I've been almost invisible on here recently. Crunch time marking combined with a lack of inspiration and the fact that my partner is writing their own novel that takes up evenings and so I don't write mine? Oh, they're all excuses. I hope to get back into the swing of things soon.
In the meantime a friend of my partner has written and self-published her novel. Naturally we bought a copy. It is not very good at all. The sort of book that gives self-publishing a bad name. But we can't tell this person what we really think because a. they wouldn't listen and my partner would lose a friend and b. it's too late, they've already published. How awful? In the first fifty pages there isn't a single active sentence (six fight scenes though) and 80% of sentences begin with a person's name, 'he' or 'she'. In one scene, the first stirrings of love between the protagonist and the supposed romantic lead, we are treated to a geography lesson about the city. These are the only details given about the date. They even talk about the city instead of, well, anything else.
In an effort to keep myself sane whilst reading it and alleviate the pain, I have decided that I shall rewrite it. In setting up my first draft (long hand so not on here yet) I realised that it already looks sufficiently different that I could turn it into my own story relatively easily. I may do that. Of course, as it's already a book, my rewrite will be also.
I am such a bitch sometimes, sorry!
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Why this Blog?
I hope that this blog will become a place to look after my writing ideas and that, over time, I can use it to archive all my favourite creative sites on the web. Maybe others will enjoy it too.
Showing posts with label planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label planning. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Schadenfreude
Saturday, 3 November 2012
Setting: a resolution
So, after sleeping on it, I think I now have the problem of setting solved. Once I'd done that, my main character gave me his name. Turns out he'd been rather petulant about it because I should have known that the story would not be set in Central Europe at all.
I think it best if I explain it roughly how he explained it to me. It couldn't be a novel set in Europe, historical or otherwise, because I was essentially writing about the rise of a dictator. If I wrote about one rising now then the novel would swiftly become out of date and hackneyed; if I wrote in the past I would automatically be creating an alternative history with all of the attendant problems that this would create and potential glaring inaccuracies. If I set it in the future I would run the similar risk of becoming dated by messing up predictions. It had, therefore, to be set in an analogous setting, like Europe but not Europe. Attendant to that I had to avoid Germanifying the whole setting - if I created a Germany and a dictator in it then I would be reinforcing everything that I do not believe about the rise of the NSDAP being peculiarly German.
As it is a mainly character-driven piece I could not really make it too moral a tale either - there would have to be an acceptance that some of what my main character was doing not only made sense but may actually be good ideas, and I can't tell the audience which are good ideas and which are downright evil - that means not focussing on the Jews, you see, and that would require an analogous Europe to play properly.
So, there you go.
His name is William. He lives in Merkavia. It turns out the analogous setting was one that I have been inadvertantly creating for some years and didn't notice was a full-blown and working place!
I should also point out that I have been messing with technology level. We have steam trains and stevedores and top-hatted industrialists but also motor cars, telephones and tannoy. By the end of the story we'll be dealing with computers, internet, mobile phones and social mobility. It's all a bit mixed up. No velcro though because of no rocketry to the moon, which means no ICBMs, but we'll have jets. Yeah, I know, anaologous settings: the lazy way to plot novels!
Now, on to tonight's writing!
I think it best if I explain it roughly how he explained it to me. It couldn't be a novel set in Europe, historical or otherwise, because I was essentially writing about the rise of a dictator. If I wrote about one rising now then the novel would swiftly become out of date and hackneyed; if I wrote in the past I would automatically be creating an alternative history with all of the attendant problems that this would create and potential glaring inaccuracies. If I set it in the future I would run the similar risk of becoming dated by messing up predictions. It had, therefore, to be set in an analogous setting, like Europe but not Europe. Attendant to that I had to avoid Germanifying the whole setting - if I created a Germany and a dictator in it then I would be reinforcing everything that I do not believe about the rise of the NSDAP being peculiarly German.
As it is a mainly character-driven piece I could not really make it too moral a tale either - there would have to be an acceptance that some of what my main character was doing not only made sense but may actually be good ideas, and I can't tell the audience which are good ideas and which are downright evil - that means not focussing on the Jews, you see, and that would require an analogous Europe to play properly.
So, there you go.
His name is William. He lives in Merkavia. It turns out the analogous setting was one that I have been inadvertantly creating for some years and didn't notice was a full-blown and working place!
I should also point out that I have been messing with technology level. We have steam trains and stevedores and top-hatted industrialists but also motor cars, telephones and tannoy. By the end of the story we'll be dealing with computers, internet, mobile phones and social mobility. It's all a bit mixed up. No velcro though because of no rocketry to the moon, which means no ICBMs, but we'll have jets. Yeah, I know, anaologous settings: the lazy way to plot novels!
