It has been some time since I have made an entry on this blog - I should like to be able to say that this is because I have been writing, but actually although I have been sitting at my desk, I have been merely present, in a state of some anxiety - playing Spider Solitaire and fretting about the Summer Squall arts festival. None of this has been good for me.
After a really exhausting August, when I barely wrote or did anything constructive (apart from stuff for the Squall) I began to feel I confused and distressed at the thought of returning to any of my novels... the obvious one to work on was 17 Years, but I was not enjoying it - so yesterday I decided to have a look at Conscience - which was a revelation. After two or three chapters I found myself quite impressed with it - it didn't seem to have been written by me, and all the worries I had had, whether David's feelings for Kitty were understandable, seemed to be resolved. I had made new, independent characters - and his growing interest in her was following a sensible arc... after reading 5 chapters I got excited about it again. It is a weird book - it's quite formal, almost as though it was written by a contemporary, rather than a century later, but I still found the odd anachronism... and perhaps not enough contemporary slang yet...
I need to do more research - because I have some conscientious objectors as orderlies in September 1916 and I don't know if that is realistic at that point. So I am reading a book about conchies and hoping to understand this better - I think I also want to be sure that David's slightly anti-war viewpoint wasn't totally improbable - it was uncommon amongst Anglican clergy - but not unknown and only slightly more common in non-conformism.
But enough - I will finish reading and editing this morning and get on with writing it.
After a really exhausting August, when I barely wrote or did anything constructive (apart from stuff for the Squall) I began to feel I confused and distressed at the thought of returning to any of my novels... the obvious one to work on was 17 Years, but I was not enjoying it - so yesterday I decided to have a look at Conscience - which was a revelation. After two or three chapters I found myself quite impressed with it - it didn't seem to have been written by me, and all the worries I had had, whether David's feelings for Kitty were understandable, seemed to be resolved. I had made new, independent characters - and his growing interest in her was following a sensible arc... after reading 5 chapters I got excited about it again. It is a weird book - it's quite formal, almost as though it was written by a contemporary, rather than a century later, but I still found the odd anachronism... and perhaps not enough contemporary slang yet...
I need to do more research - because I have some conscientious objectors as orderlies in September 1916 and I don't know if that is realistic at that point. So I am reading a book about conchies and hoping to understand this better - I think I also want to be sure that David's slightly anti-war viewpoint wasn't totally improbable - it was uncommon amongst Anglican clergy - but not unknown and only slightly more common in non-conformism.
But enough - I will finish reading and editing this morning and get on with writing it.
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