writing | Karavansara

2 May 2015
by Davide Mana 1 Comment

Writing on spec – developments

Today:
. Viable idea sketched.
. Research done – details checked out.
. Story outlined.
. Scrivener file set up.
. Three scenes (roughly 600 words) written out of the thirteen scenes planned (might become fifteen for structural purposes).
Tomorrow – first draft finished by sundown.
Sunday – revision, proofing and delivery.

I must admit this writing-on-a-tight-schedule thing might become sort of fun, in the long run.
With a little luck, I might be able to deliver the finished story almost one day before the closing of the deadline.
And even should it not work out, it’s great exercise.

18 April 2015
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Two voices

One thing I’ve mentioned already, I think, is how, writing in both Italian and English, my writing changes.
Clearly, the two languages syntaxes are different, but it’s also my way of building phrases, and the rhythm of the phrases.
The dialogues change, the interplay between characters.
It’s not like I’m two different writers but, well, almost.
It’s clearly two different voices I’m dealing with – voices that go deeper than the tone and language of the individual stories. Continue reading →

19 March 2015
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

45.000 or bust!

… And so we decided to turn it into a race.

Yesterday my friend Claire, who is working on her novel, announced to the world at large¹ that she plans to reach a word count of 45.000 by the end of the weekend.

Now, I’m writing too – yeah, I know I’ve told you about it to distraction – and I have a target of 45.000, too, to be reached… well, yesterday.

And so, I said, why not make it a game?
Competition, especially friendly competition, can be motivational, right?
Claire accepted – after pointing out that she’s a little ahead of me already.

I’m currently clocking at about 33.000 words (unedited).
This means, easy – 3000 words a day, for four days.
Will I make it? Probably.
More, I haveto make it, or my editor and my publisher will flog me in public.
Will I make it before Claire? Ah, that’s the point of this whole racing thing, right?²

So, now lunch, then we start writing as fast (and good) as possible.
I’ll keep you posted.

well, ok, to Facebook ↩
bets are open – feel free to choose your champion here in the comments. ↩

12 March 2015
by Davide Mana 7 Comments

Writing is good for the soul – so what?

Yesterday my friend Lucy did a post about the quality of genre fiction¹ and the horrid effect that in our country the sudden invasion of rank amateurs is doing to the field.
There’s an awful lot of third grade rubbish being self-published, basically written by adolescents of all ages, people that are lacking in terms of writing skills and of genre culture. The sort of people that start working on their fantasy trilogy because they saw Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies and nothing else.

Clearly, there is a Darwinian selection at work, and rubbish will not survive, but right now it is cluttering the (virtual) shelves. A few benighted readers are actually liking this sort of stuff, but basically anyone deserves what they decide to read².

Now, one of the things my friend Lucy was told was, writing is good for one’s soul.

Which is certainly true, but also, it is basically meaningless. Continue reading →

4 March 2015
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Thinking through the keyboard

The idea for this post comes from something I wrote yesterday on my other blog, the GreyWorld Project blog.

I quote myself…

I’ve got my story, I’ve got my characters, now it’s just a matter of writing the thing down – mechanics, more than creativity

But then I thought

but it’s not really like that – there is a connection between the mechanical act of writing, the fingers dancing (or plodding) on the keyboard and invention… hmmm, I’ll have to write a post about that

And this post is that post about that.

Let’s state the topic in a less confused way – there is a connection between the mechanical act of writing and the creative act of writing.
Or is there? Continue reading →

14 February 2015
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Tientsin, 1934

Know what?
I’m writing.
And believe it or not, despite what I said before, I’m back in China in the 1930s.
But not in Shanghai.
Somewhere up north and east instead.

Tientsin – which today is called Tianjin – was a Treaty Town, back before the Second World War: the eight countries that had fought against the Boxers in 1901 each got a piece of the city, and maintained there a concession enjoying extraterritorial status.
And this included Italy. Continue reading →

21 January 2015
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Writing a lot – how I do it

This is the sort of post that nobody cares about, so don’t feel guilty if you think it might be better to just stop here and go check some better blog.
Really, I’m cool.
Fact is, I’m writing a lot, and a lot of different things, these days, and sort of like it felt nice writing down a few ideas.
It’s not a matter of inspiration, is more a matter of time management.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I’m writing the first draft of a novel, putting together a large gaming project, revising two short stories and writing a third.
Plus blog posts, and a good simulation of a normal life.
So, here’s how I’m doing it¹. Continue reading →