Now, on to tonight's writing!
Monday, 29 October 2012
NaNo Planning
So many avenues!
In the Aftermath plotline I have an idea to use a main character who has a form of amnesia, meaning that every day he wakes up with the last memories being of a time long before any of the events of the book happen. This would allow me to write a perfectly linear account of his life post-apocalypse and the events that lead to him being a single parent but then edit it so that each day I choose to relate comes as a shock. That would be both artistic and a way for me to indulge a little. It would also allow for a deliberate confusion over what caused the apocalypse, how long ago it was and what society is actually like in the aftermath, all of which would make writing it easier. However, there is still the hang up of having to write it all in order rather than the more interesting method of how it would be read.
In the Prehistoric plotline I have an idea about following a group of male hunters from the homo sapiens tribe as they encounter a family group of Neanderthal. It is widely believed now that the Neanderthal worked in small family clan groups that would have had to have met up with other clans for breeding purposes. Evidence from my own reading mounts that homo sapiens would have had female dominated, if male led, tribes moving around as well as singular or small groups of males between them - thereby creating a less family-centric tribal system. The clash of that system alone would be interesting to write and explore were it not for the fact that I have no plot.
And then there's the one I intend to write. Currently inert and lifeless as stone. There's something in it, I know, but I can't seem to get any ideas out.
In the Aftermath plotline I have an idea to use a main character who has a form of amnesia, meaning that every day he wakes up with the last memories being of a time long before any of the events of the book happen. This would allow me to write a perfectly linear account of his life post-apocalypse and the events that lead to him being a single parent but then edit it so that each day I choose to relate comes as a shock. That would be both artistic and a way for me to indulge a little. It would also allow for a deliberate confusion over what caused the apocalypse, how long ago it was and what society is actually like in the aftermath, all of which would make writing it easier. However, there is still the hang up of having to write it all in order rather than the more interesting method of how it would be read.
In the Prehistoric plotline I have an idea about following a group of male hunters from the homo sapiens tribe as they encounter a family group of Neanderthal. It is widely believed now that the Neanderthal worked in small family clan groups that would have had to have met up with other clans for breeding purposes. Evidence from my own reading mounts that homo sapiens would have had female dominated, if male led, tribes moving around as well as singular or small groups of males between them - thereby creating a less family-centric tribal system. The clash of that system alone would be interesting to write and explore were it not for the fact that I have no plot.
And then there's the one I intend to write. Currently inert and lifeless as stone. There's something in it, I know, but I can't seem to get any ideas out.
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Conspiracy?
Idea sleet ahoy!
Ages ago I had the idea for a detective-esque story set in Prehistory. Oetzi, the ice mummy discovered in the Alps, seems to have been killed by a blow to the back of his head with a blunt object. Otherwise he was alone. It would appear that we are dealing with a murder. Some form of murder mystery in such a time is therefore not totally improbable given the enormous level of societal sophistication we can find evidence for. However, I have steered away from indulging it because of the immense amounts of research such a thing would require.
I mean, I would first have to read the Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel before even knowing where to look to find the sort of things I would need to actually write anything of merit. Then there's the issues of language, of pan-European movement and climate to consider. It gets complicated fast.
I have been doing quite a good job of avoiding thinking about it as a viable idea in the run up to this year's madness. Then Radio 4, yes I am officially that old now, decided to do a number on me. There was this show on whilst I was waiting in the supermarket carpark and there was someone on talking about the possibility that homo-sapiens and Neanderthal Man may well have interbred and inter-mingled as separate species. They came from a common ancestor and were cut off by an elongated glacial period when some got trapped in Europe and some got trapped in Africa. This meant that the original homo sapiens would almost certainly have been black whilst the Neanderthals would have been stockier, stronger, whiter and likely red-haired and green-eyed according to the studies done on their genome. It would appear as though red-hair in homo sapiens was brought, perhaps, by interbreeding with Neanderthals, though studies have been entirely inconclusive - not even correllation!
It would therefore be fascinating to write about that period and to postulate on the interaction between two such different species as they met. The lady on the show did a fine job of setting up a scene whereby they would spy members of the opposite species for the first time, separated by a couple of thousand years of development and having similar size brains and capacity for speech the difference would not have been insurmountable. Furthermore, given the relatively short separation in evolutionary terms, they would have been able to interbreed and may even have shared linguistic roots!
Exciting. But not possible for NaNo?
Ages ago I had the idea for a detective-esque story set in Prehistory. Oetzi, the ice mummy discovered in the Alps, seems to have been killed by a blow to the back of his head with a blunt object. Otherwise he was alone. It would appear that we are dealing with a murder. Some form of murder mystery in such a time is therefore not totally improbable given the enormous level of societal sophistication we can find evidence for. However, I have steered away from indulging it because of the immense amounts of research such a thing would require.
