So NaNoWriMo is done and dusted for 2014. I was really stoked for it at the beginning, and determined to hit the 50,000 word mark. So how did I do? Did I succeed? Anyone who has read this blog in any depth will probably know the answer to that one.
No, I didn't make it to 50,000. I didn't even make it close, really. In the end I just cracked the halfway mark, with 25,000 words. In one sense you could call that a failure, but I'm not going to take it that way. Over the course of the last year I've been averaging a few thousand words a month, so I've done more than five times my usual output. That's a success. It may not have been the goal I set out to achieve, but it's still a pretty hefty total.
The best thing about it is that I feel like I barely had to make an effort at all (my favourite level of effort). Once I started falling behind I started taking my laptop to work to write during my lunch break, and also on the bus. Doing this I've been able to average 1,000 words a day with no trouble at all. It's more than I was doing when trying to write at home, probably because there are fewer distractions. Okay, there's the occasional drunk old man trying to get me to look up the news, but it's not quite as enticing as Castlevania. Whatever the reason, I'm getting more work done, and that's cool.
The Lightless Labyrinth is currently sitting at around 70,000 words, and I estimate that I'm maybe two-thirds of the way through. It's gotten much easier to write now that I've split my characters up and started killing a bunch of them. I think I'll be done with the first draft early next year.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 17,235 words (69,214 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
She by H. Rider Haggard
Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Anatomy of Games blog by Jeremy Parish
Thor: God of Thunder #1-25 by Jason Aaron, Esad Ribic and others
Guardians of the Galaxy #1-17 by Brian Bendis and others
What I'm Watching:
WWE Raw
Walking Dead season 5
Game Center CX season 1
What I'm Playing:
Castlevania on the NES
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest on the NES
Monday, December 1, 2014
Monday, November 3, 2014
NaNoWriMo 2014 Update - Week 1
Okay, so technically it's only the third day, but such technicalities are for lesser men. I'm calling it week 1, and if you don't like it, then stiff cheddar. Go and practice your accuracy elsewhere.
Anyway, I'm pleased to say that I've been doing really well so far. I was helped by my family taking off and leaving me home alone for a whole day, and so far I've knocked out over 3,000 words of The Lightless Labyrinth. At least on the word count front, NaNo 2014 has gotten off to a good start.
One area I haven't done so well at is the social side of things. NaNoWriMo has a thriving on-line community, and a whole load of live events as well. I've considered going along to one of the write-ins at the local library, or the kick-off picnic, but so far I haven't been able to bring myself to go. As much as I do enjoy mingling with writerly types, I'm not so good at meeting large groups of people I don;t already know. It's the introverted, hateful soul I have, that doesn't want to engage with people. So for this year at least, it's going to be a solitary experience, but that's probably the way I like it. I've also dabbled with the NaNo forums, but I've never been much of a forum user. My best days of internet sociability went out with Usenet, I'm afraid. I'm just going to keep posting here, content that nobody is likely to read or answer. I'll just be here in my antisocial cocoon, writing about subterranean murders and stuff.
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 3,716 words. Current total: 51,979 words. (It's down a couple of thousand since last time, but I cut out a lot of stuff during the redrafting process.)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs
She by H. Rider Haggard
What I'm Watching
WWE Raw
Walking Dead season 5
Doctor Who season 8
What I'm Playing:
Orthanc
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Game Boy Advance version)
Anyway, I'm pleased to say that I've been doing really well so far. I was helped by my family taking off and leaving me home alone for a whole day, and so far I've knocked out over 3,000 words of The Lightless Labyrinth. At least on the word count front, NaNo 2014 has gotten off to a good start.
One area I haven't done so well at is the social side of things. NaNoWriMo has a thriving on-line community, and a whole load of live events as well. I've considered going along to one of the write-ins at the local library, or the kick-off picnic, but so far I haven't been able to bring myself to go. As much as I do enjoy mingling with writerly types, I'm not so good at meeting large groups of people I don;t already know. It's the introverted, hateful soul I have, that doesn't want to engage with people. So for this year at least, it's going to be a solitary experience, but that's probably the way I like it. I've also dabbled with the NaNo forums, but I've never been much of a forum user. My best days of internet sociability went out with Usenet, I'm afraid. I'm just going to keep posting here, content that nobody is likely to read or answer. I'll just be here in my antisocial cocoon, writing about subterranean murders and stuff.
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 3,716 words. Current total: 51,979 words. (It's down a couple of thousand since last time, but I cut out a lot of stuff during the redrafting process.)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs
She by H. Rider Haggard
What I'm Watching
WWE Raw
Walking Dead season 5
Doctor Who season 8
What I'm Playing:
Orthanc
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Game Boy Advance version)
Sunday, October 26, 2014
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
I finished this book months ago, and I really ought to have gotten to this by now, but time has slipped away from me. You'll have to forgive me if I'm a little vague on the details, because... Wait. Hang on. This is The Eye of the World? Book one of The Wheel of Time? I've probably read this thing ten times or more. No worries, then, I've got this sorted.
So, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. This is a big one for me. I first encountered it when I was around 15 years old, and that's probably the exact right age for it: too old for simplistic "farmboy saves the world" fantasy stories, but not yet old enough to have grown out of that sort of thing.
Make no mistake, The Wheel of Time is a "farmboy saves the world" story, and we've all read our fair share of those. I feel like it transcends that description, though. In a lot of ways it's the ultimate story of its type. Certainly it's one of the longest, at over 4,000,000 words. But more than that, it takes the tale in messier directions than the norm, exploring things like what actually happens when a farmboy becomes a king. But that's for a later time; for the moment, we're in more familiar epic quest territory.
The first book begins the story of Rand al'Thor, the aforementioned farmboy, and how he and his friends discover that they are important in the battle against the Dark One. Most of the story finds them on the run from the Dark One's minions, trying to get to the safety of Tar Valon.
I was struck upon this reading at just what a sudden lurch the finale of this book is. The characters spend the whole book with one goal in mind: to reach Tar Valon, home of the Aes Sedai (lady wizards, basically). Then, with about one hundred pages to go, they abandon that goal to head off into the Blight to foil the Dark One's plan to "blind the Eye of the World and break the Wheel of Time". It comes out of nowhere, and in some ways it feels as though Jordan hit a deadline and had to rush the ending. It doesn't seem likely, because he's usually a very meticulous writer, but this particular instance stands out to me.
On the other hand, there's a moment that I used to feel came out of nowhere, but is actually foreshadowed quite well: Rand's ability to channel, and the revelation that he is the Dragon Reborn. Upon my first reading, as a dumb kid, I had thought this done poorly. I don't know what I was thinking, because it's obvious in hindsight. There's even a scene where Rand is cornered by bad guys, and they get mysteriously struck by lightning. Dumb kid me got so angry at that scene, because, well, it's a stupid, random way to get the hero out of trouble. Except it wasn't a random lightning strike, it was Rand using the Power. Not to mention the episodes Rand has where he alternates between nausea and madness, exactly the symptoms described for becoming a channeller elsewhere in the book. Like I said, I was a dumb kid.
There's one strength Jordan has that is on display in this book in spades: planning. The guy planned the hell out of this series, and reading the first book it really shows how well he did so. There's foreshadowing all over the place, and a scattering of prophetic visions that all pay off down the line. It can't be stated enough how difficult it is to plan a book, then stick to the plan during the writing phase: especially so in a book spanning fourteen volumes.
Still, for all that planning there are a few unexplained oddities in the first book. Most of these come from the finale, which... well, it's confusingly written. Deliberately so, I'm sure; it's all from Rand's perspective, and he seems not quite in his right mind at the time. But a number of things happen at the end of the book that never get resolved. Was it really Rand's mum being held by the Dark One? Who was that ALL-CAPS VOICE? We'll probably never know for sure, but I'm cool with that. Every work of art should have its ambiguities.
I probably haven't made it clear, but I LOVE this book. As I mentioned above, it took hold of me at exactly the right age, and Jordan became a massive influence on me as a writer. I spent a good number of years attempting to emulate his style, before swerving off into a totally different direction with Jack Manley. Later on, the series gets bogged down in detail and side-characters, but here in the first book it's a relatively tight coming-of-age quest story that does what it does very, very well.
So, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. This is a big one for me. I first encountered it when I was around 15 years old, and that's probably the exact right age for it: too old for simplistic "farmboy saves the world" fantasy stories, but not yet old enough to have grown out of that sort of thing.
Make no mistake, The Wheel of Time is a "farmboy saves the world" story, and we've all read our fair share of those. I feel like it transcends that description, though. In a lot of ways it's the ultimate story of its type. Certainly it's one of the longest, at over 4,000,000 words. But more than that, it takes the tale in messier directions than the norm, exploring things like what actually happens when a farmboy becomes a king. But that's for a later time; for the moment, we're in more familiar epic quest territory.
The first book begins the story of Rand al'Thor, the aforementioned farmboy, and how he and his friends discover that they are important in the battle against the Dark One. Most of the story finds them on the run from the Dark One's minions, trying to get to the safety of Tar Valon.
I was struck upon this reading at just what a sudden lurch the finale of this book is. The characters spend the whole book with one goal in mind: to reach Tar Valon, home of the Aes Sedai (lady wizards, basically). Then, with about one hundred pages to go, they abandon that goal to head off into the Blight to foil the Dark One's plan to "blind the Eye of the World and break the Wheel of Time". It comes out of nowhere, and in some ways it feels as though Jordan hit a deadline and had to rush the ending. It doesn't seem likely, because he's usually a very meticulous writer, but this particular instance stands out to me.
On the other hand, there's a moment that I used to feel came out of nowhere, but is actually foreshadowed quite well: Rand's ability to channel, and the revelation that he is the Dragon Reborn. Upon my first reading, as a dumb kid, I had thought this done poorly. I don't know what I was thinking, because it's obvious in hindsight. There's even a scene where Rand is cornered by bad guys, and they get mysteriously struck by lightning. Dumb kid me got so angry at that scene, because, well, it's a stupid, random way to get the hero out of trouble. Except it wasn't a random lightning strike, it was Rand using the Power. Not to mention the episodes Rand has where he alternates between nausea and madness, exactly the symptoms described for becoming a channeller elsewhere in the book. Like I said, I was a dumb kid.
