| This is the diary of myrecently completed project - Polar Boy. Started April 2006 and end in sight October 2006. Where did the idea come from? Well, like all my ideas I found it in the car somewhere between my house and the supermarket. But in the beginning... I read through some notes by the Danish arctic explorer Knud Rasmussen (1879-1933) [see article headed 'Why Is Life As It Is'?] Rasmussen was discussing the life and customs of the Igulik people with a shaman - and he asked "why?". The shaman's message was - 'because we are always afraid' and he showed Rasmussen three graphic examples of how his peoples' harsh, bleak arctic life was ruled by continual fear. I felt a great sadness, but at the same time, enormous admiration for these people. I wanted to write about their struggles - their fears and their triumphs. I just knew there was a great story in it - if I could only tell it right. |
| 1 Dec | Done. Now the sun can come back in. The ice has ended. Melodramatic I know but I feel that way. No matter what happens to the ms, completing and despatching it is an achievement anyway. So now... I think I would like to go to Mexica>>> |
| 25 Oct | Oh no - I have end of ms block. I don't want to write the last bit because then it will be all over. I never get writer's block - my head is like one of those mailboxes with too much stuffed in it - but sometimes I get so caught up in the story I don't want to tie it down with words. Today I saw some sketches for the characters in Samurai Kids. It was magic. Words came to life right in front of my eyes. |
| 16 Oct | The cold miserable weather has returned. I am racing to finish chapter twelve and thirteen just in case Polar Boy is now controlling the weather! It's eerie but once again that 32,000 words I wrote on the title page before I even started - is going to be spot on for the first draft. TTTTTTTTT |
| 14 Oct | It's hot. really hot. I crashed out in front of the air conditioner and read two books. How can I write about ice when everything around me is melting?!! TTTTTTTTT |
| 9 Oct | Last night I drafted a big chunk of chapter twelve I and have been going back rewriting parts of chapter four. I am so close to the end - I can feel the sun again! TTTTTTTTT |
| 5 Oct | I have been researching whales today - I needed to develop a feel for the hunt - so I could present something which is now unpopular, in the context of the time where it was a spiritual process - a key to surviving or not. I knew too I had not yet connected with 'my whale'. Also I wanted to know how long it took to kill a whale using subsistent hunting methods. What I discovered along the way was - using modern methods it can take less than five minutes. How is that for a major crime? To be able to extinguish the life of such a magnificent creature in a blink - it's just not right. Inside the outrage I found my whale. Now I just have to tow her back seven centuries and elevate her to goddess of the sea! |
| 29 Sept | One of the things I love about historical writing is the way the context dictates the language and images. Some of my favourite images were forced upon me. When I was describing Ki-yaga raising his eyebrows I looked around feudal Japan for something that shape - and found the rooftops so "eyebrows raised like pagoda rooftops" writes itself.
It's been an even bigger challenge with Polar Boy. Because its set in the high Arctic above the treeline, whilst there's lots to happen, its a very minimalist environment. Images can be hard to find - there's no green, no metal or wood, and even few animals and birds to work with. How do you describe the absence of warmth when so little warmth existed? When I wanted to describe colours I looked around and it was all white - but when I accidentally looked up - I found the aurora. When I wanted to describe a lot of noise - I had to look hard again. Once I remove the human element - the ice is a pretty quiet place. Then I remembered reading how noisy seals were. And knowing a group of seals is a harem - the image wrote itself - 'like a harem of seals, the noisiest sound on ice'. It was perfect for what I wanted because I was describing a bunch of women sitting around gossiping - a harem of sorts!!!
I wish I could write all day instead of programming!!! Now that would be a perfect world.
