Three Things That Inspired Me This Week - And Why I Broke The First Draft Rules

Cultural and Creative Observations (and a car engine metaphor).

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This week I ignored all the informed advice about writing a book. I have got to a point in my novel from where it has been impossible to move forward. The story is plotted in detail, the characters are defined and even the location of the story is an area that I know intimately. So why was I blocked? All I needed to do was write to the plan I had created so I could finish the book. After this, according to many people much more talented and successful than me, I should leave the story for a few weeks then go back and edit.

But my story would not move forward. It reminded me of my car breaking down a few years ago just after its annual service. It had petrol and it had been properly maintained but a small part, called the cam shaft sensor, that regulates how the power gets from the engine to the wheels, had failed so the car would not move forward. It took much analysis and chin scratching from men and women in oily overalls to find the problem and much money from me to repair it.

My book is the same. It is the smallest thing that has stopped me from completing the first draft and I have had to go back to the beginning to discover why I couldn’t get the power from my ideas and preparation onto the page as a novel.

So what was wrong? In the words of Taylor Swift: “It’s me, hey, I’m the problem it’s me.”

In the few months since I started writing this crime thriller I have changed as a writer. As well as this book, I have been writing short stories and assignments for courses and publications which means that what I want to say is not what it was when I started working on this book.

The most recent chapters are darker, more intense and cynical with sprinklings of magical realism glittering like fragments of shattered windscreen on the road which is what I want the story to be.

Unfortunately, in some of the early chapters I set myself up with some ‘cosy crime’ type camp comedy which give the engine of my book confused messages and, just like my car, it is refusing to move.

So this week I had to get the bonnet up and start replacing parts so that the whole story can run properly. It might not be the accepted way of doing things but I feel that if I keep ignoring the warning lights that come on then, just like my car, the book will end up in the scrap yard.

Inspiration comes from many sources. This week as the seasons turn and we reach the Autumn Equinox there has been a spectacular full moon, the sounds of birds grouping up and preparing to fly South for the Winter and the hustle of farm activity as fields are cut and re-seeded and hay is baled and brought inside. All of this change is inspirational and makes us look at the world differently.

Here are three things outside of nature that Inspired me this week;

BOOK

ROUGE - by Mona Awad is fantastical, cutting and hilarious. Awad takes apart society’s obsession with beauty expectations, the power of a certain type of beauty and the beauty industry in a magical book. Her prose is electrifying and her ability to take a theme and riff it into a symphonic scene is breathtaking.

See Mona Awad discuss Rouge with Barnes & Nobles’ Catriona Ward here: Mona Awad - Poured Over

PODCAST

SHEDUNNIT is an in-depth look at classic detective stories written and hosted by the incredible Caroline Crampton. Here’s the thing: I am not a fan of the books but I love Crampton’s depth of knowledge, enthusiasm and hosting style. She is able to draw together strands from so many sources to help us understand the genre and each book she discusses. Check it out here Shedunnit

STREAMING

IN VOGUE - THE 90s on Disney Plus takes us back to the decade of supermodels, the explosion of fashion as lifestyle and, of course, the arrival on the legendary Anna Wintour as Vogue US. Instead of people you’ve never heard of discussing things second hand In Vogue gives us actual Marc Jacobs, actual Naomi Campbell, actual Tom Ford and of course actual Anna Wintour - who in one scene is politely asked by a rather posh British production assistant if she would be so kind as to remove her sunglasses. “No” comes the instant response. Iconic.

Check out the trailer here: In Vogue - The '90s

Thanks for reading the JasonWard Creative Substack. Please feel free to share and like the piece as your clicks help others find my work. If you would like to support my writing then take out a subscription which will give you access to over a hundred articles, reviews, interviews, short stories, podcasts and playlists. Many Thanks Jason