The Dreaded Chapter Five

-

I blogged about this a couple of years ago and I don't know whether to feel disheartened or vindicated to be blogging about it again!  Because there is a certain point in every book where a brick wall appears; for me this happens at chapter five, every time. Why?  I think many writers - at least those aiming to send off those first three chapters to publishers or editors - tend to work so hard on the opening section that they experience a bit of a slump in the following chapters, or lose their way temporarily.  Having carved out the characters and set up the conflict that will keep them apart until the end, the task is now to keep them apart yet bring them together at the same time.  The 'getting to know you' stage has to be delicately balanced in order to sustain the underlying conflict between the characters, and add in even more challenges for them to overcome on the road to that Happy Ever After. So it is completely understandable that a writer might run out of steam faced with this task. The way through it and out the other end is, of course, to keep writing and keep believing, and have the wisdom to see what's not working, and to cut out that hard-wrought yet unusable writing.  And, as a bit of light relief, maybe indulge in  some brilliantly-written historical novels, like those of the wonderful Edith Pargeter, who makes it all look so easy!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nadolig Llawen - Merry Christmas!

-
Image
It's an unusual December for me this year, as I'm taking a little break from writing until January. My latest novel - The Warrior's Forbidden Maiden (sneak preview of the cover at the end of this post!) - was accepted by my editor at Harlequin Mills and Boon at the beginning of November, and since then I've been sitting back and mulling over the next project.  It's been a few years since I took such a long break from writing, and for someone who writes every day, it's been very strange. However, it has had exciting results. Before I started writing, I was always a voracious reader of historical fiction, and particularly the medieval period. Among my favourite books are those by Rosemary Hawley Jarman, set against the  Wars of the Roses - We Speak No Treason, The King's Grey Mare and The Courts of Illusion , the latter, to my mind, her best work.  I've had a desire to write about the Wars of the Roses for a while now, and after re-reading these wonderfu
Read more

RNA Conference 2016

-
The annual Romantic Novelists' Conference is one of the highlights of my calendar, and this year was no exception. Held at Lancaster University, the venue was lovely even if the weather wasn't exactly sultry and summer-like.  Getting together with good friends over a bottle or three of Prosecco was the absolute high spot of a wonderful couple of days. The sessions were interesting and inspiring, among them HQ Harper Collins 'Reaching the Top in Commercial Fiction,' Vasiliki Scurfield on 'Writing the Foreign Hero' and Kate Walker on 'Emotional Punch.' One of the most illuminating sessions, from my point of view at least, was Sonia Duggan's workshop on 'Rekindling your Romance with Writing.'  Having been writing for almost ten years and as yet unpublished, this one really struck a chord with me.  Sonia gave us an exercise on composing a Dear John letter to our writing and what I wrote both surprised and shocked me and, for the first time, I was
Read more

RNA Conference 2018

-
Image
As a writer, the annual conference is definitely the highlight of the year for me and, surprisingly, it seems to come around quickly each time. This year was no exception and, from counting down the months, then the weeks, then the days, suddenly I was packing and wondering which shoes would go with which dress! Welcome with Nicola Cornick and Jan Jones This year, the conference was in Leeds Trinity University, a campus just outside Headingly. Leeds is a lovely city but I didn't see anything of it beyond the train station. Horsforth, where the campus is located, was really nice though, and I enjoyed a short and pleasant walk from the train station to the campus with HMB author Rachael Thomas . The conference sessions were useful and enjoyable and included a double presentation from Mills and Boon. This began with editors from the longer 'Trade' imprint giving a summary of the recent rebranding of the company, and concluded with the Series editors outlin
Read more