You may have just read The Sharks of Old London. (<-- this will be a link to the flash fiction of said name, but it hasn't been posted yet. If there is no link, there will be later, when I remember.)
The Sharks of Old London is a post-apocalypse type tale set in the same universe as Love Like a Shark. Love Like a Shark was the first thing I ever submitted to the #fridayflash collector (over a year ago). The Sharks of Old London is only tangentially connected however, the characters come from the same program, but the two stories focus on different characters in different time periods.
One of the key plot elements is one that has never left me. Sharks never die. How true this is I'm not sure. The theory is that the mechanism in humans which prevents cells from multiplying uncontrollably and thus decreases the chance of cancers while at the same time limiting the regeneration, healing, longevity of our bodies is not there in sharks. They can heal and regenerate cells indefinitely and they are mostly protected from solar radiation (by miles of water) so the chances of cancers are less. (to describe the whole thing in a grossly simplified way)
People (me included) are fascinated with this idea, in the same way that we are fascinated with almost anything that could heal us and make us live forever. And yet the only way this can work is if we somehow suppress the mutating of the cells, ensuring cancer does not become a massive problem.
The metaphor here, of course, is that this story will not die in my head, but it does mutate and break the surface from time to time. For example when the Shark Knight prompt appeared, which is when I wrote The Sharks of Old London.
#fridayflash highlights debut entries. So Love Like a Shark is still one of my most viewed stories. In some ways I think this was not my greatest move, it was relatively experimental, focussing on dialogue so much it was published in script form, completely unlike my usual writing. I wonder if that didn't put a few people off reading more of my work. Oh well.
So the story has re-emerged.
One of the things I'm working on at the moment is expanding some of the flash fictions I posted when I started this blog into short stories for my first anthology (hopefully out this June).
Often with flash fiction, my own and others, people ask for more. This can turn into a serial, a short story, or go nowhere. When I first wrote The Sharks of Old London, the early line about the dangers of London at night mentioned the Ripper, and at the end the Knight mentioned that there were two of his kind left in the world. I changed this for poignancy (hopefully) and brevity. I was cutting the word count close and I didn't feel the mention of the Ripper was necessary to this particular tale.
However, when I come to expand this story for the Small Change anthology (in three years time...) it will have the Ripper reinstated. It will be the story of a London terrorised by a post-apocalyptic Jack the Ripper, born of sharks, and of his brother determined to take him down as the last act of a cursed program to make immortal protectors.
I hope it comes out as awesome as that sounds in my head... ^_~
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Friday, 2 March 2012
Monday, 2 January 2012
Will update this blog for food...
Well I've been rubbish at maintaining this blog, haven't I?
It's not the only one, either. Well, I intend to do something about that. I intend to make something of my web presence. I will keep writing fiction, and that, I think, will always be my priority, but I'm going to try and keep this thing updated, in the same way I used to keep my old Commentary blog updated: by talking about the flash fiction I posted that week, what inspired me to write it, and what it makes me think about writing. So hopefully I'll go back to talking about process and technique and skills. And experimentation.
I think I shied away from that because I felt kind of like, what do I know, what right do I have to talk about this stuff, an amateur myself? But, you know what, it's as much about talking out loud, making me think about the process, as it is about trying to instruct others. And if it opens discussion then that's a good thing, right? And if it helps improve someone else... that's a great thing. =)
This is kind of a new year's resolution thing, I guess. I don't really do those, but there are lots of things I want to do this year, and I'm pretty determined. I just need to make sure I get myself in gear, stick with it, and try not to get too distracted.
So one of the things I want to start working on again this year is Space-Time Industries. My old science fiction blog. It got an amount of attention that surprised me... not loads, but more than I expected for something so new and unpromoted. Hopefully I can regain that and build from it.
It's kind of a stupid dream but one day I would love to be able to run some kind of Space-Time Industries 'Best of the Year' awards and have people actually look forward to them with anticipation. But hey, I've always been a dreamer... kind of makes me happy to know there's still part of me that aims for the clouds. ;)
It's not the only one, either. Well, I intend to do something about that. I intend to make something of my web presence. I will keep writing fiction, and that, I think, will always be my priority, but I'm going to try and keep this thing updated, in the same way I used to keep my old Commentary blog updated: by talking about the flash fiction I posted that week, what inspired me to write it, and what it makes me think about writing. So hopefully I'll go back to talking about process and technique and skills. And experimentation.
I think I shied away from that because I felt kind of like, what do I know, what right do I have to talk about this stuff, an amateur myself? But, you know what, it's as much about talking out loud, making me think about the process, as it is about trying to instruct others. And if it opens discussion then that's a good thing, right? And if it helps improve someone else... that's a great thing. =)
This is kind of a new year's resolution thing, I guess. I don't really do those, but there are lots of things I want to do this year, and I'm pretty determined. I just need to make sure I get myself in gear, stick with it, and try not to get too distracted.
So one of the things I want to start working on again this year is Space-Time Industries. My old science fiction blog. It got an amount of attention that surprised me... not loads, but more than I expected for something so new and unpromoted. Hopefully I can regain that and build from it.
It's kind of a stupid dream but one day I would love to be able to run some kind of Space-Time Industries 'Best of the Year' awards and have people actually look forward to them with anticipation. But hey, I've always been a dreamer... kind of makes me happy to know there's still part of me that aims for the clouds. ;)
Friday, 27 May 2011
I is for Inspiration (or should that be Imagination)
I really wanted this to be I is for me, because in many ways that sums up my sense of humour, but clearly that post is reserved for 'X'. ;)
Obviously, I am not going to reach the end of the alphabet by the end of May. However, this is the Renegade A to Z, and what kind of Renegade would I be if I stuck to the rules...? ;) I suppose I could have done a Renegade Z to A... starting with Zombies. (come on, what else is Z going to be?)
The interesting thing about inspiration is that it occurred to me we sometimes use it to mean motivation, then I looked up the definition and it turns out that that is in fact the correct usage, it is the thing that fires us up, that animates us, that gets us moving.
