Bits Of News

I read a lot of blogs by other writers, and I’ve noticed that at one time or another all of them have been visited by the Not Worthy Monkey. That devious little bastard that sits on your shoulder, whispering in your ear about how bad a writer you are, how no-one will ever be interested in what you’re doing. He always comes visiting when you’re at your lowest and so more open to his bogus “advice”. The little bugger turned up on my doorstep about a week or so ago, totally unannounced he plonked himself into by chair, pulled my laptop over and started reading, giggling as he went.

My current WiP had been going well, part one wrote and with beta readers, and part two progressing better than I’d thought. But he was doing his utmost to put paid to that feeling of wellbeing that has been with me for the most part of this year. That feeling that finally I’d hit on something that might just do it, might just get people interested in what I had to say. In the space of a couple of days I hit snag after snag. Characters wouldn’t behave and the flow stalled. Since he came calling my writing has been hit and miss, going from everyday to every other day, and then every other other day. I was despondent, finding excuses not to open the file up and start writing, the Not Worthy Monkey was winning.

Then last night that all changed. It’s amazing how effective two emails can be to lifting the spirit.

I submitted a short story to the third in Pill Hill Press’ Monster Hunter anthology collection – Use Enough Gun - close to a year ago. I’d already had my story Groundhog Day published in the second volume and was over the moon to be accepted again. Then things went a bit awry at Pill Hill, the result being the site closed and all the authors were told the rights to their stories had reverted back to them. But then came Miles Boothe like a veritable knight in shinning armour, he took up the challenge and created Embry Press, a new publication house that would be specializing in stories about monster hunters. Whilst he was sorting things out he told all authors accepted by Pill Hill that he would be carrying on with publication of the third volume.

Last night I had an email from him, it had attached the edits for my story Jack, he’d indicated some changes that helped the pace and tone of one of the action scenes. He also put a note on the email saying he felt that this story was the best work I’d done. Four little words, best work I’d done, that’s all it took and the Monkey was riled, his grip on me weakened and he was starting to become dislodged. But I wasn’t out of the woods yet, he was still in my head, his case still unpacked.

Then I had a second email, this one was from Douglas Strider – author of the brilliant Space Danger: The Deadly Planet of Death -, Doug is someone I’ve know for about a year on Twitter, his a fellow budding authour, and he kindly accepted my request to beta read the first part of my current WiP. He’d done a great job, he’d given me lots of comments, ideas and a huge barrel of encouragement. He liked what I’d done and how I’d done it, and what’s more he wanted to find out what happens next. I was high on praise and my back sore from all the clapping. The Monkey, he was on the doorstep his case in hand, a dejected look on his face as he went on his way.

Now I have my laptop back, now I have my mojo back, the Monkey banished – for now – but I’m not complacent cos I know if I’m not mindful he’ll be back.

To Miles and Doug I’d like to say’s thanks, you’ve lifted a flagging writers spirits a thousandfold.

Evolution Of An Idea

Idea’s, I have plenty. Idea’s for short stories, idea’s for novellas, novels, screenplays, flash fiction. But – as a great writer once said – to have an idea is not enough, no matter how good the idea. The trick is to formulate that idea into something less foglike, turn it into a solid thing, a thing that can be picked up, tinkered with, polished, perfected, made into something other’s would like to get on board with and maybe – someday – look round and say “hey, that’s a great idea.”

Idea’s, what to do with them? Plot and plan, sit and make a spreadsheet, detailing every nuance, every minute details down to what colour thong your protagonist is where today? Or just run with them, see where they take you as they whoop and holler across the fields of your imagination. I’ve never been that much of a planner, I’ve tried, sat and worked out what the characters are like, their stories, their histories. But then part way in I get that feeling that instead of spending time doing this I could actually be writing. Everyone ha their own way of doing it, their own rituals that have to be performed in exactly the right order so as to raise the story from the ooze. My way – like most of my life – is to just wing it.

Life In The Fastlane – my current main WiP – started life as a short story, a military steampunk with ingredients from SF and fantasy. An alternate history of the mid-20th century. But after submitting it to several magazines – and getting rejected but some nice feedback – it started to become more than a self contained story. The characters were crying out for release, their world began breaking the bounds of just over 6,000 words and demanding to procreate. So it was the short story became part one of a bigger story and the idea began to evolve.

