Listening to: Thoughts of a dying atheist, Muse
Just answered a couple of on-line surveys. Things look bad for me:
I've got a slim chance of surviving a zombie apocalypse.
46%
And when the zombies do finally get me...
$3890.00
But the worst news is...
44%
Only 44%!!! I need to inject an iPod and a MacBook into my veins.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Playing God
Listening to: It's all in my mind, Beck
I'm toying/struggling with the idea of killing off a character. It's a tough decision, in some ways I think the character has run his course and death is a tidy way of removing him from the remainder of the story also, his demise will show the power the antagonist wields. But on the other hand there's only three characters and this one has become the comedy relief; I'm worried readers would be put off by his untimely departure.
Nick Daws (see previous post) has some tips on working through issues such as these. Basically by asking myself questions about the subject I can develop the story according to my answers... and my answers lean to death for the poor fellow.
If that's the route I take I will then need to work out how to do it. One thing's for sure I won't be bringing my story to life like an aspiring Mexican Horror writer has done. Police came to his apartment looking for his missing girlfriend and found some of her body parts in the fridge... he had even cooked some of it. Full story here.
Meanwhile, on a much lighter tone, I have updated the look of this blog (and the linked samples), taking advantage of the improved templates Blogger have on offer. Also, the Progressometer has been brought up to date by upping the desired total word count of the finished product by 10,000 to 50,000 words. The current count is 21,770.
Steve
I'm toying/struggling with the idea of killing off a character. It's a tough decision, in some ways I think the character has run his course and death is a tidy way of removing him from the remainder of the story also, his demise will show the power the antagonist wields. But on the other hand there's only three characters and this one has become the comedy relief; I'm worried readers would be put off by his untimely departure.
Nick Daws (see previous post) has some tips on working through issues such as these. Basically by asking myself questions about the subject I can develop the story according to my answers... and my answers lean to death for the poor fellow.
If that's the route I take I will then need to work out how to do it. One thing's for sure I won't be bringing my story to life like an aspiring Mexican Horror writer has done. Police came to his apartment looking for his missing girlfriend and found some of her body parts in the fridge... he had even cooked some of it. Full story here.
Meanwhile, on a much lighter tone, I have updated the look of this blog (and the linked samples), taking advantage of the improved templates Blogger have on offer. Also, the Progressometer has been brought up to date by upping the desired total word count of the finished product by 10,000 to 50,000 words. The current count is 21,770.
Steve
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Seeking Guidance
Listening to: 5-8-6, New Order
I mentioned before that I was having trouble moving my story past a certain point which I named The Writer's Chasm. Well I wasn't getting any closer to traversing this chasm so when I discovered Nick Daws, Write Any Book in 28 Days... or Less course I thought, what the hell, I'm not getting anywhere on my own.
I must admit I was sceptical (as is my nature) and the tacky website was a bit off putting but there were also some things that appealed to me and the price (US$49) and the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee helped make up my mind.
In the first hour of the course (which arrived within a week of placing my order) Nick discusses Freewriting and then sets an exercise to come up with three random, unrelated words and spend 5 minutes writing whatever comes to your mind. In 5 minutes, to my surprise, I had written a 200+ word story of a man who finds his teenage daughters dairy.
The next surprise came the other day, in the second module of the course, where Nick explains a "secret formula" used by Hollywood scriptwriters, I found that what I have written so far fits into this formula.
George Lucas used this methodology to write Star Wars but I'm not saying that this formula will guarantee my book will be a huge successt but it is nice to know I can at least lay out a story in an acceptable fashion.
So that's what's been keeping me busy of late.
Ciao,
Steve
I mentioned before that I was having trouble moving my story past a certain point which I named The Writer's Chasm. Well I wasn't getting any closer to traversing this chasm so when I discovered Nick Daws, Write Any Book in 28 Days... or Less course I thought, what the hell, I'm not getting anywhere on my own.
I must admit I was sceptical (as is my nature) and the tacky website was a bit off putting but there were also some things that appealed to me and the price (US$49) and the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee helped make up my mind.
In the first hour of the course (which arrived within a week of placing my order) Nick discusses Freewriting and then sets an exercise to come up with three random, unrelated words and spend 5 minutes writing whatever comes to your mind. In 5 minutes, to my surprise, I had written a 200+ word story of a man who finds his teenage daughters dairy.