There's one strength Jordan has that is on display in this book in spades: planning. The guy planned the hell out of this series, and reading the first book it really shows how well he did so. There's foreshadowing all over the place, and a scattering of prophetic visions that all pay off down the line. It can't be stated enough how difficult it is to plan a book, then stick to the plan during the writing phase: especially so in a book spanning fourteen volumes.
Still, for all that planning there are a few unexplained oddities in the first book. Most of these come from the finale, which... well, it's confusingly written. Deliberately so, I'm sure; it's all from Rand's perspective, and he seems not quite in his right mind at the time. But a number of things happen at the end of the book that never get resolved. Was it really Rand's mum being held by the Dark One? Who was that ALL-CAPS VOICE? We'll probably never know for sure, but I'm cool with that. Every work of art should have its ambiguities.
I probably haven't made it clear, but I LOVE this book. As I mentioned above, it took hold of me at exactly the right age, and Jordan became a massive influence on me as a writer. I spent a good number of years attempting to emulate his style, before swerving off into a totally different direction with Jack Manley. Later on, the series gets bogged down in detail and side-characters, but here in the first book it's a relatively tight coming-of-age quest story that does what it does very, very well.
The NaNoWriMo Deadline Approaches
At the time of writing, I have four nights to go before NaNoWriMo 2014 hits. One of those nights is being spent watching rasslin', so that's a write-off. I've got ten chapters of The Lightless Labyrinth left to redraft, which is doable, depending on how extensive those redrafts need to be. I'm thinking they'll be more extensive the closer I get to the end, but I think I can still make it.
I also want to sit down and plot out part 3 in detail before NaNo begins. I've learned from experience that the words flow out faster when I know where I'm going. Inevitably it's all going to be rewritten down the road, but I'd like the stuff that I bang out in November to be as usable as possible.
Overall, I'm looking forward to it. The redrafting process has been really refreshing, and I find that I'm enjoying what I wrote. I'm confident that there's a good book there just waiting to be finished.
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth - redrafted part 1, chapters 7-23, and part 2, chapters 1-8. Current word count: 52,908 (up about 1,000 words since last week)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs
She by H. Rider Haggard
What I'm Watching
WWE Raw
Walking Dead season 5
Doctor Who season 8
What I'm Listening To:
Party Animals by Turbonegro
What I'm Playing:
Orthanc
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Game Boy Advance version)
I also want to sit down and plot out part 3 in detail before NaNo begins. I've learned from experience that the words flow out faster when I know where I'm going. Inevitably it's all going to be rewritten down the road, but I'd like the stuff that I bang out in November to be as usable as possible.
Overall, I'm looking forward to it. The redrafting process has been really refreshing, and I find that I'm enjoying what I wrote. I'm confident that there's a good book there just waiting to be finished.
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth - redrafted part 1, chapters 7-23, and part 2, chapters 1-8. Current word count: 52,908 (up about 1,000 words since last week)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs
She by H. Rider Haggard
What I'm Watching
WWE Raw
Walking Dead season 5
Doctor Who season 8
What I'm Listening To:
Party Animals by Turbonegro
What I'm Playing:
Orthanc
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Game Boy Advance version)
Monday, October 20, 2014
Redrafting Fever
In preparation for my upcoming NaNoWriMo stint, I've been redrafting The Lightless Labyrinth. It's coming along quite well, and the process has reignited a lot of my enthusiasm for the project. I'll definitely be working on this book in November, not starting another one.
But over the course of this process, I've discovered something about myself: I love redrafting. I really, really enjoy it. Writing from a scratch is a whole different story. When I'm writing from scratch it takes me forever to get going, and even then I often spend time agonising over every sentence, hemming and hawing over a single adjective. I enjoy writing, but it's often a painful process, and a slow one.
Rewriting, on the other hand, is a breeze. I can dive write in, punching up the prose, improving the descriptions (because I never include enough on the first go-through), tweaking dialogue, and just generally shifting things around. I'm even happy to rewrite whole swathes of stuff that I'd already done. I completely scrapped my original prologue (it was as expository as all hell), and the new one sprang out of my keyboard fully formed. Even my main protagonist has undergone a personality revamp, and I'm pretty happy about it. I find making changes to a thing that already exists much more pleasant than creating that thing to begin with.
I guess that's just how I work. My first drafts are often sloppy and unfocussed; I proved that with Jack Manley and the Warlord of Infinity, in which I had the same scene happening three times during the book. But once I've got the skeleton in place, and I can see the shape of the book, I can dig in there and start fixing it. That's the fun part. The trick is not to have too much fun with it, I guess, to know when the book is done and ready to be released into the wild.
Mostly though, I'm glad that I have some enthusiasm for the book again. It's something I should remember when I'm struggling with draft one: once the hard part is done, the fun of redrafting awaits. I'm already looking forward to it.
PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth - redrafted the prologue, and part 1, chapters 1-8. Current word-count: 52,116
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard
Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching:
WWE Raw
Doctor Who season 8
The Walking Dead season 5
What I've Been Listening To:
Apocalypse Dudes by Turbonegro
Pop by U2
What I've Been Playing:
Orthanc on a PLATO emulator
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Nintendo Wii
But over the course of this process, I've discovered something about myself: I love redrafting. I really, really enjoy it. Writing from a scratch is a whole different story. When I'm writing from scratch it takes me forever to get going, and even then I often spend time agonising over every sentence, hemming and hawing over a single adjective. I enjoy writing, but it's often a painful process, and a slow one.
Rewriting, on the other hand, is a breeze. I can dive write in, punching up the prose, improving the descriptions (because I never include enough on the first go-through), tweaking dialogue, and just generally shifting things around. I'm even happy to rewrite whole swathes of stuff that I'd already done. I completely scrapped my original prologue (it was as expository as all hell), and the new one sprang out of my keyboard fully formed. Even my main protagonist has undergone a personality revamp, and I'm pretty happy about it. I find making changes to a thing that already exists much more pleasant than creating that thing to begin with.
I guess that's just how I work. My first drafts are often sloppy and unfocussed; I proved that with Jack Manley and the Warlord of Infinity, in which I had the same scene happening three times during the book. But once I've got the skeleton in place, and I can see the shape of the book, I can dig in there and start fixing it. That's the fun part. The trick is not to have too much fun with it, I guess, to know when the book is done and ready to be released into the wild.
Mostly though, I'm glad that I have some enthusiasm for the book again. It's something I should remember when I'm struggling with draft one: once the hard part is done, the fun of redrafting awaits. I'm already looking forward to it.
PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth - redrafted the prologue, and part 1, chapters 1-8. Current word-count: 52,116
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard
Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching:
WWE Raw
Doctor Who season 8
The Walking Dead season 5
What I've Been Listening To:
Apocalypse Dudes by Turbonegro
Pop by U2
What I've Been Playing:
Orthanc on a PLATO emulator
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Nintendo Wii
Monday, October 13, 2014
Nanowrimo 2014
As I do every couple of years, I've decided to sign up for NaNoWriMo. In theory this is a very good idea for me. It should motivate me to get more work done, and really kick my novel into high gear. In practice... not so much. I've entered NaNoWriMo four or five times, but I've never finished it. I've never even come close.
But, here I am in 2014, ready to disappoint myself yet again. But, making the assumption that I will actually make a decent fist of it this time around, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to work on. I could always continue on with The Lightless Labyrinth. It would be the sensible thing to do, given that I'm 50,000 words into it. But, to be honest, I feel like I've hit a wall. The enthusiasm isn't there right now. I don't intend to abandon it, because there's so much awesome stuff in it that I've yet to write, but I'm closing in on the conclusion to part 2, at which point the narrative branches in three different directions. I feel like it's a good place to stop if i want to take a hiatus.
So at the moment I'm going back over what I've done, rewriting my super-over-expository prologue, and just generally tidying up some timeline issues and hammering the character arcs into place. Once I get parts 1 and 2 done, I can decide what to do for NaNoWriMo.
The first option, as I said, is to continue with The Lightless Labyrinth. The second, very enticing, option is to start on my next Jack Manley book - Jack Manley and the Interchronal Deathmatch Tournament. Going back to Jack Manley is really tempting. I can write him in my sleep. The prose style is dead simple. I've got the plot worked out. I think it would be fun to take a break for a month. But then there's always the risk that, once I leave The Lightless Labyrinth, I'll never go back to it. It's been a difficult beast to wrangle, and it's only going to throw up more challenges as I get further into it. I'm pretty sure I'll be a better writer if I manage to finish it, but... Man, writing Jack Manley is a hell of a lot of fun. I'll have to think about it.
PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 1,632 words
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard
Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching:
Loads of WWE Raw
Doctor Who season 8
What I've Been Listening To:
Hot Cars and Used Contraceptives by Turbonegro
What I've Been Playing:
Orthanc on a PLATO emulator
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Nintendo Wii
But, here I am in 2014, ready to disappoint myself yet again. But, making the assumption that I will actually make a decent fist of it this time around, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to work on. I could always continue on with The Lightless Labyrinth. It would be the sensible thing to do, given that I'm 50,000 words into it. But, to be honest, I feel like I've hit a wall. The enthusiasm isn't there right now. I don't intend to abandon it, because there's so much awesome stuff in it that I've yet to write, but I'm closing in on the conclusion to part 2, at which point the narrative branches in three different directions. I feel like it's a good place to stop if i want to take a hiatus.
So at the moment I'm going back over what I've done, rewriting my super-over-expository prologue, and just generally tidying up some timeline issues and hammering the character arcs into place. Once I get parts 1 and 2 done, I can decide what to do for NaNoWriMo.