It wasn’t a conscious effort, I didn’t find myself sitting for hours working out which direction to go. I made adjustments to the initial short story – which is now out with beta readers – and dived headlong into part two. It was this headlong dive that became a bit of a marathon, resulting in part two surpassing part one in words and character view points. As of the end of March part two is nearly complete – well the first draft is – and is bordering on a novella all on its own. I already know where to go in part three, but I have no map to take me there, I’ll be jumping on that wing again.

Where am I going with this? Nowhere, I’m rambling, making my inner thoughts public. I feel it helps to vent every now and then. But I just wanted to get it out there, feel some sort of release. With parts 1 & 2 almost in the bag part 3 is the biggy, its the one that could make or break the whole project. I’m entering into unknown territory, beyond 25,000 words territory.

But I have an idea I know how this will play out, I just hope it’s an idea people can get on board with.

 

 

So, February…

A day early but…

So February…

Another month down, ten more to go until I hit the big 50; so what did February do for me?

BOOKS

Quite a mixed bag this month…

First up there was Space Danger: The Deadly Planet of DEATH by Doug Strider. I had an early look in on this as Doug (who I’ve known on Twitter for about a year) asked me to beta read for him. Great little novella, with funny settings, characters and a story that whips along nicely. If you like Douglas Adams & Terry Pratchett you’ll like this.

Man to Man by D.E.M. Emrys is a tight short story about a grizzled warrior who just wants to get on with his life and forget his past. But the past doesn’t stay away for long.

The Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle, you can see my review below this post.

 

Still reading…

Dreams and Shadows by Robert Cargill is a quirky read, shades of Neil Gaimen so I’ve been told (never read him so will have to take their word for that). If you like stories about creatures that live unseen alongside the “real” world, this is for you.

Ack-Ack Macaque by Gareth L Powell is brilliant so far. Funny and gripping, plus who can’t love a foul mouthed, cigar chomping, booze swilling one-eyed gun totting monkey.

TV & MOVIES

Still keeping up with The Following (Sky Atlantic), though I do fear it’s in danger of over arcing itself. Nearly mid-way through S1 and the tank is being filled with water, the shark is on its way and the bike prepped for the jump. This show is in danger of losing itself in its own backstory, too many flashbacks (memories of LOST) and not enough answers. It needs to either give something back to the viewer in the way of answers, or have the bad guy’s cock-up once in a while. The whole “everything is pre-planned” theme its using is wearing thin and getting to the point of being unbelievable (how can Carroll – who is in prison and has been for years – know Hardy will be somewhere/do something at a set time so he can counteract it).

Halfway into the re-watch of S2 of Game of Thrones (Sky Atlantic), still by far the best thing on TV by far. S3 is only a few weeks away, there will be blood, and dragons. Ripper Street (BBC1) is still gripping stuff, dark and brutal and my hat goes off to the BBC for not toning it down in any way.

Went to the flicks this month and caught A Good Day To Die Hard. Bruce is still king, yes it was corny, yes it was OTT, but hey – Yippe Kiyay Mother Russia.

WRITING

Slight downer with the writing this month, all the short stories I had out in the big bad world have now come back with rejection slips. Very disheartening, but it goes with the territory. I’m already looking at other outlets to send them to.

The TV script has been put on hold; hit a few snags that need ironing out so looks like I may miss the BBC Writers Room Spring window.

Prepping is all done on the post apocalyptic novel, and the alternate history one.

Current full on WIP is a short story I wrote a year ago that I’m re-working into a novella or (possible) novel. Part one is out with beta readers, part two is about a third wrote. Not rushing it, still trying to keep to my writing plan of having a finished novel by the end of the year.

So, January

So that was January, first month of 2013, eleven months until I hit the big 50. So what did it mean for me?

BOOKS

I finished Great North Road by Peter F Hamilton. This was the first of his books I’d read outside of the Commonwealth Saga. It was enjoyable, though I did find some sections overblown and there seemed (to me) to be a lot of filler.

