Geraint Roberts - Ramblings of a would-be published novelist

Research, Revision and Reward

I have been busy recently commuting to Aberystwyth, half term meant my family went on holiday there, I had to work! It also allowed me to do some research in two fields. One was mining, where I called on the foremost expert in Ceredigion lead mines. The information he gave me was priceless - and massive! We chatted away for 5 hours and I left with Gigabytes of files, documents and pictures of the place. I'd only ever seen one picture before and these new ones put me so in touch with the lead mine. I felt there.

Following on my theme for book 4, I then managed to get to talk to an old engineman to ask him specific details about the old shed and how things were done. Not 5 hours this time, but gold dust all the same.

The books come on, I've put in a few short story comps and have begun book 4. Book 1 is being revised, basically every visit I make to Leicester Writers makes me rethink what I have written, Ads the start of the book was one of the first things I wrote, I can understand the need to do this. The main problem with revision is that after a while, your brain is in tune with the prose and it misses things, as you know the story too well. takes an outsider sometimes.

Finally, I got an acceptance! The revised short story thriller has been accepted by the West Wales Mason. Interestingly enough, there's no mention of a handshake in the story at all, but there you are. No money, but one for the portfolio.

posted by Geraint @ 9:33 pm