The next surprise came the other day, in the second module of the course, where Nick explains a "secret formula" used by Hollywood scriptwriters, I found that what I have written so far fits into this formula.
George Lucas used this methodology to write Star Wars but I'm not saying that this formula will guarantee my book will be a huge successt but it is nice to know I can at least lay out a story in an acceptable fashion.
So that's what's been keeping me busy of late.
Ciao,
Steve
Friday, August 31, 2007
Plodding Along
Listening to: Silent Sigh, Badly Drawn Boy
It's funny how the human brain works. I hadn't added anything to Coma City for a couple of months and then on Monday night I'm washing the dishes and a whole new idea comes to me, complete with dialogue and locations.
I have no idea what stimulated the thought process, one second I'm wondering if I should wash the pots or the knives first, and the next, my mind is awash with fresh ideas.
Naturally, I got stuck into writing them down - after watching Californication, a TV show about an author with writers block :-). At first I only intended to jot down the ideas in point form but they were so vivid and the words were flowing easily so I just wrote until I came, much to my surprise, to the end of the chapter and the perfect ending for the story - but not the end of the book, I have an epilogue, of which I have already written about 75% of, that conveniently ties up the loose ends.
I was up until 3am but it was worth it just to get those 2000+ words down.
Word count is now at 18,888.
It's funny how the human brain works. I hadn't added anything to Coma City for a couple of months and then on Monday night I'm washing the dishes and a whole new idea comes to me, complete with dialogue and locations.
I have no idea what stimulated the thought process, one second I'm wondering if I should wash the pots or the knives first, and the next, my mind is awash with fresh ideas.
Naturally, I got stuck into writing them down - after watching Californication, a TV show about an author with writers block :-). At first I only intended to jot down the ideas in point form but they were so vivid and the words were flowing easily so I just wrote until I came, much to my surprise, to the end of the chapter and the perfect ending for the story - but not the end of the book, I have an epilogue, of which I have already written about 75% of, that conveniently ties up the loose ends.
I was up until 3am but it was worth it just to get those 2000+ words down.
Word count is now at 18,888.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Tabby of Death
Listening to: Someday Soon, The Doves
This is Oscar, he's a pet cat at a nursing home in the USA. Normally he doesn't pay much attention to the patients... until they're only hours away from dying.
Somehow Oscar senses that death is near and jumps up on the bed to snuggle up to the patient.
Read the full story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6917113.stm
Cat lovers out there are thinking, Aawww, how adorable. The cute little pussy cat has empathy toward the poor old person.
My twisted mind however instantly put together a story about Oscar the cat being a reincarnated psychopath who gets off on breathing in someone's last breathe.
I think I watched too many horror movies when I was young.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
What's a metaphor for a metaphor?
Listening to: Get some sleep, Bic Runga
This writing thing is hard. It's like when you meet a new love. At the start it's all you can think about. You can't wait to sit down and write again. You can't concentrate on anything else because there's all these scenarios, diaglogues, plots and sub-plots and moods, swimming around in your mind. And you're discovering new things about your characters and even yourself as a writer.
However, as with any passionate beginning, the fire burns bright and then dims down to a steady glow as the more denser fuel burns. And it's the dense fuel that gives a fire it's heat, but if that dense fuel is not replensihed the fire can cool to just embers, or worse completely go cold.
My fire was down to a few glowing coals until last week when I found some more fuel to throw on.
I have written a piece that fits in somewhere near the end of the story - possibly even as the final chapter - and adds a nice little twist on something the reader has been lead to take for granted for almost the entire story. No, it's not a Scooby Doo ending, Old Man Withers isn't going to confess that he 'would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for those pesky kids'. Nor is it a silly Hollywood ending. It's just a strange turn of events.
So, I have a beginning, an end and some stuff in the middle... but that doesn't make it complete, does it? That middle stuff has gaps in it; some are huge and some are just hairline fractures.
It's like a railway (another metaphor, sorry), there's a station at both ends but the rails haven't been layed all the way through... and to be honest, there's a chasm that I've yet to find a suitable bridge to span its void. I was descibing my plight to a friend and decided it wasn't a 'writer's block', it's a 'writer's chasm' because I can see the other side I just can't find a way to cross it (that's the last metaphor for the post, I promise.)
