Influence From Write Anything - 29 March 09

This is adapted from an article that appeared on the Write Anything website on March 29, 2009. The original text can be found here.

Influence

Consciously or not, we are all of us influenced by the work of others. Which authors writers do you bear a debt of gratitude to?

Anyone who has read my columns will by now know that one of my major influences was Edgar Allan Poe. Poe was an eclectic author of satire, poetry, crime, detective drama, but is best known for his Gothic horror and macabre short stories. I grew up with these, and Poe has had a palpable influence on the thematic content of my work.

He had a similar heady influence on another writer to influence me, H P Lovecraft. Lovecraft created an entire reality (or unreality) of creatures, gods to the mortal world, a mythos that has been adopted and used by a raft of writers after him. I came to Lovecraft's work comparatively late, but the effect was immediate, so much so that I have now explicitly set my own Long Watch story arc within the Lovecraftian Cthulhu Mythos.

As a departure from the horrific, British writer Terry Pratchett has been part of my reading life since I was in my early teens. Pratchett's Discworld is a fantasy world that is an eerie parallel of ours, part steam-punk, part magic, Pratchett has created a world that satirises our own with such sardonic wit that I frequently have to stop reading as I am laughing too much to focus on the words. Pratchett does not shy away from powerful issues (recent books have focused on racism, war, corruption etc) but demonstrates the power of humour to tackle social issues. Even in quite serious pieces, I try to make room for at least some light touches of humour.

Which writers have had the most influence on your work?

Your opinion is needed!

***EDITED 8 JULY 2009***

Sorry folks, I hadn't realised that the poll would only allow 20 questions. There are now TWO polls, twelve questions each. PLEASE VOTE FOR YOUR FAVOURITE QUESTIONS FROM BOTH POLLS.

Apologies to those who have voted already, please vote again, while I moan about technology...

Those paying attention will know that I have an anthology project in the works called Chinese Whisperings with my long time collaborator (and co-editor) Jodi Cleghorn and eight other writers.

Biography pages will soon be added to the site, and each week one writer will become the spotlight writer for a week. As part of this, and as a fun way to get to know the writers, we'll be answering five questions from a list of 24. Taking a leaf out of Jodi's book, I thought I would leave the choice of which questions to answer open to you, the readers/stalkers of this blog.

So, there's a poll there are two polls following with the 24 questions. I'd like you to tick the questions that most interest you, and the five with the most votes will be the ones I select to answer. As for the other questions? I might decide to give you the answers to them at a later date.

So please, if you would be so kind, get voting! And if you think anyone else would be interested, feel free to share, Digg, Tweet, Stumble etc the link to this post.

Thanks guys!

Which questions should Paul answer for the Chinese Whisperings Anthology? (Part 1)

Pick one book from each decade of your life. Who would you like to give that book to and why?

Which book do you wish you had written?

Would you rather have critical acclaim, or commercial success?

What was the first story you remember doing for the sheer joy of writing (ie It wasn’t a school project or homework!) and how old were you?

What was it that you read that made you want to write your own fiction? Why do you think it had that effect on you?

Looking at the fiction you’ve written to date, what kind of things does your work explore?

Do you write for a living or do you have a day job?

What do you love about writing?

Are there any other writers in your family?

What was the last book you read and why did you choose it?

What book are you currently reading? What do you like/hate most about it?

What is your favourite short story and why?

uggs

Which questions should Paul answer for the Chinese Whisperings Anthology? (Part 2)

Do you have a favourite place to write? If so where is it?

What has been your favourite story to write to date?

Where do you get your inspiration for stories and characters?

Which has been your favourite character to bring to life? What is it about that character you are most drawn to?

What is the worst "knock" you’ve had to recover from as a writer?

Who have been your mentors?

When do you normally do your writing? What do you most like/dislike about writing then?

If you could meet any published writer (dead or alive) who would it be and why?

Who are your favourite authors and why?

If you could trade places with any fictional character (yours or someone else's) who would it be and why?

What is the easiest element of writing for you? What is the hardest?

What advice would you gift your 18 year old self about writing?

ugg boots

Gender and literature From Write Anything - 22 March 09

This is adapted from an article that appeared on the Write Anything website on March 22, 2009. The original text can be found here.

Gender and literature

Recently I had a conversation with someone who had come across my website. They asked if I was targeting a male audience in particular, as my writing seemed masculine in subject matter and style. As I pointed out in my blog, I'm not consciously targeting either male or female readers, although it has worked out that my "masculine" style has attracted a largely female audience!

But to complicate matters, there is the GenderAnalyzer, a software program that uses a text classifier, trained on blogs written by men and women, to determine whether a blog has been written by a man or a woman.

For both my writing blog and The Long Watch GenderAnalyzer correctly identified the author (me!) as male – but only just, declaring them both to be fairly gender neutral at 59% for my blog, and only 51% for The Long Watch (results reflect percentage certainty of gender based on text, results may vary as text changes over the life of the blogs).

