Comments on: The 17 Step Method

By: Jackie Ashenden

Jackie Ashenden — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 04:10:45 +0000

Heidi – that IS the best typo ever! I shall now go thrust my instinct. 🙂

By: Heidi Rice

Heidi Rice — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 13:41:25 +0000

OMG, what a great typo! Although, come to think of it thrusting your instincts works as well!

By: Jackie Ashenden

Jackie Ashenden — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 06:36:13 +0000

Amy – got the first one sorted. It’s the second I have problems with. 🙂 And yes, sure, add it to your Nano count. Tell Jackie okayed it. 😉

Kerrin – Keep going Kerrin, it’s the only thing to do. And yes, she loved her first day. Hope yours did too!

By: Kerrin

Kerrin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:34:05 +0000

oh congrats on the 6k! good to see you are pushing through your 17 step method.
I don't think i do mine in 17 steps or even the 2 steps, but as this is still my first story, we shall see!

Hope your youngest enjoyed first days at school!

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 23:37:21 +0000

Got nothing to add to the previous comments as they all sound very wise. I'm not feeling wise at the moment. But I AM really good at randomly quoting others. Nora is a favorite of mine to pull out when I'm feeling the writing pinch. First, write crap. Second, fix crap.

Which is just a variant of what everyone already said. But - hey - can this comment count towards my NaNoing word accumulation today?

Amy

By: Jackie Ashenden

Jackie Ashenden — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:07:08 +0000

Jane – LOL!! I didn’t even see that. How could I have missed it?? I thrust my instincts every day. 😉

By: Jane Holland

Jane Holland — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 19:12:34 +0000

LOL @ Heidi's 'thrusting your instincts'!

What else would a romance writer do? ROFL.

I love great typos. ;-)

By: Jackie Ashenden

Jackie Ashenden — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:25:01 +0000

Jane – yeah, I know. I was kind of being tongue-in-cheek. 🙂 I LOL-ed at your writing yours though! Frothing at the mouth doesn’t sound good. Almost reached that point with an interminable dinner scene! Anyway, no, this stuff is never easy is it?

Heidi – yes, indeed, how did you guess?? 🙂 My poor old instincts are shot to hell, it’s true. But you’re right, I’ll try letting go and just writing. It’s certainly easier now I ‘think’ I’ve got the tone right.
Anyway, good luck with yours. I chucked away my first chapter and started the story at chapter 3 – best thing I ever did! 🙂

Lindsey – you’re so right!! Lol! I shall try the martini method tonight. 🙂

By: Lindsey

Lindsey — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:06:22 +0000

Yeah me too! Thought I could fly until craft/conflict/arcs of every kind grounded me good.

Recommend you leave the glass of martini and take the entire bottle instead – down steadily and then start writing. It won’t make a lot of sense the next morning but it helped get my mojo back – probably because I usually abstain.

By: Heidi Rice

Heidi Rice — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:55:19 +0000

My feeling Jackie, you're a pantser not a plotter but your confidence has been battered by the submission process...

Go back to thrusting your instincts more, forget about all that craft crap while you write the first draft you'll be surprised by how much of it is endemic now without you actually having to consciously think about it.. And anything that isn't can be worked in at the revision stage. Start enjoying yourself again and enjoying your hero and heroine.

Says Heidi, who's now rewritten the first chapter of her next book about twenty times..And hates both her hero and heroine with a passion.

BTW, to show my age, when you said Spartacus I thought you were talking about Kirk Douglas in a leather mini-skirt!