My Writing

The Sky Pharaohs, my Young Adult Science Fiction manuscript, won the Children's Book Council of Australia NSW's Frustrated Writers' Mentoring Competition 2006.

My page about winning the Mentorship Competition sums up the six crazy but amazing months I spent redrafting The Sky Pharaohs.

I am currently working on my next Young Adult manuscript, Surviving Kelly Tracey, which is a coming-of-age romance/anti-romance loosely based on Norwegian mythology. On frequent occasions, I feel like tearing my hair out because I never have any time and yet I have to write. You can read about me, Surviving Kelly Tracey, and my battles with time, writing, the laundry and a toddler on A Was Alarmed, my blog.

In 2001, newly-arrived in Australia and baffled by the unfriendliness of my local community, I wrote a short story called "The Normality Game". You can read this story here.

---

Resources for Writers

The photo above is of my redraft notebook when I was writing the ninth draft of The Sky Pharaohs. As the scrawls and post-it notes suggest, I am a compulsive planner. I developed this habit after my stories kept fizzling out halfway through. I realised that I hadn't laid the groundwork for several brilliant beginning ideas to be carried through to the story end. This led me to create a series of grids which I now use when plotting, writing and redrafting my novels. When I use these grids, I print them and write on them by hand, or I use them on the computer and write on them in a very small font then zoom in on the sections I want to read.

I have put some of the grids below in PDF form and will add to them as I develop more. Please feel free to use them for non-commercial purposes and adapt them to suit your needs. You will need Adobe Acrobat to view and save the documents.

If you would like me to e-mail you a Word version of any of these lists, please leave a message on my blog or contact me and I can send it to you.

• Short Story Planning Grid

I don't often write short stories but I had the idea for making this grid after I analysed a one-page story in a magazine. The story was clearly divided into introduction, background, current situation, complication and resolution sections. My story ideas lend themselves more to lengthy epics set in complicated worlds teeming with gazillions of characters. This grid helps me to cut down the teemingness into three thousand concise words.

Short Story Planning Grid in PDF form




• Dramatic Tension Planning Chart

In a bid to stop myself from waffling, I created a grid that helps me chart the rise of tension from a novel's beginning to resolution. This type of grid is particularly helpful if you are writing action/adventure stories. The one below is in portrait style and has a section for making notes on external and internal tension. Exposition here means background information, and the inciting incident is the event which triggers the story.

Dramatic Tension Planning Chart (Portrait) in PDF form




• Another Dramatic Tension Planning Chart

After I made the portrait-style dramatic tension chart, I found the layout a bit too cramped and claustrophobic for my ideas, so I made another chart, this time in landscape format. This is the grid I use the most for my writing plans. The landscape set-up seems to match the way my brain processes plots.

Dramatic Tension Planning Chart (Landscape) in PDF form




• Chapter Concept Statement Grid

We are told in academic writing that essays should have a concept statement, that is, a simple unified theme behind the information given. I decided to apply this idea to each chapter I write. I use each section in the Concept Statement grid to write a one or two sentence summary about each chapter. This helps me keep the story structure clear in my mind.

In the photo of my notebook above, you will see that I have used the Chapter Concept Statement grid as a redraft plan sheet and have written my intended changes in each chapter section.

Chapter Concept Statements Grid in PDF form




• Monthly Writing Progress Grid

Japan is the capital of the universe for brilliant stationery. When I lived there I bought a monthly planning notebook, which, unlike a formal diary, could be customised for whatever year, month or day the user needed. Each double-spread page was squared into boxes, one for each day of the month, and you could circle the required month from a list at the side of the page. The edge of this particular notebook can be seen in the banner at the top of this webpage.

I used my notebook for tracking my writing progress each day. What I tend to do is write down which chapter I'm on and how many words I wrote that day, or, if I'm redrafting, the page I reached. I have also used the monthly grids to track fictional calendar events in a story.