So, dear reader, that's where I'm at. Teetering on the edge of a writer's chasm, with bits of story on either side just awaiting a bridge.
Does anyone know any good bridge-makers?
Word count: 16,697
This writing thing is hard. It's like when you meet a new love. At the start it's all you can think about. You can't wait to sit down and write again. You can't concentrate on anything else because there's all these scenarios, diaglogues, plots and sub-plots and moods, swimming around in your mind. And you're discovering new things about your characters and even yourself as a writer.
However, as with any passionate beginning, the fire burns bright and then dims down to a steady glow as the more denser fuel burns. And it's the dense fuel that gives a fire it's heat, but if that dense fuel is not replensihed the fire can cool to just embers, or worse completely go cold.
My fire was down to a few glowing coals until last week when I found some more fuel to throw on.
I have written a piece that fits in somewhere near the end of the story - possibly even as the final chapter - and adds a nice little twist on something the reader has been lead to take for granted for almost the entire story. No, it's not a Scooby Doo ending, Old Man Withers isn't going to confess that he 'would have gotten away with it, if it wasn't for those pesky kids'. Nor is it a silly Hollywood ending. It's just a strange turn of events.
So, I have a beginning, an end and some stuff in the middle... but that doesn't make it complete, does it? That middle stuff has gaps in it; some are huge and some are just hairline fractures.
It's like a railway (another metaphor, sorry), there's a station at both ends but the rails haven't been layed all the way through... and to be honest, there's a chasm that I've yet to find a suitable bridge to span its void. I was descibing my plight to a friend and decided it wasn't a 'writer's block', it's a 'writer's chasm' because I can see the other side I just can't find a way to cross it (that's the last metaphor for the post, I promise.)
So, dear reader, that's where I'm at. Teetering on the edge of a writer's chasm, with bits of story on either side just awaiting a bridge.
Does anyone know any good bridge-makers?
Word count: 16,697
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Sick and tired of being sick and tired
Listening to: Cotton Wool, Lamb
I've had the flu since Monday and today (Saturday) is the first day in almost a week where I have not been feeling dizzy, groggy, clammy, crappy or just plain yucky.
It started off as a horrible, dry, choking cough in the middle of the night but it wasn't until lunchtime that I started to feel unwell. So it was back to bed, where I stayed, pretty much, through to Thursday.
Friday I could move around a bit more but anything too energetic (like picking something off the floor) still set off vertigo like feelings in my gut.
But the worst symptom of this virus infestation of my body was what it did to my olfactory system. It was like rotten flesh soaked in the most foulest thing you can think of was inside my mouth and nose and everything tasted and smelt the same, only its intensity increased if the fragrance was stronger. So toast smelt and tasted worse than just plain uncooked bread, which still didn't taste anything like bread. Apples were about the only thing that didn't taste like the north end of a southbound (and very dead) camel... Figure that one out?
I went to see a doctor on Thursday afternoon. He was the most useless person I have ever met. Apparently I had a virus and he wrote out a medical certificate for the week with the reason for me being unfit for work was because I was suffering from "a medical condition". The Monday was a public holiday and my employer demands a medical certificate for any sick days taken prior to or after public holidays and weekends. I hope they're happy with "a medical condition".
This is by no means another excuse for not writing. I don't really have one anyway.
But if I was going to try an excuse I'd say, there's been a lot going on. For one, my wife is studying so she is often on the computer polishing up her assignment (What, you expect me to write with a pen?... on paper? Are you mad?).
Then there's the usual distractions of the warmer months, but I can tell by the sudden plummet of the mercury when the sun drops over the horizon that autumn is here and winter will be close on its heels so my pursuits will shift indoors... hopefully.
There's definitely no distractions on the television. Nothing is really floating my boat at the moment. I don't like cop/law stories, hospital stories, American sit-coms, game shows or reality TV (especially reality TV). That rules out American and Australian shows. Leaving British sit-coms and documentaries. In Australia that means tuning into the ABC. But even there I've only found a few programs that peak my interests.
One is Extras, which is so brilliantly written that you actually feel the gut wrenching pains of embarrassment as the characters and celebrity guests insult just about every demographic you can think of.
