A couple of weeks ago, I was talking about editing. To be honest, I find editing a bit of a mixed bag. Part of it is really enjoyable – the part where you get to gradually see the writing tighten up, and where you start to bring everything together to move from a disjointed bunch of ideas to a real story. But there’s another aspect of editing that I have to admit I find quite painful – trying to keep up with all the little dots that dance over my manuscript.

You know the ones I’m talking about. The colons and semi-colons, and especially the commas. I have no idea where commas are supposed to go. Every time I go back to revise one of my drafts, I feel like 20% of the time is spent actually refining the story and writing, while the other 80% is spent moving commas around. And around again. And around a third time. Even just writing this blog post, I reckon I’ve spent half the time fiddling with commas.

I’m lucky that I have my editor. She always seems to know where commas go. She’ll tell me that because this is a post-conjunctive phrase alongside a relational-subjunctive clause (or something like that), there has to be a comma between them. As for me, I just go on instinct. If I feel like a need to take a breath, I chuck a comma in. Only problem is every time I read it again, I find myself wanting to take breaths in different places.

I’m waiting for technology to catch up. I’m waiting for word processors to become so clever, they know exactly where the commas (and all the other types of dots) are supposed to go, and just stick them in as you’re typing. And then I’ll be able to spend less time trying to follow those pesky dancing dots, and more time working on my actual story.

Till then have a great week.

Or should that be till then, have a great week.

Oh, I give up.

It’s really enjoyable to create brand new worlds that have never before been explored. It’s great fun to populate them with the strangest types of residents you can think of, and then set them off to see what they’ll get up to.

It’s a process you can totally get lost in. You can forget your daily troubles, and all the things that are wrong with the world, as you immerse yourself in a brand new world of your own creation. A world where everything can be as good as you want it to be. A world where all the problems of the real world are things of no concern at all. 

Except that you can’t. Or at least I can’t.

No matter how hard I try in a world of fantasy, I always find that the real world has followed me there. No matter how I create my perfect little world, I find that the flaws of the real world will be there, often twisted or amplified in unexpected ways. And no matter how original I try to make my characters, they always end up with characteristics or flaws that are all too recognisable from those in the real world.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully escape the real world and hide out in the world of fantasy, I can never avoid what is happening around the “real” me, and I can’t stop it bleeding into my stories. And, when I think about it, that’s a big part of the fun. It’s a way I can sort out my own thoughts and feelings for what is happening around me, and try to come to terms with things that are otherwise too complicated to understand.

At least that’s what I try to do as a writer. As a reader, the experience may be completely different. I suppose that’s part of the fun too. 

And these people must know a lot, because they’re always making sure everyone else knows about it. They’re always talking about how they do this or they do that, or (more often) they’ve done this or done that already. And really well, to boot.

Not only are they telling everyone else what they’ve done, but they’re also giving incredibly useful advice on what everyone else should be doing. They’re busy writing up top ten lists of all the things that people need to do, or all the ways other people have already stuffed things up.

I wish I could be like these people. I’m in awe of these people. They know so much, and they’re so willing to share this knowledge around. Unfortunately, there’s no way I could possibly do this, because I’m not really an expert on anything. 

I suppose I could try. I could try to write out a top ten list about…something or other. But who would pay attention? Who would possibly want to follow my list of directions, especially as I’d pretty much be making them up as I went along? There just doesn’t seem to be any point at all.

It’s hard work being inexpert in a world of experts. When people know so much, and are so keen to let you know about it, you barely want to open your mouth or put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard). You’re always way too afraid to reveal your ignorance, and your complete lack of expertise about anything much.

I suppose I could say that I’m an expert in lack of expertise. I could write out a top ten list of how not to be an expert. But nobody would want to read that, would they? 

The work in question is the latest in the strange adventures of Neville Lansdowne. Recall that he fell off the world in Doodling and he pushed the world out of shape in Scribbling. Now, in this latest novella titled Scrawling, Neville is off on a whole new adventure with a bunch of strange new companions. Stay tuned to find out more soon.

In the meantime, I’m working on fine-tuning the manuscript into shape. The best possible shape. And for this I have to give a big thank you to my wonderful editor, Cathy.

She’s been really amazing when it comes to helping me put the finishing touches to my work. It’s really interesting how I can read something repeatedly and think it’s clean and tight and just right, but once she’s gone through it, she can point out all these spots where things are actually not so tight or clear, or could be worded better. Not to mention those pesky little typos I never seem to catch.

I really feel that she’s made my a better writer. She’s helped me to identify the common errors that I make, and be more prepared for them. She’s alerted me to the words that I tend to overuse and overuse and overuse, helping me to be more varied in my use of words. She’s pushed me to find better and clearer ways to express myself. Hopefully the results will be plain to see once Scrawling is released (either later this year or early next).

So I’d like to end this post with a big thanks to Cathy for the work she’s put in to help me with my writing. As an editor, she’s really ace!

Stand above the crowd – visually involve the reader!

How can you create something that stands out from the crowd? Especially when the number of books increases on a daily basis.

