Screaming into the Virtual Wind

It feels like ages since I posted anything. Well, I suppose technically it has been ages… Any hoo, I’ve begun submitting my synopsis and shiny opening chapters to agents, which is both exciting and terrifying. Acceptance means I’m shuffling further up the path towards my dream of writing full-time and having real, live people read my work (excluding my mum, of course!) Rejection means I might well be on to a loser, my work sucks and I should have filled out the application for the McDonalds graduate training programme. I can fully understand why so many writers whittle away at their craft for years, only to hide everything they produce in a deep, dark drawer… That way, you can never fail. Obviously, you can also never win; and as Delboy says: “He who dares, wins”. I hold deep reverence for the philosophy of Mr Trotter (from the legendary TV show, Only Fools and Horses, for anyone outside the UK), so thus, I keep taking my efforts out of the deep, dark drawer, brushing them off and sending them out into the world.

I’m also happy to report that the foundations for novel number two, as yet untitled (it’s actually novel number three, but the first one really is staying in a deep, dark drawer… Or at least in a well hidden folder on my USB stick), are firming up nicely. I wanted to create an actual world for this one, dark and rich and full of hidden facets. That’s the idea, anyway I came across something called a Basic World Building Worksheet at The Scriptorium which I’m going to use to set down ground rules for my world. The worksheet’s great because it covers things you might never think of that could create eye-watering plot holes further down the line, such as the ratios of different races and major geographical features. You can print it out or do what I did and paste into Word (I hate hand-writing anything these days… Is that a major character flaw on my part?!)

Now I just have to think of some awesome, completely non-boring names… Which is something I’m very bad at. The novel is set in a grand, all-emcompassing city where the poverty stricken are forced to live underground. That needs a name. My cast of characters are beginning to take shape. They all need names. The only name I’ve decided upon is the name of one of two conflicting religions… So basically, I’m giving myself a major headache over this. I think I’ll have to resort to my tried and tested trick of scouring baby name websites. Any one else have this annoying blockage when it comes to naming your own creations?