Lots of things moving around here at the moment. Not necessarily getting anywhere, but moving at least. Just sent a short story manuscript out in the mail. Got a couple more drifting around in the electronic submissions ether. Fielded a rejection coming in from the opposite direction. Finally completed the new fantasy detective story I've been working on for a couple of weeks now - thanks, Dot, for making me rewrite the ending! And currently revising the first draft sample material for the new novel pitch (that's the 'shake it all about part' - don't thank me, thank the Department of Tortuous Blog Header Analogies).
Plus, it was warm enough in Nottingham this lunchtime for me to walk outside without the aid of winter garments!
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Monday, 8 March 2010
A writer's playlist
I write in silence. Is that odd? I don't know. A lot of writers like noise, specifically music. Joe Hill has even published a playlist for his latest book Horns. It's a great list, actually, but it bemuses me how Joe manages to put his own words down while Mick Jagger's advising him to have sympathy for the devil.
Not that music's not an inspiration. According to Walter Pater: "All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music." So no wonder music feeds the written word. It's just that, for me, the listening has to be separate to the writing. Maybe I just have trouble multitasking.
Like Joe and many others, I do have a list of songs that have inspired me in my various projects. It's just never occured to me to keep notes on them. But I do recall playing an old Enya track over and over while puzzling over the plotting of Dragoncharm. I think it was called The Celts, and every time I heard it I saw wings. On another occasion I got obsessed with Blondie's Atomic, which was the perfect accompaniment to a scene in Stone and Sun in which Tom Coyote races a pyroclastic flow down the side of the erupting Mount St Helens. Right now, I'm listening to the London Philharmonic's recording of Holst's Planets Suite, but I'm not going to tell you why.
Not that music's not an inspiration. According to Walter Pater: "All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music." So no wonder music feeds the written word. It's just that, for me, the listening has to be separate to the writing. Maybe I just have trouble multitasking.
Like Joe and many others, I do have a list of songs that have inspired me in my various projects. It's just never occured to me to keep notes on them. But I do recall playing an old Enya track over and over while puzzling over the plotting of Dragoncharm. I think it was called The Celts, and every time I heard it I saw wings. On another occasion I got obsessed with Blondie's Atomic, which was the perfect accompaniment to a scene in Stone and Sun in which Tom Coyote races a pyroclastic flow down the side of the erupting Mount St Helens. Right now, I'm listening to the London Philharmonic's recording of Holst's Planets Suite, but I'm not going to tell you why.
Writing Industries Conference
Just a quick entry to say I had a great day at the Writing Industries Conference on Saturday. The event was organised by Writing East Midlands and The Literature Network and held at Loughborough University and, thanks to the fantastic efforts of Aly Stoneman, Damien Walter and all the rest of the team, ran like clockwork. Graham Joyce delivered a great keynote speech entitled The End of the Print Age, and the day was packed with panels and workshops. Hello again to everyone I met there!
Monday, 15 February 2010
Beneath the Loch video
Some years ago I worked for a company that created theme park rides and visitor attractions. While there, I wrote a multimedia "history and myth" show called Beneath the Loch, aimed at families and children. The show used triptych video, surround-sound and animatronics to tell the story of a young otter who embarks on a quest into the depths of Loch Lomond to find the lost village of Camstradden. On the way, the otter plunges through a whirlpool of history and myth, finally discovering the Guardian of the Loch, who collects "all the stories that run down the glens and into the loch".
I've just put a page about the show on my website here. I've included links to some of the many people who contributed to the project, which was led by Nick Farmer. If you were part of the project and I've missed you out, feel free to comment on this post and I'll remedy the situation!
Meanwhile, you can watch a complete video of the show on YouTube here!
I've just put a page about the show on my website here. I've included links to some of the many people who contributed to the project, which was led by Nick Farmer. If you were part of the project and I've missed you out, feel free to comment on this post and I'll remedy the situation!
Meanwhile, you can watch a complete video of the show on YouTube here!
