The year I went mad...

There is no doubt about it - this year I have gone mad. Starting off with getting a tattoo, I then decide to serialise a book over the course of a month at the same time as writing a new one. And now?

Now I've just signed up to be the coldest I've ever been. To undergo the most arduous physical exertion I've ever gone through. All in the name of the experience of a lifetime.

I've signed up to be a team member on the Shackleton Centenary Expedition. Now, assuming that I pass the psychometric tests, panel interview, and survival weekend, I might wind up trekking to the South Pole at the start of next year.

Yes, I can safely say that I am going out of my mind. And what an adventure it would be.

I've never done anything like this before, and although part of me hopes I don't get selected, a lot of e wants to be picked. To say that I've been to the Antarctic, to the South Pole. That I did it. Think of the memories. Think of the stories.

Here's hoping.

Two of my favourite authors wrote of Antarctic exploration. Edgar Allan Poe had The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, and HP Lovecraft had At the Mountains of Madness. Perhaps I can add one of my own. Maybe with less disaster and horror though...

Questions of style

Over at Write Anything a new writing meme has been posted, and Janie has asked for readers to respond on their own blogs, and post a linke back on the site. The meme itself was started by Becca at Write on Wednesday.

1. Do you write fiction or non-fiction? Or both?
   
   I write mainly fiction, although on my other blog I write about politics, law and other non-fiction topics. On my creative writing sites, as the name suggests, I mainly focus on fiction, but there are the odd non-fiction articles about writing.
   
   In terms of genre, most of my writing is Gothic or Romantic (please note the capital "R" - my writing style is Romantic, I do not write Mills & Boons style romance..."). I sometimes venture into Lovecraftian horror and speculative science fiction.
   
   
2. Do you keep a journal or a writing notebook?
   
   I consider my blogs to fulfill the functions of journals and writing notebooks, however, I do keep a paper journal, but only occasionally.
   
   
3. If you write fiction, do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing? Do you find books on plotting useful or harmful?
   
   I have never read a book on plotting. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing, but generally when writing I have a rough idea of my characters goals, and let the situations flesh these out further. I am a firm adherent to the theory that your characters exist somewhere in your head, and if you give them the space to explore a situation they will inform you of their motives, and tell you when you are trying to make them do something out of character.
   
   
4. Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?
   
   In the spring of 1998, I had an idea to write a series of short stories based on the playing cards in a tarot deck. This idea still features in my work in progress pages. This may answer the question of whether I am a procrastinator or not... In all seriousness though, sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not, and it relates to the answer for the next question.
   
   
5. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time?
   
   This is very much a mood thing. I can't force myself to write for hours when I just don't have the inclination. Sometimes I can sit with the laptop in front of me for hours and grind out 300-500 words for an article. Other times I can sit for one hour and get close to 2000 words out. When I have the muse, then I can sit for hours and the words fly from my mind, through my fingertips, and on to the screen.
   
   
6. Are you a morning or afternoon writer?
   
   I'm an "anytime" writer. Most of my NaNoWriMo writing was done at lunchtimes during my day job. I have also written in the early hours of the morning, both because I've stayed up waaay past midnight, or because I've gotten up very early in the morning. Let's just say I've seen some 4am writing from both sides. I think I am probably most creative early in the morning (despite the fact I am no longer a morning person), but currently and by necessity, I am an evening writer.
   
   
7. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?
   
   I write with music on, either playing out of my computer/an iPod stereo if I'm on my own, or through handphones on my iPod if I'm somewhere public. Generally when I really want to concentrate on some writing I play music with no lyrics. Often classical, but usually film scores (John Williams, and recently Hans Zimmer). When concentration isn't of paramount importance to me (no complicated plots to resolve, just generally seeing where imagination takes me - flash fiction scenarios) then I'll have songs playing. The mood of the song depends on the mood I want the writing to have. At the moment I'm listening to some Soul Asylum.
   
   
8. Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?)
   
   Computer. In this day and age, I can't face writing longhand then retyping it. I used to do that, and sometimes I still do for very short pieces (I'm more comfortable taking a pen and paper onto public transport than a laptop!) but in the main I create on a laptop, edit on a laptop, review on a laptop. The ease with which my work can be chopped and changed, transferred between formats and sent out makes it the most attractive option, for me. But every writer is different.
   
   
9. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One? Or do you let the story evolve as you write?
   
   I wish, but I don't know these things. The writer is the god of the world they create, but they are a blind god. Sometimes your characters have other plans and take the story in different directions. There are two possible endings for one of the characters in The Long Watch, and I don't know which I prefer. I'm leaning towards one over another as it allows a whole new plot to emerge for the next book, but we'll see.
   
   
10. Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write?
    
    Yes, but not in a way you might think. I don't look at what's out there and set out to emulate it, rather I try to ignore it and do something else. This stems from a decade of crossing ideas off of the internal list I have, as I see these ideas turn up on bookshelves, on the television, and in the cinemas.
    
    
11. Editing/Revision - love it or hate it?
    
    Hate it. I don't think I'm a good editor. I need a good editor, but that editor isn't me. I can edit other people's works, but suffer from the worry that I'm just imposing my voice over theirs, rather than strengthening what they have written. But as for my own, I hate doing it.

So there you have it - a little about me, as a writer, and my writing style.

Who's next?

Tags: writing meme writing style Write Anything Write on Wednesday

Making it up as you go along… From Write Anything - 30 March 08

This is adapted from an article that appeared on the Write Anything website on March 30, 2008. The original text can be found here.

