Ever the hypocrite, I've been thinking today about the way I should be doing things, as opposed to the things I actually do do.

For instance - Say What You See. I expect its a worthy truism for the wannabe writer, but personally the phrase just reminds me of the insidious TV quiz host, Roy Walker, and his 'hilarious' show, Catchphrase....which always takes me on to the out-take when puzzle pieces were removed in a more than unfortunate order and Mr Chips, the animated performer of said catchphrase charades, was revealed in a compromising right-hand shake...I digress.

What I'm really talking about here is how to capture a scene effectively.

Take today, for example. I've been trying to sum up what the inside of the dome looks like, through the eyes of one of my main characters, Jezebel. Over and over and over again, I've scribbled down variations of the same few sentences, refusing in a donkey-like, if feminine,fashion, to move on until I got it. Yeah, so its a major problem of mine, my consolation being that I read Jeanette Winterson saying something about how she worries over every single word in her books. So I guess its all down to whether you, as a writer, feel the poetry of words is just as significant as the plot - a flowery approach, perhaps, that gives some readers real hard satisfaction and makes other vomit (personally I'll take my chances with the none-regurgitating variety, thanks.)

So, point. Here's the mantra. Remove yourself from the pc, writing pad, typewriter or slate. Close your eyes. Imagine the scene. And say what you see.

Or, alternatively, you could just do what I ended up doing instead. Drink wine. Get pissed and suddenly everything just flows.

c ya xxx