Tuesday 28 July 2009

Coincidentally this is a little Contrived

I am having a bit of a panic. Nothing new there then! It’s my novel AGAIN! I have far too many coincidences throughout, which make it all seem a little contrived. It’s so hard though, I want the subplots to link in some way to the main plot - but there’s got to be a valid reason, rather than a coincidence - YES?! So my job over this week is to go through it in the hope of making my coincidences less coincidental – so to speak.

I’ve been so busy on my novel! I’m nearly at 70,000 words on the re-write. Last week I followed Calistro’s fab idea of chapter index cards – and that worked brilliantly! Do go have a look if you haven’t already - it’s such a great idea!

Ooh, and finally, I have a story in My Weekly this week – YAY! I received my complimentary copy yesterday and they’ve done such a lovely job. The artwork is super, as always! It’s out this Thursday, I think! So exciting !

13 comments:

HelenMWalters said...

I don't think you should completely eradicate coincidence. After all, it does happen in real life. In fact when I was going through my novel and trying to tie up loose ends, I did leave a couple of things that were just a coincidence because it felt more natural than tying it all up too neatly.

Will look out for MW.

Amanda said...

Yes, you're right, Helen - glad I read your comment before hacking away at it again! Coincidences do happen in life! Although, I think perhaps mine has more coincidences than it should have!

Karen said...

I'm thinking that about mine, but I'm very good at talking myself out of a story! My 'sensible' side takes over and says things like, "Ooh, that would never happen in real life," but I guess that's the point. It's fiction, and as long as it's done convincingly you can get away with it :o)

Carol said...

Well done on getting your story in My Weekly...I shall hunt down a copy on Thursday :-)

C x

Amanda said...

I'm just the same, Karen. I think I'm going to find fault with my novel forever! Even if they made it into a film and it became a bestseller (ha) I would still find fault with it! :-)

Awh, thank you Carol x

Maria said...

Well, congratulations Amanda! Going great!

Suzanne Ross Jones said...

Ooh, will look for your story tomorrow. Well done.

I could add a story about what's going wrong with my ms - but it would only depress everyone (suffice to say I'm not yet far enough into the rewrite to start worrying about coincidences).

X

Amanda said...

Thanks Gaelikaa :-)

Ooh, thanks, Suzanne - hope you like it (don't tell me if you don't! hee hee) And I'm sure we'll get there with our mss, Suzanne - if we just keep at it!

Helen P said...

Brilliant news on the story - rushing out now to buy1 Well done.

Amanda said...

Thanks Helen :-)

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

I'm about to start working through my ms too.

Congratulations on the My Weekly story. Shall have to get a copy and have a read.

Tamsyn Murray said...

Hurrah on the sale - it's a crowded market these days so well done you :-)

Amanda said...

Good luck with working through your ms, Debs!

Thank you Tam :-)