There's an interesting article over on Alison Goodman's blog about fear, self doubt and their role in writer's block. And honestly, reading it made me feel really lucky.
I don't tend to get writer's block. I mean, I get stuck, I get frustrated, I hate myself, my writing and want to bite pens in half (I write on a battered old laptop, so why I hate pens in those situations I don't know), but I don't stop. And honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.The fear doesn't stop me. If anything, it's fuel, an urge to always do better, to prove to myself and readers "Look! I can do better! love me, LOVE ME!". When I hear otehr writers, especially ones as well regarded as Alison, have it affect them in different ways puzzles me.I suppose what I wanty to say here is use the fear. Stare it in the face, and when it's attention is distracted steal its wallet. And also, I feel blessed to think this way. Michael
The Bells! The Bells!
The people who lived in this house before the wife and I moved in were kind enough to leave a wind chime in the outside entertaining area (I don't like the word pergola... to me to sounds like some pacific battle from WW2), for which I was very greatful.I love windchimes. To the point where I don't understand why otehrs wouldn't. Not that it matters, because I also don't trust them. I mean, who could trust someone who doesn't love windchimes?For me they herald they beginning of something. Perhaps it's my watching all those terrible late 80s and 90s horror films, where a few clink-clonks on them signalled someone was about be offed.... whatever the cause, I love them, and they aid my writing no end... even when the pigeons also took a shine to them.There's also a tree in our back garden. And oak, I think, although I'm terrible at guessing trees without leaves and we moved in in winter, but to the local pigeons its the most comfortable tree around, and since I moved the windchomes to catch more breeze, well now they have something to play with too.So, I'll be writing, with a gentle tinkle-plinkle-plonk in the background, when suddenly it be like Bez from the Happy Mondays has been on the Vimto and decided to go at them with his maracas.Exhibit A (minis Bez and maracas):
Novel Composites
Twitter's wonderful. Of course for the ability for everyone around the world to disseminate information without filtering it through faceless agencies, and lolcats, but also I wouldn't have found out about The Composites. People with way too much time on their hands who use it wisely by putting the description of literary characters through police composite software.And you know what, most of them are scarily accurate. Just check out the Cathy Wilkes compo from Stephen King's Misery. Anyone else see Cathy Bates?And my personal favourite.... I could see Kate Bush singing at him on a blasted heath.
The Life and Times of Chester Lewis
Those who of you who read my old blog (and I know there's a few, Google Analytics wouldn't lie to me) may remember some news about me writing a story for an anthology called The Life and Times of Chester Lewis. Well, we have a release date!
That's right, from October the 1st you too could own a spanking copy of The Life and Times of Chester Lewis, featuring such esteemed writers as Michael White (no, slightly more moral relation), Jo Hart, Lia Weston and yours truly. You better believe I'll be pimping this more often closer to release, but in the meantime enjoy the old dude with the party hat.Michael
Just Why Does DOOM Suck So Much?
One thing I've noticed since I decided I would take this writing thing seriously is that I tend not to enjoy books and films as much. I'd read something like this would happen, but that was after I realised I was appraising stories rather than just enjoying them. Which is normal, I suppose, for a storyteller. Everything is raw material to us, and stories, in their base form, are judged when we come across them.Which is what I was thinking as I watched DOOM last night.My lovely lady wife was out with friends, so I thought I'd catch up on the kind of films she'd rather divorce me than watch. About midway in I would have divorced myself.It really is that bad. But here's the thing; it's trying really hard to be Aliens, so why was it failing? Especially consdierring that even indexed for inflation, the budget for DOOM far outstripped that of Aliens. It could have gone on The Rock's per diem for creatine I suppose.There are myraid reasons why, but what jumped out at me was Aliens built on scenes, and each scene had a purpose:
- The opening shot of Ripley being found (catalyst)
- The debriefing (exposition and background)
- The job offer (revealing Ripley's mindset and laying groundwork for final fight scene)
- "We lost contact!" (the call to arms.... god I feel dirty for using The Writer's Journey terms)
- Waking up on the navy ship (introduction of extra characters, or "cannon fodder")
...and so on. Where as 30 mins in to DOOM it was basically fifteen different shots of marines walking down corridors saying 'ooh, isn't this spooky'. I paraphrase, but that's the gist.So within half an hour we found there are some dead scientists on Mars and they can't find anyone. Compare that to the five points above for Aliens, and that happens in about 20 minutes.IN short; scenes, scenes, scenes. Make 'em count, make 'em mean something, and, above all, make sure you have some kickarse knife tricks in one of 'em.Michael
Another Milestone Reached
The fine people at Anromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine have deemed the latest story I sent their way worthy, and shall be running it in their November issue.*Ahem* go me.I'm so happy with this on a number of levels. First off, ASIM is a quality publication. Or 'a proper grown up magazine and everything!' as my inner self is shouting while jumping up and down.And secondly, I was very proud of the story. I won't say what it's about, but it was inspired by the passing of one of my favourite authors, and I'm so happy someone thinks it's good enough to show other people.You better believe I'll be harping on about this closer to the time.Michael
Get In Ma Head!
