Mike Murphy's writing diary: December 2019

Saturday, 7 December 2019

Reached the quarter mark

Past 20,000 words or about a quarter of the new novel in the Grey Nomads series. The rhythm of writing every day is very satisfying and I am resisting the urge to edit and rewrite, focusing on the next scene or chapter and getting the words onto the page. I've just completed a chapter set in one of my favourite Rockingham cafes and my next chapter will include a development in the romantic story line. I've also been re-reading one of the Alan Hunter Inspector Gently novels and reminding myself why I like his writing style. He is able to include the emotions behind the words, which is one of things I think distinguishes a very good writer. Jane Austen was a good example. Her language may seem archaic now with the longer sentences and stilted phrases, but you always know what her characters are feeling and what is driving their words and actions, That's the essence of good story telling.

Tuesday, 3 December 2019

Discipline v emotions

Maintaining levels of emotion to build up tension and lead to climaxes is one of the hardest parts of writing a novel, but fortunately it does not all have to be done in the first draft. The focus has to be on discipline, getting a minimum number of words on the page each day and keeping the story lines moving. Often this means leaving some of the emotional triggers for a later revision. Choice of certain words, settings and even character traits do not always come to mind immediately and time can be wasted scratching the head and searching for the mot juste. It's one of the joys of having already written and published two novels that I am now aware how the process works, at least for me. I can write what I know is not up to my highest standard with the assurance that when I come back to it, I will have the whole of my story in my head, know what I need my characters to do, and give them the emotional layers they need. What's more, it's something I can look forward to, because it is in applying the fine detail that the writer's craft can be most satisfying.

Authors I like

Anna Jacobs

A mentor in my early writing days and still one of my favourite authors. Her sagas about family life in Lancashire are among my favourites but she is a prolific writer and it's all good.

Michael Robotham

Michael urged me to keep writing when I was in a depressed period after another publisher's knock-back. He is basically why I kept writing and turned to self-publishing. I've read all his books and I'm always waiting eagerly for the next one.

Dave Warner

I only recently discovered Dave as a writer after having had his Dave Warner and The Suburbs album since it was on vinyl. It's interesting having another writer who sets his stories in Western Australia.

Dick Francis

I've read all his books at least twice and sometime more often. He's the writer I always return to when I need to feel totally in my comfort zone. Good stories, tight plots, easy writing style. I'd love to know if it really was his wife Mary who wrote them. His son Felix is doing a great job of keeping the family business going.

Leslie Thomas

Ever since Virgin Soldiers I've been hooked on Leslie Thomas and his Dangerous Davies series are among my all-time favourites.

I am because I write

I come across a lot of people who would like to be writers and I often wonder why. For me there has been no question. Since a very young age I have been a writer. Certainly not a famous or even successful one but while other people were doctors or teachers or sportspeople, the thing I did best and was most comfortable doing was writing. For some reason I had a natural flair for it and that raw talent was honed when I became a journalist and learned that what bubbled out of my head was not what was needed. I had to to be able to write to order. One of my earliest lessons came from Bob Duffield, a reporter who took the story of the closure of Perth's Roe Street brothels and wrote different versions of it for convervative, sensationalist, religious and sociological publications. I learned that writing was a craft to be learned, and I have spent many years learning not only the craft of writing, but of story-telling, which is an art in itself. Whether it's a poem, a short story, a novel, my family history, one of my blogs or web sites, I will always be writing something. It's simply who I am and what I do.