I Want That House!

As mentioned in a previous blog I'm currently working on an old work in progress for the RNA's New Writer's Scheme.  It's a novel I started on a few years ago, and I have a rough first draft.  In fact, the beginning chapters are more or less right, because I wrote them while I was completing a Writer's News Home Study Course. My tutor was the lovely Sue Johnson who gave me no end of encouragement. 

What I loved about this course was rather than writing random assignments, you were asked to send completed chapters to your tutor who gave you feedback.  It helped so much that after I finished the course, I paid for an extension so that I could continue.  After that I completed the draft, but somewhere along the way I lost the plot which is what I hope to rectify over the next few months as I work towards my submission.

My first task was to read through what I had already written and figure out what works and what doesn't.  I had quite a lot of paper and decided to get rid of what had been either duplicated or superseded, and along the way I came across a file I had put together when I was in the first planning stages of the novel.

The file was a compilation of photos and descriptions of the house where my heroine lives.  I remember spending hours trawling estate agents websites  to find the perfect pictures so that I could visualise each room as I was writing.  Probably not the most effective use of my time, if you were costing it out by the hour, but it was fascinating to see what I had created.

In fact, I think I've actually created my dream house, and each night when I come home from work, I'm a bit disappointed to remember that I live in my house and not my heroines.  Does that make me weird?

I only hope that I can translate the pictures in my file and my head into the novel, and maybe one day I will find my dream house.  Who knows, you can only dream can't you?