Tag Archives: voice

Day 34 – Strange Days

Posted on October 11, 2010 by Graham Strong

Strange day today — actually broke up my hour into three parts. I don’t recommend it. I was lucky today that I had a fairly clear bead on what I wanted to write, but if I was confused at all, it would have been a very slow, inefficient day getting back into the groove each time. But starting and stopping was beyond my control, and it all worked out, so I’m not complaining… Continue reading →

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Day 28 – Ramble On

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Graham Strong

42Played with the idea of skipping today in recognition of my birthday, but thought hey, what better way to spend part of the day creating something? Besides, it’s basically a force of habit now, which I think is a good thing. I thought I heard somewhere that if you did something everyday for 21 days, it would automatically become habit. When I hit Day 21, I looked that up and found that although there was some truth to it, the number “21” was an urban myth. It could take three days, it could take 546 days. It depended on the activity as well as the type of person you are… Continue reading →

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Day 26 – The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul

Posted on October 2, 2010 by Graham Strong

the_long_dark_tea-time_of_the_soulIt’s been a struggle.

Not only has time (or lack thereof) been a factor, but I’m starting to get a little bogged down in the storyline. I’m trying not to let this bother me, just pushing through and letting come what may. This is working somewhat, though on several occasions I’ve just stopped what I was writing and started on a new tangent to keep things moving (somewhat) forward… Continue reading →

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Day 23 – Our Italian Restaurant

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Graham Strong

Billy Joel is the StrangerThe Voice (I’m going to start capitalizing it here) is back, and this time I think for good. However, I still need to fashion it somewhat. It is raw — definitely in a good way — and I’m just going to let it run with the hook for a little while before I start to reel it in.

Again, not expecting a lot of tonight’s work to make the final cut, but I am really enjoying the groove I’m in, so what the hell. I’m also getting a better sense of the characters, and I’ve developed a number of “hooks” that just keep coming out of the blue as I go along. So I think I’ll wander this path a little bit longer… Continue reading →

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Day 22 – Mean Streets

Posted on September 29, 2010 by Graham Strong

Catching the voice again. Very happy for that, but concerned as ever about whether or not it will work. I mean I like it, but it is a kind of dry kind of writing. Sorry, check that. Not dry as in boring, but dry as in dry humour. Kind of straight-man-to-the-world’s-comic, with a dash of healthy sarcasm to boot. I have to be careful I think not to make it too heavy. The goal is to make for interesting reading, but obviously not to weigh down the reader and make him/her think too much. Tricky… Continue reading →

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Day 20 – In the Air Tonight

Posted on September 26, 2010 by Graham Strong

Here's my own YouTube Playlist...I concentrated on “crafting” the words today rather than just throw them onto the paper. That worked for the first few paragraphs, but then I fell back into my regular writing rhythm. I must admit, I’m a little confused as to what I should do. Having a regular writing rhythm can’t be a bad thing per se. But if the writing is no good, then there’s no point… Continue reading →

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Day 19 – Every Me and Every You

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Graham Strong

Got some good sleep last night, and woke up quite refreshed. Wow, a long week! I don’t think I was in bed before midnight once this week. I think it really affected the writing. It’s hard to force yourself to write when the muses are sleeping…

Well, as I had hoped, I got my hour in early today. More laying down of story, but not a lot of style development. I’m hoping that it just starts kicking in, but I’m getting a little worried now. Maybe I should take a passage and just concentrate on developing the style. Continue reading →

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Day 15 – The Sun Also Rises

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Graham Strong

I was itching to make up the time I missed yesterday. That’s got to be a good sign. It’s been like when you’ve lost something, and you can’t remember where you put it, and you obsessively keep searching every little nook and cranny (sometimes 17 times) until you finally dig it up. That’s what it felt like. Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit for effect, but you get the point… Continue reading →

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Day 13 – Cannonball

Posted on September 19, 2010 by Graham Strong

I got my hour in early today – well, relatively early. Before evening. I’m feeling great — I actually want to keep writing, even after the buzzer has gone. I take that to be a good sign.

I’m still trying to play with the style a bit — I’m leaning towards a bit of a more journalistic style, kind of like The New Journalism style in Tom Wolfe’s book that Duncan Weller was telling me about. I haven’t actually read the book yet, but I feel that I have a sense of that style already, having read some of Wolfe’s stuff as well as Hunter S. Thompson. The Great Gatsby, I think, could be put into that genre as well, at least as a forerunner. After all, who is Nick Carraway but a narrator reporting on someone else’s story? I’m certain it wasn’t Fitzgerald’s intention to invent The New Journalism, but echoes are there nonetheless. Continue reading →

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Day 8 – A Room with a View

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Graham Strong

I’ve switched gears nicely I think, combining a nice bit of narrative with a good amount of dialogue. I managed to keep the same voice going, and I’m still liking the style, so that’s a good thing. It is a more natural way for me to write, I think, except that I’m not entirely convinced that it conveys the meaning that I want it too. I still have to work on beefing up some of the details — the style needs a bit more refining, I guess is what I’m saying. But that will come as I keep banging away.

Bit of a long scene again today — I’m actually not even finished with it yet. The plot still hasn’t moved a whole lot, though tomorrow it will certainly pick up when the protaganist realizes a very major error that he’s made… Continue reading →

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