Well that isn't the inspiration I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about what sparks the imagination. Where all the stories and plots come from. Not in a more general sense, I'm not talking about Jungian archetypes or Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces or Booker's Seven Basic Plots.
And I don't mean influences (another 'I', how interesting). So I am heavily influenced by comics, particularly the superhero brand, and Space Opera and Cyberpunk and quest fantasy. These are all things that sit in the bubbling jambalaya pot in the back of my mind, a spoonful of which goes into every story I write. But where do the specific stories come from?
If I could answer that quantifiably and fully I would be a rich man, the solution to the mechanism of human consciousness and thought lies in that answer, and the best answer modern science has is, 'maybe it has something to do with quantum mechanics?' (Actually, I'm surprised no one has suggested dark matter, it seems to be the solution to many other unknowns).
Some of my stories come from seeing book blurbs and movie trailers and making something of my own from some small part of that (without knowing what the original author did with it in full). But when I'm struggling for something, when I've flicked through my notepad and nothing there is inspiring me (motivating me ;) ) to actually put fingers to keyboard, what do I do?
I look at art.
There are a couple of blogs I have on my feed that throw interesting SF at me on a regular basis:
Concept Ships
Concept Robots
Concept Tanks
And there are also a few individual artists I follow. The other major source is a yearly digest of sorts, called Spectrum. Spectrum purports to gather 'the Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art', which translates as an interesting and varied selection of fantasy & SF art covering a range of outlets and mediums. The quality varies a little year on year, but it's usually fairly high.
For example, my flash, Red Tank, was inspired by the bottom image on this page. But you can see that the image provided only a tiny (if important) spark... where the rest came from... who knows? ;)
Inspiration is one of those hard to quantify qualities. It's the basis of one of the artist's great existential fears: What is inspiration? Where does it come from? If I don't know where it comes from, what can I do about it if it goes away? Please don't go away.
What I'm struggling with right now, though, is the other kind of inspiration. Modern artists know well the draw of the internet, it's easy to find something to do that isn't writing. Most of this post, for example, has been sat in draft form for about a week now, just waiting to be finished.
In terms of my fiction, I try to keep several weeks worth in hand. So if I have a busy week, or a week without much writing, I still have something to post. Because I know that intending to write and actually writing are two very different beasts...
I'll actually be taking a break from my main flash site (Missing Pieces) in a few weeks, when I reach the one year anniversary. Partly that's because I want to work on some longer pieces without the pressure of feeling like I have to post something every week. And partly it's just to take a break from that same pressure, to sit back and relax without the constant thought at the back of my head that relaxing one day means I'll have to crack on the next day to ensure I have something out for people to read...
I really intended to try and push the RenegadeAtoZ and hit a couple of letters a day to catch up and make the June finale... which I've clearly failed to do. The last week or two I just crashed a little on the writing front. It happens, I don't beat myself up about it too much because I know it'll happen in the future, and I just need to settle, and pick it up again. Partly, this time, that's down to my writing habits - I write in the early mornings, when I have time to myself, so a couple of late nights really screws that up...
But enough whinging... ;D This has been the letter I, for inspiration in the sense of both imagination and motivation.
Go see the RenegadeAtoZ in all its glory. Where a few fine bloggers have already completed theirs in timely fashion... ;)
I'll just keep telling myself I'm late because I'm playing up to the renegade theme... ;)
Obviously, I am not going to reach the end of the alphabet by the end of May. However, this is the Renegade A to Z, and what kind of Renegade would I be if I stuck to the rules...? ;) I suppose I could have done a Renegade Z to A... starting with Zombies. (come on, what else is Z going to be?)
The interesting thing about inspiration is that it occurred to me we sometimes use it to mean motivation, then I looked up the definition and it turns out that that is in fact the correct usage, it is the thing that fires us up, that animates us, that gets us moving.
Well that isn't the inspiration I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about what sparks the imagination. Where all the stories and plots come from. Not in a more general sense, I'm not talking about Jungian archetypes or Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces or Booker's Seven Basic Plots.
And I don't mean influences (another 'I', how interesting). So I am heavily influenced by comics, particularly the superhero brand, and Space Opera and Cyberpunk and quest fantasy. These are all things that sit in the bubbling jambalaya pot in the back of my mind, a spoonful of which goes into every story I write. But where do the specific stories come from?
If I could answer that quantifiably and fully I would be a rich man, the solution to the mechanism of human consciousness and thought lies in that answer, and the best answer modern science has is, 'maybe it has something to do with quantum mechanics?' (Actually, I'm surprised no one has suggested dark matter, it seems to be the solution to many other unknowns).
Some of my stories come from seeing book blurbs and movie trailers and making something of my own from some small part of that (without knowing what the original author did with it in full). But when I'm struggling for something, when I've flicked through my notepad and nothing there is inspiring me (motivating me ;) ) to actually put fingers to keyboard, what do I do?
I look at art.
There are a couple of blogs I have on my feed that throw interesting SF at me on a regular basis:
Concept Ships
Concept Robots
Concept Tanks
And there are also a few individual artists I follow. The other major source is a yearly digest of sorts, called Spectrum. Spectrum purports to gather 'the Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art', which translates as an interesting and varied selection of fantasy & SF art covering a range of outlets and mediums. The quality varies a little year on year, but it's usually fairly high.
For example, my flash, Red Tank, was inspired by the bottom image on this page. But you can see that the image provided only a tiny (if important) spark... where the rest came from... who knows? ;)
Inspiration is one of those hard to quantify qualities. It's the basis of one of the artist's great existential fears: What is inspiration? Where does it come from? If I don't know where it comes from, what can I do about it if it goes away? Please don't go away.
What I'm struggling with right now, though, is the other kind of inspiration. Modern artists know well the draw of the internet, it's easy to find something to do that isn't writing. Most of this post, for example, has been sat in draft form for about a week now, just waiting to be finished.
In terms of my fiction, I try to keep several weeks worth in hand. So if I have a busy week, or a week without much writing, I still have something to post. Because I know that intending to write and actually writing are two very different beasts...
