The Eye of a Little God

Perspective

2012-02-12T19:26:00.001Z

Okay, I've got to be honest - this isn't really a writing post, but more a case of me finding something on a message board that I just had to share.

Check this out.

The Scale of the Universe
Seriously, how incredible is that?

It's fascinating, humbling and awe-inspiring all at once. I particularly like the ability to click on every object to find out more about them. Viewing things like this really helps put things into perspective.

I love this stuff, too:

Anyway, hope you like the link - have a good week!

The Post Where I Bore You With My Writing Antics and Current Mood

2012-02-01T00:50:00.000Z

Writing status update:

I wrote a short story yesterday using one of the characters in THE FATE OF BLADES (the current title of my latest project). It felt so good just playing with one of the lesser flames of the story, and I was surprised when I rattled off the several thousand words that made up the story in an hour. I’m letting that one cool for a bit before I take a look, but it was fun just to sit back and let old Banesk the Seeker tell his story. I might be tempted to do a few more in future.

As for the next project, I’m looking to choose between about a dozen new ideas to develop. I think I might flesh out half of them and write the opening chapters of a few to see which I like best before taking them any further. More on that later.

Mood check:

Calm

After the initial stress over sending THE FATE OF BLADES off, I’ve reached the acceptance stage. Whatever happens is out of my hands and now I get to work on the next story while I wait for a response.

I’ve only been trying to write for two years now. Now I know that’s a spit in the ocean compared to a lot of writers, but like most of us who decide to be writers, I’m working hard to improve. And the further I wade out, the deeper the publishing water gets. But that’s okay, I’m in no rush. I’ve got the rest of my life to do this.

Aaand Relax

2012-01-23T00:52:00.000Z

Nearly 1am here and I've got work first thing tomorrow, but I just had to put up a post tonight. Y'see, I just finished FoB, my latest writing project. I've been pushing myself especially hard on this one for the last month or two and really crunching the editing process.

From start to finish its been a long road. I came up with the original idea for NaNoWriMo 2009 and wrote 50k of it then. Then the idea was quietly shelved while I worked on edits for THE HOUSE OF MIRRORS. Once I picked it up again last year, I've re-wrote the story again and again, (with the ending changing at least three times).

So before I ship it off to Agent John for his comments and thoughts, I do have this brief feeling of euphoric satisfaction at finishing my 80k Epic Fantasy YA story and the world in which I've set it.

I think I'm going to celebrate this one with sleep and then send it in tomorrow after work.

So for everyone who reads this and is still beavering away on their wip (work in progress), keep at it. The feeling you get when you apply that last edit and save (to multiple backups, of course), is immense and totally worth all those weekends and late nights you put in.

The Small Victories

2012-01-15T22:44:00.000Z

So...this weekend I finished writing my current project, FoB!

But wait! (suddenly a wild plot complication appears) I still have to give it yet one more read-through edit and I want to add little excerpts showing the larger world setting before each of the chapters.

So yeah, admittedly it’s not quite done and dusted, but I learned when I wrote my first book that you have to celebrate these small victories whenever they crop up.

When I first started writing FOB - the stakes kept rising, nations and even gods began to stick their oar in. The story seemed far too big to tell as the plot began to sprawl and I didn't know where to start the story never mind where to finish it. I realised that the tale of these two characters and this world was too big for one book.

That revelation was pretty scary. Taking on a series wasn't what I'd planned. AT ALL. But there it was and once I'd adjusted and figured out what were the most important parts of the story that I wanted to tell (plus a timely comment from agent John - cheers, man), it all started to come together. And crucially, for the first time since I started the project and the various drafts and outlines, I began to really love the plot and the way it built to a titanic climax.

Now, with the experience of writing for an older age group, a longer story and using different tense to my last project and the dual POVs, I feel that I’ve learned a lot from the experience of writing this story.

I'll blab on some more about FOB in future posts (be warned!), but right now the red pen of doom awaits...

So, as I crack on with the read-through line edits, join me in raising your glass of chocolate milk to toast all the small victories.

*Apologies to Faith No More for stealing the title to this post.

Full of crazy?

2012-01-12T10:14:00.000Z

Hey, this is an unplanned blog post.

Project update: The crunch on FoB continues and I’m rapidly approaching the finale (promise, John!).

Anyhoo—the reason I couldn’t help posting today was this quote from Philip Roth that I saw on Google. I just had to share. Enjoy:

“I don’t ask writers about their work habits. I really don’t care. Joyce Carol Oates says somewhere that when writers ask each other what time they start working and when they finish and how much time they take for lunch, they’re really trying to find out, “Is he as crazy as I am?” I don’t need that question answered.”

Ha. It’s true, isn’t it? We all want to know how long other writers work, how much do they outline and how many edits they do. I guess Roth is right—we’re all crazy for wanting to do this, but definitely a good kind of crazy.

2011 Reading List

2012-01-11T20:44:00.000Z

Remember when I said I was keeping a list of the books I was reading in 2011? No, well I did, and I kept to it. With only a little further ado I’ve put the list below. I haven’t included much of the non-fiction books I’ve read, because I can’t say I read them cover to cover, more a case of dipping in here and there and picking up little facts. I’ve also omitted the tons of graphic novels I’ve ploughed through, keeping the list mainly to fiction.

JANUARY (5)

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle

Fire by Kristin Cashore

Mr Gum and the Secret Hideout by Andy Stanton

The Thin Executioner by Darren Shan

Nerd Do Well by Simon Pegg

FEBRUARY (5)

Sabriel by Garth Nix

Mistborn bk1: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

1984 by George Orwell

MARCH (4)

Tripwire by Lee Child

The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

The Artful Edit by Susan Bell

Well of Ascension Mistborn bk2 by Brandon Sanderson

APRIL (8)

Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Space Captain Smith by Toby Frost

Beast Quest – Arcta by Adam Blade

Beast Quest – Carnivora by Adam Blade

Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher

Room by Emma Donoghue

MAY (5)

Horowitz Horror by Anthony Horowitz

Mistborn Book 3 by Brandon Sanderson

The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens

Writing for Comics with Peter David

Maximum Ride: School’s Out Forever by James Patterson

JUNE (4)

The Gift by James Patterson

The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman

Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

The Reapers by John Connelly

All the Scott Pilgrim books by Bryan Lee O'Malley

JULY (5)

Darth Bane – by Drew Karpyshyn

The Painted Man by Peter Brett

Desert Spear by Peter Brett

Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn

Whip It by Shauna Cross

AUGUST (5)

Nation by Terry Pratchett

John Dies @ The End by David Wong

Cherub by Robert Muchamore

The Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn

Leviathan by Scott Westerfield

SEPTEMBER (7)

The Last Four Things by Paul Hoffman

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

Maximum Ride: the Angel Experiment by James Patterson

Just William by Richmal Crompton

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child

Cherub: Class A by Robert Muchamore

OCTOBER(7)

I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

More Strangeness from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

Bleach 1-5 by Tite Kubo

Skullduggery Pleasant: Death Bringer by Derek Landy

NOVEMBER(5)

The Passage by Justin Cronin

Snuff by Terry Pratchett

Beast Quest Ferno by Adam Blade

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

DECEMBER(2)

The Enemy by Charlie Higson

Child of God by Cormac McCarthy

Looks like I kind of wimpered out at the end of the year, doesn't it? My excuse was, that I spent a lot of my time delving through non-fiction titles on the crusades, ancient battles and archery. All in all though, 62 books for the year isn’t all that bad. Then again, I know a library colleague of mine who has gone through significant;y more than that.

Still, it's a lot more than I thought. I enjoyed looking back at the list and intend to do the same for this year. How about you? Did anything in that list catch your fancy? Any recommendations for 2012? I'm all ears.

PS- You might be wondering which was my favourite out of that lot? It was Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. Deathbringer by Derek Landy came real, real close, but I really didn't want the adventures of Kvothe to end, and now can't wait for the next one)

Hello 2012. I'm back

2012-01-07T16:33:00.001Z

So here I am.

Back and nothing’s changed. Well not for me anyway. I’m still writing, still on the same story, still trying to wrap it up.

