|
April 20th 2015 Rosie's Titillating Tips and Tricks
Here you will find my newsletter. Its content will be, well, I'm not a hundred percent sure yet, but it will interesting. I'm sure to include tips on writing, things that make me smile, tips that have helped me in my journey to getting published and whatever takes my fancy. Please feel free to download and read and I'd really love to hear what you think and what you would like to read.
0 Comments
July 28th 2014 A few weeks ago it was my writing groups Retreat. We booked in at our regular apartment block in Caloundra on Friday. Friday evening we were presented with our "Envelopes." Treasure is another word for them. Mine was filled with photo's cut from magazines and pasted onto cardboard by the wonderful, Danielle Birch. Saturday, we were given a story starter, with a twist, by the amazing Fiona Greene. My mind was reeling the whole weekend. But, I have come to the conclusion that my current book is the first of a series centered around, the Sentinel Agency, (tentative name) Just before lunch we did a GMC workshop. GMC does my head in. I'm going to find myself other initials for it. Between the writing times, we laughed, we ate, we walked, we plotted, and we brainstormed. A great weekend, working with women I respect as writers and love as friends. Danielle Birch. Fiona Greene, EE Montgomery and Calliope Carr. Without you beside me, this path to publication would not have been as exciting or half as much fun. From the weekend I have partially developed, two new characters, Ava and Mason, plus a brand new Agency, that I have written heaps of notes on. Until that weekend, I never considered that Mitch from my WIP, was part of an Agency, but it fits the story. All of this from two Magic Envelopes. I enjoy story starters, how something as simple as a photo, can get you creative juices zinging. I love the way the creative process just rolls on from a photo, a sentence, an object, a subject. In my novel, Never Surrender, due for release later in the year, Maggie and Quinn my central characters, came from a dream I had after visiting a very interesting, and completely out of my comfort zone, night club. It started with a single sentence and the whole book built around it. And, even after the rewrites, the sentence still starts the story. Hell’s frozen over. Meet me tonight. 9. De’lisle’s. As I commented earlier, GMC (goal, motivation, conflict) does my head in. I stopped writing for a few weeks when it was pointed out to me that there was no conflict. I couldn’t figure out why not? So when it became apparent that I was focusing so much on getting GMC right that It was interfering with the creative process, I thought, I’m not going to call it GMC, So if anyone has any ideas for the renaming of GMC I’d be very interested to hear them. Till next time. May the writing fairy, tap dance on your computer keys. View from the Balcony of Belle Central One day we're going to swim from Caloundra across to Stradbroke Island. One day  April 21st 2014 I love going to the movies. Not to just watch them, but the whole movie shebang. Popcorn, choc top ice cream, fizzy drinks and then taking my seat near the back of the cinema, centre of the row. The pondering will it be worth the price of the ticket? While in Darwin on holiday I took my daughter and husband to see, Saving Mr Banks, the story of PJ Travers and Walt Disney and the dance they did to get Mary Poppins to the big screen. What this movie did for me, besides make me cry, and fall in love with Mary Poppins all over again, was encourage me to find Allora, a tiny town in my home state of Queensland and find the house where Helen Lyndon Goff, aka PJ Travers had spent some of her childhood. So I did, or we did. We travelled to Aratula, stayed the night with family. Next morning, we packed a picnic, bundled into the car and headed off. It was a glorious autumn morning, crisp and clear. The music was pumping through the car and we made good time as we travelled through Cunningham Gap and followed the New England Highway till we found the turnoff. Allora is between Toowoomba and Warwick and at the 2006 Census, there were less than 1000 people living there. First impression quaint. The main road was wide, with shops on either side. Heaps of parking available, so we found a spot in the shade climbed out and locked up. There wasn’t much open seeing as it was Sunday, so we explored the main street, smiled and nodded at a few of the locals. They lived up my expectation of country people, very friendly, very chatty and extremely informative. . One lovely woman, owner of the dress shop for thirty years, gave us the information we were looking for. When we found the house, I was in awe. It was magical. , stunning, truly beautiful old country cottage painted off white with blue grey trims. The veranda wrapped around two thirds of the house and was dotted