I am delighted to welcome
JEAN LEVY
AUTHOR OF WHAT WAS LOST
TO SHARE HER WRITING TOOLKIT
FOR HER BLOG TOUR
Where I write
Mostly, I can write any place, any time. I have few requirements. I suppose it comes of years of leaving things to the last minute: homework on the school bus, research reports scribbled on the train, editorials dispatched as the deadline closes. That history of brinkmanship, of just scraping in under the wire, means that I’m not that fussy about chaos.
This is the dining table in my flat. It’s one of two places that I do my writing. Needless to say, we eat out a lot. The other place I write is the family barn. There’s a bigger table there, but there’s also a large bath and that’s probably one of my essentials. If I’m about to start a new sequence, introduce a new character or put the finishing touches to a critical conversation, I run a really hot bath, infused with a Seaweed and Arnica concoction that Father Christmas brings me every year (he gets it from Neal’s Yard). I think the combination of heat and fragrance helps me focus. Probably an increased blood supply to the brain, although I prefer not to think about that. Obviously, on these occasions I have to resort to traditional writing methods: sheets of A4 paper folded twice and an inky pen that writes upside down. (Do not attempt this bath-writing using electronic devices. Dunking iPads/mobiles into an infusion of seaweed and arnica never goes well.)
And those critical conversations … I rehearse them way before bath time, whilst weeding, whilst staring out the flat window at the Cathedral, whilst driving. The floor of my car is littered with quick notes scribbled on till receipts and parking tickets. Of course, silence is essential. I can’t expect my characters to have conversations with noise going on around them. In fact, I mostly can’t write surrounded by noise: the TV, seagulls, pneumatic drills, dripping taps, and definitely not music. Music imposes emotions and sometimes those emotions are not appropriate to what I’m writing.
Wine, food
Wine is not really essential, although I find a glass of prosecco always encourages creativity. Or a Pinotage when it’s cold outside. And I don’t really eat during the day, just cups of tea/coffee and the occasional bowl of pistachio ice cream.
Apps, books, software
Apart from the till receipts and the soggy bath notes, I write directly onto my laptop and back up on a flash drive (constantly), an external hard drive (occasionally) and by sending myself an email attachment (daily). I write in Word, the enemy that know. I search/check using Google and an online dictionary and thesaurus. As far as creative writing books are concerned, I had my fill of those during a Creative Writing degree. They are often a bit flaky, although some are good regarding plot, characters, dialogue. I’d recommend Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’. But I’ve found that the best sources for writing technique are books on basic narratology:
Cobley, P. (2001). Narrative: The New Critical Idiom. Routledge, Oxford.
Martin, W. (1986). Recent Theories of Narrative. Cornell University Press, Ithaca.
There are many others more recent than that. And there’s a good website I’ve used:
The major considerations for any writer are plot, character, location, time and tense, sequence, description versus action, pace, use of dialogue, point of view, status of the narrator and narrative focus, but their expression rests upon good grammar and I’m a bit of a pedant when it comes to that. It’s a result of seven years of research into temporal linguistics … but that’s another story. David Crystal has written some very readable books on basic grammar. ‘The Elements of Style’ by Strunk, White and Kalman bridges the gap between creativity and serious grammar, and there’s always Lynne Truss’s ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’.
By far the best way of realising writing techniques is to read good writers: Sebastian Faulks, Virginia Woolf, Ian McEwan and James Joyce for the beauty of their words, Margaret Atwood for her parallel and non-linear plots, Angela Carter for her imagery, Winterson for her experimental and challenging narratives, Philip Pullman for sheer imagination, Douglas Adams for his humour, and Jane Austen as the pioneer of the techniques of psychonarration.
Social media
I’m not a big fan of Twitter, although I’m going to try harder. I visit Facebook most days, but I find myself watching YouTube dog and cat and Trump videos. And that gets you nowhere.
Exercise and other alien activities
I don’t really do sport, gym, jogging, running. I haven’t got time. Although I know people who strongly recommend such things.
Characters
I’ve often been asked where my characters come from. Well, apart from the occasional evil antagonist, they are hybrids of people I have known. The arrogance, dithering, mendacity, the eccentricities and outrageous affectations, love and friendships I have portrayed in What Was Lost are all drawn from experience.
Time
I suppose the actual process of writing is the result of days, even weeks of mulling things around in my mind, and I find the best time to do that is in the dark, in bed, before I go to sleep. When you’ve given up on everything else and your time’s your own. However, I learned long ago that those perfect plot solutions can disappear overnight, so if I do think of something inspirational I grope for my phone and make a note of it. Just a word or two to jog my memory.
As far as time managing my writing is concerned, I have to admit that I would write all day long. And sometimes I do. Sometimes I reach a point in the plot which refuses to be paused. I have occasionally written through the night, stopping only to accept my morning cup of tea. My husband is very understanding. I can remember, a few years back, taking part in the NaNoWriMo Challenge … just writing all day, every day. I lost all sense of time. It was great, although I realised on one occasion that, for the first time in my adult life, I had started a day, ended a day and proceeded to the next day without having a shower in between. I suppose what I’m saying is I don’t not write. Only when something prevents me from doing so.
THANKS FOR TAKING PART, JEAN!
About Jean Levy
Jean spent several years in genetics research before abandoning the laboratory to pursue a career in academic publishing both in Holland and the UK. She has been a database trouble- shooter, an editor, and a writer for publishing houses, pharmaceutical companies and the EU. She has degrees in Botany, Pathology, Philosophy, English, Law and Creative Writing and is currently completing a doctorate in Linguistics.
In her spare time she has campaigned for the environment and read a lot of books, the most memorable being Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, everything by Margaret Atwood and Jeanette Winterson, and a few things by Sebastian Faulks, Calvino, Ian McEwan, David Mitchell and Shakespeare.
She currently lives in a converted barn in the South Downs with her husband and a Heritage Plant Collection, accumulates Christmas tree decorations and aspires to writing multi-genre fiction, travelling on the Orient Express and seeing the Northern Lights.
Find Jean Levy on Twitter - @JeanELevy
About What Was Lost
Published by The Dome Press (13 September 2018)
Publisher's description
How would you live if you had no memories? And what if you were suspected of a terrible crime?
Sarah has no memories. She just knows she was found, near death, on a beach miles from her London home. Now she is part of a medical experiment to see whether her past can be retrieved.
But bad things seemed to have happened before she disappeared. The police are interested in her hidden memories too. A nice man she meets in the supermarket appears to have her best interests at heart. He seems to understand her - almost as if he knows her...
As she fights to regain her memories and her sense of self, it is clear that people are hiding things from her. Who are they protecting? Does Sarah really want the truth?
Here's a snippet from my review: 'What Was Lost is a compelling literary read - an in-depth multilayered psychological thriller based on science that's designed to question, explore and entertain.'
Read my full review here.
Here's a snippet from my review: 'What Was Lost is a compelling literary read - an in-depth multilayered psychological thriller based on science that's designed to question, explore and entertain.'
Read my full review here.
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