I'll actually be taking a break from my main flash site (Missing Pieces) in a few weeks, when I reach the one year anniversary. Partly that's because I want to work on some longer pieces without the pressure of feeling like I have to post something every week. And partly it's just to take a break from that same pressure, to sit back and relax without the constant thought at the back of my head that relaxing one day means I'll have to crack on the next day to ensure I have something out for people to read...
I really intended to try and push the RenegadeAtoZ and hit a couple of letters a day to catch up and make the June finale... which I've clearly failed to do. The last week or two I just crashed a little on the writing front. It happens, I don't beat myself up about it too much because I know it'll happen in the future, and I just need to settle, and pick it up again. Partly, this time, that's down to my writing habits - I write in the early mornings, when I have time to myself, so a couple of late nights really screws that up...
But enough whinging... ;D This has been the letter I, for inspiration in the sense of both imagination and motivation.
Go see the RenegadeAtoZ in all its glory. Where a few fine bloggers have already completed theirs in timely fashion... ;)
I'll just keep telling myself I'm late because I'm playing up to the renegade theme... ;)
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
H is for Horror
Or should that be heroes?
Since I'm primarily trying to write about, or at least to hammer some thoughts out about, genre as well as archetypes, then horror it has to be.
There is a lot out there about creating protagonists. Creating heroes. I would be covering old ground. I'll just say that my preference is for the hero with the hidden power, or the moment of self-revelation, where the bad guy has beaten him down, dismissed him, but he rises, dusty, bruised, bleeding, defiant.
So, horror. Horror is difficult for me. I don't know why, but where I can conceptualise fantasy and science fiction, the play of characters and major plot points, it's that lingering dread I find hard to plan. Especially over a longer span, the longer the piece the harder I find it to judge.
Partly because I think you want a relatively mundane opening to contrast with the main event when it arrives, but not too mundane, it is, after all, supposed to capture your readers. (Although part of that is where compelling characters come in.) But also hints of the unsettled, the unheimlich, as freud would have it. It's that tiny build, that subtlety of execution that I have difficulty with. I think I am convinced any gentle hints I try to make will be too obvious, too heavy-handed.
The visceral, gruesome blood-splattering horror I can do, to a certain extent, although it's not really my thing. It's a little easier to pull off as well.
The darker, more blatant horror is perhaps more easily suited to throw into the genre blender too. In fantasy you can have demons and twisted beasts of all kinds, in SF the alien races can be dark, unfathomable things, they can be elder gods, awoken from their ancient slumber by mankind's clumsy blundering through recently discovered hyperspace.
Maybe we consider hyperspace to be like real space, whereas a better analogy would be space as the air, and hyperspace as an ocean: rich in dangerous lifeforms. Lifeforms adapted far better to survival than our own crude vessels. Lifeforms that might get caught, snagged, and pulled back through into our own plain of space, where we would seem naught but krill to them...
Like crime, it's a genre I would like to work at. Not necessarily somewhere I would like to set my hat, but definitely something I would like to incorporate in my writing.
The side I'd really like to work on is the chiller rather than the thriller. The more subtle elements. Alien over Aliens. Don't get me wrong, I love both films, I just think there's more skill and satisfaction to be derived from pulling off the taught, hidden horror than the in-your-face screamer.
I wrote a more visceral fantasy/ horror blend here: Pain's Embrace
The complete Renegade A to Z (so far). Or watch it in progress on Twitter: #RenegadeAtoZ
Coming next: I is for Inspiration.
Since I'm primarily trying to write about, or at least to hammer some thoughts out about, genre as well as archetypes, then horror it has to be.
There is a lot out there about creating protagonists. Creating heroes. I would be covering old ground. I'll just say that my preference is for the hero with the hidden power, or the moment of self-revelation, where the bad guy has beaten him down, dismissed him, but he rises, dusty, bruised, bleeding, defiant.
So, horror. Horror is difficult for me. I don't know why, but where I can conceptualise fantasy and science fiction, the play of characters and major plot points, it's that lingering dread I find hard to plan. Especially over a longer span, the longer the piece the harder I find it to judge.
Partly because I think you want a relatively mundane opening to contrast with the main event when it arrives, but not too mundane, it is, after all, supposed to capture your readers. (Although part of that is where compelling characters come in.) But also hints of the unsettled, the unheimlich, as freud would have it. It's that tiny build, that subtlety of execution that I have difficulty with. I think I am convinced any gentle hints I try to make will be too obvious, too heavy-handed.
The visceral, gruesome blood-splattering horror I can do, to a certain extent, although it's not really my thing. It's a little easier to pull off as well.
The darker, more blatant horror is perhaps more easily suited to throw into the genre blender too. In fantasy you can have demons and twisted beasts of all kinds, in SF the alien races can be dark, unfathomable things, they can be elder gods, awoken from their ancient slumber by mankind's clumsy blundering through recently discovered hyperspace.
Maybe we consider hyperspace to be like real space, whereas a better analogy would be space as the air, and hyperspace as an ocean: rich in dangerous lifeforms. Lifeforms adapted far better to survival than our own crude vessels. Lifeforms that might get caught, snagged, and pulled back through into our own plain of space, where we would seem naught but krill to them...
Like crime, it's a genre I would like to work at. Not necessarily somewhere I would like to set my hat, but definitely something I would like to incorporate in my writing.
The side I'd really like to work on is the chiller rather than the thriller. The more subtle elements. Alien over Aliens. Don't get me wrong, I love both films, I just think there's more skill and satisfaction to be derived from pulling off the taught, hidden horror than the in-your-face screamer.
I wrote a more visceral fantasy/ horror blend here: Pain's Embrace
The complete Renegade A to Z (so far). Or watch it in progress on Twitter: #RenegadeAtoZ
Coming next: I is for Inspiration.
Sunday, 15 May 2011
D, E & F for Destiny and Epic Fantasy
Do you see what I did there? Three letters in one fell swoop! ;D
Destiny is such a powerful force, particularly in fantasy where it has a pull equal to gravity, a pressure greater than the deepest ocean trench... It is often almost a quantifiable force, there is no denying it.
