I really liked the line "unpicked orchards in October".
Great to read about the inspiration and some of the process behind this story. I didn't even notice the americanisms apart from the "ain't never", which says a lot about a) how seamlessly and subtley you injected them, and b) how used to them we are.
In conversation yesterday, I said 'gas station', rather than 'petrol station' or 'garage'. In fairness, I don't drive, and I can't re the last time I needed to remember that name. It immediately felt wrong after I said it, but I must have heard it said on countless US TV shows and it was just more available in my memory at the moment I needed it. As you say, everyone understood - but the driver switched back to 'petrol station' in her response - and, embarrassingly for me, English is her second language!
This is one of the few newsletters I selfishly hoard and gobble up. I loved this and your behind-the-scenes. In fact, I'd love to hear more about your drafting process if you're willing to share more. Do you fast draft, come back and revise? Do it all in one go? I'm curious ;)
Absolutely! It's 'all in one' 95% of the time (the other 5% are when life interrupts or for highly unusual ones like You Are A Wolf, which took a lot longer for obvious reasons!). I often start with only a small inkling of where I'm going, so I need to follow the characters and scenario whete they lead me in that moment - if I stop then it'll be much harder to restart.
I usually do one full draft, then a quick edit immediately afterwards, which picks up the big issues. The next day, I'll do a polish edit. Typically it's the last line(s) and the titles that need the most work. I also have a tendency to go into present tense whenever I write an action scene, so I have to carefully check my viewpoint and tense consistency.
This is a pretty different process from writing novels, where I have much more methodical planning, but both are fun and have their strengths and and weaknesses.
Also, thank you for the lovely compliment! I'm so pleased you enjoy my writing 💜💜💜
I really liked the line "unpicked orchards in October".
Great to read about the inspiration and some of the process behind this story. I didn't even notice the americanisms apart from the "ain't never", which says a lot about a) how seamlessly and subtley you injected them, and b) how used to them we are.
In conversation yesterday, I said 'gas station', rather than 'petrol station' or 'garage'. In fairness, I don't drive, and I can't re the last time I needed to remember that name. It immediately felt wrong after I said it, but I must have heard it said on countless US TV shows and it was just more available in my memory at the moment I needed it. As you say, everyone understood - but the driver switched back to 'petrol station' in her response - and, embarrassingly for me, English is her second language!
This is one of the few newsletters I selfishly hoard and gobble up. I loved this and your behind-the-scenes. In fact, I'd love to hear more about your drafting process if you're willing to share more. Do you fast draft, come back and revise? Do it all in one go? I'm curious ;)
Absolutely! It's 'all in one' 95% of the time (the other 5% are when life interrupts or for highly unusual ones like You Are A Wolf, which took a lot longer for obvious reasons!). I often start with only a small inkling of where I'm going, so I need to follow the characters and scenario whete they lead me in that moment - if I stop then it'll be much harder to restart.
I usually do one full draft, then a quick edit immediately afterwards, which picks up the big issues. The next day, I'll do a polish edit. Typically it's the last line(s) and the titles that need the most work. I also have a tendency to go into present tense whenever I write an action scene, so I have to carefully check my viewpoint and tense consistency.
This is a pretty different process from writing novels, where I have much more methodical planning, but both are fun and have their strengths and and weaknesses.
Also, thank you for the lovely compliment! I'm so pleased you enjoy my writing 💜💜💜