Rediscovering first novels

Have you ever loved writing so much you feel sick with excitement for it? I know. Writers are an emotional lot. Some more than most. But, recently, I discovered a very old writing project – a novel that I desperately loved and vowed one day I would come back to – but, ever since, life has just gotten terribly in the way. And it just stopped being part of my life.

I began a master’s degree. Left the town where I’d found my voice. And had a very bad breakup that would shape the rest of my life.

During and after my master’s degree, I wrote two more novels. Both of them set in Texas and both of them very much novels of my heart. But there was something about my first novel that was so different, so very raw and a product of my life circa 2016 that I knew I’d come back to. Or at least hoped to.

But, for such a long time I had abandoned it. Shoved it in a drawer (or rather a battered old memory stick) and accepted it was just ‘one of those things’ that would never get published.

But … recently I got to thinking what if?

Most of you will probably know that it was National Novel Writing Month this past November and, like many other writers, I struggled. And I struggled hard. For some reason, I could not find my way into the project I’d chosen. To combat it, I plotted, created character templates, wrote almost 100 pages (yeah, yeah, I know, I didn’t win the 50K) and even did research on my local town and asked my grandparents all sorts of questions. But it’s not coming out the way it should.

So I’m leaving it. And going back to the one that started it all.

I’m sure I’ll revisit the hometown novel one day but, for now, I am caught up in the exciting avenues of memory lane upon rediscovering my first novel. When I got out my old memory stick, dusted it off and starting reading, my heart flushed with excitement. And then I kept reading and was thinking, ‘You know what? This isn’t actually that bad.’

I remember writing it so fondly. It consumed everything. I want to feel like that again. During my last year of my undergraduate degree, I took a module called ‘Writing a Novel’ and in my sheer determination (yet also profound ignorance) I decided to get ahead of the game and write a whole novel during the summer before I went back for my third and final year of uni. I thought this was what everybody would probably be doing. I wanted to write and become an author so badly (and still do). I loved that semester and was so passionate about reading other people’s work too that I threw myself in head first. Because back in 2016, this novel was my absolute life. I lived for it. Dreamed it. Sang it. And worked damn hard for it.

So now I am coming back to it with bright shiny eyes and a critical editor’s eye, with a determination to hopefully, somehow, (please!) get it published. And attract the attention of some wonderful person in publishing who might just love it as much as I do. I’m also wholeheartedly kicking myself for abandoning it in the first place. So much time wasted. Sigh.

But, for now, onwards and upwards.

Wish me luck with this one. I may well just need it!

Well isn’t that novel?

One day I will write a novel and one day I will be working in a publishing house. It doesn’t even have to be for very long. I’d love to work for Bloomsbury, the home for many fantastic authors and the publishing company which signed J.K Rowling. These are my dreams, and I want so very much for them to come true.

I think novels are beautiful, regardless of which genre they’re in, because if they can make you feel something then they’re beautiful. I love the way they can just fold together, making you smile or laugh or just simply feel like you’re a part of something. I would list it as being one of the most important feelings in the world, right up there with your first kiss and the first time you buy a drink from a bar and you don’t get asked for I.D.

I think novel writing is beautiful and this is what I want to do. Like, desperately. I won’t stop until I’ve written the best book I can and it’s accepted by a publishing house.

I used to think my dreams were silly but when I met a real author whose roots were similar to my own and who’d graduated from my university, I started to really believe in myself. If she could do it, then why couldn’t I? The advice and things she kindly told me were incredibly helpful and I’m really fortunate to have met her. It also helped that she was so young and so very lovely. It put the faith back in me to realise that you don’t have to be over thirty to get a book deal. That author was C.J Flood, who writes YA fiction – again, something I want to do. She really opened my eyes!

C.J Flood

I want to write novels that I would read. I want to write, full stop. The thrill of it is something I don’t want to ever go away.

Maybe it’s because I’m reading Gone With The Wind right now (which I totally love) but one day I will write a novel based in the Southern States of America. It will be a love story and complicated string of events between a dashing cowboy – charming or reckless, I haven’t decided yet – and a pretty young thing who wears only the prettiest of dresses.

Even if I don’t exactly write this intended story, somewhere along the lines I will write a novel with a cowboy in it. He doesn’t even have to be centre stage. He just needs to be there, if only to make me happy.

My aim in life is to write and life is short, so I’m going to do it. Regardless of whatever gets in the way.

Grammar Rules

Did you know there are certain rules regarding the ways you can write speech as to whether you are American or British? I know, I was shocked too! It turns out I’ve been writing the speech of my characters’ lines in my stories wrong for years because I’ve been writing in the American way! To be honest, I much prefer the American way. Maybe because I read a lot of American books, or just because it comes a lot more naturally to me.

Basically, if you are British (like me) and want to write dialogue you must use inverted single commas like this:

‘To write is to capture something beautiful’

as this is the proper way!

However if you are writing in American English then you must use the double quotation marks like this:

“To write is to capture something beautiful”

I mean, how crazy is that? I always thought it was a matter of preference. But when it came up casually in conversation at a fiction workshop I was in it made me stop and think. Had I really been writing incorrectly all this time? The answer was yes after I researched it. (Always to Google!)

I’m sure it’s never that important anyway. I have had things published with American speech marks in it for dialogue when I am technically supposed to be writing in British English. It’s not like you’re going to get dismissed from a writing competition or, even worse, a novel manuscript you’ve submitted to a publishing house, because you’ve included the wrong speech marks in your work. If you can’t make up your mind and use both frequently all over the place then that might lead to something different! But ultimately, it is up to you whatever you choose to do.

Since I am technical in all my writing and like to correct anybody’s grammar given the opportunity, I will be writing in the formally correct way constantly now and try to keep it up as long as I can. If you are like me, and like everything to be perfect in your writing, from the style down the spelling, you too will probably reflect and check your errors! This is exactly what I did.

Unfortunately, I hate editing my own fiction writing so it took me a mighty long time to correct everything! I hope, if you didn’t already know this little scrap of knowledge, I have enlightened your day.

Good luck with your writing!

The Scarlet Spa

This is the most beautiful hotel I’ve ever seen and ever had the privilege to work for.
It’s located, buried away, in St Mawgan, a cute little village located in Cornwall. It’s right next to the sea, like almost everything on this coast. During the summer, I got to work one evening as co-housekeeper inside the beautiful modern-art like building. When I got inside, I was truly astounded. I had never seen anything like it. 

Staff: lovely and intricately perfect. It’s literally like they handpick them and polish them up to be like children of the hotel and its beauty.
Interiors: Stunning (even the bathrooms which I had to clean!)
Spa areas: Mind mesmerising?!
Pool area: Looked so good.

Take a look see!

Lobby Area

Pool Area

Restaurant Area

It’s intricate hard earned beauty is astounding, and I cannot wait to go. 
Because I just booked a room to stay there for one night. It’ll be during the early bursts of summer so it should be lovely.
The rooms are even better, but I’ll let you go and look at them for yourself. http://www.scarlethotel.co.uk/ 
It’s worth it. Honest.

The prices may be steep. Celebrities dine there, after all. But I was just so enchanted I couldn’t resist.
If you’re interested in ‘escaping’ away to Cornwall like so many characters from Du Maurier’s novels, I plead with you to try this hotel. Unless you’re a camper. If you’re a camper, you can roam around anywhere. And it’s just as beautiful – (but make sure you go in the summer!)

Go on, go ahead and pry into its delicious possibilities, amplified by Ben Howard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X28D55cshAg#t=25