Yep, that High Fantasy YA project FOB, that I’ve been writing for so long is still infuriating and fascinating me. Every time I go through the manuscript (70k-ish to date), without fail I will think of something else to add/remove/change. Whether it’s a new location that would fit the scene far more effectively than the previous one or adding additional chapters or wrinkles to add depth to the story, FoB is just the project that just refuses to be finished (sorry John). It’s getting so bad that I’ve dropped whole characters, changed umpteen names, chopped about eight chapters out, added seven more and I’m currently rewriting the whole of the back third to make it end how I want. And this is all before my agent gets to see the full thing.

Don’t get me wrong, I still find the original idea as cool as anything, and the premise is definitely the kind of book I’d want to read, but aargh. When will it all end?

Part of me wants this current project to be done, so I can submit it to my agent and move on to one of the next two or three ideas I have for my third book. However, the more sensible and bossy side of my brain keeps chirping up with, ‘Hey, this is what writing is. Finish this first and make it as good as you can.’

Much as I hate it, that bossy side is right. So that’s why I’ve been quiet for such a long time (so long in fact, I’m sure this post is being cast out into the void with no one caring to hear it – and hey, I’ve been absent for so long, it’s to be expected).

This year my New Year’s resolution is more a restating of that rule I made. I’m going to finish whatever I start (I'm looking at you, FoB).

Before I go, a question to the void out there – did you make any rules when you started writing? And have you broken or changed them since?

PS I’ll be back in a few days with my 2011 reading list. Yeah, that's right - a list. So if this post alone didn’t scare you away from this blog, then I'm sure that the topic of the next post sure will.

Goin dark.

2011-05-29T19:09:00.000+01:00

Apologies, but new posts are going to be few and far between while as I attempt to finish my YA fantasy project. I will be back with more nonsense and vague ramblings, but not for a little while.

I'll still be reading all your blogs and commenting when I can, but my time is in such short supply, I'm afraid that a sacrifice has to be made.

This is not goodbye (you can't get rid of me that easily), more of a blogging vacation while I go pound that wip o' mine into readable shape.

Video games

2011-05-25T00:29:00.000+01:00

Random post today – video games.

Massive geek that I am, I love them and I’m posting that useless tidbit because there have been a couple of corkers released recently. But because this blog is pretty much all about writing and stories, I’m going to focus on the stories of the games (without giving away any spoilers of course).

Games have come a long way since when I first played them on the old rubber-keyed ZX Spectrum (yep, that old), and the stories are really immersive.

Portal 2 – How can you not love a game that lets you create inter-spatial portals to overcome fiendish puzzles? I loved the original (which was based on puzzle game, Narbacular Drop and made for Valve by most of the original team), and this one is even better. Never-mind how addictive and intuitive the game is, the story is fantastic, beautifully paced and really funny. If you have any interest in games, I can’t recommend it enough.

Here's a lego model of Portal 2:

pic from http://thequeenofepicfail.tumblr.com/post/4623296513/zomg-lego-portal

Another great story game that has just been released is LA NOIRE by the infamous Rockstar games (yeah, those Grand Theft Auto guys).

This time you’re a cop rather than a gangst(a/er). It’s classy and really goes out of its way to evoke that 1950s feel. Think Black Dahlia or LA Confidential.The facial animation is superb and the level of detail the designers and writers have put into the game is stunning (the game is 3 DVDs worth - 3!).

Agree, disagree, don’t care? Have another game you’d like to suggest with a great story? Think games are eeevil, by stealing potential readers from books? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear your opinion.

Scene ABCs

2011-05-21T23:19:00.000+01:00

pic from http://mrsschroeder.yolasite.com/writing.php

Before I start, I have to admit that the inspiration for this post came from the wonderful PK Hrezo’s blog post on Writing Your ABCs. It’s a great post.

Anyway, when I’m not writing, or librarianing (yeah, it’s not a word – but it could be one day), I’m also studying to be a Teaching Assistant. As such, I study a lot of systems and theories on behaviour (and child behaviour in particular) and one of the strategies on understanding challenging behaviour is the ABC system.

A is for Antecedents – What happened before the incident?

B is for Behaviour – Where did it happen and what else was going on at the time?

C is for Consequences – What happened after?

As much as this applies as an approach to understanding challenging behaviour in children, I think it’s a pretty useful thing to keep in mind when writing a scene. Yeah, all right, so it’s not a great stretch, but I'm on a roll here so go with it, okay?

So, without further ado - The ABC of a scene.

Antecedents – Nothing occurs in a vacuum, there’s always a reason for and a back story to any event (even if it’s just the scene immediately before it). I’m trying to keep this in mind when I’m starting a scene.

Behaviour – Character motivation and triggers. Another thing I have to remember to make clear when I’m writing - that my characters have to be acting in a consistent manner and pursuing exactly what they want the most in every scene and acting true to their natures.

Consequences – This is my favourite part - the aftermath. The ‘what now’ after you’ve set your characters up, had them face whatever conflict you’ve chucked at them or they’ve generated between them. What happens as a result of the scene? It can be a great springboard for launching into the next scene or propelling the character deeper into the story and plot.

(Alternatively, you could have Conflict as C – there usually has to be some in each scene. Obviously this is not always a fight, maybe it’s a disagreement, an obstacle, or conflicting desires between characters. Then again that would make it the ABCC, which isn’t quite as memorable)

As always thanks for taking the time to visit and read. Please leave a comment if you’ve got a system or guideline for writing your own scenes, or you’d just like to say hi or whatever.

Teaser Tuesday - 17th May edition

2011-05-17T22:20:00.000+01:00

Kind of a late entry to the Teaser Tuesday Feature, but what the hell - since when have I EVER been on time?

Here's the teaser blah as per:
It's a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can join in. All you have to do is:

· Grab the book you’re reading at the moment

· Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

· TRY NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (don’t give that awesome plot twist away!)

· Mention the title & author.

Today's book is a little different too, it's Writing Comics with Peter David No surprises who the author of this one is. It's a seriously cool book, even if you don't write comics (I don't either, I just love them).

The excerpt is from Page 87 under the heading, "I'M DEAD, BUT I GOT BETTER" and addresses ways in which death can have meaning considering in comics (and in sci-fi, fantasy, horror films and books) that people die and come back ALL the time. His advice is:

Use the most mundane means of death as possible

Don't have your character vanish into the ether after being hit with a blast from an Illudium Q-36 explosive space modulator and expect your readers to believe that your guy is dead.

When I decided to kill off a major character in FALLEN ANGEL, I had him shot six times at close range including a bullet through the head, and threw him off a high balcony besides, and still fans wrote in and asked if he was really dead.

Well, it made me chuckle.

Hope you had a Tuesday that was better than that Fallen Angel character.

The Library

2011-05-16T22:55:00.000+01:00

I love books and if you're reading this, then it's a pretty good bet that you do, too.

Sometimes though, I forget just how important books are. I spend most of my days surrounded by them and my evenings trying to write them. But today was different. Today I got a pretty good reminder.

In my day job I'm a librarian, and for the past two weeks, along with my colleagues, I've been helping get a new library set up and running. Yeah, given the current political climate, a new library opening in England is about as rare as stepping in unicorn droppings. Well, today was the grand opening.

New Library!

Long story short - it was a very long and chaotic day. I'm exhausted and I'm pretty sure everyone else who was involved today is as well. However, seeing the faces of a visiting class of school children and regular patrons alike as they entered the new building made it all worthwhile.

The new building is pretty sweet, but as excellent as the location is, it was the sight of all the books that really made them happy. I lost count of how many people came up to me to tell me how great it was that we had all these new books. Several didn't seem to be able to choose, there were just too many books! It's great that in a world with so many things competing for our attention, that the very sight of new books still has the ability to please people.

Not quite this many books, but you get the idea.

I'm pretty frazzled and all this might be coming out a bit garbled, but I guess I'm just trying to say libraries aren't dead and buried yet and today, judging by the turn-out, was proof to me of how important they are to the community.

Tired but Inspired

2011-05-11T00:01:00.000+01:00

It's been an exhausting day in an exhausting fortnight.

But, if like me, you're feeling empty and fried - completely lacking in energy and ideas, then please take a look here. Seeing the Like an Artist strip inspired and cheered me up no end.

Many thanks to Janet Reid, Literary Agent for the link.

Now I must sleep.

Teaser Tuesday - 3rd of May edition

2011-05-03T21:10:00.000+01:00

Oh, yeah. Contain your excitement, Teaser Tuesday is back!

Again with the rules:

TT is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can join in. All you have to do is this:

· Grab the book you’re reading at the moment

· Open it on a random page

· Share a few “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page (it used to be 2, but I can't help breaking this particular rule)

· TRY NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (don’t give that awesome plot twist away!)