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| 21 Sept | I went to see my accountant yesterday. He said "Maybe you can make a living writing and give up the programming. That would be a lot easier." I asked him what he meant. He said "It's less technical. Not as hard." I soon put him straight about which one is hardest - 20 Maths questions is done and finished and if you know the work its 100% correct. An essay takes forever and its never done because you can always draft and redraft it better. That's computing versus writing. I love writing best but its by far the hardest! TTTTTTTTT |
| 16 Sept | I have been working on Polar Boy tonight. My chapter ten is splitting in half - which is irritating - now I am still three chapters from the end! But I think it is a good thing - I had a whale hunt and a boy falling overboard and a Viking girl being rescued from a bear - all in one chapter. Too much if I am doing the action properly rather than my usual attempt to gloss past it. So I think perhaps I am finally learning at least to recognise how much pacing I have to give to 'action events'. I am always 'in trouble' with my workshop group for writing the big action scene in three sentences! Or even worse for ending the chapter there and referring to it as having already happened at the start of the next chapter! TTTTTTTTT |
| 14 Sept | The ideas keep rolling. The threads keep unraveling. I don't know where any of my ideas come from - the characters just start talking and I am some sort of glorified dictation taker! I guess as long as the stories keep coming that's ok with me. TTTTTTTTT |
| 4 Sept | I am beginning to feel nervous now that I have almost completed Polar Boy. With SK, much as I hoped it would be published, I didn't feel driven by it. But now, I think, what if no one wants reads Polar Boy? Can I pick myself up and write another one? Then I think "Of course you can. You've had a lot of practice. You have a drawer full of manuscripts that no one will want. And anyway, you know you can't help it. You have to write to breathe!." TTTTTTTTT This is an important writing anniversary day for me. A year ago Di Bates gave me the advice that helped me find my focus (that's the value of a gifted mentor!) I cut out her words and stuck them on the wall so I could always see them - from that point on I decided I would write historical fiction but set far enough back in history it could have a strong fantasy element. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The magic words were:
One of the things I spoke to
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| 25 Aug | I'm so excited - I have just found the final pieces to my story - and its all tying in beautifully just like with SK. Now I have discovered the Viking berserker or bear - a warrior who wore a bear skin, gained his strength from drinking the blood of a bear etc etc. Although outlawed by my time period it's a perfect model for my gut feeling that maybe Iluak's big bear confrontation was with a Viking - how perfect is that!. That's research find # 1. And my find # 2 - Vikings were predominately blond and blue eyes (stupid here thought they had red hair - I guess I had watched too many movies) - but a Viking physical description matches exactly how I have already described Finn!!!! Now that can't be co-incidence so my final bear showdown foretold by Nana is precursored by a real bear (second last chapter) but is actually the Viking which follows in the last chapter . And Finn is part Viking. I love it when a plan (or story) comes together. I wish I could take credit for all this accidental plotting!
Gotta run, gotta write. TTTTTTTTT |
| 9 Aug | I love the challenge of reworking and improving. And Sensei would never let me shirk a challenge. He still talks to me all the time. I mentioned this to another new writer when we were comparing plotting experiences - how characters talk inside my head - thinking it was like that for everyone - and I know its common because I hear a lot of writers say it. But she looked at me as if I was crazy and said - 'you think about them but they don't really talk to you'. But they sure do! Even now Sensei tells me rework challenges are 'the things that sort the cockroaches from the dragons. Now Sandy, do you want to be a glorious and noble cockroach or a scurrying dragon?' (A cockroach, sensei!!!)
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| 2 Aug | I've had an idea for the ending of Polar Boy after the workshop discussion. I knew it would be a polar bear confrontation but so far everything that came to mind has felt very contrived. Now I have Iluak wielding the cooking pot - weapon in hand - there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity and I am going to blur that. I haven't put it on paper yet - but it feels like it is going to develop into the end I want. TTTTTTTTT |
| 22 July 2006 | Today I went to the Children's Writing Festival at the NSW Writer's Centre. I was particularly interested to hear Vashti Farrer speak on 'Getting Hysterical About Historicals'. I had heard she was a very good speaker. And I was not disappointed. Many of the key points Vashti made spoke directly to my experiences and I learned so much. Here it is: History should be researched by osmosis - let it sink in. Then let it seep out. Don't lecture or teach - write and the history will look after it self. Research is never wasted. Sometimes it is better to weave a story in an out of actual events rather than write directly about the main event. Trivia is always interesting. I also spoke to Felicity Pulman whose Janna Mysteries is a favourite with #1 son (and me). Felicity has written some wonderful articles on writing history for children (in the NSW Writer's Centre magazine Newswrite) and I have these pasted into my 'favourite references' scrapbook. One piece of her advice is always with me - children's picture books are an excellent historical reference and inspiration. I've found its so true - a picture can create a thousand words!!! TTTTTTTTT |
| 1 July | I am a big Kate DiCamillo fan. And a personal friend of Despereaux! Some time ago a friend gave me Because of Winn Dixie to read. I loved it but what really attracted my attention was the blurb at the back for The Tale of Despereaux. Luckily the same friend had a copy to lend - and I read it that night. I couldn't put it down. I've since read it to both my boys - I had to adjust the language every now and then for #2 son(6) - but even at his age it is a wonderful adventure - the brave needle wielding mouse hero off to save Princess Pea from the rats. And #2 will come to other levels of interpretation when he eventually reads it himself (I hope).