It doesn't have a place in most science fiction because SF deals with mechanisms, with an advanced reality, whereas fantasy allows for mysticism and forces greater than us. (I speak in generalisations, of course) If there were destiny in SF, it would be our lives pushed and pulled by an alien race, the earth as a giant stage, our lives merely parts... ;)
Most SF, I say, because there is the glaring exception of Star Wars... it is your destiny.... But then Star Wars, in many respects, bears as many traits of epic fantasy as it does of science fiction... See my previous post though, there is nothing wrong with shuffling traits around between genres.
Destiny drives fantasy plots. And it sits particularly well in epic fantasy because that allows destiny the space it needs to properly develop. The farm boy who is destined to be the hero. The king's lost son, determined to deny his destiny and live a humble life. The orphan destined to discover his lost heritage and save the kingdom. The seventh son destined to slay the evil emperor (where the emperor, of course, has every seventh son killed, but forgets to count his own bastard children).
It can be destiny fulfilled, or destiny denied, or an attempt to thwart prophesied destiny.
Prophecy just being a way to tap into destiny, like hooking into somebody's satellite feed. You end up with a scratchy, flickery image open to interpretation, and misinterpretation, leaving you with a headache...
There is something compelling about destiny. Even when you know that a character is destined to be the hero, you read on. You know he wins, but the journey there, finding out just how he triumphs against impossible odds is something we need to know.
Maybe it's a reflection of the belief we have that in our own lives we will 'win', we just aren't sure exactly how we're going to get there. It's reassuring seeing someone weak and ordinary go up against absolute evil and triumph; surely then, we think, in our own struggles against mere everyday life we too can triumph. ;) Although that may be more relevant to heroes as a whole than destiny specifically.
Of course, subversion of destiny also has its part in epic fantasy. The prophets lead the hero on, they know he will triumph, they have read the entrails and he is the one, all the signs are right but... (usually at the end of book 2)... the hero is killed! Drama! Shock! How can this be!? Well... they got it wrong, didn't they? Because the hero's unassuming squire, born in the hovel next door, on the same night, is actually the hero.
Destiny is a marvellous tool for a writer. And there is no wrong way to use it. If you play it against insurmountable odds and win, it's awesome; if you subvert it and someone else has to save the day, it's awesome; if the bad guy wipes out an entire race and misses only a single one (or two*) who manage to struggle through and save the world, it's awesome.
Epic fantasy doesn't have to have destiny as a driving force, of course. It can just be a retrospective destiny... We were obviously -meant- to meet each other seemingly randomly in order defeat the Dark Lord.
Epic can be a span of time or space, of races or factions, or all of these. It is grand, it is mighty, but it must be the backdrop. Again, it must be the people, the real lives that play out on this backdrop that take first place amongst your priorities, because stories, ultimately, have to be about people. In flash you can get away with a sketch of an idea, but if you begin to stretch it, it is the characters that will keep people reading, it is the characters they will get attached to.
Epic allows for a greater evil. Epic lets the sorcerer conquer whole kingdoms, it lets the alien empire conquer whole worlds and the warlord subjugate entire peoples for generations. Children can be born knowing nothing but the evil world, or they can be born into a world where the evil is so distant it has been all but forgotten. But somewhere, far away, evil has been recovering, it has regained its strength and it will walk the land once more, casting its shadow far and wide before anyone steps up, before a new hero can rise...
The Renegade A to Z. Or follow #RenegadeAtoZ on Twitter.
*The Dark Crystal, for example... What do you mean, two Gelflings survived!?
Destiny is such a powerful force, particularly in fantasy where it has a pull equal to gravity, a pressure greater than the deepest ocean trench... It is often almost a quantifiable force, there is no denying it.
It doesn't have a place in most science fiction because SF deals with mechanisms, with an advanced reality, whereas fantasy allows for mysticism and forces greater than us. (I speak in generalisations, of course) If there were destiny in SF, it would be our lives pushed and pulled by an alien race, the earth as a giant stage, our lives merely parts... ;)
Most SF, I say, because there is the glaring exception of Star Wars... it is your destiny.... But then Star Wars, in many respects, bears as many traits of epic fantasy as it does of science fiction... See my previous post though, there is nothing wrong with shuffling traits around between genres.
Destiny drives fantasy plots. And it sits particularly well in epic fantasy because that allows destiny the space it needs to properly develop. The farm boy who is destined to be the hero. The king's lost son, determined to deny his destiny and live a humble life. The orphan destined to discover his lost heritage and save the kingdom. The seventh son destined to slay the evil emperor (where the emperor, of course, has every seventh son killed, but forgets to count his own bastard children).
It can be destiny fulfilled, or destiny denied, or an attempt to thwart prophesied destiny.
Prophecy just being a way to tap into destiny, like hooking into somebody's satellite feed. You end up with a scratchy, flickery image open to interpretation, and misinterpretation, leaving you with a headache...
There is something compelling about destiny. Even when you know that a character is destined to be the hero, you read on. You know he wins, but the journey there, finding out just how he triumphs against impossible odds is something we need to know.
Maybe it's a reflection of the belief we have that in our own lives we will 'win', we just aren't sure exactly how we're going to get there. It's reassuring seeing someone weak and ordinary go up against absolute evil and triumph; surely then, we think, in our own struggles against mere everyday life we too can triumph. ;) Although that may be more relevant to heroes as a whole than destiny specifically.
Of course, subversion of destiny also has its part in epic fantasy. The prophets lead the hero on, they know he will triumph, they have read the entrails and he is the one, all the signs are right but... (usually at the end of book 2)... the hero is killed! Drama! Shock! How can this be!? Well... they got it wrong, didn't they? Because the hero's unassuming squire, born in the hovel next door, on the same night, is actually the hero.
Destiny is a marvellous tool for a writer. And there is no wrong way to use it. If you play it against insurmountable odds and win, it's awesome; if you subvert it and someone else has to save the day, it's awesome; if the bad guy wipes out an entire race and misses only a single one (or two*) who manage to struggle through and save the world, it's awesome.