Well, for my latest book I decided to create something that was not only a journey in words, but also a journey for the eyes. I have always written in a style that is particularly visual, so it only seemed natural for me to one day get those words converted into pictures. But not in the form of a graphic novel. I wanted the pictures to not only illustrate a story, but also feed the imagination of the reader, take them into the story and involve them. If you want to coin a word that is used a lot these days – I wanted the pictures to be interactive with the story and reader.

Sometimes book illustrations can be too sterile, like they are looking down on a scene from above, making a statement that the viewer is nothing more than a silent observer. Thinking back to my childhood, I enjoyed regular comics, but the ones I loved most of all were those that had additional things happening on the page, other than the story. The Where’s Wally books are popular with children, not because they are amazing pieces of art, but because they involve the reader.

I came across an illustrator on Twitter who liked my writing and was working with children at the same time that I was. In fact in the same week we were both talking to local school children to inspire them in writing and artwork. We talked about working together and began bouncing ideas around. I resurrected a story I had written several years ago about an eighteen year old detective, rewrote it and presented it to Dylan. We took each chapter separately, breaking down ideas for illustrations and colour scenes for him to work on. In the end we had too many illustrations and had to cut quite a lot for the final book, but the important ones were always going to be the colour full page scenes. These were the ones readers can glance at to supplement the story, or study to find the extra information and additional jokes that are added in the background that the main characters are oblivious to. These are the sort of pictures that I loved as a child that would make me get my pens out and copy.

The Curious Disappearance of Professor Brown is aimed at middle grade and teens, perfect targets for the illustrations. Working on this project with Dylan is only the beginning; we have other ideas for the future. The style of writing and illustrations set our book apart from the other reading material for young adults creating an individual brand image that is easily recognisable to readers.

The Curious Disappearance of Professor Brown, or The Pumpkins of Doom. 

Eighteen year old Lawrence Pinkley is Whitby’s greatest Private Detective. In fact, he’s Whitby’s only Private Detective.

Pinkley’s skills are called into play in the first case of a reluctant career.

One night, in a high security laboratory, a scientist mysteriously disappears, leaving behind an overly nervous assistant and a trail of pumpkin juice. Pinkley is hired to investigate the disappearance by the professors beautiful daughter, forcing him to quickly learn the skills he needs to solve his first major crime.

But every move Pinkley makes is being watched.

As he blunders from one clue to the next he stumbles across secret messages, talking pumpkins, the Russian mafia, and hired hitmen. His life now depends on him solving the case. Not to mention the future of mankind!

Available from Amazon.

Tim Flanagan – profile Info

At some point in Tim’s childhood, he was abducted by aliens and sent on a voyage of knowledge and discovery across the universe. Eventually the aliens realised how pointless this was and, as a failed student, he was returned to Earth and left with a family who brought him up as a human bean. But, the persistent memories of new worlds, dragons and other creatures, continued to knock at his frontal lobe, desperately trying to break out.

To avoid making a mess and calm his imagination, Tim began writing as a way to communicate with Earthlings. Fuelled by Chilli and Nachos and a bottle of wine, Tim manages to balance a love of loud rock music and fast cars (preferably red!) with emotional chic flicks, smart leather shoes and a well tailored suit. He has successfully infiltrated the humans and hides behind the façade known as a family. He learns from his children, but is regularly told to stop acting like a child by his wife.

Naturally shy and unsociable by nature, he is selective of the human company he keeps, preferring to be around old books, bonsai and art. He cries at ‘It’s a wonderful life’ but sulks if fed evil vegetables disguised as Parsnips or Peas. He is bored by mundane conversation, excited by architecture and castles and fuelled by Caramel Latte Macchiato’s.

Occasionally, he likes to catch up with old acquaintances on Tatooine, Westeros, and Middle Earth, and stare at fantasy and concept art as if it is a window to his childhood adventures. He is always trying to learn lessons from the masters; Mr Charles Darwin and Mr Lionel Ritchie, about life and love. Tim’s galactic mission is to translate his brain activity into a language that inspires and entertains you, transports you to different worlds and grants you an audience with the characters you have dreamt about, but never dared to remember. All of this in an attempt to redeem himself with his childhood alien abductors and travel the stars once more.

Bibliography

The Moon Stealers and the Quest for the Silver Bough (Book 1)
The Moon Stealers and the Queen of the Underworld (Book 2)
The Moon Stealers and the Everlasting Night (Book 3)
Book 4 coming out end 2013

The Curious Disappearance of Professor Brown – 15th Nov 2013

Links

My blog is the best place to get an insight into my mind. There are various posts and videos that have nothing to do with writing, sometimes just things that made me laugh or made me think.
http://www.timflanaganauthor.wordpress.com

Social Media
Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/timflanaganbooks
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/timflanauthor

Join my mailing list. I don’t do spam so will only contact you when I have a new book release.
http://eepurl.com/AF_ur

Links to books
The Moon Stealers and the Quest for the Silver Bough (Book 1)
The Moon Stealers and the Queen of the Underworld (Book 2)
The Moon Stealers and the Everlasting Night (Book 3)
The Curious Disappearance of Professor Brown