with elegant outdoor settings a mixture of cane and wood, draped with fabric and big cushions. I ached to get over the white picket fence and onto that veranda. I could hear young Helen, talking to her beloved father as I gazed upon the manicured gardens. I didn’t know at the time of my visit, but apparently, you can tour the house by appointment. I will be going back and doing that. I also discovered that no part of the movie was made in Australia, due to cost, but, that the house was copied, an exact replica, overseen by the owner of the house who redrew the house plans for the set designers in Hollywood and over the course of a year he liaised with photographs and they rebuilt it over there. Our next stop was the cemetery to find the grave of Travers Goff. According to the ABC Southern Queensland article I sourced, the gravestone originally was very hard to find as it was weathered and some of the lettering had disappeared and the gravestone had sunk into the ground. Due to some fundraising ventures and a “considerable sum” donated by Colin Farrell, who played Travers Goff, the grave was restored. When we finally found Travers’s resting place, we stood quietly as we read the simple inscription on stunning stone. It was a wonderful day. I would recommend a visit to this magical house to anyone visiting South East Queensland. Oh, and if you haven’t seen “Saving Mr Banks” do yourself a favour and go see it. I've attached some photo's of the house, which has a little plate on the gate engraved with "Mary Poppins House"   March 15th 2014 Today is my Blog Tour Day. I was excited when the talented Danielle Birch invited me to be part of this tour where authors and writers answer questions about their writing process. It is super exciting as this is the first time I’ve ever been involved in something like this.
My answers to the questions are below. 1. What am I working on? I have just completed and returned my edits for my novel, Never Surrender and am back to my work in progress. It doesn’t have a title yet, actually it’s a bunch of notes, but, it’s talking to me, so that’s a huge bonus. 2. How does my work differ from others of its genre? I’m hoping my own crazy way of writing and my voice will set my work apart from others. 3. Why do I write what I do? I write Romantic Suspense/Intrigue. To me it’s a marriage of the two genres’ I enjoy, romance and a great murder/mystery. I’ve always had a suspicious nature, I see a woman pass a package to a man over the bonnet of a car. Nothing sinister in that, Yeah right, unless you live in my head. I see a drug deal, a payoff. I see another couple deep in discussion sitting outside a coffee shop. Sweet. To others maybe, to me, they are sitting so close, looking so loving at each other, so no one will suspect they are plotting the death of her husband. Thankfully my suspicious nature only shows itself when I’m developing my novels. 4. How does your writing process work? I have a book full of character names that have come to me as I’m running, hanging out the washing, in the shower. If they’re meant to make it to my book of characters and get an identity they stay with me, till I can get my hands on said book, where I write down their name, a brief description, what they do for a living and what scares them. I do that for all my characters. Then I think about them till they tell me their story. More notes. I’m a plotter. I need to know where I’m going, how I’m going to get there. For most characters I match up, I write a first kiss scene. If they spark, I develop them deeper. I used to plough through one chapter at a time, in order from page one. I was introduced to Alexandra Sokoloff’s Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, which made me look at my plotting completely differently. Then a friend suggested nano, where you have to write 50,000 words in the month of November. Now, I write the full novel, anyway it comes to me, then I break it down, make sense of it, and the rewrite begins. The process, as crazy as it is, works for me. Sharon L Norris, you're up. March 9th 2014 Years ago, when I joined my first writer's group, I sat back, stayed quiet, kept my ideas to myself. One of the inspirational women that surrounded me asked where I kept my ideas, did I journal? I told her I had a book of crazy thoughts and dreams. She smiled at that, but said nothing. For Christmas that year she drew my name in the Secret Santa. I was presented with a gorgeous Gold A4 Notepad, inside, a poem written for me, titled, Rosie's book for her crazy thoughts and dreams. She encouraged me to keep writing, the crazier the better. I still have the book, now inked throughout. So now through my blog, my crazy thoughts & dreams have a new lease on life. And it's fantastic.
|
AuthorI'm Rosie Miles, originally from Glasgow, Scotland, I now call Australia my home. Blogs
July 2025
Categories |
RSS Feed