Writing groups are, on the whole (he he), a good thing for a writer. That sentence should come with the caveat 'the right writing group', I suppose. A bad writing group will undermine a writer's confidence and, worse, soak up time which could be used to write, but let's ignore those for now.I've been a part of a group before, and I miss it, so when I saw another group advertised through the Victorian Writer's Centre I jumped at it.I met the guys last month for the first time, got along, and think I may have found a new home, but something which happened in the feedback session made me realise the ability to receive feedback is a necessity for a writer.The guy in question (used here in the gender-non-specific sense to keep things nice and safe) when someone said they didn't understand a particular paragraph, the writer was straight on the defensive, saying the reader 'did not get them', and suggesting it was her fault, not their's.Woah, woah, woah, I wanted to say (but didn't, because it was my first time and I didn't want to rock the boat). If a reader says they did't understand something then the writing is suspect, full stop. Perhaps they're wrong, but even if they're not suspicion has been raised and needs to be satisfied.What writing is is story telling. We as authors need to get the message, be it action, descriptions, feeling or dialogue, across to the reader as clearly and concisely as possible. If that does not happen, the fault lies at the source.I was made more thankful for the CAE Novel Writing course I took which made receiving and giving feedback its own syllabus. I'm happy for any feedback I get back, even if it's only 'It's sucks'... at least as long as I can find out why said suckage happens.
Full Steam Ahead, Cap'n!
I'm a father of two small boys. Which means, almost inevitably, I know certain TV shows and films off by heart.I had a hunch this would be the case when Child #1 was born, so I made the vow that these films would be Pixar films. I love Pixar, let's just get this out of the way now. They have not done a damn thing wrong. They even took NASCAR and made it interesting, which is on the far side of impossible. No other studio could take a character who says only two words through a whole film and inject him with so much, well, character. 
Anyway, I had my attention brought to a series of Tweets from Emma Coats, one of Pixar's story board artists of guidelines she learned from the guys at Pixar when she joined them. It's fortuitous that these come just as I'm stalling with the novel, and the answer was so head scratchingly obvious I needed it in 140 characters for me to see it (it was Point #7 in case you were wondering).I needed more plotting. I had a 'you know what would be cool?' setting, and it is cool and will fight to the death anyone who claims otherwise, and a kick arse start, but found myself floundering at 50,000 words, with only the vaguest of ideas where I was going.I'll stop waffling here and post Emma's rules. If I ever meet her I owe her a drink.
#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.#2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.#3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.#8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.#17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on - it’ll come back around to be useful later.#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?#22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.
Head Slappingly Obvious
So here's the position I'm in right now. I'm a beginner writer. I've written... god knows how many short stories, had a few published, one aborted novel (and to invoke His name again, I hope to god no one ever finds its tracks), half a YA novel (temporarily shelved, not abandoned), and a full novel. That i put to one side as it was missing a certain something, and that, i recognised in a rare moment of clarity, was context. It needed its own world to be set it.So, I set about novel number two.And this si where I've stalled. 40,000 words in, and I'm struggling. I've written another 5 short stories this past month, and that's because I'me trying to avoid the elephant in the room that is the problem novel.I'd admitted to myself there were two problems to it, that I was just hitting mental block after mental block. Nothing huge, just feelings of setting and the purpose of specific dialogue, and then, like it was meant to be, i came across this. A piece from the lovely Rachel Aaron on how she increased her daily word count from 2 to 10 thousand words. It was like she was speaking to me (or at least 33% of me, the 'timing' section I know is beyond my ability to organise myself) on planning scenes and cutting out the bits you don't enjoy writing. I mean, it is so obvious, a real 'trees for the forest for the bark' moment. Why should anyone read them if I didn't even want to write them.I'm seriously questioning if I've overstretched myself with this novel. I still don't know how its supposed to end, god knows how many characters and three main viewpoints across a continental-wide war half based on actual events....but 40,000 words is too many to throw away. I'll be taking time to remap out what I'm writing and I will damn well finish this gosh darn book!And when I do I'm going to email Rachel and thank her. You see if I don't.Michael
Venus
Like many I was hanging out for the Venutian passage of the sun yesterday, and was also one of those dissapointed by total cloud cover. Luckily NASA had me covered with their live feed, but the Japanese space agency went one further with this super hires shot. Enjoy.