I mean, I would first have to read the Clan of the Cave Bear series by Jean Auel before even knowing where to look to find the sort of things I would need to actually write anything of merit. Then there's the issues of language, of pan-European movement and climate to consider. It gets complicated fast.
I have been doing quite a good job of avoiding thinking about it as a viable idea in the run up to this year's madness. Then Radio 4, yes I am officially that old now, decided to do a number on me. There was this show on whilst I was waiting in the supermarket carpark and there was someone on talking about the possibility that homo-sapiens and Neanderthal Man may well have interbred and inter-mingled as separate species. They came from a common ancestor and were cut off by an elongated glacial period when some got trapped in Europe and some got trapped in Africa. This meant that the original homo sapiens would almost certainly have been black whilst the Neanderthals would have been stockier, stronger, whiter and likely red-haired and green-eyed according to the studies done on their genome. It would appear as though red-hair in homo sapiens was brought, perhaps, by interbreeding with Neanderthals, though studies have been entirely inconclusive - not even correllation!
It would therefore be fascinating to write about that period and to postulate on the interaction between two such different species as they met. The lady on the show did a fine job of setting up a scene whereby they would spy members of the opposite species for the first time, separated by a couple of thousand years of development and having similar size brains and capacity for speech the difference would not have been insurmountable. Furthermore, given the relatively short separation in evolutionary terms, they would have been able to interbreed and may even have shared linguistic roots!
Exciting. But not possible for NaNo?
Labels:
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nanowrimo,
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Prehistoric
Wednesday, 24 October 2012
Songs and Planning
Planning, yes, champing at the bit to get going. Of course, still torn.
Also, I am beset by music and the idea, germinating in my head, to take about 15 tracks and use these to organise my writing. That would imply approximately 3k words per track, and still be below target, as well as suggesting that each track would take about a chapter.
So, take the album Fundamental by the Pet Shop Boys and the film Hitler: the Rise of Evil and you pretty much have my autistic man becomes dictator and nastiness happens novel plot in a nutshell. The trick will be to cover the early life in such a way that I can edit the order afterward and still make it interesting. In films they often use isolated vignettes and time-lapse to cover aspects like this and most books I read don't actually bother with this sort of thing. Those that do tend to be the more monstrous novels, those with huge doorstop plots (like Shogun) and they deal with the passge of time by, well, covering all of it.
I don't want to do that. I'm not sure I enough sub-plot to make that sort of thing interesting and to advance characterisation and plot. I'm toying with the idea of giving my MC a few more foibles to flesh it all out, such as maybe going for a homosexual angle. Now, I'm anxious that my generally dysfunctional and slightly amoral autistic MC doesn't misrepresent minorities, so I don't think he'll actually be homosexual, but he doesn't know that and I figure he'll try.
I'm also moving more toward creating an independent world in which this plot can take place. Why? Well, partly laziness, there's a whole bunch of stuff that I would need to know inside out in order to make a political rise to power style of novel accurate and convincing in modern society. To do it in a historical manner would necessarily invoke Godwin's Law and I would have a hard time escaping the allusions, however deliberate, to Hitler and the NSDAP - which would possibly make me look like I endorse their methods or their ideology. That's a no-no. But, if I do create a new world, then I will have to contextualise it enough without going overboard so that the reader feels at home enough there to make sense of it but not so at home that they make assumptions where they shouldn't. They need to recognise that it is not our world but I shouldn't be hammering that home to the reader - they should be figuring that out for themselves and feeling clever!
Heck, at this rate, I could just publish my babbling and hit the target...
Also, I am beset by music and the idea, germinating in my head, to take about 15 tracks and use these to organise my writing. That would imply approximately 3k words per track, and still be below target, as well as suggesting that each track would take about a chapter.
So, take the album Fundamental by the Pet Shop Boys and the film Hitler: the Rise of Evil and you pretty much have my autistic man becomes dictator and nastiness happens novel plot in a nutshell. The trick will be to cover the early life in such a way that I can edit the order afterward and still make it interesting. In films they often use isolated vignettes and time-lapse to cover aspects like this and most books I read don't actually bother with this sort of thing. Those that do tend to be the more monstrous novels, those with huge doorstop plots (like Shogun) and they deal with the passge of time by, well, covering all of it.
I don't want to do that. I'm not sure I enough sub-plot to make that sort of thing interesting and to advance characterisation and plot. I'm toying with the idea of giving my MC a few more foibles to flesh it all out, such as maybe going for a homosexual angle. Now, I'm anxious that my generally dysfunctional and slightly amoral autistic MC doesn't misrepresent minorities, so I don't think he'll actually be homosexual, but he doesn't know that and I figure he'll try.
