My First Novel: (2nd Draft Progress) January 22nd, 2019

January 22, 2019October 21, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

I’ve been working all weekend while trying to balance my time between work, my partner, and my novel. So far, I have found time before and after work, editing a chapter or two, or reshaping key dialogue parts. I feel like I’m making progress but sometimes I get overwhelmed with the work I still have to do.

I’m about two-thirds finished with the second draft but there are half a dozen chapters I need to expand on and the dialogue…so much dialogue I have to work on, the hardest part.

The most challenging obstacles I’ve been coming across the past week is weaving beats into my dialogues. Beats are pauses, like in music, between lines. For instance, having a character say,

“I want some milk,” she walked to the fridge, opening the door and grabbing the glass jug of milk on the second shelf [beat].

“Don’t drink all of it.” Her mother said.

The beat in this example separates “I want some milk.” and “Don’t drink all of it.” which would read completely different without it.

Example without the beat,

“I want some milk.” She said.

“Don’t drink all of it.” Her mother said.

I’ve been trying to use my beats appropriately, to add more to my scenes and hopefully show not tell what’s happening. Another big thing I’m working on, SHOWING NOT TELLING.

Even though the work is daunting, I’m not quitting. I like to have a challenge and I’m looking forward to finishing my second draft. When I finish my second draft I’m going to have it printed off into a manuscript to edit by hand, I did this with my first draft and it helped immensely. It’s an amazing feeling being able to hold my novel in my hands, sort of in book form and having a draft closer to the finished product is exciting.

On another note, I finished reading Patti Smith’s Devotion, which was amazing. It is a tiny book, short but full of so much. A few chapters on Patti’s experiences, a short story, poetry, and photos. Amazing.

Thanks for reading, please follow or subscribe to read more about my journey writing My Frist Novel.

-Alina

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Writing Fiction: My First Novel

January 18, 2019October 21, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

I am writing my first fiction novel, a Supernatural Thriller! I want to chronicle the writing of my book so I have a reference point in the future. This will be the place on my blog (Fiction: Writing My First Novel) where I’ll be posting updates on my progress, discussing elements of fiction, and any issues I have. I will be blogging my journey of writing in case other new fiction writers are looking for relatable content.

The Story Thus Far and NaNoWriMo

In 2014, I scribbled out a few pages of a story, an image stuck in my head of a man on the run puking up blood. But I hit a wall, and the pages were eventually forgotten. Four years later, in the Fall of 2018, I recalled the story, the image of the man popping into my head one day out of the blue. Since then, I have become obsessed with writing my novel.

✨Check out my Pinterest board for my novel HERE ✨

NaNoWriMo 2018: Writing My Novel and What’s Next

For the National Novel Writing Month of November 2018, I spent the entire month writing the first draft. Barely over 50,000 words in three parts with countless chapters, it revealed itself as a Supernatural Thriller, no big surprise there. Now, in 2019, I am working on the second draft, which is a long and grueling process.

From now on, I will be chronicling my work, including my progress and the reading materials I am using (such as Self-Editing for Fiction Writers). I hope to create a dialogue about writing fiction novels that can help other writers while keeping an archive of my journey for future use and reflection.

Are you writing a novel? Let’s connect! I’d love to hear about your experience, process, and recommended reading materials.

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Becoming Nightmare (poem #360)

January 18, 2019April 2, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Forget the sun, the eyes roll back

into a dream, full of wispy clouds

and screams. A darkness gathering

blue skies turn grey, becoming

nightmare.

Thank you for reading!

-Alina

Please follow or subscribe to read more poems.

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Sun Pulls Me Up [poem #359] and A Writer’s Life Update

January 17, 2019April 1, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Sun pulls me up

from a deep dark slumber

mixing dreams and memories

together. I am beginning to forget

which is which and who I am.

Writer’s Life Update:

This has been my first post in over a week. I’ve been M.I.A. because I’m currently working on draft two of my supernatural thriller. It’s my first novel and kind of a pain but I am sticking with it. Thanks for sticking with me and my poems!

What I’m listening to:

What I’m reading:

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Devotion by Patti Smith

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Want more? Check out my Patreon

Thank you for reading!

-Alina

Poetic Forms: Found Poetry

January 9, 2019April 1, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Last month, I discovered Found Poetry, I guess I could say, I found Found Poetry. It’s always been there and I have seen it before but for the first time in December, I started creating some Found Poetry myself.

It really happened by accident, I was reading a newspaper at work and found a few peculiar words and phrases in an article that I thought was truly poetic, something was there, and it was mysterious and beautiful. I underlined the words and then began inking in everything else around them until I had just the words and finally a poem.

IMG_20181224_000620_918 — One of my Found Poems, I am really bad at taking photos

What is Found Poetry?

Found Poetry is a poetic form where words, texts and sentences are sought out or found in everyday spaces and extracted. Used and practically collaged into a new format to create a poem.

For example, for me my Found Poetry has been coming from newspapers. So I’ve been taking local newspapers and highlighting, circling, underlining words and sentences that stand out to me. Then I try to shape the words into one final poem.

I have been pretty bold because I take one article or section of the paper and try to group the words and sentences together on the same page, not cutting out and or gluing the words on a new page. I’ve been trying to mold poems out of what I find in the paper by blacking out everything else. It’s hard to do this but I realized that creating Found Poetry this way pushed me and my skills as a writer

poets.org has a great definition and example of Found Poetry

It is a fun poetic form to try, and I mainly use it now as an exercise to get me in the groove of writing poetry.

After I had a small pile of these Found newspaper Poems I decided to start putting them together in one book. So now I have a few pages filled in a blank notebook full of my found poetry. Some are good but most of them are ok.

You can see on my instagram story highlight my Found Poems, and my Found Poetry Book that I am making.

Alina on Instagram

I want to keep working with Found Poetry and maybe even dabble in creating poems on canvas by using paint and words to create large poems, art on two levels.

This is a fun poetic form and I recommend it to any poets, writers, artists, really anyone who wants to explore so try it today!

Liked this post? Try these:

How to Memorize a Poem in 4 Easy Steps

https://www.alinahappyhansenwriter.com/2018/08/01/poetic-forms-sestina/

Poetic Forms: Villanelle