I also read Redshirts by John Scalzi. I was expecting something more along the lines of Galaxy Quest, if that was what he was heading for then it fell well short of the mark for me. There were some funny moments, but I did not have any of the laugh-out-loud moments some of the reviewers seemed to have enjoyed.

I was back on familiar territory with Bait Dog by Chuck Wendig (a double bill of the novella Shotgun Gravy & the novel Bait Dog). Familiar as in I know what Chuck is about, have  a pretty good idea of how he works. Though I will be honest and say I was surprised by the intensity of this one. Also it was Chuck without any psychic or vampiric powers. A hard hitting story of bullies, racists and sadists. Not for the faint of heart.

Just finished (last night) Apocalypse: Year Zero, a collection of four novellas that center of four women who go through life changing, and shattering events – 911, the Boxing Day tsunami, hurricane Katrina and California’s “big one”. The end result of these experiences is they each find they have power over fire, water, wind and earth. And as they slowly come together over the course of the four novella’s it’s revelaed that the Four Horsemen were not men at all.

 

TV & MOVIES

Well actually only TV, I did intend to go and see The Hobbit for a second time but never got round to it. TV wise I’m now a proud subscriber to Sky TV, and boy am I a happy bunny. Watched Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (available on Alibi) staring the brilliant Forrest Whitaker. Some pretty hard, brutal stuff in there. Also been watching Ripper Street (BBC1) set in Victorian London in the months after the Ripper killings. Dark, gritty and no holds barred, it also stars Gerome Flynn who seems intent on carving out a niche for himself as a hard as nails character actor (he’s also the brilliant Bronn in Game Of Thrones)

This week started watching The Following (Sky Atlantic) staring Kevin Bacon. Ex-FBI agent brought out of retirement to bring down an escaped serial killer. It has echoes of Red Dragon but an interesting twist is the serial killer has amassed a following, he’s been creating serial killers, he has (possibly) an army of them. Its not for the faint of heart (especially episode 1′s Ice Pick lady scene) but looks to have the makings of a gripping drama.

I also received my DVD of Dredd, watched it and still think its a brilliant stab at bringing the iconic character to the screen. Its just a shame it bombed at the cinema and so highly unlikely and sequels will be forthcoming.

 

WRITING

Some sad news last week when I received an email telling me that Pill Hill Press has closed. Pill Hill gave me my first break, published my first short story. On top of that I have another story accepted by them that was due to be in their next anthology. But there was a sliver lining, Miles Boothe – another author and ardent monster hunter – has created Emby Press and intends to honour all submissions made to Pill Hill. So hopefully in a few months the anthology will be released.

I’ve had a short script placed with Twisted Showcase – a web based anthology series (named in the Guardian’s Top 25 web shows in 2012) – for several months now but they have been struggling to fit it into the filming schedule. There was talk of making it as their first animated short, but finding an animator with time on their hands is not easy. Now they are looking into producing it as a comic strip, and if it is successful on the site will be the first of many.

My WIPs are ticking along nicely. I’ve been prepping a post apocalypse novel for a couple of months now which is close to being ready for the start of the first draft. I’ve also finished a treatment for a pilot episode that I will be writing next month. The aim is to have it written, beta read and second drafted by the end of February so I can catch the current BBC Writers Room submissions window. Once that is done I start work on the novel first draft.

I still have four short stories out there in the world waiting on acceptance/declining emails.

 

All in all January was a packed month, February is shaping up to be more of the same.

 

2013 And The Game’s Afoot

2013 is a big year for me, December 3rd I turn 50, so I’m using that milestone as a target and aiming towards it with my writing projects for the year. I decided late last year that I’d been setting myself some unattainable goals, goals like getting a novel written in a couple of months, working on several projects at the same time. All I was doing was painting myself into a corner, and getting frustrated because nothing was getting finished.

As part of the plan to regiment my projects, I had a splurge in November with an alternative NaNoWriMo. Instead of a novel in 30 days I wrote, edited and submitted four short stories, they are all out and waiting on responses (well one was rejected fairly quick, Lightspeed magazine lives up to its name with a superfast turnaround time, but has since been resubmitted elsewhere). Over the Christmas period I spent a lot of time reading scripts, I was preparing my mindset for the main project of 2013.