The first option, as I said, is to continue with The Lightless Labyrinth. The second, very enticing, option is to start on my next Jack Manley book - Jack Manley and the Interchronal Deathmatch Tournament. Going back to Jack Manley is really tempting. I can write him in my sleep. The prose style is dead simple. I've got the plot worked out. I think it would be fun to take a break for a month. But then there's always the risk that, once I leave The Lightless Labyrinth, I'll never go back to it. It's been a difficult beast to wrangle, and it's only going to throw up more challenges as I get further into it. I'm pretty sure I'll be a better writer if I manage to finish it, but... Man, writing Jack Manley is a hell of a lot of fun. I'll have to think about it.
PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 1,632 words
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
Allan Quatermain by H. Rider Haggard
Tarzan and the Golden Lion by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching:
Loads of WWE Raw
Doctor Who season 8
What I've Been Listening To:
Hot Cars and Used Contraceptives by Turbonegro
What I've Been Playing:
Orthanc on a PLATO emulator
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Nintendo Wii
Monday, September 29, 2014
Positive Vibes
Remember how in my last post I tried to identify the reasons that I don't write enough? Remember how I made all those grandiose plans to rectify the problem? Well, forget about that business, because I sure did in a hurry. From August 24th to September 28th I did no writing at all, unless you count shopping lists and crossword puzzles.
I could certainly make excuses for my lack of productivity. I had a bunch of family commitments. My son got sick. My wife got sick. I got sick. I went to see half of Queen in concert. Doctor Who came back. Wrestling happened. I've been a busy beaver, just not in a way that translates into productivity.
And you know what? I'm cool with it. My current plan is to lighten up about it, because it really is difficult for me to find the time to write. So as long as I'm making some sort of progress I'm happy. Eventually things will change, and I'll get more time to myself. My son will start being able to entertain himself. My family will die off one by one (this is a joke, just in case any humourless family members are reading this). One day I'll even retire from my job. In the meantime, I'll keep plugging away at my various writing projects, and so long as they're moving forward that's good enough. It's time to let in some positivity and actually enjoy writing.
PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 559 words (49,010 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
The Marvel Timeline Project Vol. 1 by Jeff Deischer and Murray Ward
What I've Been Watching:
Not much WWE
Doctor Who season 8
What I've Been Listening To:
Queen, Queen and more Queen
What I've Been Playing:
Orthanc on the old PLATO mainframe
I could certainly make excuses for my lack of productivity. I had a bunch of family commitments. My son got sick. My wife got sick. I got sick. I went to see half of Queen in concert. Doctor Who came back. Wrestling happened. I've been a busy beaver, just not in a way that translates into productivity.
And you know what? I'm cool with it. My current plan is to lighten up about it, because it really is difficult for me to find the time to write. So as long as I'm making some sort of progress I'm happy. Eventually things will change, and I'll get more time to myself. My son will start being able to entertain himself. My family will die off one by one (this is a joke, just in case any humourless family members are reading this). One day I'll even retire from my job. In the meantime, I'll keep plugging away at my various writing projects, and so long as they're moving forward that's good enough. It's time to let in some positivity and actually enjoy writing.
PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 559 words (49,010 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan
King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard
The Marvel Timeline Project Vol. 1 by Jeff Deischer and Murray Ward
What I've Been Watching:
Not much WWE
Doctor Who season 8
What I've Been Listening To:
Queen, Queen and more Queen
What I've Been Playing:
Orthanc on the old PLATO mainframe
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Figuring Out Why I Don't Write Enough
Since my last post, I have written 728 words of The Lightless Labyrinth. That's how much I've managed to do in the space of a fortnight: an average of 52 words a day. I probably get too hung up on word counts for my own good, but that's pathetic by any standard. If it was an occasional lapse, I wouldn't be concerned. But it isn't. I started this blog with the intention of making positive reports about my progress, but it's been nothing but a constant stream of bitching about my own laziness. I wouldn't want to read it, and I sure as hell don't like writing it.
So why don't I write more? It's what I want to do with my life, and has been for decades. I think about it all the time, but thinking doesn't get anything done. It's time to lay out the things that are keeping me from getting more done, and perhaps think of some ways around them. To diagnose my problems, and find the solutions. I've tried it in the past and failed, but it can't hurt anything to try again, so here goes.
Work. I work a full-time job, which takes up most of my time. I could get a lot of writing done without this, but quitting or dropping my hours isn't an option; I do have a family to feed after all. I try to make that time as productive as I can, by listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I don't think there's much I can do about this one.
Family. I'm married, and also have a son, and I try to spend as much time with my family as I can. I don't start writing until he goes to bed, and that can be as late as 10.30 on some nights. Again, this isn't something that I can avoid. Dan Wells (of the excellent Writing Excuses podcast) has talked about how he used to get home from work, then instantly sequester himself to get some writing done. That's not something I want to do, though perhaps I could take some time out on the weekends.
Leisure Activities. I spent most of my twenties on the dole, with no job, which gave me a lot of free time. It's time that I now wish I'd spent more wisely, but it's too late for that now. Back then I could watch all the movies and TV shows I wanted, and play all the video games, and go out with my mates, and just generally have a good time. Now I'm trying to cram all of that into a five-hour window every night, as well as trying to write. My usual plan is to read for a while until I'm certain my son is asleep, then work on my novel, then blog for a bit, then do whatever else I feel like doing until I go to sleep. In practice, after I read for a bit I get distracted by the internet, or start watching some wrestling, thinking that I'll write after I'm done. I rarely do. The solution is simple: get my writing done first. It's all a matter of willpower, but that's not something I have a lot of.
Lack of Sleep. This is a big one. With everything I try to cram in at night, and a job to get up for in the morning, I rarely get a full night's sleep. I used to deal with this better, but as I approach forty I'm finding it more difficult, and the nights where I fall asleep before I can get anything done are becoming more frequent. I should probably try to get at least 6-7 hours of sleep a night, but I'm a night owl. Going to bed before midnight just sounds unnatural to me. I'd stay awake all night and sleep through the day if I could.
Lack of Motivation: This is the real killer, I think, and there's no easy way around it. As much as I want to be a writer, I find endless excuses to not write. I'm too tired. I can't be bothered. I need to watch this movie/play this game/read these comics/write this blog/stay current with wrestling. This is simultaneously the simplest and most difficult problem I have. Just sitting down to write would solve it. If changing my ways was that easy, though, I would have done it years ago.
Wow, that's a lot of whining and self-pity. So here's my plan. I can't avoid work, or shun my family. Neither of those is an option. I can sacrifice some leisure time, though. I'm going to make an active effort to write at night before starting other things. I'll also set myself a time-limit on staying awake: 2.30am. It's still probably not enough, but it's an improvement on the nights I do now, where I'm up until 3 or 4. And hey, if I'm in the middle of RAW, I can always pause it and watch the rest the next night. As for motivation, there's one simple solution: do it. Write. Forget the excuses, and just write. It's the only way I'll ever get anything done. If history is any indication I won't succeed, but that's partly what this blog is for: to publicly shame myself when I fail. I'll report back in next Monday, and let you know how it went.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 728 words (46,239 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Marvel Timeline Project Part 1 by Jeff Dieschen and Murray Ward
What I've Been Watching:
Loads of WWE (including Summerslam 2014)
What I've Been Listening To:
Purple Rain by Prince
In Search of Space by Hawkwind
So why don't I write more? It's what I want to do with my life, and has been for decades. I think about it all the time, but thinking doesn't get anything done. It's time to lay out the things that are keeping me from getting more done, and perhaps think of some ways around them. To diagnose my problems, and find the solutions. I've tried it in the past and failed, but it can't hurt anything to try again, so here goes.
Work. I work a full-time job, which takes up most of my time. I could get a lot of writing done without this, but quitting or dropping my hours isn't an option; I do have a family to feed after all. I try to make that time as productive as I can, by listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I don't think there's much I can do about this one.
Family. I'm married, and also have a son, and I try to spend as much time with my family as I can. I don't start writing until he goes to bed, and that can be as late as 10.30 on some nights. Again, this isn't something that I can avoid. Dan Wells (of the excellent Writing Excuses podcast) has talked about how he used to get home from work, then instantly sequester himself to get some writing done. That's not something I want to do, though perhaps I could take some time out on the weekends.
Leisure Activities. I spent most of my twenties on the dole, with no job, which gave me a lot of free time. It's time that I now wish I'd spent more wisely, but it's too late for that now. Back then I could watch all the movies and TV shows I wanted, and play all the video games, and go out with my mates, and just generally have a good time. Now I'm trying to cram all of that into a five-hour window every night, as well as trying to write. My usual plan is to read for a while until I'm certain my son is asleep, then work on my novel, then blog for a bit, then do whatever else I feel like doing until I go to sleep. In practice, after I read for a bit I get distracted by the internet, or start watching some wrestling, thinking that I'll write after I'm done. I rarely do. The solution is simple: get my writing done first. It's all a matter of willpower, but that's not something I have a lot of.
Lack of Sleep. This is a big one. With everything I try to cram in at night, and a job to get up for in the morning, I rarely get a full night's sleep. I used to deal with this better, but as I approach forty I'm finding it more difficult, and the nights where I fall asleep before I can get anything done are becoming more frequent. I should probably try to get at least 6-7 hours of sleep a night, but I'm a night owl. Going to bed before midnight just sounds unnatural to me. I'd stay awake all night and sleep through the day if I could.
Lack of Motivation: This is the real killer, I think, and there's no easy way around it. As much as I want to be a writer, I find endless excuses to not write. I'm too tired. I can't be bothered. I need to watch this movie/play this game/read these comics/write this blog/stay current with wrestling. This is simultaneously the simplest and most difficult problem I have. Just sitting down to write would solve it. If changing my ways was that easy, though, I would have done it years ago.
