How Goes the WIP, 14th May?

On 14/05/2024 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress6 Comments

To update you, I last posted about the WIP on 29th April. The word count was then 77,854. Subsequently, the Lawn Bowls season began. I don’t play, but my darling wife’s a keen team member of her local club and, as she doesn’t drive, I’m her taxi for the games. It can be a little …

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How Goes the WIP, 29th April?

On 30/04/2024 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress4 Comments

Just to update you, I last posted about the WIP on 7th April. At that time, the word count was at 62,531, it has now reached 77,854, following a short break away from home and the computer. In the meantime, I’ve also produced a few short pieces on Oddities Observed and on places visited on …

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How Goes the WIP, 7th April?

On 07/04/2024 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress4 Comments

Just to update you, I last posted about the WIP on 25th March, here. At that time, the word count was 42,025. I’m now at 62,531, and still enjoying the creative process. The characters are mostly behaving themselves and, so far, I’m not having to allow for too many retrospective changes when I get to …

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How Goes the WIP?

On 25/03/2024 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, Reading, Review5 Comments

On Sunday, 17th March, I reported that the WIP had reached 20,293 words and I was working on Chapter 8. I’d intended to report back yesterday, but got rather engaged by Natalie Bennet’s excellent and hope-inspiring ‘Change Everything’ and rather lost track of the time. You’ll find my review of this timely book about the …

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Progress on the WIP #2

On 17/03/2024 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress8 Comments

Photo of yours truly taken by my wife. The first post about the new novel’s progress can be found here.I started actually writing, following a year of research, last Sunday. At the end of today, I’ve achieved a total of 20,293 words and am currently working on Chapter 8. It’s going well. Despite the extensive …

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Now the Real Work Begins.

On 11/03/2024 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, opinion, Progress, Reading19 Comments

I’ve spent the best part of the last 12 months engaged in research for the new novel I’m now writing. I’ve ended up with three documents totalling 83 pages and 54,468 words, many including links to some of the research sites used for the information. Add to that the 604 pages from the Chronicle of …

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The WIP is Done.

On 15/08/202317/10/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress11 Comments

At the end of Friday, 11th August, I posted here on the progress of the WIP. At that stage, the book was on chapter 30 and the word count was 71,521. Yesterday I completed the WIP with chapter 33 and a total of 80,799 words. Now I need to do some detailed research for events …

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The WIP is Growing!

On 11/08/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress6 Comments

My Books, and Others Containing My Stories. Three weeks ago, I posted about my progress on the WIP. I’m re-writing to the extent that the current work is essentially a second ‘first draft’, in that I’ve made many changes to the content and the style of presentation. At that point, I’d reached 32,427 words in …

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Progress Inspired by a Walk?

On 21/07/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Photography, Progress12 Comments

I don’t know what inspires ideas in other writers, but I gather a lot of my writing thoughts and inspiration from walking. I live in the Forest of Dean, so I’m surrounded by beautiful places in which to walk, usually with my wife. Yesterday, we decided to visit a local spot of significance, Symonds Yat, …

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After the Research

On 15/07/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress3 Comments

The research (see the post from 9th July), apart from those unexpected oddities that make you check the occasional detail, is done. I began the re-write at the beginning of the week. It quickly became clear that merely editing the first draft would not create the book I first envisaged. So, I have started again …

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When Research Rules the Roost

On 09/07/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress5 Comments

Presumably all writers of fiction start with research for their chosen themes, subjects, periods, and locations. I know I always do. For my latest WIP I decided to set the story within the period around the first part of my own life. This was, after all, a time I knew well. Or so I thought.On …

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WIP First Draft Complete!

On 24/04/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress14 Comments

On 28th February I announced the start of a new novel and revealed I’d completed the first chapter at 1,725 words. It was on 26th March I updated progress with words reaching a total of 48,079. And on 4th April I let you know I’d completed 70,169 words but had run into a constructional problem …

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The Words Continue to Flow

On 26/03/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress4 Comments

On 28th February I posted a piece about the start of a new novel. I’ve now reached, and even passed, a sort of landmark on the road to completion of the story. I’m up to page 125, 48,079 words in total, which is probably a halfway mark for the book. Of course, there’ll be changes …

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The Words Have Escaped!

On 28/02/2023 By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Literature, Progress8 Comments

I decided last year to spend time away from creating fiction. Why? Like all human faculties, although the creative function benefits from use, it also sometimes needs rest to be refreshed.So, what did I do? I wrote a few posts for a platform called Medium. You can find those here, if you’re curious. I also …

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