I was so disappointed when I finished my Japanese notebook that I made a similar template, that I print out each month and stick in my notebook. Simply circle the required month and write the dates in each small box.

Monthly Writing Progess Grid in PDF form




• Character Names A-Z Planning Grid

Is your story more crowded than a Dickens novel? Are you discovering, like I did, that having a Roger, Rose, Ruby, Rina, Rebel and Richie among your cast of thousands can be rather confusing?

When I was a kid I read the advice that writers should list the alphabet in their notebooks and match a character name to each letter, to avoid ending up with multiple characters with similar-sounding names. Dutifully, I followed this advice, but as my stories grew, and characters changed in importance, and Richie became Toby, then Quentin, and my original notebooks fell to the back of the bookshelf, I found I was in as big a mess as I would have been without the forward planning. My solution was to make a electronic version of the list, to store on my computer, which I can refer to and change quickly and easily. I certainly feel more organised, but Roger, Rose, Ruby, Rina and Rebel refuse to die or be renamed.

I list characters by the name they are most often known by in the story, for example, Roger Harmcroft is listed under R because his surname is rarely mentioned.

Character Names A-Z Planning Grid in PDF form

---

Word Lists

I am addicted to Roget's Thesaurus, and to making lists. Sometimes, when I need help with writing a tricky scene, I brainstorm a set of words to use in the description. I have been putting these word sets on my blog, and I have also made each list into a PDF document. Writers and teachers may find them useful. The words in the blog posts and PDF documents are the same apart from in the Rooms in a Stately Home list - the PDF document has a few extra garden words. Again, you will need Adobe Acrobat to view and save the documents.

If you would like me to e-mail you a Word version of any of these lists, please leave a message on my blog or contact me and I can send it to you. Please feel free to use the lists for non-commercial purposes and adapt them to suit your needs. I have left blank spaces on each sheet so that more words can be added.

• Words to Describe Rain

You want to describe a dreich stormy night in Scotland, yet you find yourself writing: "The rain poured in sheets," a hundred times. This list gives ideas for other ways to refer to rain.

Rain Word List in PDF form

This is the original rain word list that I posted on my blog.




• Words to Describe Urban Degeneration

Your character is in a nasty urban wasteland. This list gives suggestions of words to describe what she sees and feels there.

Urban Degeneration Word List in PDF form

This is the original urban degeneration word list that I posted on my blog.




• Words to Describe Foxes and Fox-like Behaviour

There can only be one Volpone, but many a crafty villain behaves like a fox. How would you describe him? This list may help.

Fox Word List in PDF form

This is the original fox word list that I posted on my blog.




• Rooms in a Stately Home

I do love a story set in an enormous stately home. This list summarises the rooms the house may have, as well as lots of names for parts of the grand estate.

Rooms in a Stately Home List in PDF form

This is the original stately home room list that I posted on my blog. It has one or two fewer garden words than the PDF document but is basically the same.




• Words for Shades of Brown and Red

After you've read this list, your character will no longer be dressed in brown cords with a red cardigan. His trousers will be chocolate-coloured and his cardigan magenta.

Browns and Reds Word List in PDF form

This is the original browns and reds word list that I posted on my blog.




• Words to Describe Retro Design

Your characters will be at their coolest in rooms filled with lime green shaggy rugs and hessian wall hangings. The words are mainly associated with interior design from the 60s and 70s.

Retro Design Word List in PDF form

This is the original retro design word list that I posted on my blog.




• Names of Hardy Plants and Flowers

Why would anyone other than a gardener need a list of hardy plants? I don't know, but I needed this list because I wanted to name a fictional company after a hardy flower. For this reason, the words are "easy on the ear" and the list is not meant to be botanically exhaustive.

Hardy Plant Word List in PDF form

This is the original hardy plant word list that I posted on my blog along with a William Carlos Williams poem and some more context.

---

Teaching Resources

If you found the worksheets above useful, you may also find my English language teaching resources helpful, in particular the stuff for teachers page.