Diary of a Novel 2
Diary of a Novel
These diary entries were made during the writing of Mac Slater, Coolhunter 2: I Heart NY. They helped me clear my head at the beginning or end of each day. They’ll take you behind the scenes and give you a sense of how I approach the crazy biz of writing and maybe even give you ideas for how you might approach your own stories. There are also a bunch of pics taken in NYC, my favourite city in the world.
25 February 2008
I’m about 7000 words into writing Mac 2: I Heart NY and, as with any story, it’s tricky.I haven’t been to New York in ages so when I want to set a scene or a chapter in a certain neighbourhood I have to read and surf the web to place me in that headspace. That’s where lots of story ideas come from. I can take myself to Google Maps and get a street view of anywhere in Manhattan or read a blog and get a feel for the place I’m writing about. I’ve made slideshows of images from Flickr and looked at dozens of NY vids on YouTube. I also have my own diaries, photos, videos and coolhunting materials from New York. They are part of the mix of my dreaming and recollection and creation and invention. It’s a fun process. It’s like doing a massive NY coolhunt online.
3 March 2008
About to start for the day. I’m thirteen chapters in now. About thirteen thousand words. I’m getting to the heart of the second act where the major obstacles start to arise. Ideas are really starting to flow. I’m far enough in now to start wondering what the story is really about. I’m starting to wonder who Tony and Speed (Mac’s bosses) are and why they want these kids to coolhunt for them, what they get out of it. So, this morning I’ve done a bunch of writing in a new document called ‘What do Speed and Tony want?’ I always write a lot that doesn’t end up in the book. I might end up writing double the number of words that I need.
Writing, for me, shifts between free-writing on paper to find the heart of the story and going back to the manuscript to let all that free-written discovery flow into the story. This works for writing scripts as well as books.
I’m also starting to discover who some of the characters are. On a first draft new characters feel a bit thin and cardboardy. You’re just discovering them. You throw them into a situation and they act in a certain way, then you start to realise who they are. It’s exciting.
Better get writing. It’s 9.15. I’ve been hanging off writing for an hour and fifteen minutes. Sometimes it’s hard to settle in for the day. Always, actually. But I know that chair is waiting for me.
I just accidentally bumped my mug and tipped tea into my keyboard while I was trying to catch a mosquito. The keyboard is out drying in the sun.
6 March 2008
Things are really starting to flow now. When I was just getting into the story the words came more slowly. But, now that we’re in the thick of it, the words are rolling out and it’s hard to stop. Action sequences write themselves. They write and read incredibly quickly and I love writing them. When the characters are scared, when they have something to lose, when they’re being chased, when they’re riding or driving something fast, that’s when the writing comes incredibly quickly.
I’ve just picked up an Anthony Horowitz, one of the Alex Rider books. Haven’t read them before. But he is a master. He writes cleverly, the characters are well drawn, the surroundings delivered in detail but very quickly. And then this flow of action that keeps you so engaged.
I try to write humorous, fast paced stories with characters you can relate to. If that’s all I achieve, I’ll be happy.
11 March 2008
Sitting in cafe, hot coffee by my side. I have ridden to work today. Up two big hills. Still getting my breath back. It’s 8.44 am and I haven’t started. 44 minutes late. Hard to write when you’re all hyped up and can’t breathe.
I’ve been coolhunting on the web for the inventions and creations that will be featured in the book. I find things that interest me and then imagine an invention that takes that reality one step further. I take something I’m interested in like flying or space or alternative, renewable energy or adrenaline sport or Buddhism or basketball or movies and I start looking into the corners of those things, the places we haven’t been yet.
It’s fun, all this poking around. It means that words aren’t going down on the page but this mooching around and thinking is the engine room of a good story. It’s where the ideas are born and then, when it comes to writing a chapter, the words speed off the end of my fingers. If you ever write something, just know that you have to hang out with it for a bit. A good story hardly ever flows the second you sit down. But the point is to stay with it and gently steer yourself into the story and then let flow.
At the moment I’m reading a book called Do You! by Russell Simmons, the guy who started the rap music label Def Jam Records. There’s a character in my book, Joe Gatt, who is being influenced by me reading this book.
Anyway, I’m in the zone now. I feel like I can write.
T.
18 March 2008
I’m a bit stuck. I’m racing towards the climax of the book and I have a bunch of threads in the air that I have to tie together somehow. Because it’s a first draft it’s kind of tricky to know whether they will work or if I have a bunch of random stuff that will all have to be cut. This is one of the toughest parts of the writing process. You must have the confidence to keep moving forward in spite of the voices that tell you that what you’re writing is terrible.