And to Think I Bought That House
It cost five men their lives, but will only cost you $30,000 (plus P&P).Ned Stark could still be alive today had he just checked Google.
Don't be so Bloody Obvious
Way back when, when I was a wee nipper, probably the eighties so there's a chance a mullet was involved, I remember watching a Sherlock Holmes film. I can't remember the name, nor even who played Holmes, and I'm pretty certain is a 'inspired by the tales of Arthur Conan Doyle' more than an adaptation of one of the stories, but a scene from it has stayed with me since.It was towards the end, when we find out the mastermind was really one of the gentlement helping Holmes with the investigation, but really he was forging money on the side for.... I dunno, unicorn training possibly. Anyway, the scene opened with him and his henchman on a hackney cab being dropped off on some suitably misty docks."That'll be tuppence ha'penny," says the cabby."Here you go," says the arch villain, and hands over some paper money. "Keep the change.""Cor blimey, guvnor! That's more money than I seen in my bleeding' life! Gaw bless ya!""It's quite all right," says the villain, "I print me own," Cue knowing laugh.Then the henchman leans over and cuts the driver's throat.No, even back then when little Mikey was watching in his Ghostbusters jammies something struck me as wrong there. We were supposed to believe that this man, up until now a perfectly level, likeable gent, had a sinister, sociopathic side he somehow managed to hide from the world for 50 years. Which is fine, I suppose, it could happen. Has happened in real life, but then we also have to believe he would do something so unnecessarily cruel as to have useless exchange, a baseless quip and then kill someone for no reason?I'm assuming the director needed a way visually demonstrate this guy was now the baddie. Which is fine. Unnecessary, but fine, given ti had already been established, but it destroyed the believability of a character set up over the course of the film.I've been thinking about this recently as I've been listening to A Feast for Crows, the , oooh, fourth book in George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire? I think it's the fourth, the audio books are split into two and I get confused easily. Anyway, the character of Brienne. We meet her in the second book, and she plays heavily in the third, and in both she's a strong, feisty and more than capable character who proves herself to be one of the best one on one fighters in the kingdom.Great! Finally a strong female fantasy character who doesn’t have to open her legs to get what she wants!But in AFFC Martin goes and changes everything. You see, poor Brienne is crippled by doubt. Literally in some cases. It started off intriguing, it being a counter point to the women we came to know in the previous two books, and added depth to the character. But it quickly overwhelms her, so completely she's unrecognisable as the same woman who beat the supposed best swordsman in the world and fought halfway across a country at war to deliver a prisoner.A character is a living, breathing person, at best, a hook for a plot device at worst, but using the first to do the second destroys the work of a hundred thousand words.Michael
Getting Edumacated
I'm a big fan of the Writing Excuses podcast. It's definitely a must-listen for any beginner writer out there, and it was also an introduction to me for the writings of Brandon Sanderson. I'm in an odd position that I find myself a fan of Sanderson without actually reading any of his novels. I enjoyed his short story in the Armored anthology from JJ Adams, but I feel after listening to him expound on the craft and approaches of writing so much I cna't help but feel respect for the man.Anyway, I'm saying this because I had a series of YouTube videos brought to my attention. They're a collection of classes Brandon gave to his college class on creative writing. There's a fair few hour's worth of material here for people to listen to, and I already have, and if there's a way to download them I will for future reference.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbL-84SkT4Q&feature=relmfu
To Clutter or not to Clutter?
I'm a fairly spartan person. I don't know if this is natural or not, I mean I ache to buy a toy Warthog (of the HALO variety, not a pig) but I know it will just be something more to dust.However, I may have been won over by New Crobuzon tube maps!