· Mention the title & author.

Today’s teaser is a classic, I'm re-reading yet again - The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch:

‘I don’t know quite how to put it. I’ve got kids that enjoy stealing. I’ve got kids that don’t think about stealing one way or another, and I’ve got kids that just tolerate stealing because they know they’ve got nothing else to do. But nobody, and I mean nobody, has ever been hungry for it like this boy. If he had a bloody gash across his throat and a physiker was trying to sew it up, Lamora would steal the needle and thread and die laughing. He...steals too much.’

‘Steals too much,’ the Eyeless Priest mused. ‘Steals too much. Of all the complaints I never thought I’d hear from a man who trains little thieves for a living.’

‘Laugh now,’ the Thiefmaker said, ‘here’s the kicker.’

Have you read this book? If not, I definitely recommend it and the sequel, Red Seas Under Red Skies.

Hell, even Chuck Norris loves this book

See?

Leave a comment and let me know what you're reading at the moment.

April Reading Update

2011-04-29T15:18:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the lack of posting this week – it’s been half-term and I’ve also been busy writing my wip. However, this month I did get through quite a few books –

The first of which was The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.

Another fantastic book and a worthy follow-up to The Name of The Wind. If you like fantasy, this guy is well worth reading. I can’t wait for the next instalment to find out what Kvothe gets up to.

Space Captain Smith by Toby Frost Enjoyed this one. Especially liked picking out the sci-fi influences as they cropped up in the story. The author gave an excellent workshop on fantasy and sci-fi plotting at the York Literary Festival.

I also raced through a couple of Beast Quest books (Arcta and Carnivora) by Adam Blade. They’re a popular series of adventure books for under tens and are only ten thousand words each, but they've nailed their reader level and manage to tell their stories with great economy. They're really popular over here in the UK.

As recommended by someone I met at York Literary Festival, blog, Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose. This was a very useful book on analysing fiction as you read it to study what effects a devices a writer has used.

After those, The Dangerous Days of Daniel X by James Patterson was my next read. I know James Patterson gets a lot of flack (guess it goes with the territory when you’re as successful as he is), but this was a fast and enjoyable read. His chapter structure practically forced me to keep reading and the plot whizzed along.

Next up was Sapphique by Catherine Fisher.

This is the wonderful sequel to Incarceron and I was glad to find out how the story continued. Brilliantly written and some great ideas - I loved it.

A fellow librarian told me I just had to read Room by Emma Donoghue, and she wasn’t wrong. The voice and perspective of the five-year-old main character took me about thirty pages to get comfortable with but after that I was hooked right until the end.

As for May, I'm halfway through Walter Tevis' The Hustler. I loved the film so much (see previous blog post on that here), but I'd never read the book so I thought I'd sort that out.

What have you been reading? Any great books you've picked up recently? Any recommendations? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Anything Can Be Great

2011-04-23T00:24:00.000+01:00

Hello again. Enough wallowing in the depressive post I left you with last time (Here). I'm pleased to say I'm over that man-flu thing just in time for a family trip to Edinburgh and this time I've got something a bit more upbeat and personal -- my favourite film.

I watch a lot of films and always have done, but THE HUSTLER is definitely my favourite (based on Walter Tevis' novel of the same name).

It's not because it's about pool (I can barely play the game), or even because of the great performances by great actors (Newman, Laurie, Scott, and of course, Gleason). No, the reason it's my favourite is because of why Paul Newman's Fast Eddie does what he does. He's an extremely flawed character, a self-destructive man, but one with a streak of brilliance. And nowhere is his character and motivation better expressed than in a scene with his girlfriend, where he's bothered because his manager, Bert, called him a born loser:

"You know, like anything can be great, anything can be great. I don't care, BRICKLAYING can be great, if a guy knows. If he knows what he's doing and why and if he can make it come off. When I'm goin', I mean, when I'm REALLY goin' I feel like a... like a jockey must feel. He's sittin' on his horse, he's got all that speed and that power underneath him... he's comin' into the stretch, the pressure's on 'im, and he KNOWS... just feels... when to let it go and how much. Cause he's got everything workin' for 'im: timing, touch. It's a great feeling, boy, it's a real great feeling when you're right and you KNOW you're right."
- 'Fast' Eddie Felson, The Hustler (1961)

It's a beautiful speech. When I first watched that scene and heard those words, I got chills. Each word hit me as true.

That feeling of excellence is how I'd love to feel about writing. Working on a story and shaping it, whittling away all the unnecessary words and details, all the while knowing you're right, that it's all under your control as you're typing it in.

Needles to say, I'm not there, I'll probably never make it to that state. I second guess myself, I backtrack and wonder, 'is this interesting enough? Is it needed? Is this right?' But I'm going to keep writing, and one day I hope I'll get to feel, even for a minute, like Fast Eddie felt in The Hustler.

Monday Blues

2011-04-17T23:15:00.000+01:00

Hope you had a good weekend, even if it’s almost a distant memory as the long weekly grind begins once more.

Yes, today’s post is the depression post! Yayy! I’m full of man flu and feel as miserable as the Grinch (pre-heart growth), so here’s some book-based misery from around the web to share.

(Apologies if the following links detrimentally affect your mood.)

I’m kicking things off with a sobering dose of reality from the Inklings blog on

The Sadness of Books We Can’t Sell

Well, as great as that post was, it wasn’t much fun to read. How about I post a quote from some famous author? That's useful. I mean, who wouldn't be inspired by some words of wisdom by a great writer? That’s a sure-fire remedy for cheer.

“Writers are a little below clowns and a little above trained seals.” - John Steinbeck

Oh dear. Okay, so that was a bit of a downer, how about we try some humour to make up for it?

Here’s an article from that hilarious parody site, The Onion, about author book promotions:

Author Promoting Book Gives It Her All Whether It's Just 3 People Or A Crowd Of 9 People

Hmm, still not that cheery. But fear not, even though it’s majorly out of place in this slough of despond, here at the bottom of my blog barrel, I have a positive final link – one that combines my love of sci-fi with my favourite sporting activity. I give you, ladies and gentlemen – Jedi Badminton!

Now there’s a racquet I’d buy.

Have a good week. Hopefully smiles, rainbows and unicorns will return in the near future.

Now Boarding - First Class to the Land of Fiction

2011-04-14T21:35:00.000+01:00

Okay, I'm the first to admit I daydream - a lot. And most of the time it's about books I've read. I can't help it, I'm a sucker for strange and unusual worlds, most of which come from the wonderful fantasy and science fiction genres.

So today, while munching on lunch, I started wondering where I'd like to go if I took a holiday in one of the books I've read.

Should I go somewhere faraway from it all?

Or try somewhere surreal?

I've heard Rivendell in the Autumn is lovely.

Perhaps something more urban,

like maybe a visit to Chiba City?

Or a weekend break in

The Big Wahoonie itself, Ankh Morpork?

Lazer that I am, I'd probably like to book a room at Elrond's pad and take it easy (providing there aren't any group bookings with hobbits tearing about the place, of course).

How about you? Which fictional setting would you like to take a holiday in?
(and did you get all the books referenced above?)

Teaser Tuesday - April 12th

2011-04-11T23:51:00.000+01:00

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted one of these - same rules as before.

Teaser Tuesday is a meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can join in.Just Grab your current read, then open to a random page and share two (2) “teaser” sentences (okay, so this time I cheated) BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!). Don't forget to mention the title & author.

This teaser is from The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. I'm almost finished this book and I don't want it to end. This is a story I want to keep reading on and on.

This excerpt is more than two sentences, but I can't help myself:

She cuffed me on the side of the head. "Get over yourself, you melodramatic ass. You can fool them, but not me."

Vashet held her hand to her chest as if gossiping. "Did you hear what Kvothe brought back from the sword tree? The things a barabarian cannot understand: silence and stillness. The heart of the Ademre. What did he offer to Shehyn? Willingness to bleed for the school."

She looked at me, her expression trapped between disgust and amusement. "Seriously, it's like you stepped out of a storybook."

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (page 810).

So, what are you reading at the moment?

Show Don't Tell?

2011-04-08T17:39:00.000+01:00

I don’t know about you, but I was always told show don’t tell.

That’s all well and good, but if I show everything and tell nothing – it’s going to make for one very detailed and very boring book. There are times when I just have to summarise or zoom out and say ‘this stuff happened’ to keep the story going and the reader interested.