About four years ago I wrote a novel, it was for a competition and didn’t get anywhere and has been sitting on my hard drive ever since. What I have decided to do this year is re-read that novel and adapt it into six 60 minute episodes. The idea is I’ll submit it to the BBC Writers Room. I’ve already started on the pilot/1st episode and have a rough first draft laid out. the plan is to get a complete first draft of all six episodes done by June/July. After that I’m leaving it for a couple of months before going back through for the second draft. All being well sometime before my birthday I hope to have all six episodes done, polished and in a submittable state.

Of course the script isn’t the only project. Alongside it I’m plotting for a horror novel that should be ready to start writing May/June time (the plan is to use the couple month downtime after the script first draft to do the bulk of the writing). and I’ll also be doing some short stories and Chuck Wendig’s weekly flash fiction challenges.

All in all I hope 2013 to be a productive one, and hope that one of the seedlings I’m cultivating might take root.

What Made Me, Me – Fantasy and the 1970s

Everyone has to start somewhere, have some moment, some…thing, that put them on the path to where they are now. Inspiration is a wonderful thing, it plants seeds and then lets them grow. Sure sometimes the seed falters, the dreams die, but inspiration is never put off, it has plenty more seeds.

For as long as I can remember I’ve loved reading. Its because of my love of words why I’m now a writer. A writer, me, that feels so good to put down, its something I’ve longed to say for such a long time, and something I thought I’d never get to say. But now I can, I’ve been published, by the end of this year three times. And if the gods are good I’ll be published some more in the years to come.

But I’m veering off, reading, I’ve always loved to read. But where did it all start.

My Dad is a big reader, growing up the house was full of books. He favoured Dennis Wheatley, Frederick Forsyth and Louis L’Amour, quite a mix. He also had an interest in science fiction and fantasy, he wasn’t into it in a big way, a passing attraction when the mood took him. It was through that attraction that I picked up The Savage Sword Of Conan. For someone in their early teens it was mind blowing. There was blood and gore, monsters and wizards, and scantily clad women that Conan had to regularly rescue.

It was my first experience of grow-up storytelling. It opened my eyes to a whole new world, a world that was dark and dangerous, full of exotic locations and people. I drank every copy in, read and re-read them. My bedroom became a store room, piles of comics ranked along one wall. From the comic I’d also progressed to the books, albeit the heavily edited and re-written books of L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter.

For many years I collected and read the full collection, for all those years I thought I was reading the works of Robert E. Howard, I know different now. The books were the work of de Camp and Carter, based on Howard’s work, characters and ideas.  But despite that I loved them, and in time like the comics, I’d read and re-read them until the books were nearly falling apart. I’m happy to say now that I’m the proud owner of The Complete Chronicles Of Conan: Centenary Edition.

The seed had been well and truly planted, the worlds of wizards, warriors and things from the dark beyond had me by the throat and wasn’t letting go. But then, through a friend, I came upon a book – well three books but they are usually viewed as one – that blew me away on so many levels.

The Fellowship Of The Ring, The Two Towers, The Return Of The King, collectively known as The Lord Of The Rings. Nothing I’d read before prepared me for what I found within those pages. I was still in my teens – the downhill stretch – and I was lost in the wilds with Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry and Strider.

Howard’s Conan is a pulp classic, its raw storytelling is simplistic but to the point. JRR Tolkien on the other hand was creating history – a made up history – but history all the same. From these pages I learned depth, character, layered storytelling. All tools that helped me later in life. Alongside that it made me hungry for the epic story, the sort of stories that you’d devote months of your life to reading.

It was only a short leap from the War of The Ring to The Silmarillion. If Rings was epic, then this was megalithic. I know some fans of Tolkien who have never managed this mammoth book, too long winded, too complicated with its Elvish names and pages of songs. I managed it, in fact I’ve read it three times. Not saying I understand it all, but I managed to follow.

 I followed Tolkien with something very similar, so similar in fact I at first thought it was a parody.

I’ll say right now I’m not a fan of Terry Brooks epic tale of elves, dwarves, trolls and a future post apocalyptic world. I’ve only ever read the initial trilogy, by the time further books came along I had moved along from fantasy and was soaring through the stars aboard a starship…more of that another time though.