Friday, 12 February 2010
Time Machine creates alternate reality
The University of California, Riverside is allowing scholars to study a rare US first edition of HG Wells's The Time Machine, which differs from the 'official' UK version. Up for debate is whether this 1895 edition was dumbed down for the US market ... or just maybe it was Wells's earlier version of the manuscript. If that's the case, it'd be like finding an extra disc in your DVD box set with a previously undiscovered director's cut (or rejected first draft). Wow!
Check out the whole story over at io9.com. And while you're digging through your shelves for your copy of Wells's original, don't forget to order a copy of Stephen Baxter's awesome - and official - sequel The Time Ships, which Arthur C Clarke, no less, suggested was 'better than the original'!
Check out the whole story over at io9.com. And while you're digging through your shelves for your copy of Wells's original, don't forget to order a copy of Stephen Baxter's awesome - and official - sequel The Time Ships, which Arthur C Clarke, no less, suggested was 'better than the original'!
Thursday, 11 February 2010
The long and solitary trip
Dani Shapiro's hit the nail on the head in her article in the LA Times. Titled "A writing career becomes harder to scale", it's a true insight into the "long and solitary trip" that is writing. I was particularly moved by her line, "Each time we sit down to create something, we are risking our whole selves." So true.
Sunday, 7 February 2010
Setting the story aside
This afternoon I finished writing a 7,500 word short story. And now I've got to set it aside. Tempting though it is to wrap up the manuscript and fire it off to my agent, I know that would be a mistake.
Most of the story's still just in first draft, you see. So, happy as I am with it now, I can guarantee several things. First, it'll be about 500 words too long. Second, it'll have at least one continuity error. Third, there'll be half a dozen places where I missed the chance to thread themes all the way through the narrative instead of just dropping them in when they occured to me. Fourth, for every metaphor that works there'll be another that either falls flat or come over as way too laboured. And so on. All these things will become apparent next time I read the story, but here's the catch: only if I wait. If I re-read it now, I wouldn't see any problems at all.
I don't know what causes this temporary blindness. Maybe it's a side-effect of that punch-drunk feeling you get when the tale you're telling is finally told. Maybe it's just about letting the wine mature before you uncork the bottle. Whatever the reason, this much I know: the best thing I can do now is set the story aside for at least a week, preferably two, before I read it again. By that time, my vision will have cleared enough for me to see all its faults - in Technicolour. With luck, I won't groan and dump it in the trash. With luck, I'll give it the loving nip and tuck it undoubtedly needs, enabling it to become the story I really originally set out to write.
And for those of you who are interested, yes, this is another story in my ongoing series about a private investigator who's good with dimensions. The working title is Missing, which is a terrible title and certainly won't be the one I try to sell it under. The story's a little different to the others in the series, but I'm not going to tell you why. All I will say is that it involves a trip to the zoo. If you want to know more, I'm afraid you'll just have to be patient.
Like me, for now at least, you'll have to set the story aside.
Most of the story's still just in first draft, you see. So, happy as I am with it now, I can guarantee several things. First, it'll be about 500 words too long. Second, it'll have at least one continuity error. Third, there'll be half a dozen places where I missed the chance to thread themes all the way through the narrative instead of just dropping them in when they occured to me. Fourth, for every metaphor that works there'll be another that either falls flat or come over as way too laboured. And so on. All these things will become apparent next time I read the story, but here's the catch: only if I wait. If I re-read it now, I wouldn't see any problems at all.
I don't know what causes this temporary blindness. Maybe it's a side-effect of that punch-drunk feeling you get when the tale you're telling is finally told. Maybe it's just about letting the wine mature before you uncork the bottle. Whatever the reason, this much I know: the best thing I can do now is set the story aside for at least a week, preferably two, before I read it again. By that time, my vision will have cleared enough for me to see all its faults - in Technicolour. With luck, I won't groan and dump it in the trash. With luck, I'll give it the loving nip and tuck it undoubtedly needs, enabling it to become the story I really originally set out to write.
And for those of you who are interested, yes, this is another story in my ongoing series about a private investigator who's good with dimensions. The working title is Missing, which is a terrible title and certainly won't be the one I try to sell it under. The story's a little different to the others in the series, but I'm not going to tell you why. All I will say is that it involves a trip to the zoo. If you want to know more, I'm afraid you'll just have to be patient.
Like me, for now at least, you'll have to set the story aside.
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