Drafts of Gold

/ frankiebanks27@gmail.com


I have just re-edited and re-published my e-book, it was a decision made in response to feedback.  Although I am happy with the new edition with many minor changes to grammar and punctuation I still believe that one day my first ever draft will be published so that the bare bones are visible. I won’t substantially edit that because it would lose its honesty. For now however I will conform.

Having just started writing the ‘treatment’ for adaption into screenplay, I am combining book one and two. This process has so far minimised the story from around 150,000 words down to 30,000. These are the main scenes that carry the story and characters forward, almost the best bits which is very gratifying. Obviously I am now looking at both novels completely differently, it’s a confusing, interesting and enlightening process, suffice to say I am learning and growing.

The treatment is in effect just another draft, of hundreds. I thought once my book was published the endless drafts would stop but I was wrong. Every process needs a draft so the adapting, editing and reworking will continue.  Those first drafts are worth their weight in gold, I now realise.  Like most things in life you need time away from something to really appreciate it.

Next on the list is the S.E.L.F book project which explores how writing can be used as therapy this is my Sexpo project and is very much in draft form, another draft!

My book Sharks and Lovers is available to download here

 

One and Only

/ frankiebanks27@gmail.com


No one person will ever be your everything, no one person can possibly give you all that you need. 

This is the advice I want my kids to have, don’t give that power to anyone and don’t put that amount of pressure on yourself. You are the only person in charge of your happiness.

You can give people your gift and they will give you theirs if you are lucky but it can’t possibly feed all of your hopes and dreams, aspirations, needs and wants.

Everyone needs input,  we can all realise where we want to be in life but we can’t possess every attribute we need to get there. We need help from others and they need help from us.

Everyone has something to teach us. Everyone.

The Alchemist and The Secret

/ frankiebanks27@gmail.com

We moved house recently so I got to revisit a lot of memories unpacking. These two books appeared from a box and immediately I remembered the lessons they taught me.

After travelling around Australia in 2002 my mum decided to come and visit me in Perth and fly back to the U.K with me. We stopped off in Thailand on the way home and in Bangkok on the Khao San Road. The Alchemist grabbed my attention inside a tarpaulin book stall. I had heard about it for years and finally I could lay my hands on it! As soon as I finished it (about three days) I gave it to my mum to read and then every friend that I trusted to return it!

So what did The Alchemist give me? It gave me peace, a sense that everything will work out and courage to relax and trust my instincts. Having just travelled around Australia it served as a full stop to a year of searching and also a bridge to the next chapter of my life.

The Secret arrived in my life after this I’m not sure when but obviously I asked for it! It told me what I already knew, what we all know but sometimes don’t practise enough. If you want something all you have to do is ask for it.

It gave me focus, focus on what I wanted and sure enough a lot of things came my way.

As I write my treatment for a screenplay I can’t help thinking how much these two books have helped me get to this stage. Then of course there is my third lesson, always say your Thank you’s!

Buy The Alchemist here
And Buy The Secret here
Thank you Paulo Coelho & Rhonda Byrne

Sexpo and the Writer

/ frankiebanks27@gmail.com


I have this gig in November to talk about my writing and how it has empowered me.  As my novels contain rather a lot of sex I suppose it is appropriate for me to do this at the Sexpo S.H.A.R.E seminars but somehow I feel like I will disappoint the audience. I’m just a normal housewife who has found a passion in writing. I don’t have huge breasts or a fabulous figure. I haven’t even had my eyelashes extended (like so many of the mums in the playground).

I hope I can concoct a talk that entices people into writing and empowers people to embrace their so-called ‘dark side’. I wonder if anyone will listen or even show up, I hope I can deliver. I have three months to come up with an engaging, interactive talk, an outfit I feel comfortable in and most importantly a bloody big helping of courage!

I will keep you posted and if you have any advice I’d be really grateful….

The Dark Side

/ frankiebanks27@gmail.com

Surely we all have a dark side?

No I disagree, I refuse to believe this! There are experiences which we label as dark.  We can hide these away within ourselves, call them pain and build on them. What we are really doing is hiding what that dark actually is maybe it’s lonliness or anger, grief or distrust. Maybe it’s ALOT of these things rolled up together. Dark is easy, dark started as light.