Certain genres have traditionally been gender-biased, whether in readership or authorship. Mary Anne Evans had to write as George Elliot to be taken seriously, and there is anecdotal evidence that male romance writers sell better under a female pen-name. Earlier this month the Guardian newspaper wondered if the gender of an author makes us view the work of that author differently. As an experiment, think of well known authors and see if you would view their work differently if they were the other gender. Teri Pratchett, Stephanie King, Adrian Niffenegger, Simon Plath?

Would The Long Watch have more male readers if it were written by Pauline Anderson?

Waggledancer

Despite my phobias, I seem to have a slight obsession with bees. Today I tried to think like one...

Scent scent scent approach scent food food food food scent scent scent land land food food food food food fly fly fly.

It floated through the air, buffeted by the slightest of breezes, seemingly aimless in its perambulations. Thin membranous wings vibrated, keeping it aloft as it traversed the grassy expanse surrounding it, punctuated by the an occasional bright beacon of scent and colour. A gentle humming accompanied the flight, a contented droning that arose as a natural consequence of four shimmering wings.

The waggledancers had promised a rich new food supply, some distance from home, and with its siblings it had set out on a journey to bring back the rich and sweet treasures newly discovered.

But there was a warning. The distance was great, with few provisions along the way, and to get there they had to cross the empty grasslands. The empty grasslands were home to the pink giants.

They never understood the pink giants. They tried to avoid them when they could, to leave them be. If you don't bother them, they won't bother you. But still, if they got too close it could mean death. And even when they avoided them, pink giants would attack, laying waste to their homes, killing them all. Stories traveled far and wide, from countless generations, passed on in the waggledance.

It landed again, exhaustion beginning to slow it down. Food food food rest rest rest. Food food food fly fly fly scent scent scent.

It hovered for a moment, then descended on another flower. A common one, and one that had been visited recently. Hardly any food remained. The powerful aroma was intoxicating, but the sweet reward was long gone. Food food food?

Darkness descended in an instant, and as it tried to fly it was battered downwards onto the grassy wastelands. Danger danger hurt danger!!!

As the light returned it could make out a massive shape, like a wedge, with five wriggling worms at the thin end. Pink giant danger pink giant attack hurt attack!

Instinct took over. Pressing the thorax into the shape, a barbed sting pierced the area above one of the five worms, and it began to pump venom into the creature. Straining, it pulled away from the shape, the sting holding fast, wrenching it and a poison sac from its thorax. Pulsing, the sting remained embedded, and the pink form retreated.

Danger... danger... hurt... hurt... escape...

It tried to fly, but had no energy to do so. It began to crawl through the tall grasses, over and through them, before the pink giant tried to get revenge. Soon it would not matter. There was no recovering after an attack. It had torn out most of its thorax, and everything would soon be over.

It paused, folding in its wings, letting the sun warm it. Rest...

Something was gently brushing against it. Its legs and thorax twitched instinctively. A grass was rhythmically prodding its legs, even though the wind was still. Danger... move...

A pink giant was using the grass to prod it, testing it. It began to move again. Maybe this time it could get away, fly, maybe it was fine? One wing fluttered, whilst the rest remained motionless. Above it, thunder boomed, the roar of the pink giant, a victorious battle cry.

Danger... move... rest... rest... re...

No more movement. The blade of grass pressed, prodded, then flipped it over. No leg twitched. No wing flapped. The thunderous cry of the pink giant echoed over the body.

"I think it's dead."

"Aaaaw, poor little bee."

Writing Goals and Resolutions - June Update

Here we go with June's update on my writing goals for 2009, and my general New Year resolutions. I've got to warn you, coming on the back of today's news, this isn't going to be uplifting!

Writing Goals

• Write every day, aiming for a minimum of two pages each day.
  It's all I can do sometimes to get a single blog entry a week done. First of the fails!
  
• Compile an electronic anthology of my best short stories from 2008.
  I really don't see this project happening at all. The time needed for Chinese Whisperings is more than I anticipated, let alone doing this. I may let this project go this year.
  
• Launch the Chinese Whispers anthology.
  Website has gone live, and is improving every day. We're back on course I think!
  
• Enter six writing contests.
  Two entered - didn't win either :-( Deadlines approach, and I shrink away from them, a sign of the depression I think. I don't think there are many more competitions left that I had intended to enter that still haven't closed.
  
• Complete two manuscripts to a publishable standard.
  Haven't worked on these at all. Conceivably, this could still happen though.
  
• Participate in, and complete, NaNoWriMo 2009.
  4 months to go.

New Year Resolutions

• Read at least one book per month.
  Books read this month - The Turn of the Screw and other stories by Henry James, The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham. ***UPDATE*** Also got Pride and Prejudice and Zombies read in June with 1 minute to spare!
  
• Get my 5k time down to 18 minutes.
  
• Run the BUPA London 10,000 in 45 minutes.
  Both of these goals came off the rails, and due to back injury from the car accident I had on holiday, I was forced to withdraw from the BUPA London 10,000.
  
• Take part in a half-marathon in late summer.
  Last month I was happy with the prospect of physio and running. In mid-May I finished my physio, but now need to return due to the recent injuries. What the physio makes of it will determine my chances for the half-marathon.
  
• Take part in a full-marathon at the end of the year.
  Again, this all depends on the assessment of my physio.