Wow, that's a lot of whining and self-pity. So here's my plan. I can't avoid work, or shun my family. Neither of those is an option. I can sacrifice some leisure time, though. I'm going to make an active effort to write at night before starting other things. I'll also set myself a time-limit on staying awake: 2.30am. It's still probably not enough, but it's an improvement on the nights I do now, where I'm up until 3 or 4. And hey, if I'm in the middle of RAW, I can always pause it and watch the rest the next night. As for motivation, there's one simple solution: do it. Write. Forget the excuses, and just write. It's the only way I'll ever get anything done. If history is any indication I won't succeed, but that's partly what this blog is for: to publicly shame myself when I fail. I'll report back in next Monday, and let you know how it went.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 728 words (46,239 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan
Out of Time's Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Marvel Timeline Project Part 1 by Jeff Dieschen and Murray Ward
What I've Been Watching:
Loads of WWE (including Summerslam 2014)
What I've Been Listening To:
Purple Rain by Prince
In Search of Space by Hawkwind
Monday, August 4, 2014
A Quietly Productive Month
It's been a while since I last posted, but these things happen. I haven't had a particular urge to update things on here for a while, nor have I really had anything to write about. Some people can bang on about there own writing endlessly, and never run out of interesting things to say. I'm not one of them, so I decided not to force it.
To be honest I don't even have much to say in this post, but I decided to make an update anyway. In ding so I compiled my word count, and I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised. I've been quietly plugging away at The Lightless Labyrinth, but I wouldn't say that I've been working hard. Even so I've racked up a respectable total by my own standards. If I did this much every month, I'd have a good-sized novel every two years or so. That's not bad.
The best thing about this is that I know I can do better. This is me on autopilot, writing a little bit here and there when I find the time. There was a period of eight days in there where I did no writing at all. The effort I need to put in to increase my output is negligible. I can do it, and I can do it without killing myself. That's good to know.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 6,242 words (45,501 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Marvel Timeline Project Part 1 by Jeff Dieschen and Murray Ward
What I've Been Watching:
Loads of WWE
Planes
What I've Been Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
To be honest I don't even have much to say in this post, but I decided to make an update anyway. In ding so I compiled my word count, and I have to say that I'm pleasantly surprised. I've been quietly plugging away at The Lightless Labyrinth, but I wouldn't say that I've been working hard. Even so I've racked up a respectable total by my own standards. If I did this much every month, I'd have a good-sized novel every two years or so. That's not bad.
The best thing about this is that I know I can do better. This is me on autopilot, writing a little bit here and there when I find the time. There was a period of eight days in there where I did no writing at all. The effort I need to put in to increase my output is negligible. I can do it, and I can do it without killing myself. That's good to know.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 6,242 words (45,501 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Marvel Timeline Project Part 1 by Jeff Dieschen and Murray Ward
What I've Been Watching:
Loads of WWE
Planes
What I've Been Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
This book does not mess about.
Seriously, characters start dying just a few chapters in. I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for a book that's not afraid to knock off large segments of its cast. I like a good fictional bloodbath. This is especially true when it comes to the final book of a long-running series. Rowling has spent six books building up to a magical war against Voldemort, with the series growing progressively darker during that time. It's the sort of thing you have to deliver on, and Rowling delivers in spades.
That said, between the bloodbaths at the beginning and end, this book has a tedious middle. There's a lot to be said for the structure provided by the Hogwarts school setting: it means that there is always something happening, even when the main plot is not progressing. Whether it's classes or Quidditch or just interactions with the other students, there's a sense that the characters are always doing things. This book throws that structure away, and it flounders a little. There are long parts where it's just Harry, Ron and Hermione teleporting around England with no concrete direction, and it gets a bit tiresome.
The ending makes up for it, though. It really is an amazing conclusion, and I can't think of many long-running fantasy series that have done as well as this. All the themes are tied in, all the characters get a satisfying wrap-up, and just about every element introduced earlier in the books plays a part. I can think of very little I wanted to see that wasn't included. A series often lives or dies by its ending, and I think that Harry Potter will live for a very long time.
I have only two complaints, one exceedingly minor and one that is quite a bit bigger. The minor complaint is barely even worth mentioning, as it's more a thing I thought would have improved the ending than something that is a genuine problem. I was never satisfied with Harry becoming an Auror, and thought it would have been a much more fitting wrap-up to the series for him to take the mantle of teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. Think about it: the position had six different occupants during the series. It was an ongoing subplot about the position being "cursed". Harry even starts teaching it, after a fashion, when he starts up the DA. Having Harry become a teacher would have wrapped that sub-plot up nicely, I think. But that's just me doing a little armchair-writing, trying to tell J.K. Rowling how to do her job. Because I'm so much more successful than her, you know.
The major complaint, and one I've voiced before, is about the house elves. That's a sub-plot that was introduced around the middle of the series, and the way it's dealt with is problematic to say the least. I don't want to get too deep into it (because I might write a whole essay about it in the future), but all I'll say now is that one of the very last lines of the last chapter is Harry hoping that Kreacher will bring him a sandwich. For a series that does so well in every other area, it's a shame that it stumbled here.
So where next? I'm in a re-reading mood, and I can see The Wheel of Time taking up an entire shelf of my bookcase. So I'm tackling The Eye of the World for the umpty-umpth time, but for the first time since the series finished. I'm really rather looking forward to it.
Seriously, characters start dying just a few chapters in. I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for a book that's not afraid to knock off large segments of its cast. I like a good fictional bloodbath. This is especially true when it comes to the final book of a long-running series. Rowling has spent six books building up to a magical war against Voldemort, with the series growing progressively darker during that time. It's the sort of thing you have to deliver on, and Rowling delivers in spades.
That said, between the bloodbaths at the beginning and end, this book has a tedious middle. There's a lot to be said for the structure provided by the Hogwarts school setting: it means that there is always something happening, even when the main plot is not progressing. Whether it's classes or Quidditch or just interactions with the other students, there's a sense that the characters are always doing things. This book throws that structure away, and it flounders a little. There are long parts where it's just Harry, Ron and Hermione teleporting around England with no concrete direction, and it gets a bit tiresome.
The ending makes up for it, though. It really is an amazing conclusion, and I can't think of many long-running fantasy series that have done as well as this. All the themes are tied in, all the characters get a satisfying wrap-up, and just about every element introduced earlier in the books plays a part. I can think of very little I wanted to see that wasn't included. A series often lives or dies by its ending, and I think that Harry Potter will live for a very long time.
I have only two complaints, one exceedingly minor and one that is quite a bit bigger. The minor complaint is barely even worth mentioning, as it's more a thing I thought would have improved the ending than something that is a genuine problem. I was never satisfied with Harry becoming an Auror, and thought it would have been a much more fitting wrap-up to the series for him to take the mantle of teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. Think about it: the position had six different occupants during the series. It was an ongoing subplot about the position being "cursed". Harry even starts teaching it, after a fashion, when he starts up the DA. Having Harry become a teacher would have wrapped that sub-plot up nicely, I think. But that's just me doing a little armchair-writing, trying to tell J.K. Rowling how to do her job. Because I'm so much more successful than her, you know.
The major complaint, and one I've voiced before, is about the house elves. That's a sub-plot that was introduced around the middle of the series, and the way it's dealt with is problematic to say the least. I don't want to get too deep into it (because I might write a whole essay about it in the future), but all I'll say now is that one of the very last lines of the last chapter is Harry hoping that Kreacher will bring him a sandwich. For a series that does so well in every other area, it's a shame that it stumbled here.
So where next? I'm in a re-reading mood, and I can see The Wheel of Time taking up an entire shelf of my bookcase. So I'm tackling The Eye of the World for the umpty-umpth time, but for the first time since the series finished. I'm really rather looking forward to it.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
I'll admit this up-front: I don't have a hell of a lot to say about book six of the Harry Potter series. That's not a knock on it's quality: it's really very good. It's just that I finished it a while ago, and the details have started to inter-mingle with the rest of the series. I have a few observations I want to share, though.
The Harry Potter books are generally structured as mysteries. Each book has a central question that Harry and co. are trying to find the answer to, and that the book revolves around. Who's trying to get into the Hogwarts vault? Who's been opening the Chamber of Secrets? Who entered Harry in the Tri-Wizard Tournament? One of the things that has become apparent about these mysteries is that Harry Potter is always wrong. He usually jumps to an early conclusion, often accusing someone he doesn't like, and his accusation gets slowly disproven as the book progresses. What I like about Half-Blood Prince is that this is turned on its head. Harry works out really quickly that Draco Malfoy is up to some shady business, and tries his best to stop him. This time, he's right. Draco was neck-deep in it. It didn't do Harry much good, but I did like the reversal of the usual structure.
The other mystery here involves the titular Half-Blood Prince, whose potions textbook Harry acquires early on, and uses to great effect. I was never quite satisfied by the reveal of Snape as the Prince. It makes perfect sense, but as a dramatic payoff it didn't work for me. I'm not really sure what the significance of Snape's book was, or why it was important at all for Harry to possess it. I'm probably missing something subtle here, but there's just something about this subplot that left me cold, and I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps it was Rowling trying to set up Snape's double-agent role, but I still can't see it.
Also, is this the book where Harry hooks up with Ginny? Because I always felt like that came right out of nowhere. Literally, in the space of one paragraph, Harry is suddenly smitten, with zero indication that he had any feelings for her before that. I'm not convinced by their relationship at all (to be honest, I find that romantic relationships are the weakest aspect of Rowling's writing, expecially where teenage boys are concerned).
I think that's about it, but there was a ton of stuff I liked. The secret history of Voldemort was awesome. The whole sequence with Harry and Dumbledore in the cave trying to get the Horcrux was beautifully eerie. Dumbledore's death was perfectly done. It's a great book, and a great set-up for the finale.
The Harry Potter books are generally structured as mysteries. Each book has a central question that Harry and co. are trying to find the answer to, and that the book revolves around. Who's trying to get into the Hogwarts vault? Who's been opening the Chamber of Secrets? Who entered Harry in the Tri-Wizard Tournament? One of the things that has become apparent about these mysteries is that Harry Potter is always wrong. He usually jumps to an early conclusion, often accusing someone he doesn't like, and his accusation gets slowly disproven as the book progresses. What I like about Half-Blood Prince is that this is turned on its head. Harry works out really quickly that Draco Malfoy is up to some shady business, and tries his best to stop him. This time, he's right. Draco was neck-deep in it. It didn't do Harry much good, but I did like the reversal of the usual structure.