Shannara takes everything it can from Rings (hence my belief it was a parody) and fails to give anything new. Whilst entertaining in itself, its closeness to what went before overshadows the story, the result was I felt myself comparing one with the other and finding the pretender wanting. Like I’ve said, I’ve only ever read the original trilogy, from what I know of the series the followed I would probably like it as a whole. But its doubtful I’ll ever get to read it, the series is so big now.

So that was me in the beginning. The three building blocks that introduced me to the worlds of swords, sorcery and adventure, three authors with differing styles but all with a skill to spin a yarn. My first stumbling attempts at writing were set in the fantasy genre, I had a towering hero, a damsel who needed rescuing, I had quests, monsters and a wizard or two. Most of it was rubbish, no honestly all of it was rubbish, a good proportion of it was probably plagiarism, but it was fun, I was finding my feet, honing what little craft I had at the time.

 

 

 

Fun Casting Choices for SyFy Remake Of Blake’s 7 (that’s my choices anyway)

http://www.deadline.com/2012/08/syfy-to-develop-remake-of-cult-u-k-sci-fi-series-blakes-7-with-martin-campbell/

News broke yesterday that SyFy are in development of a remake of classic BBC science fiction show Blake’s 7. During its run the show was in competition with Dr. Who as the show to watch. Although a lot darker in tone to it’s BBC stablemate, Blake’s 7 had a loyal following, a following it continues to have to this day.

The show centers around a group of escaped convicts who embark on a crusade against an evil galactic empire, they come across an abandoned alien spacecraft – christened the Liberator by the crew - that is more advanced than anything the empire has. Running for four years – 1978 – 1981 –  the show ended in a semi-cliffhanger with the return of titular character Blake (he’d been missing presumed dead since S2) and had a final scene of the surviving crew all being shot by soldiers of the empire before the screen goes black. The show was never renewed, despite continual calls for it from fans, especially after the revival of Dr. Who in 2005.

As a bit of fun I thought I’d speculate on who might fit as recast members of the crew. This is my view and mine alone, mostly fantasy casting.

Roj Blake – originally played by Gareth Thomas, Blake was a long term political activist who uses the Liberator as a weapon to fight against the Federation. He’s reckless, driven and ruthless in his pursuit of his goals. For the remake I visualized Colm Meaney in the role.

 

Kerr Avon – originally played by Paul Darrow, Avon was a computer and electronics expert, very logical, very clever, but equally as ruthless as Blake. Only ever had one person in mind for this, Mark Sheppard.

 

Vila Restal – originally played by Michael Keating, Vila is a skilled thief, a lock-pick, but he is reluctant to risk his life and so comes across as cowardly. He has a high IQ but has a weakness for women and booze. I can only think of one person to fit this role, Robert Knepper.

 

Jenna Stannis – originally played by Sally Knyvette, Jenna was a skilled pilot and smuggler (a female Han Solo). For her role I went for Knepper’s old Prison Break castmate Sarah Wayne Callies.

 

Cally – originally played by Jan Chappell, Cally is a telepath and guerrilla fighter. For her role I’ve gone for Supernatural’s Sheriff Jody Mill’s – Kimberley Rhodes.

 

 

 

Olag Gan - originally played by David Jackson, Gan was a convicted murderer who’d had an electronic “limiter” implanted in his brain that made it impossible to kill anyone again. For this role I’ve gone for X-Files alumni Brian Thompson.

 

All the above has been for fun, it’s whiled away a couple of hours on a damp Friday afternoon.

 

 

Tackling A Racist Character

In Gypsy’s Kiss, my current WIP, I’ve come to the point where I have to introduce a character I’ve been uneasy writing about. The character has already featured, but so far has been nameless and voiceless. Now he has come into confrontation with my protagonist and it’s his time to step up and be heard so to speak.

The only thing is this character is not a nice guy, he’s a thug, a killer and foremost a racist. From the WIP title I take I can assume that you know Gypsy’s are involved in my story, and this character has no love for them and has some derogatory things to say about them. But the problem I have is I am uncomfortable writing what he has to say.