Another has been Around the World in 80 Treasures, but the presenter, Dan Cruikshank's whispering and constant touching of artifacts can get on my nerves (I'm shocked that this program aired two years ago in the UK. Why does it take so long to get programs on to the Australian airways? No wonder illegal downloading via bit torrents is rife here, but even that is crippled by our poor "broadband" speeds).
My old favourite, Time Team is still showing every Tuesday night at 6pm (we're years behind on that one as well).
So there's my round up on influenza, useless medical certificates, weak excuses and a whinge about TV and download speeds.
Ciao until next time... Maybe I'll actually have wirtten something for my book by then. You never know; stranger things have happened.
I've had the flu since Monday and today (Saturday) is the first day in almost a week where I have not been feeling dizzy, groggy, clammy, crappy or just plain yucky.
It started off as a horrible, dry, choking cough in the middle of the night but it wasn't until lunchtime that I started to feel unwell. So it was back to bed, where I stayed, pretty much, through to Thursday.
Friday I could move around a bit more but anything too energetic (like picking something off the floor) still set off vertigo like feelings in my gut.
But the worst symptom of this virus infestation of my body was what it did to my olfactory system. It was like rotten flesh soaked in the most foulest thing you can think of was inside my mouth and nose and everything tasted and smelt the same, only its intensity increased if the fragrance was stronger. So toast smelt and tasted worse than just plain uncooked bread, which still didn't taste anything like bread. Apples were about the only thing that didn't taste like the north end of a southbound (and very dead) camel... Figure that one out?
I went to see a doctor on Thursday afternoon. He was the most useless person I have ever met. Apparently I had a virus and he wrote out a medical certificate for the week with the reason for me being unfit for work was because I was suffering from "a medical condition". The Monday was a public holiday and my employer demands a medical certificate for any sick days taken prior to or after public holidays and weekends. I hope they're happy with "a medical condition".
This is by no means another excuse for not writing. I don't really have one anyway.
But if I was going to try an excuse I'd say, there's been a lot going on. For one, my wife is studying so she is often on the computer polishing up her assignment (What, you expect me to write with a pen?... on paper? Are you mad?).
Then there's the usual distractions of the warmer months, but I can tell by the sudden plummet of the mercury when the sun drops over the horizon that autumn is here and winter will be close on its heels so my pursuits will shift indoors... hopefully.
There's definitely no distractions on the television. Nothing is really floating my boat at the moment. I don't like cop/law stories, hospital stories, American sit-coms, game shows or reality TV (especially reality TV). That rules out American and Australian shows. Leaving British sit-coms and documentaries. In Australia that means tuning into the ABC. But even there I've only found a few programs that peak my interests.
One is Extras, which is so brilliantly written that you actually feel the gut wrenching pains of embarrassment as the characters and celebrity guests insult just about every demographic you can think of.
Another has been Around the World in 80 Treasures, but the presenter, Dan Cruikshank's whispering and constant touching of artifacts can get on my nerves (I'm shocked that this program aired two years ago in the UK. Why does it take so long to get programs on to the Australian airways? No wonder illegal downloading via bit torrents is rife here, but even that is crippled by our poor "broadband" speeds).
My old favourite, Time Team is still showing every Tuesday night at 6pm (we're years behind on that one as well).
So there's my round up on influenza, useless medical certificates, weak excuses and a whinge about TV and download speeds.
Ciao until next time... Maybe I'll actually have wirtten something for my book by then. You never know; stranger things have happened.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Another teaser of Coma City
Listening to: Bliss, Muse
I'm finally happy with the chase scene I started almost 11 months ago. Pleased enough to post it for anyone in the world to read... Yep, that pleased :-)
So, click here and have a read. Feel free to leave a comment, either here or on the linked page. Any critique will be appreciated.
And if you haven't read the first batch of sample chapters I posted back in June '06, you can find them here.
I'm finally happy with the chase scene I started almost 11 months ago. Pleased enough to post it for anyone in the world to read... Yep, that pleased :-)
So, click here and have a read. Feel free to leave a comment, either here or on the linked page. Any critique will be appreciated.
And if you haven't read the first batch of sample chapters I posted back in June '06, you can find them here.
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