The other mystery here involves the titular Half-Blood Prince, whose potions textbook Harry acquires early on, and uses to great effect. I was never quite satisfied by the reveal of Snape as the Prince. It makes perfect sense, but as a dramatic payoff it didn't work for me. I'm not really sure what the significance of Snape's book was, or why it was important at all for Harry to possess it. I'm probably missing something subtle here, but there's just something about this subplot that left me cold, and I can't put my finger on it. Perhaps it was Rowling trying to set up Snape's double-agent role, but I still can't see it.
Also, is this the book where Harry hooks up with Ginny? Because I always felt like that came right out of nowhere. Literally, in the space of one paragraph, Harry is suddenly smitten, with zero indication that he had any feelings for her before that. I'm not convinced by their relationship at all (to be honest, I find that romantic relationships are the weakest aspect of Rowling's writing, expecially where teenage boys are concerned).
I think that's about it, but there was a ton of stuff I liked. The secret history of Voldemort was awesome. The whole sequence with Harry and Dumbledore in the cave trying to get the Horcrux was beautifully eerie. Dumbledore's death was perfectly done. It's a great book, and a great set-up for the finale.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
I've mentioned it before, but when I first read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix some ten years ago, I was disappointed. The previous volume had ended with some serious business going down, and my expectations were high. After all, Voldemort was back, and he was actually for real killing people. There was no way that book five could be more of the same Hogwarts boarding school drama.
And yet, when it came out, that was exactly what I got. More of Harry and his friends at Hogwarts, and very little of Voldemort and his crew. I had not gotten the book I wanted, and that, combined with this being the first in the series that I had to wait for, led to disappointment.
Here's the thing: I was wrong, because this is a cracking book. A little long in the tooth, but cracking nonetheless.
The lack of Voldemort was one of the things I criticised it for in the past, but what I've realised during my reread is that Voldemort is really not all that interesting. He's effective as a super-evil villain, but as is often the case with super-evil villains he's a bit one-note. The real villain of the book is the Ministry of Magic, particularly Dolores Umbridge, and that's a much more complex thing.
Umbridge herself may just be the best villain of the whole series. I never had a particular hate for Voldemort, despite the frequency with which he tortures and murders people. Umbridge, on the other hand, I have genuine loathing for. She just so easy to hate, much easier to hate then Voldemort, even though her brand of evil is a lot less extreme than his. I think I know why that is.
I think most of us has met an Umbridge in real life. We've all been punished by vindictive teachers, or become the victims of bureaucracy, or met seemingly lovely people who are horrible, horrible racists. Hers is a real-life brand of petty evil, whereas Voldemort is on another level entirely. I doubt many people interact with murderers and would-be despots on the regular, at least not the sort of people reading Harry Potter novels. It's not very likely that I'm going to be tortured when I go to work, or suffer from ethnic cleansing. Plus, Voldemort's a badass. He's got that I'm-a-killer coolness factor going for him, the sort that only fictional killers have. Umbridge has no coolness, she's just a terrible person of the sort we have to deal with every day, and therefore she's much easier to hate.
I don't have a lot of other notes about this book, except to say that it really is better than I remembered. I finished it ages ago, so the details are hazy. Hopefully I'll do better with book 6, but I finished that a long time ago as well. As usual, I've been slack.
And yet, when it came out, that was exactly what I got. More of Harry and his friends at Hogwarts, and very little of Voldemort and his crew. I had not gotten the book I wanted, and that, combined with this being the first in the series that I had to wait for, led to disappointment.
Here's the thing: I was wrong, because this is a cracking book. A little long in the tooth, but cracking nonetheless.
The lack of Voldemort was one of the things I criticised it for in the past, but what I've realised during my reread is that Voldemort is really not all that interesting. He's effective as a super-evil villain, but as is often the case with super-evil villains he's a bit one-note. The real villain of the book is the Ministry of Magic, particularly Dolores Umbridge, and that's a much more complex thing.
Umbridge herself may just be the best villain of the whole series. I never had a particular hate for Voldemort, despite the frequency with which he tortures and murders people. Umbridge, on the other hand, I have genuine loathing for. She just so easy to hate, much easier to hate then Voldemort, even though her brand of evil is a lot less extreme than his. I think I know why that is.
I think most of us has met an Umbridge in real life. We've all been punished by vindictive teachers, or become the victims of bureaucracy, or met seemingly lovely people who are horrible, horrible racists. Hers is a real-life brand of petty evil, whereas Voldemort is on another level entirely. I doubt many people interact with murderers and would-be despots on the regular, at least not the sort of people reading Harry Potter novels. It's not very likely that I'm going to be tortured when I go to work, or suffer from ethnic cleansing. Plus, Voldemort's a badass. He's got that I'm-a-killer coolness factor going for him, the sort that only fictional killers have. Umbridge has no coolness, she's just a terrible person of the sort we have to deal with every day, and therefore she's much easier to hate.
I don't have a lot of other notes about this book, except to say that it really is better than I remembered. I finished it ages ago, so the details are hazy. Hopefully I'll do better with book 6, but I finished that a long time ago as well. As usual, I've been slack.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Project Round-Up
Okay, so I haven't updated this blog in close to a month. Okay, so I've barely done any writing in the last month. I'm not going to dwell on those facts, as it doesn't do anybody any favours. Allow me to continue with my post and pretend that I'm not a complete screw-up.
So what I really want to do today is give an update on the various projects that I've been promising since I started this blog. I have a tendency to get high on an idea, go at it full steam for a day or two, then drop it. Let's check my track record for 2013-2014.
The Lightless Labyrinth: This is the big one, and it's been my major project since early this year. I would estimate that I'm about 1/3 done with the first draft, which puts me a little bit behind schedule. My plan was to get the first draft done by the end of the year. There's still time, if I pull the proverbial finger out.
Jack Manley Sequel: This could be either Jack Manley and the Interchronal Deathmatch Tournament or Jack Manley and the Fist That Punched the Devil, depending on which takes my fancy when it comes time to begin. I had previously said that I wanted to do it as a serial, but to be honest I'm not sure that I can create a first draft I'll be happy with, and anything I release as a serial would by necessity be a first draft. I'll tackle this as my next novel after The Lightless Labyrinth, so probably some time next year.
Marvel Guidebooks: I'm getting there, at least with volume 1. That said, volume 1 only covers the year 1961, and is more of a test for myself than a genuine book. It's only going to cover three comics (or perhaps just two, I haven't decided yet) but for such a complex project I want to get the format down before I embark on the guidebook for 1962. Volume 1 should almost certainly be out before the year's end.
Ug and the Giant's Backyard: This was the children's book that I had published through a small press about a decade ago. I want to make it available via print and digital again, but before I do that I want to add colour to the interior illustrations, and create a new front cover. This is another one I think I can get done by the end of 2014.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 1,627 words (39,598 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
Harry Potter books 5-7
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
What I'm Watching:
Loads of WWE
What I'm Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
So what I really want to do today is give an update on the various projects that I've been promising since I started this blog. I have a tendency to get high on an idea, go at it full steam for a day or two, then drop it. Let's check my track record for 2013-2014.
The Lightless Labyrinth: This is the big one, and it's been my major project since early this year. I would estimate that I'm about 1/3 done with the first draft, which puts me a little bit behind schedule. My plan was to get the first draft done by the end of the year. There's still time, if I pull the proverbial finger out.
Jack Manley Sequel: This could be either Jack Manley and the Interchronal Deathmatch Tournament or Jack Manley and the Fist That Punched the Devil, depending on which takes my fancy when it comes time to begin. I had previously said that I wanted to do it as a serial, but to be honest I'm not sure that I can create a first draft I'll be happy with, and anything I release as a serial would by necessity be a first draft. I'll tackle this as my next novel after The Lightless Labyrinth, so probably some time next year.
Marvel Guidebooks: I'm getting there, at least with volume 1. That said, volume 1 only covers the year 1961, and is more of a test for myself than a genuine book. It's only going to cover three comics (or perhaps just two, I haven't decided yet) but for such a complex project I want to get the format down before I embark on the guidebook for 1962. Volume 1 should almost certainly be out before the year's end.
Ug and the Giant's Backyard: This was the children's book that I had published through a small press about a decade ago. I want to make it available via print and digital again, but before I do that I want to add colour to the interior illustrations, and create a new front cover. This is another one I think I can get done by the end of 2014.
WRITING PROGRESS SINCE MY LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 1,627 words (39,598 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
Harry Potter books 5-7
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
What I'm Watching:
Loads of WWE
What I'm Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Thursday, June 26, 2014
The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
I have a wonderful job. Because I'm able to spend most of my day isolated from humanity, I get to listen to hours and hours of podcasts and audiobooks every week, which is much better than engaging in fascinating conversations about politics, the weather or the local sportsball teams. The latest book I finished listening to was The Chessmen of Mars, the fifth in Edgar Burroughs' Barsoom series.
Burroughs is better known for creating Tarzan, but his Barsoom books are much superior. The first few in the series focus on John Carter, a former Confederate soldier who finds himself transported to Mars, and gradually works his way up to ruling the whole planet. The series was the originator of the planetary romance genre, and a direct progenitor of things like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. The recent Disney adaptation was decent, but you might have missed it; given the box office, it seemed most people did.
By the fifth book, the story is focused on the daughter of Carter and Dejah Thoris, the princess whom he married in book three. Princess Tara finds herself stranded in alien civilisations far from home, and with the help of her love interest Gahan of Gathol fights her way back to her family. As is usual with Burroughs it's action-packed, and a hell of a lot of fun. As is also usual with Burroughs, it has severe structural problems.