When I was younger (very much younger, pre kids!), Wayne and I did a lot of traveling in an old van with a little pottery mouse blu-tacked to the dashboard. We called him 'Traveling Mouse.' When the traveling ended, he came to sit on my computer monitor, reading every word I wrote. Now I know his real name. Despereaux. He's a "Reading and Writing Mouse."
Life always seems to be full of threads that keep entangling. Three days later, at the School Book Fair, I liberated two copies of The Tale of Despereaux from the "sale' table! Now I am off to whip my chapter four into shape for Monday night's workshop. I'm really excited because finally I get to have a bear make an appearance - it's only a cub and it is half dead - but I am tired of all my characters talking on and on about bears - finally I get to 'write one in'!!! TTTTTTTTT |
| 21 Jun | It's done. The terrible chapter two is now a wonderful chapter two and three. They might well be the best in the whole ms. I got by 'with a little (lot of!) help from my friends' - who helped me pull it apart and put it back together again. Then a few days later I did another complete rework and I think I've nailed it! Anyway at least Iluak has thawed out! TTTTTTTTT |
| 14 Jun | SK has been accepted for publication!!! September 2007. I'm going to be in libraries!!!! I think I can see the ground this morning and if I stretch real hard I can reach the keyboard. TTTTTTTTT |
| 13 Jun | I've had a re-read of chapter two an hour ago - and its still terrible!!! I threw a temper tantrum - that didn't help. I had a glass of wine - certainly didn't help!!!! I burst into tears. Didn't help either but I felt better. I think I'll have to begin again but I'll leave it until tomorrow. TTTTTTTTT |
| 8 Jun | Poor Iluak is still stuck in the ice - I am finding it a hard chapter to write late at night. Nana's voice is not right and I have to wait for it to come to me - it can't be forced. I need to find some daylight time - when my brain is not so slow - maybe the weekend. Anyway, I have until Monday night to pull it all together. TTTTTTTTT |
| 6 Jun | I have been working on Polar Boy tonight. It's not dramatic action - I doubt I'll ever manage that - and of course being (overly pretentious) me I have to have the death hallucination literary construct - but I think it is a lot less contrived so it works seamlessly - and there's definitely a lot more happening - which I hope makes it more interesting. I have enjoyed rewriting it - I like the challenge of writing to an objective i.e. more action! Monday will tell how well I have succeeded. TTTTTTTTT |
| 2 Jun | I am going to write now - poor Iluak has been drowning in ice water for four days now!!!! It's about time I rescued him! TTTTTTTTT |
| 1 Jun | Polar Boy is still bubbling. I have been researching drowning and hypothermia and how to rescue someone from the ice (a fire brigade duty in the US where it's not an uncommon winter occurrence for the snowy states). I found the biggest risk if you survive is secondary drowning - and its very common - i.e. to die in the 24 hours after. So maybe I can have two deaths - which will help with the ceremony chapter which I think I am still keeping in some form - but I need to handle two deaths more simplistically and to spell it out. I am still tossing around ideas but it is beginning to take shape. And after it is done I will have finished two extra chapters - got to be a good thing! I am hoping to have the manuscript finished by September to submit to Varuna. TTTTTTTTT |
| 31 May | I have decided on how I am going to approach chapter three - I am still going to try to do it in first person. I need to get deeper inside the boy's head - and many of the other problems will resolve when I get that right. For me first person is the best way to achieve that. However it may not be the best vehicle for the chapter - in that case I'll rewrite in third person (if necessary) after I am inside the boy.