The talented people at society6.com have these for sale now, and I'm thinking this just may be a purchase for our new digs. We'll see if I can slip it past the missus.In other news I've been a productive little writer. Four short stories written, edited and submitted in three weeks is not bad, although O realise now it was an attempt by me to avoid working on the novel. I subconsciously reached a point I knew I had to face I did not have a proper ending for a single book, just a jumper-ending to book 2, which will not help a first time novelist sell an MS.Rather than be grown up and admit it, however, I of course stuck my head in the sane and wrote some short stories. Time to get back on that horse, I think. Wish me luck.Michael
Think of Your Support Network
I follow on Twitter several of those motivational writer quote type accounts. You know the ones, the 'it's not the size of the author at the typewriter, but the flavour of the paper' type sayings. I'll be level with you, I'm not 100% certain I got that right, but the sentiment remains.Anyway, one that continues to crop up is "marry someone you love and who thinks you being a writer is a good idea", and this is something I agree with from the heart of my bottom. I couldn't have got to where I am today, which, as we're being honest, isn't exactly measured in light years yet, with the missus. Not only does she provide the support and back I need to sit down for a quiet hour and bang out some words, but her and my boys are the reason I write.I'll never be captain of industry, the regulations in Australia mean I'll never be a firefighter, and I'm too honest to be a politician, but I want them to be proud of me, and I want my boys to have an example of 'if you want something badly enough, and are willing to work hard enough, you can get it.'I just wanted to say that. Michael PS - of course this post becomes null and void when I can't get the wife to go to see the Avengers with me because it's not a romcom. We'll just have to settle for The Woman in Black. I told her it was based The Lady in Red...
Learning My Place
I've made no secret I have something of a man crush on Adam Nevill. Or rather, on his writing. Anyone who hasn't read Banquet for the Damned, Apartment 16 or The Ritual is really doingthemselves a disservice. His writing is visceral in a way I can only hope o imitate, and if the world is just he will become recognised as one of those writers whom the literati pretend don't exist because it negates their arguments that genre authors can't write.Anyway, he has a new novel coming out next month, and the reviews I've read so far say Last Days is one step ahead of his last The Ritual. If this is true I'm going to be a happy (and scared) reader. So to warm myself up I went looking for some interviews with Nevill, and as i so often do after reading writers such as him or China Mieville express their thoughts, I come away feeling stupid. How could I ever hope to emulate such a talented writer, and who am I to presume to even try?Well I try because I'm too hard headed not to, and I always like it when I think I'm pissing someone, somewhere, off.Anyway, please share my excitement. Here's a portion of the interview with Nevill from the fine people over at Spooky-Reads.com.You’ve talked elsewhere about the real and perceived threat of physical violence present in society today, in other interviews, the nature of the Anglo Saxon condition. Here in the forest in The Ritual you still have a micro-culture represented, and despite ‘friends’ together, violence propagating. Luke clearly has anger management (amongst other issues) but do you see the violence a product of our times – impatience/instant reaction without thought – or as stemming from deeper cultural/atavistic seat?A good question, and a big one. Violence is ever present, as is its potential to explode. Its causes are manifold. Its seat is embedded in human nature; we weaned ourselves on the genocide of other primates. Our continuing propensity for violence demotes us, in my opinion, down the hierarchy of the animal kingdom.I think it’s why my stories stray into anthropomorphism and animism, because it’s a good way of depicting our grotesqueness. And there are so many circumstances that still seem to provoke violence; in fact, wherever more than one person gathers, it’s possible. And when we’re alone, even suicide and self-harm are possible.We are assaulted for being young, old, attractive, unattractive, for being male or female, for leaving the house at the wrong time, for being black, brown and white; we’re assaulted because we have what someone else wants, we’re assaulted for being strangers, we’re assaulted because someone is frustrated, or angry, or aroused and derives pleasure from our distress, we’re assaulted because we are defenceless, or because Rangers loose to Celtic, or we’re at home when someone wants our laptop … and on and on and on.How can we ever get to the bottom of this? A significant portion of humanity either has no conscience, or easily suppresses it. Another portion doesn’t think about consequences and seems to commit it out of recreation or a perverse sense of revenge for being disrespected. Yet another believes anything is justifiable in the pursuit of its self-interest. Another significant section was brutalised in childhood. For others it becomes the focus of their territorial and caste culture. Or, it can be a form of status. It goes on and on. The reasons for it are manifold.Throughout history, the educated and civilised have also thrown their hat into the ring, repeatedly; invested