So even though ‘show don’t tell’ is one of the big advice commandments to people who start to write, it comes with rather a large caveat. I bet that if you take a look in the novel you’re reading at the moment you’ll find many instances of telling. It’s just got to be done sometimes.

But this begs the questions, ‘When?’ And, ‘How will I know when to tell and when to show?’

I’ve just started READING LIKE A WRITER by the fantastically-named Francine Prose (seriously, with that name, her becoming a writer was destiny). Anyway, it’s a really good book, with some great insights, and one of these is this very issue of show and tell. On pages 24 & 25, Francine (because I’m on a 1^st name basis with all the authors whose books I read – whether they know it or not) says, “Needless to say, many great novelists combine "dramatic" showing with long sections of the flat-out authorial narration that is, I guess, what is meant by telling. And the warning against telling leads to a confusion that causes novice writers to think that everything should be acted out ... when in fact the responsibility of showing should be assumed by the energetic and specific use of language."

James Scott Bell has her back, when he advises that telling be a, “shortcut, to move quickly to the meaty part of the story or scene.”

He added to that with, “Showing is essentially about making scenes vivid. If you try to do it constantly, the parts that are supposed to stand out won't, and your readers will get exhausted."

I kind of touched on this in the Psychic Distance post (my word - that term still sounds spooky) last week and discussed it in the comments. The nutshell was that showing and telling isn’t a binary thing (there’s no either or); it’s more of a spectrum you can slide up and down depending on the effect you want to give.

So in summary, I guess that I should be showing the scenes that matter in my stories - the parts I want the reader to pay attention to, and the instances that really matter. And the rest? Well, I’ll tell you those.

Agree? Disagree? TLDR? Please leave any comments/spam/derision below.

York Writing for Children Workshop

2011-04-04T22:52:00.000+01:00

Okay, so I know I said I'd post some more notes from York Festival of Writing. And I really was about to post on my notes from Nicola Morgan's workshop on Writing for Teenagers and Children today, when she only went and did it for me! I think I'm right in guessing you'd rather have her notes than mine.

Nicola's Blog is Help! I Need a Publisher!

Yes, the crabbit old bat has posted the notes for her York workshop here. If you write for children or teenagers (and I'm talking picture book all the way on up to Young Adult), you owe it to yourself to check it out. Nicola's written about 90 books and her latest is Wasted.

While the workshop was full of gems of information, I really liked her mention of the Safety Net principle. This was where as the age range goes up, the safety net gets further and further away and the danger can increase in the story.
For younger readers, the safety net needs to be fairly close to the reader, they need to be sure the hero will be all right and all will end well.
But when writing for teenagers – the trick is to make them think that there is no safety net, that anything can happen (but it does need to be there as you are the responsible reader ensuring that there is a positive resolution).

Hope you enjoy the notes.

March Reading Update

2011-04-02T18:28:00.000+01:00

A little late, but here are the books I got through last month.

Tripwire by Lee Child

The third Jack Reacher book, but my first. No wonder Reacher is so popular. This had good action, a great voice and believable characters.

The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

If you've followed or read this blog before, you probably knew all about The Heroes from my frankly embarrassing fanboy gushing over this book. Needless to say, I loved it from the dark and gritty style, the black humour, to the wince-inducing action scenes. As good as Best Served Cold (which I thought was his best), in my opinion.

The Artful Edit by Susan Bell

As recommended by Bryan Russell (thanks, Bryan). This was a great book on editing, and just what I needed for my current YA story in progress.

Well of Ascension Mistborn bk2 by Brandon Sanderson

After reading the first book in this trilogy in February, I had to pick up part 2 and I'm glad I did. The story moves on from the first book with some great plot twists and takes it in a new direction without moving away from the tone of the first. Where book one was a heist of sorts, this one is a siege.

What's next?

A load of my next tbrs are on their way:

I've got the Alchemist (as recommended by SLD), Wasted, Space Captain Smith, A Secret Alchemy, and Reading Like a Writer all en-route.

But first, I'm starting The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. I loved his debut novel (The Name of The Wind), and have been waiting for this one to come out. However, it's one of those books you kinda wish you had a Kindle for - in hardback this thing's a monster thousand pages!

More on Voice - Psychic Distance

2011-03-31T09:23:00.000+01:00

An alternative title to today's post could be, More Info Stolen From Other Writers at York.

Hope you enjoyed Tuesday's post on Writer's Voices from the notes I cribbed in Emma Darwin's Writer's Voices workshop and mini-course at York. Today I've got another one on voices with a technique Emma used, it's called Psychic Distance.

(But not this kind of psychic, obviously)

This was a lightbulb moment for me. Emma described the different levels of closeness with the character we are narrating. It reminded me of the way a camera zooms in and out in a film depending on the effect the director wants to give. This applies to 1st as well as third person viewpoints.

Level 1 - Cold and remote. Informational with little to no emotion. A very zoomed out, wide-spread view.

Example: It was the winter of the year of 1853. A large man stepped out of a doorway.

Level 2 - Slightly closer in than before, but there is still quite a distance between the reader and the character described.

Example: Henry J Warburton had never much cared for snowstorms.

Level 3 - Stronger emotion begins to colour the narrative here.

Example: Henry hated snowstorms.

Level 4 - The voice of the character increases and greatly affects the narration.

Example: God how he hated these damn snowstorms.

Level 5- Right inside the character's head. This is extreme close-up (in a film this would be voice-over narration from the character). We are seeing and feeling everything the character feels.

Example: Snow. Under your collar, down inside your shoes, freezing and plugging up your miserable soul.

(Examples are from John Gardner's The Art of Fiction)

Looking at the above scale, I think my default is about level 3 when writing, but I vary it by going up and down the levels depending on the action. Until now it wasn't a conscious thing, and was something I did more by luck and instinct. Now I know this, I can use it to deliberate effect.

More removed the narrative (eg. Level 1) – the more objective and reliable we take it as. The closer and more subjective, the less reliable they tend to be. This is because the narrative on very close is so subjective and might only focus upon the view of the one person.

The pace of the story can also be affected depending upon distance used. The more removed (ie Level 1), the faster you can move, covering both ground and information.

You can also see how the scale slides from Level 1 - All Telling, to Level 5 - All Showing, with the varying degrees in between.

There was more, a lot more, but I hope this little bit is as helpful to you as it was to me. For a more coherent and detailed view of this topic, I urge you once more to visit Emma's blog, where I’ve been trying to sponge up as much info as I can.

Who said that? The Writer's Voices

2011-03-29T11:51:00.002+01:00

No Teaser Tuesday this week, it'll be back next week.

One of the most popular workshops at The York Writing Festival this year had to be Emma Darwin's talk on voice, and with good reason. She is the talented author of The Mathematics of Love, and A Secret Alchemy as well as a Creative Writing lecturer with the OU. I attended her mini course on Friday (where, with the lovely author, Debi Alper, they walked us through practical uses and types of voice), and her shorter, but no less useful workshop on Sunday. You can find vast quantities of writerly info at her blog, This Itch Of Writing.

But what is voice?

(pic courtesy of Simply Speaking)

It's something I always struggled to define, because it's not really a separate, quantifiable element, but more an integral part of the writing as a whole. And because I couldn't say exactly what it was, I wasn't even sure if I was writing with one.

However, in defining voice, Emma stated that it's not just what is said, but also a case of how it is said.

She went on to expand on the idea by saying that, Voice is the human element in the story; the personality, language and mood of the character it is focussing on. It's not just throwing in a bit of dialect and writing longer or shorter sentences. It's how your character views the world that comes through on the page (if it doesn't then you don't know your characters well enough).

When a reader starts your story, they are asking who the characters are and what kind of book it is; the voice is the contact with the reader that lets them know exactly that. You can find an example of this in every book: take what you're reading (or even a book you haven't started yet), and read the first page. By the time you get to page two, you will have a general idea of the mood and tone of the book, the type of character who's talking, and even the kind of places it's going to take you.

With most commercial authors on the shelves, the voice is the reason why they are there (okay, plot and characters all come into it too, of course), but a lot of people will buy a book by an author they've read before because they know what they're getting. The authors have a distinct way of telling a story and if you like it then you will buy more of their books for that same style and consistent voice.

The voice you choose depends upon the purpose of your story. What are you trying to say will influence how you say it.

