For today's #HistFicThursdays blog, I am thrilled to be welcoming Samantha Ward-Smith to the blog with a guest post about her latest book Ravenscourt , as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club tour! Read on to find out about the inspiration for her novel, and how she brought Ravenscourt into the Gothic tradition. But first, let's meet the book... Blurb He wanted to be gone from the dark enclosing room, with its mocking misery, to be gone from this house of nightmares, of shattered dreams, and discovered secrets which could not be put back in the box. Venice, 1880. Alexander, Viscount Dundarran, seeks refuge from scandal amidst the fading grandeur of crumbling palazzos during the infamous Carnival in the city. There he encounters the enigmatic Lady Arabella Pembrook—a young, beautiful widow. Both are scarred by their pasts but find solace in each other and a chance at redemption. But when duty calls Alexander back to England upon his father's death,...
Sunday 17th November 2019 - Pace of Writing
I obsess over graphs.
I blame my dad – he was a maths teacher.
So it’s perhaps unsurprising that my page of choice on the NaNoWriMo
website is the Stats page. One of the
reasons I’ve fought against doing NaNoWriMo for so long is because I
have an obsessive nature and, when I start on something, I won’t let go until
it’s done. But thanks to a combination
of NaNoWriMo and my obsessive gene, I’ve already completed one novel and I’m
zooming through the second.
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| My NaNoWriMo project stats |
One aspect I’ve really enjoyed is competing in writing
sprints with two of my NaNoWriMo buddies (who are also my sisters!). Being highly competitive, we write for 20
minutes to see who can write the most words.
I always lose. No, I mean ABSOLUTELY
always lose. But it doesn’t matter
because writing sprints have got me past some of the trickiest parts in my
books, just because I want to be writing something.
 |
| And here's one I made earlier... |
My favourite graph is the one which give you the predicted
line. I like to know what I’m aiming
for, although given that my books average out at 110,000 the 50,000 target
seems a bit tricky. When I’m set a
target, I do everything I can to obtain it – obsessively! But the important part is knowing what pace is best to work at. We’re all individuals, so our
writing pace will be different from one another.
Here are a few things to remember about pacing your writing
(I should probably take my own advice on some of these):
- Set a pace which works for you – if you’re working 9-5 every weekday, chances are you’re not going to be achieving 1667 words every day. But that’s fine! Try and schedule in plenty more write-time over the weekend.
- The line is a guide – don’t be put off if you’re miles below the line. You know your pace, if it’s slow just remember: the tortoise beat the hare!
- Having a buddy DOES help – I was doubtful when I read this on the NaNoWriMo page, but it turns out it’s true. If you’re competitive it’s a driving force; if you’re unsure it’s a good way of getting help and ideas.
- The sky’s the limit, not 50,000 – Whether you’re aiming above or below, pace yourself accordingly. 50,000 words is only a recommendation, you can do as many or as few words as you like!
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