Epic fantasy doesn't have to have destiny as a driving force, of course. It can just be a retrospective destiny... We were obviously -meant- to meet each other seemingly randomly in order defeat the Dark Lord.
Epic can be a span of time or space, of races or factions, or all of these. It is grand, it is mighty, but it must be the backdrop. Again, it must be the people, the real lives that play out on this backdrop that take first place amongst your priorities, because stories, ultimately, have to be about people. In flash you can get away with a sketch of an idea, but if you begin to stretch it, it is the characters that will keep people reading, it is the characters they will get attached to.
Epic allows for a greater evil. Epic lets the sorcerer conquer whole kingdoms, it lets the alien empire conquer whole worlds and the warlord subjugate entire peoples for generations. Children can be born knowing nothing but the evil world, or they can be born into a world where the evil is so distant it has been all but forgotten. But somewhere, far away, evil has been recovering, it has regained its strength and it will walk the land once more, casting its shadow far and wide before anyone steps up, before a new hero can rise...
The Renegade A to Z. Or follow #RenegadeAtoZ on Twitter.
*The Dark Crystal, for example... What do you mean, two Gelflings survived!?
C is for Crime
Regardless of what genre you write in I think it's important to learn from other genres, what they do right and what they do well.
Crime is a genre I don't read so much of, but I think setting up a mystery, setting up the evidence and the suspects and the false leads takes a crafty mind. They're elements I would like to weave into my own longer fiction.
A lot of popular crime nowadays itself borrows from the horror genre. Gore and autopsy, corpses and psychopathy. What's more interesting to me though, is the whodunnit. It's almost outdated, a classic whodunnit is more often considered the realm of grannies* and kids. On our stock system at work they are classified as 'cosy crime', which is a great name, but somewhat damning at the same time.
It's a hole in my own reading, I want to read some Agatha Christie shorts, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Carver... those are the classics I want to learn from... not Bronte and Tolstoy. Not all traditional whodunnits perhaps, but the emphasis was not on the shock, the gruesome.
Not that blood and gore don't have their place, but they should be tools, in my opinion, not a genre in and of themselves.
Take The Great Gatsby for example (not crime, I know), there is one utterly visceral moment in the entire book, and it stands out all the more, has all the more impact, for being such a contrast to the rest.
So science fiction is my thing, if you will. Whodunnits exist there, were a staple of the genre. Asimov's robot stories are often whodunnits, very cleverly constructed to explore the ramifications of his three laws. Brin's Kil'n People was a mystery, and I remember there being a mystery central to the plot of Sundiver, too. I could go on...
Science Fiction is a rich vibrant setting full of possibilities in which crime and romance and politics and horror and humanity take place. I've long held that, for me, the best science fiction is the one that focuses on the people, not the SF. And after that on the story, not the SF. And then the SF. But the SF still has to be really good... the other two just have to be even better, even more important to the writer.
A compelling whodunnit, affecting realistic lives and relationships, on a starship... awesome. ;)
The Renegade A to Z. #RenegadeAtoZ on Twitter.
*a generalisation of course... I still remember the first time an elderly lady asked me about the Tess Gerritsen/ Karen Rose etc. end of the crime spectrum... "I do like a good murder," she said...
Crime is a genre I don't read so much of, but I think setting up a mystery, setting up the evidence and the suspects and the false leads takes a crafty mind. They're elements I would like to weave into my own longer fiction.
A lot of popular crime nowadays itself borrows from the horror genre. Gore and autopsy, corpses and psychopathy. What's more interesting to me though, is the whodunnit. It's almost outdated, a classic whodunnit is more often considered the realm of grannies* and kids. On our stock system at work they are classified as 'cosy crime', which is a great name, but somewhat damning at the same time.
It's a hole in my own reading, I want to read some Agatha Christie shorts, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Carver... those are the classics I want to learn from... not Bronte and Tolstoy. Not all traditional whodunnits perhaps, but the emphasis was not on the shock, the gruesome.
Not that blood and gore don't have their place, but they should be tools, in my opinion, not a genre in and of themselves.
Take The Great Gatsby for example (not crime, I know), there is one utterly visceral moment in the entire book, and it stands out all the more, has all the more impact, for being such a contrast to the rest.
So science fiction is my thing, if you will. Whodunnits exist there, were a staple of the genre. Asimov's robot stories are often whodunnits, very cleverly constructed to explore the ramifications of his three laws. Brin's Kil'n People was a mystery, and I remember there being a mystery central to the plot of Sundiver, too. I could go on...
Science Fiction is a rich vibrant setting full of possibilities in which crime and romance and politics and horror and humanity take place. I've long held that, for me, the best science fiction is the one that focuses on the people, not the SF. And after that on the story, not the SF. And then the SF. But the SF still has to be really good... the other two just have to be even better, even more important to the writer.
A compelling whodunnit, affecting realistic lives and relationships, on a starship... awesome. ;)
The Renegade A to Z. #RenegadeAtoZ on Twitter.
*a generalisation of course... I still remember the first time an elderly lady asked me about the Tess Gerritsen/ Karen Rose etc. end of the crime spectrum... "I do like a good murder," she said...
Saturday, 14 May 2011
B is for the Bad Guys
I may regret not saving this for villainous V...
You may have wondered if following on from A (for Apocalypse) would be the rest of the alphabet. Or you may have been more concerned over the whereabouts of your TV remote... however, there is more. 25 more. In theory. Which will have to include some days with double posts I guess, since there are clearly not another 25 days left of May...
Where other letters were presenting a multitude of options I was struggling for a B. Books might be obvious, but is way too broad and unspecific. I nearly settled on Bookselling, which is what I do... I am even such a thing as a Senior Bookseller, would you believe? Oh yes, I work for a major bookselling chain, have reviewed for their magazine, have sat on a science fiction and fantasy panel for them.... you care, I can tell... ;)
I could write a lot on bookselling. However, I really wanted to talk about writing, and so bad guys it is.
It's so easy to make your bad guy the clichéd villain, unafraid of hurting women and children; evil to the core; perhaps banished for thousands of years but now returning; the hero's childhood friend, or mentor... Now there's nothing wrong with all of that, but if you want the bad guy, or gal, to be truly compelling, try making them as three dimensional as your hero.