More on Thursday, with a practical look on varying the voice in your writing with Emma Darwin's Psychic Distance.

York Festival of Writing - the last day

2011-03-28T00:04:00.000+01:00

Okay - I made it back. (actually I got back hours ago. The truth is, I've been particularly tardy in posting as per usual, but a guy has to see the family, unpack, eat, and let's not forget the essential catching up on missed TV. I'm sure you all understand, yeah?)

Today passed by in a bit of a whirl.Where Saturday was the market and the state of publishing, Sunday was all about the nuts and bolts of writing.

After a quick panel Q&A with agents and publishers, came the workshop I came for: Writing for Teenagers and Children with Nicola Morgan.

I already follow the Crabbit Old Bat's blog - Help! I need a Publisher! (her words not mine), and have learnt so much from her posts it was good to meet her and listen to her give her talk. The hour with her was crammed with detail and practical advice of things to be aware of when writing for children. I seriously recommend you take a look at her blog if you're interested in writing in that area (and even if you aren't, it's still incredibly handy).

Straight after that came another workshop, this time on The Writer's Voices, with the excellent Emma Darwin (author of The Mathematics of Love and A Secret Alchemy, as well as being an Associate Creative Writing Lecturer).

Her workshop was full of examples and exercises that got the largely hung-over crowd working on establishing the various distances of voice that can be used in writing. You can find loads more info on her blog: This Itch of Writing.
(I've just discovered her site, and it looks to be an absolute treasure hoard of writing advice)

Last, but certainly not least, I sat in on Toby Frost's workshop on Creating Worlds.

He focussed on doing so for Sci-Fi and Fantasy and looked at plotting in that genre (I also noticed that Emma Darwin sat in on this one too). He certainly loves his sci-fi and fantasy, and I wish I'd had the opportunity just to talk books with him.

I took notes for every workshop and can expand on the incredibly brief updates (and as the film, Starship Troopers once famously asked) Would you like to know more?

So, based on the updates over the last 3 days, let me know if you've got a preference on what aspect of the festival you'd like me to post on first.

York Festival Update Day 2

2011-03-27T00:37:00.000Z

Sorry for the lateness of the post - It's half-past twelve here at night and the evening has just finished.

Today was publishing and marketing day. The keynote speeches were from David Nobbs (the writer of Reggie Perrin), and a publisher and an agent discussing the market and their relationship. Don't want to get into it too much, but the upshoot is there is still a large amount of uncertainty between publishers and some agents in the UK over e-rights and the impact that the Kindle/Ipad will have over here in the UK. (The market isn't quite as large as in the US just yet).

Workshops included more publishing info, marketing and the muse and the market for SF & Fantasy. All were instructive and honest. As always - info to follow on the details.

It was also the Gala dinner, with much dressing up and drinking (and more free books!). Best part of that was getting to meet other writers at the table and just chat about writing and books.

Another good, but tiring day. Tomorrow is all craft seminars and then the trip back home.

See you tomorrow with another update.

York Festival of Writing Day 1

2011-03-25T23:00:00.001Z

Hey there. Today was the start of the Festival of Writing 2011 at York University, and even though it was only a half day, plenty still happened.

After packing the sproglings off to school, I set off. I had no problems getting there, I live just under two hours from York and it was an easy drive.

Note To Self - Do Not arrive too early and if you do, Do Not ask if you can register before they open.
I did and was press-ganged along with another attendee and several of the speakers into setting up the welcome packs.

To be honest it wasn't too bad, and it was good to see everyone mucking in (plus the goody-bags were full of books - excellent).

The day's mini-course on Finding Your Voice was pretty handy and I picked up some good pointers from Debi Alper and Emma Darwin. I promise I'll post more on the courses next week (if I forget, come hunt me down and dispense a reminder with the memory bat).

When the bar opened, the networking followed (hey, Donna, you'd have been proud of the meet n' greet - I was shifting tables and chatting away).

After dinner, came Authonomy Live! where some brave souls got up and read their work before the audience and a panel of agents and authors. Kudos to them all, they were great and the victor was both hilarious and well deserved.

I'll post another update tomorrow, on the first full day of workshops, panels and Key note addresses.

Conference/festival advice

2011-03-23T20:44:00.000Z

This Friday I'm off to the York Festival of Writing to meet with other writer-types, and take part in a ton of workshops. It starts Friday afternoon and ends Sunday evening. So you can bet I'll have plenty to stick on the blog when I get back.

However, I've never been to a conference-type thing before and it's a bit of a step into the unknown.

Will it be like this?

So, if you happen to be going to the York Festival of Writing, be sure to say hi to me. Ignore that pic in the left-hand border, THIS is what I really look like:

But don't let the drool put you off, I hardly ever do that any more (promise!)

In preparation for the festival, I've done a bit of research, got my itinerary all sorted, and checked out some conferencing blog posts like these:
Chris Brogan's 27 Things to do before you go to a conference
(more general than just for writers, but some great tips)
and
Alice Bradley's conference advice
(I particularly liked the ideas to bring snacks and make time for downtime - now that's my kind of advice)

But I would like to ask anyone out there who has been to a conference or writer's festival:

Any tips and what do you wish you'd known before you went?

Teaser Tuesday 22nd March

2011-03-22T17:46:00.000Z

Today I’ve brought back Teaser Tuesday

Quick recap if you want to join in (thanks again, Eagle's Aerial Perspective). TT is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can join in. All you have to do is this:

· Grab the book you’re reading at the moment

· Open it on a random page

· Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

· TRY NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (don’t give that awesome plot twist away!)

· Mention the title & author.

Today’s teaser is from my current read, The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. It’s the second book in an epic fantasy trilogy (the first of the series was, The Final Empire).

Here’s my teaser:

Either he was a kandra, lying to her about his ability to burn bronze, or Vin could hear a rhythm that nobody else could. Nobody except a man a thousand years dead.

The Query plan

2011-03-19T00:41:00.000Z

One for the weekend. After guesting on The Scribbling SeaSerpent blog (cheers Kate), on Wednesday blathering on about how I got my agent, I'd like to talk about the dreaded query again. Specifically the plan I used and needed to keep everything organised. (you can find my earlier post on querying here where I included some great links to blogs with some fantastic query advice that helped me).

This is the plan I used:

1. Make sure that novel of yours is done. That it’s revised and as good as you can make it. Yeah, everyone says this and the reason they do is because it's important. Seriously this is the number one rule. At the end of the day, it’s all about the work you’ve produced.

2. Write that query letter. Make this about your story – not really about the setting or your background (unless it’s directly related to your book, of course), but about who is the main character(s), their opposition and what the stakes are. Try and get a flavour of the voice of your story into the query if you can. Get someone to look at it, a second opinion can be vital in finding any problems, such as saying exactly what you mean, any little typos that might have crept in while you were doing your edits and that you’re not selling your book short by leaving out what makes it unique.

3. Research the agents BEFORE you send the query. You're wasting your time and theirs if you send your letter to an agent that doesn’t rep your genre or type of book. Also, find out what kind of query they like. Be sure you send the email/posted letter with what they ask, too (do you include a synopsis? Do you send chapters and if so how many? And what format?).

4. Keep a record of who you sent your query to and when. I set up a little Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all this. I cut and pasted their details into this and their contacts and requested materials so I could access the information easily when I came to send out a batch (see #5).

5. Send your query out in batches. It’s no good flooding the market with your letter and then realising you need to change something in your query and everyone’s already rejected you. Small batches of 5 or 6 at a time are sufficient until you get a reply on the previous ones. If you're not getting anything other than standard rejections after several batches, maybe you should take another look at that query letter and see if you can improve it.

6. Remember: rejections are not personal, it’s just the nature of the business. They’re not rejecting you, they just don’t feel the details of the story you’ve sent to them are right for them.

7. Hang in there. Don’t be discouraged and stop querying. It only takes one agent to believe in you and say yes. Everyone gets rejected when querying. Everyone.

St. Patrick's Day Flash Fiction

2011-03-16T23:19:00.000Z

It was that time of the year again. It was always that time of year. He staggered into the packed bar and roared, ‘Drink!’

Looking into the mirror behind the counter, he hadn’t changed much since last year, when some young slip of a lass had called him an off-duty Santa. By God she could dance though.

‘What the hell’s this? Green beer? Fer Christ’s sake!’

‘St. Patrick’s Day, y’know? Saint that drove the snakes outta Ireland,’ the barkeep replied.