In researching the background of the book, I'm not surprised that it was originally serialised. The constant stream of cliffhangers lends itself to that, as does the abrupt change of setting halfway through. For the first half, Tara is a captive of the Kaldanes, a strange race of spider-like beings that ride around on headless humanoid bodies. After about ten chapters of that, Tara and her crew escape, only to fall into the clutches of the Manatorians, a people whose justice system consists of chess games - to the death!
Now, let's get this straight: both of those premises are rad. Either one could have sustained a whole novel. Burroughs could even have combined the two with little difficulty. Instead they're cobbled together, joined only by the presence of a friendly Kaldane named Ghek in the second half, and the Tara/Gahan romance that runs throughout. The result is a book with a lot of creativity and imagination, but a real lack of focus. As I said, it's not surprising that this was a serial; it probably worked really well in that form.
This is a structural issue that's popped up in more than a few Burroughs books that I've read, and I sometimes wonder if he's just too creative. Make no mistake, he is undoubtedly one of the most vividly imaginative writers of his era. Very few writers can construct a weird, alien civilisation as efficiently as he can, let alone multiple such civilisations per book. But sometimes that tendency to include all of his ideas can work to a book's detriment, as it does here. The Kaldanes were a fascinating creation, and Burroughs abandoned them too quickly to move on to the next cool thing.
The result is that The Chessmen of Mars is ultimately an unsatisfying book that barely hangs together. It's fun to read, it's highly creative, but it's ultimately unsatisfying.
Burroughs is better known for creating Tarzan, but his Barsoom books are much superior. The first few in the series focus on John Carter, a former Confederate soldier who finds himself transported to Mars, and gradually works his way up to ruling the whole planet. The series was the originator of the planetary romance genre, and a direct progenitor of things like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. The recent Disney adaptation was decent, but you might have missed it; given the box office, it seemed most people did.
By the fifth book, the story is focused on the daughter of Carter and Dejah Thoris, the princess whom he married in book three. Princess Tara finds herself stranded in alien civilisations far from home, and with the help of her love interest Gahan of Gathol fights her way back to her family. As is usual with Burroughs it's action-packed, and a hell of a lot of fun. As is also usual with Burroughs, it has severe structural problems.
In researching the background of the book, I'm not surprised that it was originally serialised. The constant stream of cliffhangers lends itself to that, as does the abrupt change of setting halfway through. For the first half, Tara is a captive of the Kaldanes, a strange race of spider-like beings that ride around on headless humanoid bodies. After about ten chapters of that, Tara and her crew escape, only to fall into the clutches of the Manatorians, a people whose justice system consists of chess games - to the death!
Now, let's get this straight: both of those premises are rad. Either one could have sustained a whole novel. Burroughs could even have combined the two with little difficulty. Instead they're cobbled together, joined only by the presence of a friendly Kaldane named Ghek in the second half, and the Tara/Gahan romance that runs throughout. The result is a book with a lot of creativity and imagination, but a real lack of focus. As I said, it's not surprising that this was a serial; it probably worked really well in that form.
This is a structural issue that's popped up in more than a few Burroughs books that I've read, and I sometimes wonder if he's just too creative. Make no mistake, he is undoubtedly one of the most vividly imaginative writers of his era. Very few writers can construct a weird, alien civilisation as efficiently as he can, let alone multiple such civilisations per book. But sometimes that tendency to include all of his ideas can work to a book's detriment, as it does here. The Kaldanes were a fascinating creation, and Burroughs abandoned them too quickly to move on to the next cool thing.
The result is that The Chessmen of Mars is ultimately an unsatisfying book that barely hangs together. It's fun to read, it's highly creative, but it's ultimately unsatisfying.
Monday, June 9, 2014
Word Count for 2014
I thought it would be interesting to look back on my writing progress for the year and see how I've been doing. Below are the totals that I've reported on this blog since January 2014. I've probably done more than this, as I go through patches where I can't be bothered blogging, but for the most part it's a good indicator of my progress:
Feb 7 - 1,948
Feb 24 - 871
Mar 19 - 1,794
Mar 24 - 2,794
Mar 31 - 2,514
Apr 6 - 2,080
Apr 22 - 1,521
May 7 - 2,144
May 19 - 1,080
May 26 - 1,200
Jun 1 - 1,993
Jun 9 - 2,349
Total - 22,288 (This is a bare minimum; I've probably done a good 10,000 to 15,000 that i haven't recorded on the blog.)
That's quite a way off where I had wanted to be by mid-year. My best patch was from mid-May to early April, where I had a 14-day consecutive writing run. As much as I'd like to keep that up, writing every day isn't something I feel I can sustain. Currently I'm probably doing 4-5 days a week, but I'm trying to get my writing in earlier. I'm finding that if I start writing after midnight I genuinely can't be bothered, and I'm lucky to eke out 500 words in an hour. When I start earlier my total comes out closer to 700, which I'm happier with. It's not a lot, but I find it difficult to wrote for sustained periods, unless I'm doing action scenes. I'd like to think I'd get more of my novel done if I just stopped blogging, or writing about comics, or watching wrestling, but I enjoy those things. The important thing is that I am progressing. It could be quicker, but I'm getting there.
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 2,349 words (37,998 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Marvel Timeline Project Part 1 by Jeff Deischen and Murray Ward
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I'm Watching:
Turbo
Game of Thrones season 4
What I'm Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Feb 7 - 1,948
Feb 24 - 871
Mar 19 - 1,794
Mar 24 - 2,794
Mar 31 - 2,514
Apr 6 - 2,080
Apr 22 - 1,521
May 7 - 2,144
May 19 - 1,080
May 26 - 1,200
Jun 1 - 1,993
Jun 9 - 2,349
Total - 22,288 (This is a bare minimum; I've probably done a good 10,000 to 15,000 that i haven't recorded on the blog.)
That's quite a way off where I had wanted to be by mid-year. My best patch was from mid-May to early April, where I had a 14-day consecutive writing run. As much as I'd like to keep that up, writing every day isn't something I feel I can sustain. Currently I'm probably doing 4-5 days a week, but I'm trying to get my writing in earlier. I'm finding that if I start writing after midnight I genuinely can't be bothered, and I'm lucky to eke out 500 words in an hour. When I start earlier my total comes out closer to 700, which I'm happier with. It's not a lot, but I find it difficult to wrote for sustained periods, unless I'm doing action scenes. I'd like to think I'd get more of my novel done if I just stopped blogging, or writing about comics, or watching wrestling, but I enjoy those things. The important thing is that I am progressing. It could be quicker, but I'm getting there.
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 2,349 words (37,998 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
At the Earth's Core by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Marvel Timeline Project Part 1 by Jeff Deischen and Murray Ward
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I'm Watching:
Turbo
Game of Thrones season 4
What I'm Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Sunday, June 1, 2014
A Change of Tactics
I had something of a health breakdown recently. It was nothing serious, just a bout of flu that knocked me out for a week, but it got me thinking about how I schedule my life, and whether it's doing me more harm than good.
Like most people my age, I have a lot of things that drain my time. The most prominent of those is a full-time job and a family. I work every week-day until around 7.00pm, and when I get home I spend the time with my son until he goes to bed. By the time I get to do my own thing it's usually about 10.00pm.
That's where I hit a snag. I could quite easily get in a couple of hours of writing before going to bed, but not only am I trying to write, I'm also trying to cram in all the leisure time that I used to have in my twenties. I try to read a book, then some comics, and I try to watch a movie or some wrestling, or play a video game. Then, having exhausted myself doing those, I write some of my novel, try to crank out a blog post, and write about the day in my journal. I get to bed somewhere around 3.00am, and get up around 8.00am to go to work. Consequently, I'm a grouchy, unsociable bastard most of the time, running solely on a blend of caffeine and disillusionment.
So I've decided to change things up. I need to read after my son goes to bed, because I don't want to have the laptop open should he decide to wander downstairs again. But after that, I'm going to hit the writing straight away, and the blogging right after that. Whatever leisure time I can squeeze in after that will be a bonus, and I'm going to try to be asleep by 2.00am.
I kicked it off pretty successfully last night, with my most productive writing session in a while. Normally it takes me about an hour to write 500 words, but yesterday I broke 700 in 40 minutes. I got in some secondary writing work (currently I'm transferring my old journal to a word document, which is sort of pointless but important to me), I read a chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I read a few comics, I played a sessionof The Game of Dungeons, and I watched an episode of WWE Smackdown. All that, and I was asleep by 2.30am. I woke up in the morning feeling pretty refreshed, and I'm happy with the result. Hopefully I can keep it up going forward.
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 1,993 words (35,648 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I'm Watching:
Lots of WWE
What I'm Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Like most people my age, I have a lot of things that drain my time. The most prominent of those is a full-time job and a family. I work every week-day until around 7.00pm, and when I get home I spend the time with my son until he goes to bed. By the time I get to do my own thing it's usually about 10.00pm.
That's where I hit a snag. I could quite easily get in a couple of hours of writing before going to bed, but not only am I trying to write, I'm also trying to cram in all the leisure time that I used to have in my twenties. I try to read a book, then some comics, and I try to watch a movie or some wrestling, or play a video game. Then, having exhausted myself doing those, I write some of my novel, try to crank out a blog post, and write about the day in my journal. I get to bed somewhere around 3.00am, and get up around 8.00am to go to work. Consequently, I'm a grouchy, unsociable bastard most of the time, running solely on a blend of caffeine and disillusionment.
So I've decided to change things up. I need to read after my son goes to bed, because I don't want to have the laptop open should he decide to wander downstairs again. But after that, I'm going to hit the writing straight away, and the blogging right after that. Whatever leisure time I can squeeze in after that will be a bonus, and I'm going to try to be asleep by 2.00am.
I kicked it off pretty successfully last night, with my most productive writing session in a while. Normally it takes me about an hour to write 500 words, but yesterday I broke 700 in 40 minutes. I got in some secondary writing work (currently I'm transferring my old journal to a word document, which is sort of pointless but important to me), I read a chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I read a few comics, I played a sessionof The Game of Dungeons, and I watched an episode of WWE Smackdown. All that, and I was asleep by 2.30am. I woke up in the morning feeling pretty refreshed, and I'm happy with the result. Hopefully I can keep it up going forward.
