A second post, much like a second novel is always harder than the first. You've set yourself up, you've established the boundaries so what next?
Or at least I assume that's what writing a second novel is like since I haven't even written a first but I have written a second blog post so that's the battle half won. Maybe.
Since in my last post I mentioned planning I wanted to talk about my recent experience at a Writers' Weekend. I've never done anything like this before and I was intrigued as the weekend was especially geared towards writing plays and though I studied theatre at university, my main focus was film and the scripts I've written have all been for the screen. However, even though it was led by a playwright and we concentrated on writing scenes and pieces of dialogue, much of the advice was equally useful for those of us who wanted to write in other mediums. It gave me a new insight on how to plan my stories, making sure everything had a purpose and breaking things down into steps that led towards the conclusion that I wanted.
The importance of imagery was also covered. Theatre is by its very nature a visual experience so leaving the audience with a strong image is essential. This is easily carried over to writing for film and television but also works for poetry and prose. Maybe its because I'm naturally visually minded but every time I read a book I imagine its colour palette and really good book allows you to picture everything in your head vividly.
For a first experience with being taught writing it was invaluable and I feel more confident with soldiering on. I even have an idea for a play!