Why is he bad?
What made him that way? Did circumstance turn an otherwise good person into the Hand of Darkness? Is he doing it through some misguided sense of good? Although if he is, flesh that out, that one's been done before, too.
Your bad guy should be as hard to kill off as your hero (for you, not physically). Not because you like him, necessarily, but because you are invested in him.
Now, maybe it's not fair for me to talk of this, because I write flash fiction and, mostly, fleshing out a character involves throwing a few tiny titbits in from their past, it works in the space. Actually, sometimes it's good to use cliché to your advantage... a by-the-book villain does a lot of work for you, people fill the gaps in, it allows you to use your limited space for other things, like story-telling and scene-setting.
You may say, hey, my bad guy has no reason... he's just psychopathic. Well, there's still often a reason people are psychopathic (not a justification, but an origin), but fair enough, I can concede, maybe some people are just built bad.
They make good villains for crime books, the psychological determination of their actions being what the detective needs to suss in order to solve the crime... but wait... we're getting into C now. Because C is for Crime...
(Read more Renegade A to Zs. Or find us on Twitter with #RenegadeAtoZ.)
You may have wondered if following on from A (for Apocalypse) would be the rest of the alphabet. Or you may have been more concerned over the whereabouts of your TV remote... however, there is more. 25 more. In theory. Which will have to include some days with double posts I guess, since there are clearly not another 25 days left of May...
Where other letters were presenting a multitude of options I was struggling for a B. Books might be obvious, but is way too broad and unspecific. I nearly settled on Bookselling, which is what I do... I am even such a thing as a Senior Bookseller, would you believe? Oh yes, I work for a major bookselling chain, have reviewed for their magazine, have sat on a science fiction and fantasy panel for them.... you care, I can tell... ;)
I could write a lot on bookselling. However, I really wanted to talk about writing, and so bad guys it is.
It's so easy to make your bad guy the clichéd villain, unafraid of hurting women and children; evil to the core; perhaps banished for thousands of years but now returning; the hero's childhood friend, or mentor... Now there's nothing wrong with all of that, but if you want the bad guy, or gal, to be truly compelling, try making them as three dimensional as your hero.
Why is he bad?
What made him that way? Did circumstance turn an otherwise good person into the Hand of Darkness? Is he doing it through some misguided sense of good? Although if he is, flesh that out, that one's been done before, too.
Your bad guy should be as hard to kill off as your hero (for you, not physically). Not because you like him, necessarily, but because you are invested in him.
Now, maybe it's not fair for me to talk of this, because I write flash fiction and, mostly, fleshing out a character involves throwing a few tiny titbits in from their past, it works in the space. Actually, sometimes it's good to use cliché to your advantage... a by-the-book villain does a lot of work for you, people fill the gaps in, it allows you to use your limited space for other things, like story-telling and scene-setting.
You may say, hey, my bad guy has no reason... he's just psychopathic. Well, there's still often a reason people are psychopathic (not a justification, but an origin), but fair enough, I can concede, maybe some people are just built bad.
They make good villains for crime books, the psychological determination of their actions being what the detective needs to suss in order to solve the crime... but wait... we're getting into C now. Because C is for Crime...
(Read more Renegade A to Zs. Or find us on Twitter with #RenegadeAtoZ.)
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Equals and Sequels
I started writing a third flash this morning featuring the Sora Tanaka and Sergeant Browning characters. The first (This Pit) was posted to Missing Pieces last November, the second will appear soon, and I have a fourth in mind...
The difficulty is that although they feature the same characters they are not a serialised story. Even though this morning's (and the fourth) are direct sequels to the second. I mean I want them to stand alone as well as being sequels. Someone should be able to come to them fresh, but someone who has met the characters before should also enjoy reading more on them.
This presents a difficulty. I need to re-introduce the main characters (three, about the maximum you want in flash fiction), and I need to do it in a way that will still be interesting for people who have met them before. It needs to be both a reminder and a standalone.
Added to this is that it plays with both surreality and humour. The surreal I'm comfortable with, humour is a little out of my comfort zone (a good thing, of course, it's always good to push yourself).
And then there's the concept, which again, is established in the first part, but needs to be re-established quickly in this part too.
Oh yeah, and then I've actually got to fit the story in on top of that, all in under a thousand words... *phew*
I'm pleased with the way the first draft is shaping up, but I'm going to have to work hardest at the humour part, as I thought I might...
I'm also trying to put out of my mind a piece I was 'commissioned' to write (not for money...). Because I've written it, it's good (it actually might just be one of my best), but the turnaround on it is only a couple of weeks... So my normal editing cycle is to leave it for at least a month, usually more, and then come back to it... now I've got a few days to step away and then come back and edit it for next week... I'm just glad the first draft turned out so well...
The difficulty is that although they feature the same characters they are not a serialised story. Even though this morning's (and the fourth) are direct sequels to the second. I mean I want them to stand alone as well as being sequels. Someone should be able to come to them fresh, but someone who has met the characters before should also enjoy reading more on them.
This presents a difficulty. I need to re-introduce the main characters (three, about the maximum you want in flash fiction), and I need to do it in a way that will still be interesting for people who have met them before. It needs to be both a reminder and a standalone.
Added to this is that it plays with both surreality and humour. The surreal I'm comfortable with, humour is a little out of my comfort zone (a good thing, of course, it's always good to push yourself).
And then there's the concept, which again, is established in the first part, but needs to be re-established quickly in this part too.
Oh yeah, and then I've actually got to fit the story in on top of that, all in under a thousand words... *phew*
I'm pleased with the way the first draft is shaping up, but I'm going to have to work hardest at the humour part, as I thought I might...
I'm also trying to put out of my mind a piece I was 'commissioned' to write (not for money...). Because I've written it, it's good (it actually might just be one of my best), but the turnaround on it is only a couple of weeks... So my normal editing cycle is to leave it for at least a month, usually more, and then come back to it... now I've got a few days to step away and then come back and edit it for next week... I'm just glad the first draft turned out so well...