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 1,993 words (35,648 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I'm Reading:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I'm Watching:
Lots of WWE
What I'm Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Monday, May 26, 2014
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
It took me a little longer to get through this one; it is something of a paving slab, especially in comparison to the previous books in the series. I think that this is the third time I've read it. I can't quite remember, but what I do remember is that I bloody loved this one at the time.
What struck me immediately upon beginning my re-read is just how much more grown-up it is. Harry is noticing girls. Voldemort is murdering people. Ron is making jokes about Uranus. This is the pivotal book in the series. Before this it's a series aimed at 10-year-olds, and after this it's firmly YA, aimed at young teens. This is one of the smartest moves Rowling ever made, and it came right at the point where the series gained a lot of attention from adult readers. The focus moves away from classes, bullies and candy, and more towards romantic subplots and Voldemort's rise to power. No wonder this was my favourite book in the series.
That said, it's not as efficiently plotted as the first three books. The Tri-Wizard Tournament keeps things ticking along, but it's a good 200 pages before that even begins. I wouldn't say that the book was boring; it held my attention throughout. But there is a lot of meandering around at the start with the Quidditch World Cup that seems superfluous in hindsight. I get the feeling that this book was the point where Rowling gained the ability to do whatever the heck she wanted, without much interference from her editors.
As usual with Harry Potter, this book is a mystery story. This time around, I was caught completely blindsided. I've read the book before (probably twice!) and I still didn't see the twist with Moody coming. I remembered that Barty Crouch jr. was involved (mostly because of David Tennant's unfortunately manic performance in the film) but the finer details had escaped me. I was taken by surprise, and the mystery all made sense in the end; can't ask for much more than that.
Coming up next is Order of the Phoenix, which I remember as being greatly disappointing at the time. I think perhaps I had built up my expectations too much. Voldemort was back! Shit was getting real! I expected the next book to be all-out war against the Death-Eaters, which was really quite foolish of me given the format of the series. Of course Harry goes back to school. Of course his school year is mostly business as usual. This time around, free of expectations, I hope I can assess this book on its own merits.
ADDENDUM: What is up with the House Elf subplot? Hermione gets indignant about it, a bunch of people tell her that the House Elves are happy being slaves, really, and then it goes nowhere. In a few decades time, people will be cringing at this stuff the same way we look back on all the evil dark-skinned guys in Tolkien. It's really awkward, and I'm hoping Rowling redeems it before the series ends.
What struck me immediately upon beginning my re-read is just how much more grown-up it is. Harry is noticing girls. Voldemort is murdering people. Ron is making jokes about Uranus. This is the pivotal book in the series. Before this it's a series aimed at 10-year-olds, and after this it's firmly YA, aimed at young teens. This is one of the smartest moves Rowling ever made, and it came right at the point where the series gained a lot of attention from adult readers. The focus moves away from classes, bullies and candy, and more towards romantic subplots and Voldemort's rise to power. No wonder this was my favourite book in the series.
That said, it's not as efficiently plotted as the first three books. The Tri-Wizard Tournament keeps things ticking along, but it's a good 200 pages before that even begins. I wouldn't say that the book was boring; it held my attention throughout. But there is a lot of meandering around at the start with the Quidditch World Cup that seems superfluous in hindsight. I get the feeling that this book was the point where Rowling gained the ability to do whatever the heck she wanted, without much interference from her editors.
As usual with Harry Potter, this book is a mystery story. This time around, I was caught completely blindsided. I've read the book before (probably twice!) and I still didn't see the twist with Moody coming. I remembered that Barty Crouch jr. was involved (mostly because of David Tennant's unfortunately manic performance in the film) but the finer details had escaped me. I was taken by surprise, and the mystery all made sense in the end; can't ask for much more than that.
Coming up next is Order of the Phoenix, which I remember as being greatly disappointing at the time. I think perhaps I had built up my expectations too much. Voldemort was back! Shit was getting real! I expected the next book to be all-out war against the Death-Eaters, which was really quite foolish of me given the format of the series. Of course Harry goes back to school. Of course his school year is mostly business as usual. This time around, free of expectations, I hope I can assess this book on its own merits.
ADDENDUM: What is up with the House Elf subplot? Hermione gets indignant about it, a bunch of people tell her that the House Elves are happy being slaves, really, and then it goes nowhere. In a few decades time, people will be cringing at this stuff the same way we look back on all the evil dark-skinned guys in Tolkien. It's really awkward, and I'm hoping Rowling redeems it before the series ends.
Price Drop
Readers of my blog, let me fill you in on a little secret: my novel isn't doing so hot. Until recently, I hadn't sold a copy since January, so I decided to change things up a little and drop the price. Right now, Jack Manley and the Warlord of Infinity is selling at Amazon for a dollar.
It's been effective in the least effective possible way: I've sold one copy since the price drop. It was a minor little morale bump, but hardly what I was looking for. At this point I need to either pour some money into proper marketing and advertising, or throw my hands up, stop worrying and focus on the next project. Given my financial state right now, it looks like it will be the latter.
WEEKLY PROGRESS
The Lightless Labyrinth: 1,200 words (33,788 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES
What I've Been Reading:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I've Been Watching:
Game of Thrones season 4
What I've Been Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
It's been effective in the least effective possible way: I've sold one copy since the price drop. It was a minor little morale bump, but hardly what I was looking for. At this point I need to either pour some money into proper marketing and advertising, or throw my hands up, stop worrying and focus on the next project. Given my financial state right now, it looks like it will be the latter.
WEEKLY PROGRESS
The Lightless Labyrinth: 1,200 words (33,788 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES
What I've Been Reading:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I've Been Watching:
Game of Thrones season 4
What I've Been Playing:
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Monday, May 19, 2014
The Lightless Labyrinth and My Writing Weaknesses
As I write The Lightless Labyrinth, I'm constantly reminded just how different it is to Jack Manley and the Warlord of Infinity. The genre is different, the tone is different, the themes are different, and the writing style is different. Jack Manley was something that I consciously approached as an "easy" first novel. I planned it in such a way that it played to my strengths, or at least my strengths as I perceive them. The Lightless Labyrinth is not structured that way, and I'm realising that in many ways it's pulling against the type of thing I would naturally write.
I'm going to run through some of the things that I feel are weaknesses of mine, that The Lightless Labyrinth will cover.
It's serious. I have a tendency in my work to go for flippancy and humour wherever possible. Jack Manley, at its heart, is a loving parody of bad sci-fi and pulp adventure. The Lightless Labyrinth has some attempted humour in dialogue, but it's a much darker work than I usually attempt. The story of a young warrior delving into the underworld to retrieve his father's corpse isn't really going to be a barrel of laughs, is it? I'm attempting to explore some genuine themes, whereas Jack Manley was mostly a process of trying to amuse myself at the keyboard every night, and hammering the result into shape later on. I'm finding The Lightless Labyrinth much more mentally taxing to write.
It gets into the protagonist's head. Anyone who has read Jack Manley might have noticed that at no point do I get into the characters' heads. (Okay, there is one bit, but that was me getting metaphysical.) The Lightless Labyrinth is all inside Jonn Greywood's head so far, and what I've discovered is that I'm much more comfortable conveying feelings and emotions by describing actions and body language. Getting inside my protagonist's feelings doesn't come naturally to me.
It has some female protagonists. Speaking of things that don't come naturally, I have a tendency to shy away from female characters. It's not something I do on purpose, it just seems to be where my natural storytelling instincts go. Jack Manley only had two female characters, and while I tried to give them strong roles Im not sure how well I succeeded. The Lightless Labyrinth is panning out in such a way that I have two female characters that will become protagonists. I'll be telling significant portions of the story from inside their heads, and I'm a little scared of it. I haven't reached the point where I need to write these scenes yet, so I don't know how well I'm going to do.
It has a lot more description. The descriptions in Jack Manley are sparse. The book has a conscious focus on action above all else. The descriptions of scenery are kept to a bare minimum; I tried to include just enough for each scene to function, so as not to bog down the forward momentum of the plot. The Lightless Labyrinth, however, is all about setting. Its right there in the title of the book, and it's the kind of story that needs atmosphere and scene-setting. As much as it's my instinct as a writer to "skip to the good bits", I need to slow down and paint the word picture. I'm already fairly sure that I'll need to go back and beef up some descriptions in the second draft.
There are too many characters. I kept Jack Manley tight in terms of characters, but in The Lightless Labyrinth I probably let myself sprawl out a little too far. I wanted to cover as many fantasy archetypes as I could, and that probably led me to include too many. On the other hand, a book like this really needs characters that I can kill off. I'll be able to thin the cast out and split some characters off into groups soon, but so far I think it's a little too crowded. I'll need to go back and beef up the presence of some of them, because I know that there are characters that I've barely touched at all.
That's all I could think of for now, but I could come up with more if I put my mind to it. I find it helpful to think about what my strengths and weaknesses are, and whether I'm avoiding certain types of stories that I find uncomfortable to write. The Lightless Labyrinth is certainly a more difficult work than Jack Manley was, and I feel like I'm stretching myself as I write it. I also think that, if I pull it off, it's going to be a better book. Only time will tell, I guess.
PROGRESS SINCE LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 1,080 words (32,588 total)
In my defense, I've been ill.
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES
What I've Been Reading:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I've Been Watching
Game of Thrones season 4
WWE Extreme Rules (and a load of other wrestling in general)
What I've Been Playing
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
I'm going to run through some of the things that I feel are weaknesses of mine, that The Lightless Labyrinth will cover.
