n chips.

This was not because we couldn't afford an adult size, or that we couldn't manage to eat it, but purely because the adult size was not available and that's what we wanted to eat.

Reflections on the Marina

Down to the marina for photos of boats, sculptures, buildings and old pier posts, then a quick visit to the  market stalls for perusing purpose only. Oh, ok, so we did buy something from one of the stalls, but those cute little animal ornaments could not be resisted.

On the tram and back to Flinders Street Station, a quick visit to photograph  more buildings in the area, an iced coffee and then train home again.

Me

Who would have thought I would have been brave enough to stand in a glass cabin reaching as high as a forty story building. The Eureka Skydeck awaits me . . . um, well, maybe!

Mystery Tour - day one.

22nd April 2018 - Melbourne.

Perfect sunny day in April, day one of my, hopefully, regular mystery trips.

I headed into the city not being completely sure what my plans were, although I had a few ideas to work with.

From Flinders Street Station I walked down towards the Yarra River and asked at the ticket box about the cruise trips. 

Decision made!

With my seniors card offering discount  I waited with the other tourists for the 'Yarra Queen' to arrive. I chose the hour trip as I wanted to fit other activities into my day, but vowed to come back and do a bigger trip another time. Twenty minutes early so I head further down the bank and take more photos of the Cormorant Tree. 

'Yarra Queen'

Crying toddlers and being seated a distance away from the window had me a bit disappointed at the start, well, until the tour guide/pilot mentioned we could go on deck. 

I shoveled up my bag and camera and scuttled my way past the noisy darlings, smiling to those parents who inevitably were regretting their decision of bringing their screaming ankle biters onto such a confined space.

The cruise took us upstream and although it was not the most scenic of views I did manage to take quite a number of photos. Lots of bridges, lots of rowers and a lot of me squeezing between other touristy types on the small deck to get that brilliant image. Returning back on the other side of the river and feeling accomplished that I have ticked off one of my 'must do' activities.

Yarra River, heading back.

Time for a feed and I wander around Federation Square and have a lovely healthy lunch of Chicken and Mango salad. Full stomach and I am ready to find something else to do.

Perfect timing allowed me to run into an old friend who suggested Hosier Lane across the road as a place of interest. Brilliant, always wanted to check out those murals hiding in Melbourne's lane ways. 

Tourists seem to follow me for once again I find myself amongst them,  camera's and phones clicking away. Newlyweds posed against the backdrop of vibrant colours. A kitchen worker on break, sits amongst the splash of colour, chatting on his phone.

I find two lovely young girls and ask if they will take my photo, they did and didn't run off with my camera either . . . bonus.

A warm glow bounces off the shadowed walls, silhouetted figures follow the laneway back to where it meets Flinders Street and a strong light tells you, you are there.

My day is done and I head back to the station and home again, thinking about my next mystery trip.

Organisation is a skill.

Organisation is a skill.

As an author of historical fiction and non-fiction I have learnt the importance in having your research organised and easy to access.

It takes a lot of skill to be organised.

"Skill?"  Really, organisation is a skill? 

Yes, I surprised myself with this realisation, so let us now define the word skill - 'ability to do something well, coming from one's knowledge, expertness, adeptness, adroitness, deftness, dexterity, ability, prowess, mastery, competence, competency, capability, efficiency, aptitude, artistry, art, finesse, flair, virtuosity, experience, professionalism, talent, cleverness, smartness, ingenuity, versatility, knack, readiness, handiness; informal know-how' ....phew!

For years I have tried to develop this skill; filing, over filing, splitting folders into different categories, but what if a subject fits two different categories, do I link the two some way? What if five kings are mentioned in the same article and I want to file them separately, or under their kingdoms or ...

So I buy more folders, (I am old fashioned and love working with hard copies) and more folders, splitting and filing, and changing my mind until I am almost in chaos.

Almost!

Almost because at least the research is filed and accessible, however, it appears I am not as skilled in the art of being organised as I would like and I know I have a lot of work to do to get there.

I have come to the conclusion: to be organised you need to have good secretarial skills, a good filing system, be a very tidy person and have a good working space.

I have none of these.

I decided to do a quick search online to see what other authors might suggest - this one amused me - 'File all loose papers in the appropriate place.'

... and we are back to square one!