Monday, 14 March 2011
revisiting old haunts...
Because I've been revisiting the old home (blog) from many years ago I thought I'd link an example of what I was talking about by remixes. Of course, with Hidden Tracks we were running with the whole music analogy already, but it's an appropriate term. Take some of the component elements and create something new, but with some of the flavour of the old track, the original piece of writing.
It's something you do on creative writing/ literature courses too, write a 'response' to an author's work. I once wrote a companion piece to Poe's Raven, told from the point of view of Lenore's shade, among other things.
So my old writing partner wrote a little slice of uncomfortableness called A Children's Poem...
Gangly Men get everywhere...
Curtain rails, cat's entrails,
Even in balls of rotten old hair.
Push in tight,
No need for the light,
Just sit and stare,
With a pale second sight.
Wrapped up small,
No shadow at all...
Gangly Men unfurl in the walls.
It works, I think, with a sense of the unheimlich (usually loosely (inadequately) translated as the 'uncanny'). Dee doesn't publish so much these days. But you can find his words here, when he does.
And here (originally published here) is my twist, Xero's insomnia remiX:
Only sheer necessity compels these paled people from their doors. Outside, they move too quickly, glancing always about themselves, stricken with fear's awkward puppetry. And when the light slides from the rooftops, they slink indoors. They lock themselves firmly within and anyone that steps outdoors after dark doesn't step inside again; but some slice of the night in their skin might.
Even the wind barely dares to blow here, timidly herding dry rubbish down streets empty of all but the fearful hush of anticipation. Then suddenly scattering and skittering away into cracks and corners as it comes all against a presence unexpected: the puppeteer's patron.
It seems a man, but in this place where men are afraid, he walks alone, calmly and comfortably. He wears his scuffed sable suit with ease, although it hangs a little loose from his long thin frame. He could carry a cane, and carry it well, yet he keeps company with nothing but his clothes and the clustering shadows.
If you weren't cramped in your bed with cold fear, you could watch him walk by; you could watch him trail his talon-like fingers teasingly along the walls, see the shadows of lost men curl about his touch and unfurl in his wake.
Which was, if you like, my idea of a more concrete gangly man. There is (I hope) a little of the feel of Dee's original in there, if it is also, obviously, something quite different.
Actually... copy/pasting that here I can feel the editing itch in my fingers... the desire to tweak and shift the piece. I wonder if editing is something like evolution. There is no 'perfect' goal, there is just progress, adapting for suitability, being as right as you can be for that moment...
It's something you do on creative writing/ literature courses too, write a 'response' to an author's work. I once wrote a companion piece to Poe's Raven, told from the point of view of Lenore's shade, among other things.
So my old writing partner wrote a little slice of uncomfortableness called A Children's Poem...
Gangly Men get everywhere...
Curtain rails, cat's entrails,
Even in balls of rotten old hair.
Push in tight,
No need for the light,
Just sit and stare,
With a pale second sight.
Wrapped up small,
No shadow at all...
Gangly Men unfurl in the walls.
It works, I think, with a sense of the unheimlich (usually loosely (inadequately) translated as the 'uncanny'). Dee doesn't publish so much these days. But you can find his words here, when he does.
And here (originally published here) is my twist, Xero's insomnia remiX:
Only sheer necessity compels these paled people from their doors. Outside, they move too quickly, glancing always about themselves, stricken with fear's awkward puppetry. And when the light slides from the rooftops, they slink indoors. They lock themselves firmly within and anyone that steps outdoors after dark doesn't step inside again; but some slice of the night in their skin might.
Even the wind barely dares to blow here, timidly herding dry rubbish down streets empty of all but the fearful hush of anticipation. Then suddenly scattering and skittering away into cracks and corners as it comes all against a presence unexpected: the puppeteer's patron.
It seems a man, but in this place where men are afraid, he walks alone, calmly and comfortably. He wears his scuffed sable suit with ease, although it hangs a little loose from his long thin frame. He could carry a cane, and carry it well, yet he keeps company with nothing but his clothes and the clustering shadows.
If you weren't cramped in your bed with cold fear, you could watch him walk by; you could watch him trail his talon-like fingers teasingly along the walls, see the shadows of lost men curl about his touch and unfurl in his wake.
Which was, if you like, my idea of a more concrete gangly man. There is (I hope) a little of the feel of Dee's original in there, if it is also, obviously, something quite different.
Actually... copy/pasting that here I can feel the editing itch in my fingers... the desire to tweak and shift the piece. I wonder if editing is something like evolution. There is no 'perfect' goal, there is just progress, adapting for suitability, being as right as you can be for that moment...
Thursday, 10 March 2011
A Doorway to Temptation
A while ago I wrote a piece called Fishing for Xeroverse: 101. I'd been wandering through town and, on the same street that has inspired two other pieces, I thought about how often we are tempted. I don't mean tempted to do bad things, I'm not talking about Lucifer perched on our shoulder, whispering.
I just mean tempted in little ways. By a good shop window, a scent or a poster. People tempting people. I imagined demons sat on rooftops fishing for mortals in the same fashion. But I decided that Fishing was a dull title. Who would go look at a piece called that? Only maybe someone with an interest in the sport, and I didn't think they were the likeliest to enjoy my story...
So it became Lure. A more tempting title, no? ;) And it keeps the fishing reference, which I like.
101 has been an interesting experience. (continues to be). Sometimes I think of titles and write to them, titles I think will be interesting. I have the title Doom sitting unwritten on file. Other pieces, like the most recent, Doors, are written without a title.
Doors is one of the pieces I'm most proud of. And, having written it, it couldn't have been called anything else. Sometimes I feel able to play around with a title, a good title is just good, a great title begins the storytelling before the story has even begun. But sometimes when you strike on the right title you just know it.
I just mean tempted in little ways. By a good shop window, a scent or a poster. People tempting people. I imagined demons sat on rooftops fishing for mortals in the same fashion. But I decided that Fishing was a dull title. Who would go look at a piece called that? Only maybe someone with an interest in the sport, and I didn't think they were the likeliest to enjoy my story...