Hmmmmmmmm. One thing I’ve learned in the writing of any story is that you need to complete drafts and re-read in order to understand what your story is about. If you stop mid-way through and start polishing and wondering if it’s any good, the story will die. You need to push on, even if it’s making no sense at all. Don’t look over your shoulder. Just push ahead. Then, when you re-read it, you’ll be able to tell what stays and what goes but you’ll at least have a draft, a first run at the story. It’s down there on paper. Don’t look back.
I want to go and make phone calls or email or make a drink or anything to get me out of writing at this moment. But I know I just have to stay with it. Don’t leave the desk. If I leave now I won’t come back and I want to be finished the draft in 2–3 days’ time. I know the story that I want to tell. It’s not perfect yet but I know that it will be. Stay with it.
Out.
2 July 2008
10.44 am. I’m sitting in a cafe by the beach, eating banana bread and working. I’m finished the book! The editor has read it and made notes and now I’m about to look at all the notes and add my own stuff. Hopefully, in this process, it becomes tighter, more believable, funnier.
Here goes . . .
29 July 08
It’s been a while. Much has happened. Including the launch of Mac Slater 1 at the Byron Bay Writers Festival on the weekend. A flying bike was brought in for the occasion and Judy Nunn, an actress, bestselling author and old friend of mine launched the book. It went down really well.
I’m still going through the edit on book 2 and I’ve pulled it apart. It’s sitting on my floor at the moment. I think I do my best work on the floor. It gets me out of that strict, seated position. It gets me off the computer. I think the most creative stuff happens on the floor. You’re free to try things out and shuffle things around. I have the story written up on a big roll of paper and I’m drinking green tea out of a Universal Studios mug and trying to find the ending. I’m almost there but what I need is to go back and find out what the story is really about.
You do this when you’re writing. You tell yourself the story over and over again in lots of different ways. I’ve written the whole thing and I thought I knew what it was about but the story and the characters, ultimately, decide what the story means. They seem to decide what they want and it’s often not what you wanted them to want. Does that make sense?
What does Mac really want in this story? If I can find the answer to what he really wants, then I’ll find the end of this story. I have something there at the moment but it’s a bit like a dumb movie. It doesn’t feel real to me. It’s imposed on the story rather than springing from what has come before it.
Anyway, enough raving. Brisbane Writers Festival coming up and Book Week where I’ll get to speak to a bunch of readers about what they like and why. Should be fun. Meantime, I’ll be on the floor if you need me, trying to find my story.
29 July 08 (Later in the day)
I think I’ve discovered what my book is about, what the central question is! Just by hanging out with it, sitting on the floor, asking myself a bunch of questions about my own life, working out the journeys of each of the characters in the book.
The story explores the phrase, ‘Be careful what you wish for. It might come true’. This, and ‘How far are you prepared to go to make your dream come true?’ It’s all about the idea that you sometimes think you know what you want but when you get there you don’t want that thing at all. Sometimes you’ll do things that you shouldn’t do just to achieve a goal. But how far are you prepared to go?
With this in mind, I can find the end of the story. Now I know what needs to be worked out. I know which characters need to face each other and I can put them together and see what they say. I can get rid of some of the silly action stuff and replace it with more explosive ideas.
That’s all.
29 August 2008
My second-last day on the book. Then it goes to the typesetters. After that, there’s not much chance to change it.
Every writer has to let go of their work. They say in the film industry that screenplays aren’t finished, they’re abandoned. Meaning that a story is never finished. It’s never as good as it could be. You could always tighten and strengthen and dig deeper.
Today I need to read through the ending again, tighten some points, inject some notes that I’ve made. Then I need to cross-check a bunch of New York facts. I’ve been to New York but I’m writing this story from the other side of the world, something like 15,000 kilometres away so I’ve been reading blogs and hanging out on ‘Overheard in New York’, reading snippets of conversation from the streets of NYC.
I’ve read lots on swarm creativity and I’ve looked at tons of new trends and ideas and I’ve free-written and I’ve plotted and I’ve read and re-read. I have about twenty thousand words in my ‘holding bay’, a document where I cut and paste chapters and scenes that aren’t working. I figure the more I’ve cut out, the better the story must be.
It feels good to be at the end of the line. I’m glad I’ve written a book set in New York, my favourite city on earth.
Strangely, while I’ve been writing, the series has sold to a US publisher, Simon and Schuster, who are based in New York! Scary because they’ll be reading the manuscript with New York right outside their window. Hope I’ve got it right. I think I might go there sometime next year. I’ve been looking for an excuse to go to New York for a while.
Better dive in.
5 September 08
Have delivered the book, finally. In the final few days I feel I really found the ending of the story. I discovered why certain characters did what they did and I was unafraid to try some new ideas.
A cold today. Been working too hard, I think. Working on weekends and into the night. It’s been a busy time.
But I’ve finished!
Yeehaw. Thanks for coming on the ride with me. Hope you enjoy the story.
Tristan