Saturday 7 July 2012

WIP Wishes (and Wimbledon)


First of all, congrats to our very own Andy Murray for getting into the final of this year's Wimbledon! Never has a tennis ball to an opponent's nether regions been so useful :)
Not that that particular incident was the reason Murray won - just like with writers, he worked long hours at his dream, visualised it and talked about it and practiced some more, and now he's only one (admittedly extremely difficult) game from making history. No pressure, Andy...

But this is vaguely related to writing, I promise. Just like tennis players wanting to win certain tournaments, many writers have plans for books they want to write, one day but not now. For example, really wanting to write a dystopian when you know it will be very difficult to sell.

I've got a few themes I'd love to explore, I just don't know how I'm going to do it.

- I'd love to write a road trip novel. I can't yet because I am woefully undertravelled in Britain (we usually go to Austria/France/Switzerland on holiday, or when we stay here we only go one county away in Cornwall). So that'll have to wait till I'm older and wiser.

-I'd also love to write a ghost story, a really chilling one for older teens. Something like ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD or UNREST by Michelle Harrison.

- I really want to write a book set in an old, crumbling country house. I write contemporary YA, though, so it's pretty difficult to fit a story to that.

- Finally, a book in 1st person, present tense. I've read so many amazing 1stP,PT novels, like CRACKED UP TO BE by Courtney Summers and BREAK by Hannah Moskowitz. I just need to learn to write one.

But if you've got ideas of books that you're sure are too niche to sell, or books that are so unconventional/unpopular/so popular you can't get agents interested, don't worry. Sometimes, like Andy Murray getting into the Wimbledon finals, unexpected and brilliant things happen...

Did anyone watch the tennis yesterday, and Andy's triumph? And who else has ideas on the backburner that they aren't planning/writing, for whatever reason? And finally, you all should read UNREST. It is tres awesome.

12 comments:

  1. I watched the match, Amy. :o) That final point was just such an ambiguous moment. Do we cheer? Don't we? Has he won? WHAT'S GOING ON??!

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    1. haha same! My mum's the tennis expert in our hose, so I was like "MUM, WHAT ARE THEY DOING? WHO'S WON? MUM, TELL ME!"

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  2. I missed the match but watched the highlights. Go, Andy!

    I have a story idea that I've started several times. It's one that I really, really want to write. I just haven't found the X factor for it yet. But I will, I know I will...someday.

    Actually, I have 2 stories like this. Maybe I should combine them somehow.

    Hmm...

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    1. I'm the same with a character who had a story, but then the story died a death, and I really didn't want to let the character go. I'll find him another story one day...

      You should combine your two ideas for a super-dooper, extra-amazing story ;)

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  3. Wasn't it a great match? But I had to root for Federer. I do like him as a tennis player. :)

    I have goals to write high fantasy because I really love it and a writing project in uni sparked a potential WiP. But there's so much to plan!

    I want to try out Steampunk too in the future because it's super cool and I like writing things that bring out the geek in me. :)

    I also want to write about a British superhero. We don't seem to have anyone and I think we should. The Brits need superheroes too! And... set it in Giggleswick! =P

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    1. Or set it in Scunthorpe lol.
      The planning's my favourite bit - daydreaming, and having eureka moments when you're ages away from a pen and paper!

      I love Federer too - I think people usually want him to win unless he's against a Brit ;). Don't you think he looks like a less weird Jimmy Carr?

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    2. Haha, I see it. Call Carr the older, chubbier brother but I do see it. Federer is certainly the handsome one in the family! :)

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  4. I am a shite sports watcher.

    But I want you to write about ALL those things. Because you can write, girly!!! Loved TBF and I am sorry for sucking as a beta. :-( I really did enjoy it - Luke and Ind and Rach and all. <3 <3

    (P.S. Saw on AW you're on R&R? Really? Yay!!! Good Luck!xxx)

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    1. Awww thank you *blushes*. Was it weird reading about a total-b*tch-Rachel ;)?

      haha I'm doing a lot of email refreshing....

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  5. I think I'll have to pick up some of those titles you mentioned, they sound great. It's always important to write what you love. And to challenge yourself.

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  6. This is a very interesting post. I think it's hard to know what to do when you have those ideas that you know are going to be hard to sell. I mean, a LOT of work goes into writing a book, do you really want to go through all of that when you kinda' know it's not going to work out? On the other hand, write what you love! If you do it well enough, it will sell. Right? Ugh. Tough decisions.

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  7. Uuuh, completely agree with first person/present tense being an awesome writing challenge! I write classical YA fantasy which seems to be out of fashion so I think I'm already writing that Murray project ;)

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