‘Didn’t drive the snakes out, because there weren’t any to start with,’ he said and took a sip. It was awful so he spat it back into the glass. When he looked up, he saw that his beard was now stained green.

The barkeep raised an eyebrow. ‘You a History teacher?’

‘No, I’m bloody Saint Patrick.’

‘You’re not even Irish.’

‘That’s right, just like Saint Patrick.’

‘You’re crazy. You really think you’re him?’

‘I used to be a man of God. Now look at me. All this in my name.’ The bar was filled with the sounds of drunken revelry and the TV was showing a gaudy, green parade.

‘Whatever. It don’t get you free drinks, pal. Besides, St. Patrick’s dead.’

He looked bitter. ‘Aye, I lived, I died and stayed that way a while, too, ‘til they made me a flaming saint. Now every year I come back. Don’t know where, but it’s always the Seventeenth of March.’

‘What’s the problem? That sounds great.’

‘Think on lad. Would you like this every day?’ Behind him, in the pool hall, a scuffle had broken out and a foul-smelling puddle was growing out from under the toilet door.

‘Suppose not,’ the barman admitted.

‘Exactly. Be grateful you only have this once a year. Now I’ll have a whiskey, and make sure it’s not green.’

Wednesday Update

2011-03-16T17:09:00.002Z

Short post here today as I'm guesting on the lovely Scribbling SeaSerpent blog. Please take a wander over to Kate's wonderful blog to find out how I got my agent.

Pop back here tomorrow to catch my flash fiction piece on St. Patrick's Day as part of the Luck o' the Irish SPD Blogfest (it's all that Colene Murphy and Alexia Chamberlynn's fault). It's not too late to join in either - you can still pop along to Colene's site, sign up and then rattle off something 300 words or so and vaguely St. Patricksy all ready to post it on your blog tomorrow.

Until tomorrow - See you.

Listen to Rolf

2011-03-12T22:42:00.000Z

I’d like to continue on a previous post’s theme of thinking of ways to help anyone who is having difficulty writing. The other night, I was watching Jamie Oliver’s Dream School when I came across a great piece of advice for those who have trouble beginning their writing sessions.

The advice came from the very lips of the sage Rolf Harris.

He gave this piece of advice when talking about painting:

“Kill the white”

He went on to elaborate that a blank canvas can be paralysing for a painter, so the first thing he does is to get rid of that pristine blank page.

You can see where I’m going, can’t you?

Yep (I’m so predictable), if you’re having trouble getting started you can do the same with your writing. It’s no problem for us to begin by free-writing, just scrawling down any old idea to get us going to let the fingers start their familiar movements across the keyboard, or to let that pen begin its dance across the paper.

Think of it like a warm-up routine. Take a paragraph (or however long you like) to get into the habit and relax your fingers and brain to get you into the rhythm you need to start writing that new chapter on your wip.

Like Rolf says: kill the white.

Clash by Colin Mulhern

2011-03-10T21:03:00.000Z

A friend of mine recently had their book published. How cool is that?

Colin Mulhern was an author I met in a local group. He was vastly more experienced than I was, he had an agent and years of experience on me in writing, but he was very supportive of my early and (generally terrible efforts at short horror stories) and encouraged me to keep going. And even though the group went it’s separate ways, I’ve kept in touch with him via email. He writes YA and his debut novel, Clash, recently hit the shelves.

Here’s the description:

Alex: school psycho and under-ground cage-fighting champion. Kyle: talented artist, smart school-boy and funny man. When Alex witnesses a brutal murder at the club he can't go back to The Cage, but without fighting, he starts to lose control. He soon sets his sights on Kyle, a boy he thinks can help. But Kyle has his own problems and he's convinced Alex is one of them. Boys can play dangerous games when they're scared and this one will haunt everyone involved. What will it take for each boy to confront the truth?

Sounds awesome right?

And they say there aren’t enough Young Adult books for boys, well here’s one!

Colin's blog is here

And you can buy Clash HERE

Increasing Writing Productivity

2011-03-08T22:24:00.000Z

I was wandering about the net and came across this:

The excellent Zen Habits blog posted on ways to increase your focus, and I thought this is exactly the kind of trouble I have in trying to write sometimes. I’m sure you’ve all had those days when the words don’t flow and it’s a struggle to get anything down on the page (I have those days all the time).

Some methods I’ve tried to help increase my productivity:

Rewards – There’s nothing like the promise of a nice bar of chocolate, a beer, another level on THAT video game or a bottle of chocolate milk (mmm!) to motivate you to get the necessary done. But you can’t have it until that writing goal of yours is met.

Word Count Diary – This is a tip from dieters I know who swear that keeping a food diary helps make them accountable. It does this by making them aware of their intake and positively adjust it simply because they are writing it down. Well, you could do this to keep track of how many words you have written each day, or keep a weekly quota (that’ll allow you more flexibility). Instead of words it could be chapters if that suits you more.

Timer – Write for a minimum amount of time each day. This is more relaxed and less pressured than the word quota, but still gets that butt in chair (bic), to get you into the habit of writing. You can set the timer to short duration and then build it up or just set the thing to get your started (hey, no one said you had to stop when the timer beeps).

Close the Door – By this I mean try and make sure you won’t be interrupted when you write. It’s really tough to focus on your scene if all manner of disruptions are going on around you. If you write in a public place and can’t close the study/kitchen/dining room door – headphones are your friend.

You can use any or all of these to try and coax yourself into the habit of writing. I hope there’s something up there you can use.

Do you already use any or all of the above? Feel free to mention any other tips you might use to help you keep those words churning out in the comments section.

The Feb Reading Update

2011-03-05T18:39:00.000Z

Well February sure went quick (so fast that it’s now the 5^th and I’m just mentioning it!).

Since tonight is World Book Night (and World Book Day was a couple of days ago) I suppose it is appropriate to post a reading update for the books I read last month.

WOLF HALL by Hilary Mantel. I can see why she won the Booker, the book is brilliant, both in execution and content. Her writing kept me turning page after page and for a book with a single fixed 3^rd person POV, she managed to show so much of the machinations around Henry VIII’s court.

SABRIEL by Garth Nix was recommended by Amanda and I’m glad she did. Sabriel has a great story and it’s very inventive. I read this one in no time at all.

THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy. I’ve read this one before and it’s one of my favourites but I couldn’t help going at it again. The prose is as stark as the setting, but it all works wonderfully. The fantastically bleak dystopian setting is a perfect backdrop to the touching relationship between the man and his son.

1984 by George Orwell. I can’t believe I’ve never read this before now. The paranoia was almost palpable as Winston fell deeper and deeper into subversion against Big Brother.

THE FINAL EMPIRE (MISTBORN BOOK 1) by Brandon Sanderson. This was a great fantasy book and the magic system was so imaginative. Too often with some fantasy I feel like I’m reading the transcription of someone’s D&D game and it’s all so familiar, but not here. This felt fresh and I’d probably be doing it a huge disservice by describing it as Ocean’s 11 meets fantasy with metal-eating Jedis.

Now you may have noticed that I love all the books that I read this month and it certainly looks that way. However, looking at the titles is it any wonder? Some very accomplished writers wrote the above, but they weren’t all the books I started in February.

As a rule, I give a book fifty pages before I decide whether to keep going. Usually the question doesn’t even crop up and I’m halfway through a good book before I notice, but sometimes a book doesn’t grab me – either details keep jolting me out of the story, characters say things that seem preposterous or unrealistic, or the tale takes a turn that really doesn’t interest me in the slightest. When that happens I start to consider whether it’s worth continuing and the Fifty Page Rule pops up. I won’t mention the ones that failed the Fifty Page Rule, it’s no big deal and isn’t fair to ruin anyone’s enthusiasm for a book merely because I couldn’t engage with it.

Do you always struggle through a book, or do you have a rule of thumb that you apply when deciding to read on? Please leave a comment.

Teaser Tuesday

2011-03-01T20:07:00.000Z

Today I came across Teaser Tuesdays on the Eagle's Aerial Perspective blog. It sounded like fun so I thought I'd join in. It's a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can join in. All you have to do is this:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Mention the title & author, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Mine is from The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie (pg 13).

I'm loving this dark, realistic fantasy so far. Every character is memorable which is important in a book about a battle. The humour is dark, gritty and bawdy and the violence isn't glamorised.

