Fi Phillips

One of the downfalls of working on my novel over such a long period of time is that I can lose track of all the changes that have happened over the numerous drafts. More than that, I can forget to add the knock-on changes and repercussions of altering characters and plot lines. In her article How To Create An Editorial Map , Janice Hardy provides a straightforward and valuable approach to re-drafting and editing your novel. Have a look.

As you know, my manuscript is currently in the hands of a literary agent. I got to the point with it where I couldn't see anything more I could do to improve it, or at least not without a new set of literary agent eyes. Janice Hardy writes about When Should You Stop Revising? on her Fiction University blog, laying out the different factors that can point out whether you've finished or not. Have a look.

I love creating new characters. For my murder mystery plays, they will probably already have a name or a job or an age, which is always a good start. For my novels, though, I've had to form my characters completely from scratch (apart from Hartley - he's been with me for decades). Janice Hardy's article, The How to Create a Character  Game on the Publishing Crawl website offers a fun way to bring to life a new set of characters. Have a look. Cesca Major talks about where she writes.

I'm a planner. I set out my vision for my novel before I begin to write - chapter plan, character sketches (vague ones) and ideas for links to future novels. For me, this gives me a clear picture before I put pen to page. Janice Hardy discusses just this in Revising Your Outlines to Make the Writing Easier on her Fiction University website.

In my children's novel, Steve Haven plods along (miserably). He thinks he knows what to expect in the life that has been plotted out for him. It isn't until all of that certainty is thrown into disarray that his real life begins In The Inciting Event , Janice Hardy discusses just such a point in plotting your novel. She says, "The inciting event is the moment when things change for the protagonist and she's [he's] drawn into the main problem of the novel, or problems that will eventually lead to that core conflict". Have a look. It's well worth a read.

I love the characters in my novel, whether they're good or bad or somewhere in between. They're individuals with their own way of speaking and their own motivations. Like me, most of them will happily tootle along in the same routine, day to day, year to year. Working out what would make them change, react, break out can be a puzzle. On Janice Hardy's Fiction University website, there is an article by writer K M Weiland on just this topic - How to Find Your Character's Breaking Point . Have a look.

I'm coming to the final chapters of the final draft of my novel and while I'm inserting some new chapters, others simply need to be further polished. This is when I take a long look at my work and say 'is that necessary?' or 'could that be done better?'. I use adverbs incredibly sparingly but sometimes they do creep in there and I have to ask myself if they work or if I can write that section differently. Janice Hardy's Fiction University discusses this topic in the article Writing Basics: How to Use Adverbs . Have a look.

Sometimes the words just flow. On other days, I shuffle around in my chair, overdosing on cups of tea and feeling like a failure. Now, I have something to refer to when the muse cancels on me. Five Ways to Jump Start a Stalled Story is a post on the Fiction University website by Eleri Stone. It not only offers reasons why your creative flow may have dried up but solutions too. Have a look.

One of the challenges I have in writing my novel is keeping track of where my characters are, where they have to go and the increasing amount of information that is revealed. Janice Hardy's article Five Ways To Grow Your Novel on the Fiction University site discusses how to handle all of this and more. Have a look.

One of the changes I have made (so far) in rewriting my novel for the 9-12 age group is to move the location of the attack on my protagonist. Originally, the attack took place in a deserted park which always felt slightly wrong. I think the problem was that I couldn't truly picture the park. In the latest draft, the attack has been moved to a derelict street where there is no apparent chance of help. I can see that street in my mind's eye. I can feel the roughness of the torn tarmac under my feet. I can hear the wind whistling through the smashed windows. It feels right. The Other Side of the Story has an interesting article on the same topic of settings - How your setting can affect your characters  - that is well worth a read. Have a look.