and intellectualised their frustrations into scapegoats, demonised them and slaughtered them on grand scale. The ordinary will become complicit in political murder from behind a desk to maintain their position within a hierarchy. Violence becomes the discourse too easily, is almost legitimised around alcohol. There is a terrible irrational momentum in humanity that seems too easily roused, especially in group dynamics.I’ve dealt with only a few areas of violence, for instance in Apartment 16 where it is recreational and random and unpredictable in modern Britain where repressed hostility is loosened so quickly by alcohol. A few years ago in a pub near where I live, a man was murdered inside the bar for complaining about another patron smoking a joint; eighteen people were arrested for the killing. We see the stats, but can you imagine the savagery in a supposedly civilised country? Eighteen people destroyed a stranger with their hands and feet. Even in Norway, the show home of the West, a subculture of young people murdered each other, then strangers randomly, and burned churches in the nineties.From the streets and wars of the first world to genocide in the developing world; humanity is a force of violence. I’m speaking out loud and shouldn’t have to remind anyone of this. After all, tragically, it could probably be argued that human rights are a minority interest for the west. When will we evolve?I think, increasingly, we also live in pathological times here in the west and that’s what feeds my concepts as a writer: a competitive, time-pressured, having-it-all culture driven by greed, resentment, and the show of me. There is something particularly vulpine and petulant about the violence that comes from it – whether it’s a woman scarring another for life with a champagne flute, or teenagers killing one of their peers who looked in their direction or allegedly said something to someone else etc..The predictability is tedious. Doesn’t seem to take much provocation these days for someone to lose an eye, or worse. I’ve always thought it was a last resort to be pulled out when your own life was in genuine danger. Apparently not. And I’ll clearly never run out of material because of it. I sometimes wonder why all books aren’t about violence? And yet writing about the horrors of violence is most often seen as trite, or low brow. Well, as a species we are mostly trite and low brow.
Guilty Pleasures
I have a rule a try to follow. Well, actually, I have several, such as 'do not slap the guy ahead of you on the pavement upside the head for walking at a glacial pace', but the one I'm referring to now is just as hard to keep. This rule is; I try to read one book I really, really, want to reasd, followed by one I feel I should read. The decision on what I should read is based on prevailing attitudes in the literary press and recommendations. I do hold that all writers should read a lot and read widely, however kids and work, plus writing itself, means the amount of time I can actually read is tiny compared to a few years ago.Which leads to moments of weakness like I'm having now.I have just finished 'Descent of Angels' by Mitch Scanlon, book, um six, I think, in Games Workshop's Horus Heresy series. The series is pure IP geekiness, I'll admit to that. And the different novels' quality varies from author to author, from the creative giant Dan Abnett and down. 'Descent of Angels' was one of the better books, and I enjoyed the ride, putting it on the shelf after the last page and picking up my next read, in this case 'Atonement' by Ian McEwan. I've found I'm a fan of McEwan's without actually reading any of his novels, thanks to reading and watching numerous interviews, and have two books of his on my shelves. Of the two, Atonement has the better reviews, so that one t was..... until I realised the next book in the Heresy series was another by Dan Abnett.It took me all of 27 seconds to decide that time is short and books are not.I'm loving the book, bythe way. Abnett can set the scene of a war within a page. The man's a genius. Michael
Welcome to the new site! And a thought on attitude...
Hi!How're you liking the new site? Is it working for you? I do hope so. I've been fighting with this thing all weekend and finally got it to a state I'm beginning to be happy with. Of course, all this tweaking and learning meant my word could hit a problem over the past few days which I need to rectify, but before I bid you adieu and get to it, I thought I would share something. There's a note of boasting coming up, so feel free to skip to the end if you like.I share an internet forum with several other writers, ost are beginners like myself but some published, where we shoot the breeze, blow of steam and other cliched activities. I won't tell you the site, because you might take a peak and in my mind it would be like visiting the sausage factory, but looking over the crowing and complaining over submissions sent, rejected and accepted I've been told I have the perfect attitude when it comes to submission rejections. And that is well **** you too!That makes me sound a tad conceited, but there's more to it than that. I seem to be averaging over half of rejections coming back with feedback, which is great! I love rejections with feedback! And I look upon those as challenges I have accepted and will eventually win, oh yes, I will win.Perhaps a psychologist will eventually tell me this is some kind of deep seated desire for love and approval, but until then I'll keep throwing down the gauntlet to any and all submission calls I come across. Michael