Fatherhood, mounting events, etc.

I regularly read various blogs that reveal more or less known novel writing tips. Some are better than others but all in all they mostly give away the inner working of a story, and all that free of charge. I'm really grateful for all the effort these bloggers have exerted just to tell others how to write well. Altruism clearly hasn't died yet.

I'm an engineer so Peder Hill's diagram immediately resonated with my thinking and I regularly use his recommendations to check my writing. On the other hand, his video on fatherhood made me think as well. It's interesting how life evolves in mysterious ways. Whilst I have selected novel writing to liberate my inner voice and escape the rat race of the 24hr academic life, Peder talks about the curse of non-stop fiction writing and in his words "stupid projects". No offence Peder but let me tell you, there are far worse projects out there that prevent fathers from spending their time with children, and I'm not talking about not being able to devote sufficient time to play with them and their growing up. What I am talking about is time wasted on stupid meetings and consequently not being able to see your kids at all.  AT ALL (well, apart from a day here and there but that surely shouldn't count)! So, I would alter his advice and recommend the marvelous video he created to everyone who falls under this second category because I believe novel writers spend several-fold more time with their kids than most academics or business people.

Oh my, that was now a rant on a painful subject. Anyway, coming back to novel writing tips I realized today that my crises, as Peder puts it, develop almost spontaneously and even I am intrigued by the mounting problems the main character is exposed to. It's interesting because this doesn't happen on purpose although I do craft my writing on a well structured plot. You'll love it as it really builds up the tension. So, I guess, it's worthwhile saying I can hardly wait till my next batch of writing tomorrow evening (after a whole day of academic stuff, that is... and yes, I do spend my time with kids every day).