I am going to write the action. Listening to 'life flashing before his eyes' and near-drowning stories have helped a lot. I have decided I can rework the whole death experience/raven scene into one more compact explainable instance and have the boy look down on his rescue - and that will enable me to rescue him in a coma in first person. I'll give it a try - I should know within a few pages whether it will work. Sometimes I am such a pretentious writer I need to be brought back to earth with a thud. I love workshopping - it keeps me grounded - otherwise I would be off in the ether writing all sorts of esoteric nonsense! TTTTTTTTT |
| 17 May | I have a strategy for dealing with rejection. I mentally file away all the statistics I hear from other writers about how many times their ms was rejected and then how it went on to be published here and overseas - Ian Irvine had yet another example in PIO this week. I draw encouragement from that. I think if something is well written, a rejection is not a judgment on its quality but its suitability - its just not yet in the right hands in the right place at the right time! I am into the fourth chapter of Polar Boy. I need a new title - so I have started to build a list for discussion at a future workshop. The fourth chapter is fun because I get to introduce a real live bear - even if it is a starving abandoned cub. The other chapter I am looking forward to writing is the whaling one - imagine 20 canoes and a whale!!! TTTTTTTTT |
| 8 May | Do you ever find wonderful words that fit so perfectly to themselves? Tonight I was reading the various on-line thesauruses - tramping through all the words for ice, freezing, snow and cold. And I found the word for a light fall of fine snow, like a drizzle. It's called a snizzle. Isn't that a beautiful phrase - a snizzle of snow! TTTTTTTTT |
| 7 May | This evening I've just finished the rework of Chapt 2 of Polar Boy. I am pleased with the way I have worked in the other children. There's more of Nana too. I extended the ice travel a little (but not too much as I have that in the next chapt) but I did extend the seal fishing substantially. I am not sure if I have given the fall through the ice enough space It's a lot better than the first version. I left it as one chapter but it's quite a long one at 3,000 words so may yet need to be split. TTTTTTTTT |
| 27 April | I am doing a lot of research for the Polar Boy. I have written some small pieces but not any complete chapters. I have the idea and the sequence but keep falling over the need to know how eg 'how was an igloo built?', 'how did the arctic peoples fish for seals in the ice?' etc. Lots of fun. I love the research part. The ending has also moved on me as 'Nana' has her own ideas about what will happen in the boy's life and even an author can't argue with what the spirits have ordained!!!! In my next chapter, Iluak falls into the ice hole while fishing for seals and floats under water to the next seal breathing hole (pushed along by a seal - there are recorded instances!!!). Now he has been 'under the ice' and the community sees him as 'touched' - so it's hard for him to continue on as normal - all this expectation around him.
And I love the way imagination and fact blend. I had a picture of Iluak - a not very brave kid putting on a brave front in the face of increasing expectation. And Thule mythology is all founded on fear - because it was such a harsh environment. It was not a system of 'gods' but of constantly appeasing spirits so the village would survive. There are a number of old sayings along the lines 'we are always afraid." I love it when fiction melds into fact! TTTTTTTTT |
| 15 April | I am having wonderful fun with the map. This is another piece of mentor advice (thank you Di) and its brilliant in so many ways - not only do I place my story geographically and historically - I can even plot each step. Today I have been researching how many miles a sled can travel over ice in late spring and how fast can a man walk. I know where my story must end - in the Baffin Bay Viking settlements - so I take my ruler and begin marking off the steps - and I know where my story begins. I was hoping it would be Alaska - where the Thule migration began but no one walks fast enough! I am now a pseudo expert on all sorts of things - from arctic sun rises and darkness period to 13th century clothing, tools and entertainment. I think I might even be able to build an igloo! TTTTTTTTT |
| 13 April | I have begun research for my next ms - the 13th century Thule people are fascinating and there is so much to learn about Arctic life. The Thule period precedes the modern day Inuit civilisation and was the 'Little Ice Age' when the weather grew cold again and the Thule migrated across the ice away from the oceans - perfect, just the story line I wanted. Imagine whale hunting in kayaks! Plenty of action in 1300AD - as well as the polar bears. I am sourcing videos to get a feel for the landscape. The Thule migrated to Canada - Baffin Bay - so maybe I should do some field trip research!!! I've just sat down at the PC to find a map so I can get a feel for the journey my Polar Bear Boy is about to make. TTTTTTTTT |
| 10 Apr | My weekend has been taken up by "the mouse" - no ordinary mouse of course - smarter than a household of humans! But a writer first, a mouse hunter second. We plugged up the hole and he was trapped in the wall for the night while we organised a cage to put over the hole and catch him with in the morning (string tied to the gate - voila! Mouse-snap). Anyway, while he was scrabbling away trying to get through the plugged hole - I sat on the stairs in the dark researching for my chapter where the polar bear scrapes on the ice of the igloo and everyone is huddled, frightened, inside. Of course, a mouse is not a polar bear but in the dark with listening senses heightened, it all becomes a bit scary and the idea that something is trying to break in grows beyond what it actually is, to the fear of having a defence breached. So I made lots of notes and the mouse scribe was released into the wilds the next day. A lot easier than working with polar bears. TTTTTTTTT |
| 2 Apr | Today Polar Boy officially began! The first paragraph has been rolling around in my head for over a month now - but I refused to write it down as anything more than a quick scrawl so I wouldn't forget. I have so many half finished manuscripts the rule is now firmly in place - nothing new begins until the last one is finished (I hate that rule already!!!) I have fiddled and refiddled and jiggled and juggled the words until I have them the way I want them. Klunk-tunk tunk needs to be placed exactly right. And so this ms begins klunk-tunk tunk. TTTTTTTTT |
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