I've been a busy little bumble bee. I'm currently working on a Teen Fiction novel, though I have more to say on that categorisation. I've been doing market research, you see.
This project has been going since I was in college, about four years ago. When it started it was supposed to be a short story. But it grew. My initial idea, when I was about 15 years old, was to explore the world of dreaming. What happens really when you get stuck in a dream? But the cliche alarm bells sounded and I realised it was going nowhere. But by then I'd already got my main character, Ryan Dorsey. He wouldn't go away. I tried to scrap the whole thing, but he kept wondering into my imagination and demanding that I gave him something to do. He refused to stop existing.
It was always a side project, something I felt guilty for doing because I was supposed to be writing an essay. Not much got done. By my first year at University, I had the first three chapters of prose, which I showed to my (then) new boyfriend (now fiancé). It sat on his hard drive for months. I deleted it all. It obviously wasn't working.
Then came the redraft.
So, after much work, editing, redrafting, I came to a place where I was more serious about it. I met several other characters, and the thing was starting to look like a real story. My Creative Writing Minor helped, in places, because I was in classes amongst other writers, being taught about the proper process of writing.
I submitted 5000 words of it as my final year project, and got the highest mark I'd ever got -69. One mark off a first. Frustrating. Very good, but not quite there yet. Of course not.
So. Here we are. I've now graduated, so I have a lot more time. I've printed off every scene in the most chronological order I can and I've gone through everything with a turquoise pen and post-it notes to try and get the structure down.
This project has been going since I was in college, about four years ago. When it started it was supposed to be a short story. But it grew. My initial idea, when I was about 15 years old, was to explore the world of dreaming. What happens really when you get stuck in a dream? But the cliche alarm bells sounded and I realised it was going nowhere. But by then I'd already got my main character, Ryan Dorsey. He wouldn't go away. I tried to scrap the whole thing, but he kept wondering into my imagination and demanding that I gave him something to do. He refused to stop existing.
It was always a side project, something I felt guilty for doing because I was supposed to be writing an essay. Not much got done. By my first year at University, I had the first three chapters of prose, which I showed to my (then) new boyfriend (now fiancé). It sat on his hard drive for months. I deleted it all. It obviously wasn't working.Then came the redraft.
So, after much work, editing, redrafting, I came to a place where I was more serious about it. I met several other characters, and the thing was starting to look like a real story. My Creative Writing Minor helped, in places, because I was in classes amongst other writers, being taught about the proper process of writing.
I submitted 5000 words of it as my final year project, and got the highest mark I'd ever got -69. One mark off a first. Frustrating. Very good, but not quite there yet. Of course not.
So. Here we are. I've now graduated, so I have a lot more time. I've printed off every scene in the most chronological order I can and I've gone through everything with a turquoise pen and post-it notes to try and get the structure down.
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