My writing day by Liz Trenow
I wake with a cup of tea in bed and spend half an hour or so just thinking about the novel and my characters, working out what they are going to do next, or trying to solve whatever problems the plot is throwing at me.
Then I get up, have breakfast and sit down at the desk in my study, a small room at the front of the house where there are not too many distractions. I always do my best writing in the mornings when my imagination is freshest – usually starting around 8.30 and continuing till my stomach rumbles for lunch. I start by reviewing and editing the section I wrote yesterday to get me back into the ‘zone, and then try to write 1,000 – 1,500 words each day. After lunch my imagination seems to close down so then I do research, admin, replying to emails, blogging and, when I’ve got to that stage, proof reading.
When I start on a new book I usually know who the main characters are going to be and roughly what happens to them. But historical research often inspires secondary plotlines and new characters who pop up along the way and I love going with them to see where they lead – that’s the really exhilarating part of writing. Some novels seem almost to write themselves, others are more of a struggle. For In Love and War I created all kinds of difficulties for myself by having three characters each with their own story lines and, to make it worse, of differing nationalities and languages! There is a great sense of satisfaction when you can make it all hang together.
Because my novels are based on historical events, I do masses of research by reading, visiting libraries, museums and other places. For In Love and War I went to Flanders on a battlefield tour to find the inscription to my husband’s uncle on the Menin Gate. I love to include real people as characters. For example, the army chaplain Rev Philip (Tubby) Clayton looms large in the plot of In Love and War – I hope I have done justice to a remarkable man.
I usually trawl magazines, newspapers, the internet and old photo albums looking for people who physically look and/or dress like my characters, and pin these images up in my study, so that I can ‘see’ them as I write.
Finally, I arrive at the end of the first draft. With a bit of luck I’ll have time to put it away for a few weeks so that when I read it again I have some critical perspective. Then I print it out and sit in another room from it. Although my hands itch to pick up a pencil I try to read straight through without making detailed edits. It’s a terrifying moment, because there will inevitably be significant things wrong with it at this stage and some may be easier to fix than others.
Further hard work follows – usually with a deadline hanging over you – until you are finally ready to let someone else read it. That is when your agent and editor cast their beady eyes upon it and usually make really sensible recommendations you wish you had realised for yourself. After several more drafts, line-edits and proof reading, the job is done and your creation is – you hope – ready to meet the world.
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