The other day at Crowvus HQ, we were discussing our favourite Jane Austen novels. Amazingly, for saying there were four of us with a positive opinion, each person had a different favourite. Jane Austen's books, of course, are not historical fiction, but books written contemporaneously to what is now an historical era. But! All the multitude of spinoffs which her books have invoked are historical fiction. Pride and Prejudice is not my favourite Austen story, nor my second or third, but I absolutely love the series Lost in Austen . People hear the phrase "fan fiction" and immediately think lesser of it, but this is a little unfair. Fan fiction is not a new thing, it is how folk stories grew into legends, adventures becoming more daring with every telling. But what has changed is the way in which these stories are retold and the care which is now (quite rightly!) taken to preserve and protect the rights of the original author. In the case of Lost in Austen , this is not t...
Sunday 3rd November 2019 – The Writer’s Desk
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| Photo by Frans Van Heerden from Pexels |
I’m a person who loves my own space. That being said, I’m anything but a
“neat-freak”. I’ve never managed to find
a writing space which will work for all my books. Sometimes, I’ll sit alone in a quiet room,
other times I write with my two sisters and we’ll put out inspirational Spotify
playlist on. And on some occasions, I’ll
give up on the laptop altogether and write by hand.
The most important thing I’ve found is that I’m flexible
with where I write. No two books are the
same, so why should two writing desks be any different. Here are a few staples I tend to rely on,
though:
- Always have a pen or pencil to hand – even if the majority of your writing is done on a laptop, you can never underestimate the number of times you’ll need to jot down notes to ideas, from a character’s age, to a major plot twist.
- Food! Eating and drinking keeps your brain going. I’m not going to lie, chocolate and tea are favourites for me.
- A music device – you may like silence when your writing, but if you're ever afflicted with writers’ block, stick on a favourite tune and words will flow.
- Company – it could be human, canine, feline or ursine! Having someone to share ideas with (even if it’s an inanimate teddy), can help get your plan in order. A tricky piece of dialogue, or measuring the meter of a poem, it all makes sense when it’s spoken aloud.
- Never go anywhere without *something* to write on and with. You could be at the beach, up a mountain, or underground. Inspiration can strike you anytime and anyplace. Your writer’s desk need not be a physical entity but a space your mind wanders to when inspiration comes knocking – take your desk with you, and you’ll never be caught high and dry!
During NaNoWriMo, remember every day is a writing day, and
any space is a writer’s desk.
Virginia Crow
www.crowvus.com
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