So it became Lure. A more tempting title, no? ;) And it keeps the fishing reference, which I like.
101 has been an interesting experience. (continues to be). Sometimes I think of titles and write to them, titles I think will be interesting. I have the title Doom sitting unwritten on file. Other pieces, like the most recent, Doors, are written without a title.
Doors is one of the pieces I'm most proud of. And, having written it, it couldn't have been called anything else. Sometimes I feel able to play around with a title, a good title is just good, a great title begins the storytelling before the story has even begun. But sometimes when you strike on the right title you just know it.
Sunday, 20 February 2011
Clever title for a post about titles
How important is a title?
The title. You only get one. It's the first thing that most people see. It can draw people in, it can put them off. I still think the first line is the most important of any piece of writing, but the title can come close.
I was thinking about this a lot with Brumathick. In my last round of editing on the piece I thought of many subtitles that might catch the eye, draw more people to the story. Brumathick: Between the Stars. Trapped Between Stars. Lost in Space... I'm kidding with that one, but you get the point.
In the end, Brumathick was just the right title in my mind. I couldn't bring myself to alter the title for the sake of attracting more readers. Pretentious maybe, given that few enough people read my work as is, and I really would like to reach a larger audience, but ultimately, I have to go with what I feel is right for the piece.
Doctor Crow is another name. It does a little more than Brumathick, the words are real words and have some resonance, they even vibrate a little against each other, suggest a little of the strangeness that the piece holds. But it doesn't do as much as it might.
Sometimes I try and set up tension in the title. This Mundane Slavery or This Bright Lie, for example, are both hooks. How can you apply the adjective mundane to slavery, or how can a lie be bright?
This Old Man, Once Mighty tells you where you're going. It already sets up a history for the story. It holds a lot of resonance.
(I talk about resonance a lot, because it's important, especially when you have so few words. You need to be aware of how things resonant inside people's memories, in their heads, and you need to know how to work with that, how to use that.)
Edit: And then, literally the next day, a column on titles goes up on flashfictiononline.com... which has a lot of what I was trying to say and a good comment on titling to genre to.
The title. You only get one. It's the first thing that most people see. It can draw people in, it can put them off. I still think the first line is the most important of any piece of writing, but the title can come close.
I was thinking about this a lot with Brumathick. In my last round of editing on the piece I thought of many subtitles that might catch the eye, draw more people to the story. Brumathick: Between the Stars. Trapped Between Stars. Lost in Space... I'm kidding with that one, but you get the point.
In the end, Brumathick was just the right title in my mind. I couldn't bring myself to alter the title for the sake of attracting more readers. Pretentious maybe, given that few enough people read my work as is, and I really would like to reach a larger audience, but ultimately, I have to go with what I feel is right for the piece.
Doctor Crow is another name. It does a little more than Brumathick, the words are real words and have some resonance, they even vibrate a little against each other, suggest a little of the strangeness that the piece holds. But it doesn't do as much as it might.
Sometimes I try and set up tension in the title. This Mundane Slavery or This Bright Lie, for example, are both hooks. How can you apply the adjective mundane to slavery, or how can a lie be bright?
This Old Man, Once Mighty tells you where you're going. It already sets up a history for the story. It holds a lot of resonance.
(I talk about resonance a lot, because it's important, especially when you have so few words. You need to be aware of how things resonant inside people's memories, in their heads, and you need to know how to work with that, how to use that.)
Edit: And then, literally the next day, a column on titles goes up on flashfictiononline.com... which has a lot of what I was trying to say and a good comment on titling to genre to.
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Sweet Nothings
Ah... that special first post. So important and yet so insignificant. It needs to be amazing, and yet, almost no one will read it...
And thus, I suppose, this nervousness, this tentative, almost palpable apprehension. I have before me a blank page, a blank slate and all that connotes. Every writer knows the fear of the blank page. That accusing emptiness.
Why am I here when I have a perfectly serviceable blog in Author's Commentary? Well, my blogging needs and attitudes have changed. I want to do more with the blog.
I could just change the title and address, but that would mean changing a whole heap of links. And it's not as if I have a whole bunch of readers to bring with me. So a fresh start. Something that is about what I'm currently writing as much as what I've just posted. Somewhere I can grumble about the length of time it's just taken me to write Orion and the Bear, first draft coming in at a shade under a thousand words.
Or where I can mention that having written that I am reminded of a longer short story I never quite finished called Thor vs. Angel that I should dig out and finish off.
Somewhere I can talk about the little things I live. Like a policeman asking for a bag on a rainy day and me glibly commenting, "there's nothing worse than a book and water...". True story. He's a policeman, I'm sure he sees far worse than wet books every other day...
Somewhere I can go: hey, there's this great range of new Mini Modern Classics from Penguin. If you like short fiction pop down to you local bookshop and check them out, it's a really great opening line-up.
And thus, I suppose, this nervousness, this tentative, almost palpable apprehension. I have before me a blank page, a blank slate and all that connotes. Every writer knows the fear of the blank page. That accusing emptiness.
Why am I here when I have a perfectly serviceable blog in Author's Commentary? Well, my blogging needs and attitudes have changed. I want to do more with the blog.
I could just change the title and address, but that would mean changing a whole heap of links. And it's not as if I have a whole bunch of readers to bring with me. So a fresh start. Something that is about what I'm currently writing as much as what I've just posted. Somewhere I can grumble about the length of time it's just taken me to write Orion and the Bear, first draft coming in at a shade under a thousand words.
Or where I can mention that having written that I am reminded of a longer short story I never quite finished called Thor vs. Angel that I should dig out and finish off.
Somewhere I can talk about the little things I live. Like a policeman asking for a bag on a rainy day and me glibly commenting, "there's nothing worse than a book and water...". True story. He's a policeman, I'm sure he sees far worse than wet books every other day...
Somewhere I can go: hey, there's this great range of new Mini Modern Classics from Penguin. If you like short fiction pop down to you local bookshop and check them out, it's a really great opening line-up.
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