Here it is (the Heroes in the teaser quote refers to a circle of stones on a hill):

Whirrun strolled through the gap one of the missing Heroes had left and into the firelight, tall and lean, face in shadow from his hood, patient as winter. He had the Father of Swords across his shoulders like a milkmaid's yoke, dull grey metal of the hilt all agleam, arms slung over the sheathed blade and his long hands dangling.

How about you? Feel free to leave your own teasers in the comments section or links to your blog if you are posting it there. Also any comments on the teaser above are, of course, welcome.

Structure - Brick by Brick

2011-02-25T18:24:00.000Z

I recently read an interesting interview with author John Stephens by Caroline Horn in The Bookseller (a trade magazine we get at my library). You can find The Bookseller online here. Though I’m not sure the interview is up there yet.

If you haven’t heard of John Stephens you soon will. Trust me. He used to be a screenwriter and wrote for Gilmore Girls, The OC, and Gossip Girls (none of which I have ever seen).

What piqued my interest in this interview was the way he became disenchanted with script writing and turned to the creative freedom of writing for children. The first of his MG trilogy, The Emerald Atlas, was bought in a feeding frenzy at last year’s Bologna children’s book fair and is due out April 14^ththis year.

(Click the pic for more info)

But here’s the bit that really interested me - before he wrote his own book, he deconstructed the books of JK Rowling and Phillip Pullman. He pulled them apart to see how they were made, because this is how he learned to write for television.

I thought this was a really good point and something I’ve done with a few books in the past (but admittedly not in the depth he has).

In the interview he said, “Creating a book is like building something brick by brick.”

Does anyone else do this consciously? I have, but it has to be a special effort. For the most part I just read for the sheer pleasure of it and structure and mechanics are all subconsciously stored if at all.

A Choice has been made

2011-02-25T00:19:00.000Z

This is an update - normal service will be resumed with a writing post soon.

I'd just like to say thanks for the great comments on the last blog post, where I canvassed opinion about a little dilemma I was facing – season ticket or literary festival.

Well, I’ve picked the unpopular decision and went for the Festival.

Sorry guys! Feel free at this point to throw popcorn and rotten fruit at your screen (go ahead, I’m not cleaning that junk up).

The reason, and it wasn’t easy, is down to something Stephen said. He asked, ‘What would Shearer do?’(Alan Shearer is Newcastle United’s now retired, but forever legendary striker) I know he meant it to say, ‘keep the damn season ticket, you idiot,’ but of course me being me, I read it differently.

Sorry Al

I thought what would someone with the commitment and dedication that Alan Shearer had as a player do when faced with the choice between improving in his chosen field, and indulging in a hobby. Now I’m not comparing myself to Shearer in any way shape or form, but he was first and foremost, a professional - something I’m aiming for as a writer.

So when I thought about it like that, it made the choice to go to The York Festival to work on my writing seem the more important of the two.

So again, sorry all. I’ve gone against the overwhelming majority - let scorn be poured. :)

Festivals/Conferences: Yay or Nay?

2011-02-19T19:11:00.001Z

Okay, so I’ve posted on writer’s resources in the past, but I’ve never touched on one of the main ones. The reason for that is because I’ve never been to a conference, festival or workshop.

Image courtesy of LIFE.com

I suppose it’s mainly due to lack of opportunity and partly (if I’m being honest) due to shyness.

Well, there is one coming up in York which is about 2 hours away from where I live, and this year I’ve been seriously considering it. The York Festival of Writing takes place 25^th-27^th March this year and I’m weighing up the possibility of going along.

There are quite a few workshops I’d be keen on attending and a fair few talks that pique my interest. One of which is with the crabbit old bat herself, Nicola Morgan. She'll be there giving a workshop I'd love to attend on children’s fiction (her book, Wasted, was runner up and highly commended in the North-East Book Award).

But this is not a decision to be taken lightly, it’s not cheap, and if I do go then that’s the money for my season ticket gone.

So -

Another season of Football?

Or three days at York?

I'm torn. On the one hand, investing in my writing sounds like a great idea and the events do sound like they'll be informative and loads of fun, but on the other, I'm giving up my seat of 12 years just as the toon have made it back into the Premiership and are now looking fairly decent (assuming of course that they stay up this season, which it looks like they will).

I'm almost ready to commit to the festival, but first I'd like to ask the opinion of you ladies/gents/humans/species of indeterminate origin. Are writer’s festivals on the whole worth it?

Do you have any cool stories about conferences you’ve attended? (or even tales of woe and horror?) Please let me know.

Trouble at the Borders

2011-02-15T23:01:00.000Z

Apologies for the godawful title, but in the states it looks like Borders is in big trouble and expected to declare bankruptcy later on this week.

For coherent facts (not at all like this post), see Shelf-Awareness.com

And here Borders to close?

(Thanks to the excellent Janet Reid: Literary Agent for posting on this yesterday)

Of course in the UK, we led the way in Borders financial meltdown. I remember when my local Borders closed up shop in 2009. I took a trip with my family on its last day of opening. It was a great store and the closest bookstore to where we live.

So with libraries being closed both in the states and in the UK, independent bookstores struggling everywhere and now stores like Borders on the outs, what’s next?

I don’t have an e-reader, but is that going to end up our only output for the written word? I didn’t think it would ever happen, but with Amazon’s e-books outselling regular books recently it just might. New technology and gadgets are awesome and really bring out the geek in me, but I’d miss good old ink and paper books. Will Amazon be the last one standing?

Reading That First Draft

2011-02-13T18:08:00.000Z

First draft finished, I’m onto the revising stage of my YA fantasy at the moment, and I don’t know about you, but before I start this stage I like to read the original (if only to see what monster mine hands have wrought). To do that I usually need to have a little space between drafts.

Yeah, well maybe not that much space.

I’m hoping to gain some objectivity by letting it sit for a bit until it’s a little less familiar and working on something else (I did this with my last wip), or it can be doing something as simple as changing the way I look at the story.

For this, I print it out and change the font and size. It’s simple but you’d be surprised at the difference this makes. I find it easier to see what the problems are with the story by making it look different.

Then, I definitely recommend reading your story aloud. It was a tip in one of the writing books I read (sorry, can’t quite remember which) and it’s such a great idea. It really helps me to find the weak points which I mark with a pen and move on. I end up doing this a lot during editing as I look for unrealistic parts, clunky dialogue and places where that text just doesn’t flow.

Over on his blog, Neal Kristopher posted that he does something similar.

But I’m shy, so for that reading aloud I have to find a nice quiet place where I won’t be disturbed. Usually that’ll be the study with closed door, but on occasion (and I can’t believe I’m writing this), I run a good hot bath, and grab a few chapters and a pen. Well, a bath is relaxing, right? (apologies if that conjures up a nightmarish image).

How about you?

That First Draft

2011-02-06T22:34:00.001Z

The first draft is the most exciting and probably the trickiest part of writing. All that white space! The possibilities, the decisions!

As I’ve mentioned I like to have a plan, or at least an outline of sorts before I start, but I never have it all worked out. My outlines usually are more detailed at the start of the story and get increasingly vague, but that’s okay because I like to have room as I’m writing to be able to add to and change the direction of the story.

My method isn’t very scientific, I generally plough on with it, trying to get it done start to finish as quickly as possible.

I know some people recommend writing the parts out of order and assembling it later like some kind of a literary jigsaw puzzle. I’ve tried this before, but it didn’t really work for me. I’m strictly a linear man. I begin at chapter 1 and write through to the end. I try not to stop for fact checking or editing as I go, but like most people (hey, even Joe Abercrombie admitted to it!), I find it really difficult to resist the temptation to go back and fiddle with that sentence that doesn’t seem quite right.

If I come across something that I don’t know or a sentence that I have doubts over, I try to ignore it and eave a full caps note in the text and bold it in red. If I need to know a place name or other detail, I mark it as XXXX and try to keep going.

Why? Because once I get sucked into that tar pit of correcting every word and sentence and fact checking and looking back for consistency errors, then my momentum grinds to a juddering halt and it is so difficult for me to get that back again.

My current story is a YA fantasy that I started a while ago and didn’t finish. When I went back to it after finishing THE HOUSE OF MIRRORS, it was like jogging through treacle as I tried desperately to get back that first draft speed once more.

But I finished. It was a slog, but draft one is complete. Next time: the second draft.

At The Book Signing

2011-02-03T23:17:00.001Z

Sorry for the delay in posting this.