I’ve always wondered how other writers have approached this subject? It’s not an easy thing to do, especially when the language involved is alien to you. Now I’m no prude, I swear, I cuss, but I’ve never used racially abusive name calling. I know what the names are, I’ve heard others use them, but using them myself – even within the context of a story – does make me feel uneasy. In the back of my head a voice is saying “what if people think that’s what you really think”, that maybe daft but that’s me.

I have considered dropping the character altogether, or watering him down. But to do that means excising a thread within the story, of the prejudice some people in the world I have created have towards certain sections of society. My protagonist is at odds with this prejudice and that is partly why he is in opposition to this new characters view.

Am I being overly sensitive, should I just take it as read that my readers will accept this is just a character, and not me, saying what is said?

All Rights Reserved  © Philip Norris July 2012

 

The Wonderful Thing About Twitter, Is Twitter’s A Wonderful Thing

I joined Twitter late last year – October/November time. At that time in my life I was going through a rough patch in my marriage, me and my wife had separated and I was renting a single room. I endured long evenings with little to do except read and write, I had no interaction with anyone else and was in danger of becoming a recluse.

I’d always avoided social networking, I’m a bit of an anti-social sod and have always had trouble interacting socially. But I craved some sort of interaction else I’d go made. On a whim I opened a Twitter account, I had no real idea what I would find, what would happen or what I was supposed to do in order to “meet” people.

I knew a lot of people from the SFX Magazine forum who had accounts, there was a thread there dedicated to it where people posted their account names. I went through the list and added people as friends. Within a few days I found I was following nearly 100 people and had at least that many people following me. It was an eye opener, I expected it to be nothing but trivia and gossip, instead I found like minded people – some in similar situations to me – other writers, and fans of the weird and wonderful.

Fast forward to now  and I’ve found my Twitter legs, I know my way around, I know what its safe to say and not say (damned spambots), and on top of it all I’ve been introduced to a lot of people, mainly authors, I’d probably never have come across without Twitter.

To name a few, Jennifer Williams (author of The Copper Promise: Tales Of The Citadel), Jeremy C. Shipp (horror writer and champion of the Attic Clown), Emma Newman (author of Split Words, From Dark Places, 20 Years Later & Torchwood tie-in), Sarah Pinborough (author of The Dog Faced Gods trilogy), Chuck Wendig (author of Double Dead, Blackbirds & forthcoming  Mockingbird), Adam Christopher (author of Empire State & forthcoming Seven Wonders), Kevin Hearne (author of The Iron Druid series), Colin F. Barnes (author of Vex: A Modern Viking Tale & editor of Demon Day), Tina Smith (aspiring author and history buff), Robin Bell (author, scriptwriter and part of the Twisted Showcase team) and the Fantasy Faction team.

I know a lot of people frown on Twitter, say its full of useless chatter, but for me – at a time I needed contact with the outside world – it was a lifeline. I have found it is full talented people with great ideas and inspiring advice.

Writers – How Do You Do It?

This question is directed more at writers who haven’t hit the big time yet, those that are either just starting out, or have a couple of books under their belts, but still have to get up every morning and go to the day job. Published wise I’m pretty far down on the ladder, in fact the first rung is still above my head. Within the next few months I’ll have three short stories in print, I’ll hopefully have my short story anthology finished and self published on Kindle, and hopefully I’ll have the first draft of my novella done.

But as much as I’m moving forward with my writing career, its still a slow process because I can only dedicate a small proportion of my time to it. I know the world of writing and publishing is slow, it takes time for a writer to develop their style, create engaging characters, get noticed in the first place. But because of working full time I feel I’m moving at a slower pace, there are people I know who were in the same position story-wise as me at the beginning of the year, and are already out there and moving swiftly on with the next thing.

I try to write every night, but sometimes I’m too tired or there is home stuff to be done. I try for a couple of hours at a go. My word rate isn’t that bad, but I feel I could be doing more. I sit at work with plots and characters going round in my head, but cant do anything about it. My note book is constantly out and I’m scribbling away, ready for when I get home later. But still it feels like I’m standing still sometimes.

I’d be interested to hear how other writers with full time jobs manage their schedules, some I know are more hectic than mine, writers that have other commitments outside of work and writing. But they still seem to fit it all in.