If we call it pain we can rely on it when we need a hill to climb or a barrier to build or a dark place to hide. It is our reliable dark but how would we know it is dark if we had not experienced light? Now it is dark we can forget what it actually was and what its true meaning is and that we existed quite happily without it.

However no longer is this a small pain or a tiny dark because we have wrapped every bad experience around it.  Now it is a huge snowball of worries, stories and negatives.

What if getting rid of this was as easy as bursting a balloon? But maybe you don’t want to, you have relied on this for a very long time, it is part of you, it is always there when you need it. Why would you want to get rid of it?   You might have to admit to this pain and you might have to be slightly more specific about what this means to you. Once you have done that the weight will start to lift. The pain will dissolve, why?  Because you are being honest with the most important person in the world….YOU.

‘Turn the light on!’ Someone once told me. It really is that simple.

My novel is available below to download

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD8OG98

Kobo

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/sharks-lovers

iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/isbn9781925457209

 

Editing

/ frankiebanks27@gmail.com


Finally, after a year and a half of grappling with editing, I think I just about have it sussed!  I have to share with you my findings because I am sure a lot of other writers struggle with this too.  Obviously, once you have a manuscript you know it will need editing so you start with the content, changing the odd grammatical error here and there as you go. However if like me you needed to edit your entire manuscript six times for content before you felt you had a finished product by the end of that process you have had enough of your baby crying. When someone says they will copy-edit for you, you almost bite their hand off.  Please take this screaming baby away for a while and give me a break!

There are three types of editing light, medium and heavy and within those contexts, there is also substantive and mechanical.  Substantive refers to the order of content and could be construed as heavy editing as it will also edit out content that is not relevant.  Mechanical editing is relating to grammar, punctuation, spelling and footnotes.  When using a publisher they may well have an in-house editor that will mechanically edit your manuscript to fit their style of print and product.

There are many programmes that you can run on your computer to edit your grammar and punctuation but they might not all understand your content.  For example, my novel starts out in Southend on Sea in Essex, England.  I’m afraid there ain’t a product out there that’s gonna give me the license I need to mess ’bout with words and get really lairy with my content.  So using a person surely makes sense?  Maybe if you live in exactly the place you want the manuscript read or based.  Otherwise, you have to make do with a few proofreaders and hope they understand your spoken language vs readability vs message.

My problem with clients is that I am in love with language and people’s nuances I love an accent and even better I love broken words and out-of-place context.  Perhaps I am destined to always be a light editor!  I am just not critical enough I love everyone’s speech.  Although I have today for the first time gone through my manuscript and seen the errors, every single one of them!  Is it because I have a printer ready to go?  Or is it because I have relaxed and realised everything will come in time and I’m allowed to make mistakes?  I guess the test will be when I next look at my client’s work, will I see the errors or only hear the voice?

The most fantastic thing is that my printed copy will be the best I can possibly produce and I now know exactly the process I need to go through with book two.  I will edit content first, a heavy substantive edit followed by a light substantive edit and then two or three mechanical edits.  Nothing is ever perfect and when I found an error in Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s I have to admit to a tiny feeling of elation.  However as I tell my children we can only do our best and then we can learn, improve and do even better!

My book can be downloaded at these websites

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD8OG98

Kobo

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/sharks-lovers

iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/au/book/isbn9781925457209

 

A Community of Smiles

/ frankiebanks27@gmail.com


The playground at my children’s school is full of smiling parents who generally say G’day. However this isn’t always the way, rushing around not having the time to give a quick smile and hello can be the death of a community.  Eyes down, eyes on a screen, no eye to eye.  Is smiling at a stranger a dying art?

I try every day to smile at others and generally this is returned. Occasionally though I get a scowl or a blank.  Are people so absorbed they have no room in their life for a smile?  What else in their life are they missing out on?

As society has evolved to hours spent looking at screens instead of each other, is a smile an endangered species?

Are we becoming more isolated in a world that’s population is only ever-increasing?

How can this be?

We have so many different ways of communicating via different apps, let’s not lose the smile.  It is as precious as gold dust and shines brighter than the sun.

Smile, start with your reflection first.

My book Sharks & Lovers is available to download here:

Amazon       Kobo       iTunes