I'm also moving more toward creating an independent world in which this plot can take place. Why? Well, partly laziness, there's a whole bunch of stuff that I would need to know inside out in order to make a political rise to power style of novel accurate and convincing in modern society. To do it in a historical manner would necessarily invoke Godwin's Law and I would have a hard time escaping the allusions, however deliberate, to Hitler and the NSDAP - which would possibly make me look like I endorse their methods or their ideology. That's a no-no. But, if I do create a new world, then I will have to contextualise it enough without going overboard so that the reader feels at home enough there to make sense of it but not so at home that they make assumptions where they shouldn't. They need to recognise that it is not our world but I shouldn't be hammering that home to the reader - they should be figuring that out for themselves and feeling clever!
Heck, at this rate, I could just publish my babbling and hit the target...
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
To prologue or not to prologue?
Time gathers pace and so my idea-sleet continues - of course. I can't just have one idea for NaNo, I must have loads and then find that none of them are developed enough to actually manage to write and finish a novel or even a plotline!
Anyway, in amongst all of this there is a question to be asked. Should one prologue? I mean, with my autism-politics plotline I thought a prologue would be a good way to show how the end goes down in such a way that draws a reader in. However, I also remembered that there are plenty of people and readers whose opinions I respect that say that they never even read prologues. Which makes sense.
So, should I bother writing one or should I cheat and make it chapter one? Or, horror, should I just not open and instead rely on the early life of my autistic future revolutionary to grab the reader?
Then there's the Aftermath plotline that keeps pootling around my head. I originally cheated and added it to the end of the plotline that appears on this blog as Bradford Interchange but... I dunno, I have a soft-spot for the idea of a non-linear plot but for the fact that I would have to write it linearly to begin with - that would be hard for me to do. In that sense it would be the perfect candidate for NaNo because I would be forced to write it and get it all done - and I may even edit it - but in another I worry that I would destroy it and get bored and then abandon it.
Anyway, in amongst all of this there is a question to be asked. Should one prologue? I mean, with my autism-politics plotline I thought a prologue would be a good way to show how the end goes down in such a way that draws a reader in. However, I also remembered that there are plenty of people and readers whose opinions I respect that say that they never even read prologues. Which makes sense.
So, should I bother writing one or should I cheat and make it chapter one? Or, horror, should I just not open and instead rely on the early life of my autistic future revolutionary to grab the reader?
Then there's the Aftermath plotline that keeps pootling around my head. I originally cheated and added it to the end of the plotline that appears on this blog as Bradford Interchange but... I dunno, I have a soft-spot for the idea of a non-linear plot but for the fact that I would have to write it linearly to begin with - that would be hard for me to do. In that sense it would be the perfect candidate for NaNo because I would be forced to write it and get it all done - and I may even edit it - but in another I worry that I would destroy it and get bored and then abandon it.
Monday, 22 October 2012
NaNo plot
Okay, so, this is going to be the home of my attempt on the north face of NaNoWriMo this year. I guess that means it's as good a place as any to be doing some plotting and planning.
At this stage I'm looking at writing a political thriller with a main character who has high-functioning Asperger's and will end up taking over a country. Think the rise of Hitler, with a smattering of French Revolution, and a great deal of using albums I like to suggest how the plot will unfold. I'm thinking to start with the ending, follow it with the story of the main character's early life - where he shall have an affir and gravate towards the big cities and the different style of life there. Somehow I'm thinking he will fall in with a group plotting their own government take over and, by dint of being autistic and single-mided, he'll end up in charge.
Yeah, it's like the Rise of Evil but... I dunno. I hope it's interesting and I hope I can write it.
That... or something involving time travel and multiple dimensions. That will end up with a large section in a Middle Ages area with a dragon. Singular, small part. Knight in shining armour that is not all they seem will rescue a damsel.
Babbling.
At this stage I'm looking at writing a political thriller with a main character who has high-functioning Asperger's and will end up taking over a country. Think the rise of Hitler, with a smattering of French Revolution, and a great deal of using albums I like to suggest how the plot will unfold. I'm thinking to start with the ending, follow it with the story of the main character's early life - where he shall have an affir and gravate towards the big cities and the different style of life there. Somehow I'm thinking he will fall in with a group plotting their own government take over and, by dint of being autistic and single-mided, he'll end up in charge.
Yeah, it's like the Rise of Evil but... I dunno. I hope it's interesting and I hope I can write it.
That... or something involving time travel and multiple dimensions. That will end up with a large section in a Middle Ages area with a dragon. Singular, small part. Knight in shining armour that is not all they seem will rescue a damsel.
Babbling.
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