Tonight I went to a book signing. Joe Abercrombie was in town. I’ve been a huge fan of his books and couldn’t pass up a chance to meet and listen to him talk. That and I love me some gritty fantasy with a large slice of coal-black humour. Hey, who doesn’t?

So out I went, trudging through wind and rain-swept Newcastle, to Waterstones to listen to Joe talk about and sign copies of his new book, The Heroes. The evening kicked off with an intro to the book, a reading (Yeah that’s right, I’m calling him Joe - since I’ve met him once It’s first name basis from here on out), and then there were questions.

While he was signing my copy, I asked Joe how many drafts it took him on average to produce his books. The answer? About 5 or 6 drafts – each with a specific focus. A pass for characters, one for plot, and so on And the hardest one? The rough first draft.

What’s the most difficult draft for you? Do you agree with Joe?

UPDATE (because I forgot): At the signing, his editor announced he was in at #3 on the bestseller list - the first UK fantasy author to make the list since David Gemmell (congrats Joe!)

Crit Partners

2011-02-02T00:30:00.001Z

If you have one, I’m sure you already know this, but a good crit partner is an absolute godsend.

As long as it’s not these guys

My critique partner is Holly. She found me over on Nathan Bransford’s forum. We both wanted some honest analysis in order to improve our novels and so we started swapping chapters. She is responsible for helping me knock THE HOUSE OF MIRRORS into a far better shape than it was and had enormous patience with my grammatically challenged sentences. Holly’s on the query trail right now herself, so fingers crossed for her and her cool story
(Hey Holly! #Waves - Hope you don’t mind me saying that).

For those that don’t know – what does a critique partner do?

Well it all depends on what you need.

Objectivity is a must. It’s no good having someone who wants to re-write your story the way they would write it, so they point out everything they hate about what you’ve written.

Constructive. Now I’m not saying the truth has to be sugar-coated, but criticism is a lot easier to swallow if it’s logically laid out and you can see why there is a problem. If they think something isn’t working you want to know why that is so you can decide whether it needs to be fixed (or not).

For me a critique partner is someone who will read my work and point out all the flaws, the bad dialogue, the inconsistencies and even those bits I meant to put in but really only exist inside my head instead of on the paper.

Essentially they are a second pair of eyes, that safety net between my writing the story and everyone (or indeed anyone) reading it. And that is what I try to be to them in return.

I might post later about critiques themselves, but in the meantime if you’re looking for a crit partner, please check out Natalie Whipple’s blog right now – over here! She’s running a sort of writerly Match.com for people seeking critiquers.

Do you have a crit partner, or indeed, are one? If so what do you think is the most important thing about being a critiquer?

Reading and Writing Update

2011-01-30T19:31:00.000Z

Today being Sunday, I managed to get productive and cracked on with my YA fantasy - 2nd draft, baby!

Feels good to get some writing done. I've identified a hefty batch of changes that need to be made. Stuff like shuffling chapters and figuring out that I need a few chapters in earlier to better introduce my characters before their lives get burned to the ground. I also found a spot in the story where there were several chapters of action - that's gonna need to be spaced out for pacing purposes.

But Oh calamity! One of my main characters might need a name change, too. I discovered that Ospen Calder, disaffected assassin extraordinaire, shares a surname with one of Joe Abercrombie's characters. It wouldn't be a problem if his Prince Calder wasn't a main character in his new book, The Heroes (I'll be grabbing a hold of a copy pretty soon).

Do I change it? Or do I pass it off as a coincidence and leave Ospen with his now rather common surname? Seeing as how the man himself is doing a book tour of the UK, I might ask him his opinion on the matter.

Reading Update – Finished my Christmas present book, Simon Pegg’s autobiography Nerd Do Well (thanks Mam!).

Loved his stuff since Spaced and you gotta love a guy who’s making geeks cool, as well as being in some rather fine films to boot. And anyway, Paul is looking great.

I also polished off Darren Shan’s The Thin Executioner.

Must say, I preferred his horror books like the Demonata and Vampire’s Assistant books (sorry, Darren), but it was still a good read. I’m still reading Mistborn and loving it and got my hands on Sabriel.

Finally, I'll leave you with a mild diversion to waste some time on: http://www.lulu.com/titlescorer/index.php

They say they’ve taken the data from the NYT bestseller lists from the last 50 years and boast a 70% success rate using this. I don’t hold too much store in it (and even these guys admit it’s not an exact science), but it’s a bit of fun. Kinda like the magic 8-ball we all know is daft but still can’t help shaking and asking questions.

Books on Writing?

2011-01-29T00:09:00.002Z

At its most basic, all you need is a pen and paper, but there are loads of resources that are incredibly useful for someone that wants to write and today I'm focussing on books on writing. Now I bet if you already write (as everyone who is in my Rogues Gallery does), you already know about a lot of these, BUT before you click away, you might find something in the list below that you haven’t tried before.

It seems there are tons and tons of books on writing, but you know what? I don’t care. I can’t get enough of them. Reading them is almost like an addiction. Sure you don't need to even look at one of them to write. There's nothing stopping you diving straight in there and going for it. But I like the way they make me think about how the author goes about constructing their novel and bring up points that I hadn't considered or might have missed.

Here are a few of ones I’ve found really useful (I've only included the links to Amazon.com so you can get more info about them if you like - I'm not advocating you buy it from them).

Donald Maass writes a mean writing advice book. With both his Writing the Breakout Novel and Fire in the Fiction are really inspiring. When I first read them I couldn’t wait to get back to my desk and try and apply his advice.

Stephen King’s, On Writing, is pretty much universally praised as far as I know (and with good reason). I’ve got copy and read it a fair few times. He just lays it down deadpan and honest.

Sol Stein’s, Solutions For Writers is another that I've found useful (he has others but this is the one I like best).

Orson Scott Card’s, Elements of Fiction Writing - Character and Viewpoints gets down to the nitty gritty and has some great advice on choosing your point of view and which tense to write in.

Anne Lamot’s, Bird By Bird is funny and very informative (loved her chapter on tuning out negative thoughts and also the one on jealousy).

Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style – this is my editing bible. Excellent for grammar advice.

So, books on writing - yea or nay? Are they your cup of tea, or do you hate them?

If you do find them useful, have I missed any that you think are the bee's knees? I'd love to know your opinions on this one.

Check out the shiny!

2011-01-24T22:45:00.001Z

Thanks to Kate over at the Scribbling SeaSerpent blog for awarding me the stylish blogger award (I asked her if it was some kind of mistake, and she hasn’t got back to me yet, so I’m keeping it).

I’ve been told the rules are to give a mention to the person awarding your this honour (go Kate!), and then reveal 7 things about yourself before passing the award on to 15 blogs you recently started to follow).

So, Scribbling SeaSerpent blog mentioned? Check.

Now I guess it’s time for 7 things about me. Wow. This could get dull real fast.

1. I’m working part-time in a library (yay, free books!), and spending the day surrounded by books lets me see what people find popular (in my library this happens to be thrillers and family sagas).

2. When I’m not working at the library, I’m studying to be a Teaching Assistant. It’s great so far and I’m really enjoying the school placement.

3. I don’t drink (yeah, there goes the writer cliché that we’re all boozehounds). I used to, but I’ve since developed quite an allergic reaction to alcohol. So if you ever want to see someone’s face turn scarlet, hand me that glass of wine.

4. I do love a tipple of chocolate milkshake, though. You’ve got to have something to quaff, right?

5. My only real exercise these days is playing badminton a couple of times a week. It’s a sport I love and have played regularly for twenty years or so. Nothing more satisfying than a good smash to release the tension.

6. I’m a huge geek and can’t help it. I love comic books, video games and used to play role-playing games

7. I have the worst luck with sports teams. I’m a Newcastle United season ticket holder and that’s a roller coaster and a half. But as if that weren’t enough, I also follow the Washington Redskins (probably for no other reason than I live in Washington, UK). So, whatever you do don’t ask me to pick a team for you.

So that’s 7 more things than you ever wanted to know about me.

Aaand, bring on the blogs. The following are some of the blogs I follow and without further ado, I would like to pass on the Stylish Blogger Award to:

Between Fact and Fiction

The Journey

The Homeless Writer

Truth, Justice and Other Stuff

Wild About Words

Ya Highway

So I’m Fifty

Weaving a Tale or Two

The Alchemy of Writing