Making it up as you go along…

In March, the UK’s Observer newspaper carried a story about author Ronny M Cole’s advice to parents that they should make up stories at bedtime for their children, rather than simply read them a bedtime story. This comes on the back of a literacy drive by the UK government to encourage parents to read to their children, after it was revealed that one in ten children are never read a bedtime story.

Some parent’s groups rebelled at this prospect, pointing out that it was bad enough parents were being stigmatised for not reading to their children, but now they were being made to feel like bad parents if they couldn’t invent a story too?

Famous books like Watership Down and The Hobbit started life as stories made up for the author’s children. But you don’t need to come up with the next classic of western literature to entertain the kids. Involve them in the storytelling, make the stories about simple things, and at first keep it short and entertaining. Only later, when confident should you expand the stories to include life lessons and morals.

When the Writer’s Write blog ran the story they made the observation that some people just aren’t natural born storytellers, so should continue to reach for a book of bedtime stories. However,

“... if you happen to be married to a screenwriter or author, well, you know who gets bedtime story duty tonight.”

Yeah... Yeah that’s a good idea...

That’s some advice that should be taken with a pinch of salt. Because the screenwriter or author you’re married to could well be me. Or someone like me. I’m not exactly child friendly. Consider what I did to Winnie-the-Pooh on my very first [Fiction] Friday. I turned him into an opium addict who had killed Tigger and was about to be "disposed of" by Piglet. Can you imagine the havoc I could wreak on a delicate child’s psyche if I was allowed anywhere near their impressionable minds? The horrible, terrible things that would befall childhood characters if I were allowed to interpret their adventures?

“And then one thousand demons descended on the handsome prince, stripping the flesh from his bones and consuming his soul. The end. Good night, sweet dreams...”

Is this a product of my own upbringing? And would children really be scarred by disturbing and twisted bedtime stories? Consider that “fairy tales” are popular bedtime stories for children. When I was a child, my father used to read my brothers and I bedtime stories. Our two favourite books for bedtime stories were collections of fairy tales. One by Hans Christian Andersen, the other by the Brother’s Grimm. These are real fairy tales. The original stories, unadulterated by the Disney versions we’ve come to know today. In the stories I grew up with, the Wicked Stepmother was made to dance to death in red hot shoes, the Little Mermaid died and tragedy befalls people without sense or reason. The lessons were not simply black and white. They were muddied, confusing. And frequently disturbing.

Despite this, I grew up to be a well-adjusted person. Maybe not a well-adjusted writer, but a well-adjusted person. Thanks dad!

I think everyone has it in them to tell a tale. Whether you make it up as you go along, or start with the story on the page and then deviate from the script (a favourite tactic of my father), see where the story takes you. And not just for children. In times past we as a society used to sit around fires and tell each other stories, to entertain, to educate and to connect.

What stories were you told as a child? Did your parents make up stories for you? And if you have children of your own, what do you read them or tell them?

Tags: Write Anything Sunday Writer Paul Anderson

Why are you so meme to me?

Do you like what I did there with the whole pun thing? Did ya? Aah, no pleasing you people...

Anyway, Steph over at Watch Your Steph has tagged me with a meme to reveal six unspectacular quirks about yourself. Hmmmm, toughie, I have no quirks. At least not unspectacular ones...

But first, the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you (done).
   
2. Mention the rules (which I'm doing, right now).
   
3. Tell six unspectacular quirks of yours (see below).
   
4. Tag six bloggers by linking (see below the above).
   
5. Leave a comment for each blogger (will do when I'm done).

And now, my six quirks. Forgive me if you've heard some of these before...

1. Wherever possible I try to make the last step I take on a flight of stairs with my right foot.
   
2. People who meet me come away with the impression that I am polite, slightly quiet, and serious. They then get shocked over subsequent meetings by my sick and filthy sense of humour, inappropriate behaviour, and general loudness. And I revel in wrong footing them like that.
   
3. Related to the above, I think I'm one of the few people I know who has become progressively less mature since leaving school.
   
4. Just like my older brother, visiting the Grand Canyon gave me an overwhelming urge to jump into it, just to know what that would feel like.
   
5. Although raised a Catholic, my personal philosophy and views on spirituality mean I am more closely aligned to Quakers, Lutherans, Liberal Protestants, Zen Buddhists and Jedi Knights, in that order.
   
6. I can spread the toes on my feet the same way that people can spread their fingers...

Now, who to tag?

1. Partner in crime and piracy Jodi
   
2. My other partner in crime and piracy Annie
   
3. Karen over at Write From Karen
   
4. The Canuck known as Dr Norf
   
5. The Countess over at The Countess Counts
   
6. Jeff over at My Unique Life

Fiction Friday - 22 August 2008 Steal something

This Week's Theme: Have your character steal something. Now have her rationalize it.

---

Marx said it best. "All property is theft." Can't remember if that was Karl or Groucho, probably Groucho, but I can't remember the punchline. Anyway, all property is theft, of a sort. So anyone who owns anything is guilty of stealing something, if you really want to look at it that way.

Do I steal the air I breathe? The light I see with? If you're talking to me, is it stealing to hear you, and remember what you say? Course not. So I can't have stolen anything. I was given something, I took it and held it, and possession is nine-tenths of the law.

If you were given something, like a painting or something, by a friend, and it turned out that your friend shouldn't have given it to you, would people say you stole it? Would people wander around and say, "Oh, there goes that thief, the one that steals paintings"? No, they wouldn't. You see how stupid this is?

You can't steal a person anyway. People aren't slaves, nobody belongs to anyone. People go where they like when they like. And if they choose me over another, that's their choice. I didn't steal them. They gave their heart to me freely. That's not theft. That's love.

But try telling my sister that...

Tags: fiction Fiction Friday