It's serious. I have a tendency in my work to go for flippancy and humour wherever possible. Jack Manley, at its heart, is a loving parody of bad sci-fi and pulp adventure. The Lightless Labyrinth has some attempted humour in dialogue, but it's a much darker work than I usually attempt. The story of a young warrior delving into the underworld to retrieve his father's corpse isn't really going to be a barrel of laughs, is it? I'm attempting to explore some genuine themes, whereas Jack Manley was mostly a process of trying to amuse myself at the keyboard every night, and hammering the result into shape later on. I'm finding The Lightless Labyrinth much more mentally taxing to write.
It gets into the protagonist's head. Anyone who has read Jack Manley might have noticed that at no point do I get into the characters' heads. (Okay, there is one bit, but that was me getting metaphysical.) The Lightless Labyrinth is all inside Jonn Greywood's head so far, and what I've discovered is that I'm much more comfortable conveying feelings and emotions by describing actions and body language. Getting inside my protagonist's feelings doesn't come naturally to me.
It has some female protagonists. Speaking of things that don't come naturally, I have a tendency to shy away from female characters. It's not something I do on purpose, it just seems to be where my natural storytelling instincts go. Jack Manley only had two female characters, and while I tried to give them strong roles Im not sure how well I succeeded. The Lightless Labyrinth is panning out in such a way that I have two female characters that will become protagonists. I'll be telling significant portions of the story from inside their heads, and I'm a little scared of it. I haven't reached the point where I need to write these scenes yet, so I don't know how well I'm going to do.
It has a lot more description. The descriptions in Jack Manley are sparse. The book has a conscious focus on action above all else. The descriptions of scenery are kept to a bare minimum; I tried to include just enough for each scene to function, so as not to bog down the forward momentum of the plot. The Lightless Labyrinth, however, is all about setting. Its right there in the title of the book, and it's the kind of story that needs atmosphere and scene-setting. As much as it's my instinct as a writer to "skip to the good bits", I need to slow down and paint the word picture. I'm already fairly sure that I'll need to go back and beef up some descriptions in the second draft.
There are too many characters. I kept Jack Manley tight in terms of characters, but in The Lightless Labyrinth I probably let myself sprawl out a little too far. I wanted to cover as many fantasy archetypes as I could, and that probably led me to include too many. On the other hand, a book like this really needs characters that I can kill off. I'll be able to thin the cast out and split some characters off into groups soon, but so far I think it's a little too crowded. I'll need to go back and beef up the presence of some of them, because I know that there are characters that I've barely touched at all.
That's all I could think of for now, but I could come up with more if I put my mind to it. I find it helpful to think about what my strengths and weaknesses are, and whether I'm avoiding certain types of stories that I find uncomfortable to write. The Lightless Labyrinth is certainly a more difficult work than Jack Manley was, and I feel like I'm stretching myself as I write it. I also think that, if I pull it off, it's going to be a better book. Only time will tell, I guess.
PROGRESS SINCE LAST POST:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 1,080 words (32,588 total)
In my defense, I've been ill.
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES
What I've Been Reading:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I've Been Watching
Game of Thrones season 4
WWE Extreme Rules (and a load of other wrestling in general)
What I've Been Playing
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Friday, May 16, 2014
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
I flew through this book in a day. I'd forgotten how addictive this series can be. (It also helps that I've been home all week with the plague. Being sick is great for catching up on pop culture.) This is probably my third time through the book, and once again I enjoyed it a great deal.
What strikes me, though, is how passive the protagonists are throughout the book. In Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets they spend a good deal of time trying to unravel the respective books' central mystery. Harry's primary concern in Prisoner of Azkaban is sneaking down to Hogsmeade to buy candy, and playing quidditch. Keep in mind that the central mystery of this book is far more personal to Harry than the other two were: the man who supposedly betrayed his parents is breaking into Hogwarts to kill him! You would think Harry might try to get to the bottom of the whole thing, but in general he just goes on about his school business, and the plot only resolves when Sirius Black makes his final move.
That said, the Sirius Black plot was a very interesting one. I never bought into the idea of him as a murderer, even the first time I read the series; I had learned by this point that whatever conclusion Harry jumps too, it will be the wrong one. I didn't see the reveal of Peter Pettigrew coming though, nor everything else that surrounds it. As I said in my previous post, I'm a sucker for back-story reveals, and this book delivered in spades on that front.
I have a final observation that doesn't really relate to this book in particular, but more the series as a whole. I had been under the impression that the magic in Harry Potter was pretty well-defined, with solid rules that Rowling stuck too pretty well. I don't know where I got that idea from because it's all pretty loosey-goosey. She does keep it pretty tight within each individual book, but across the series she's constantly introducing new things, and very little of it is rigidly defined. This isn't a negative; on the whole I think she does a fine job of keeping things consistent while maintaining a sense of whimsy.
I had previously mentioned how tightly plotted the first book ended up being, with the second book slightly less so. This book is looser still, yet it still manages to pretty well integrated at the end. The next volume is a brick in comparison, and I get the feeling that it will be the tipping point, where Rowling started plotting more for the series as a whole than for the individual novel. We'll see!
What strikes me, though, is how passive the protagonists are throughout the book. In Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets they spend a good deal of time trying to unravel the respective books' central mystery. Harry's primary concern in Prisoner of Azkaban is sneaking down to Hogsmeade to buy candy, and playing quidditch. Keep in mind that the central mystery of this book is far more personal to Harry than the other two were: the man who supposedly betrayed his parents is breaking into Hogwarts to kill him! You would think Harry might try to get to the bottom of the whole thing, but in general he just goes on about his school business, and the plot only resolves when Sirius Black makes his final move.
That said, the Sirius Black plot was a very interesting one. I never bought into the idea of him as a murderer, even the first time I read the series; I had learned by this point that whatever conclusion Harry jumps too, it will be the wrong one. I didn't see the reveal of Peter Pettigrew coming though, nor everything else that surrounds it. As I said in my previous post, I'm a sucker for back-story reveals, and this book delivered in spades on that front.
I have a final observation that doesn't really relate to this book in particular, but more the series as a whole. I had been under the impression that the magic in Harry Potter was pretty well-defined, with solid rules that Rowling stuck too pretty well. I don't know where I got that idea from because it's all pretty loosey-goosey. She does keep it pretty tight within each individual book, but across the series she's constantly introducing new things, and very little of it is rigidly defined. This isn't a negative; on the whole I think she does a fine job of keeping things consistent while maintaining a sense of whimsy.
I had previously mentioned how tightly plotted the first book ended up being, with the second book slightly less so. This book is looser still, yet it still manages to pretty well integrated at the end. The next volume is a brick in comparison, and I get the feeling that it will be the tipping point, where Rowling started plotting more for the series as a whole than for the individual novel. We'll see!
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
I finished this book a few days ago, and I enjoyed it about as much as the first in the series. I think this is the third time I've read it; maybe it's the second. I can't remember, and you probably don't care.
Chamber of Secrets isn't quite as tight as Philosopher's Stone. It almost manages the same trick of tying a whole bunch of disparate elements together for the finale, but doesn't quite pull it off as well. Gilderoy Lockhart, despite being entertaining to read, is a major part of the book that ends up being largely unimportant to the resolution. There are other smaller things that don't get tied in, like the whomping willow, and the quidditch matches aren't as well-integrated either.
I also didn't really buy the reveal of Ginny Weasley as the one who was opening the Chamber of Secrets. All the foreshadowing was there, but perhaps Ginny was too minor a character for it to work for me. I also wonder how a first-year with no invisibility cloak can go around killing chickens and painting on walls with no-one to see her. It doesn't seem quite plausible.
The conclusion, with Harry drawing the sword of Gryffindor from the sorting hat, was another thing I had problems with. It's a cool moment, but it really does seem to come out of nowhere. Nothing in the narrative sets it up. Perhaps there's something to be said for the meta-narrative trick of "pulling something out of your hat", both in-story and out, but I feel like this could have been set up better.
So if I'm doing so much complaining, why did I enjoy it so much? I think a big part of that was the focus on Voldemort's past. I'm a sucker for the books that reveal bits of back-story, and I'm an even bigger sucker when said reveal leaves more questions than answers, as long as there's the sense that those questions will get answered eventually. Rowling walks that tightrope very well.
On top of that, it's just a fun book whose charm vastly outweighs any minor niggles I might have. Imagination, wit and charm can carry a story a long way, and will probably stay in the reader's memory long after a solid plot structure and good foreshadowing.
Chamber of Secrets isn't quite as tight as Philosopher's Stone. It almost manages the same trick of tying a whole bunch of disparate elements together for the finale, but doesn't quite pull it off as well. Gilderoy Lockhart, despite being entertaining to read, is a major part of the book that ends up being largely unimportant to the resolution. There are other smaller things that don't get tied in, like the whomping willow, and the quidditch matches aren't as well-integrated either.
I also didn't really buy the reveal of Ginny Weasley as the one who was opening the Chamber of Secrets. All the foreshadowing was there, but perhaps Ginny was too minor a character for it to work for me. I also wonder how a first-year with no invisibility cloak can go around killing chickens and painting on walls with no-one to see her. It doesn't seem quite plausible.
The conclusion, with Harry drawing the sword of Gryffindor from the sorting hat, was another thing I had problems with. It's a cool moment, but it really does seem to come out of nowhere. Nothing in the narrative sets it up. Perhaps there's something to be said for the meta-narrative trick of "pulling something out of your hat", both in-story and out, but I feel like this could have been set up better.
So if I'm doing so much complaining, why did I enjoy it so much? I think a big part of that was the focus on Voldemort's past. I'm a sucker for the books that reveal bits of back-story, and I'm an even bigger sucker when said reveal leaves more questions than answers, as long as there's the sense that those questions will get answered eventually. Rowling walks that tightrope very well.
On top of that, it's just a fun book whose charm vastly outweighs any minor niggles I might have. Imagination, wit and charm can carry a story a long way, and will probably stay in the reader's memory long after a solid plot structure and good foreshadowing.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
I'm on a bit of a re-reading kick at the moment, and I decided to crack into Harry Potter again. What I really wanted to read was A Song of Ice and Fire, but that goes against one of my reading rules: I don't re-read a series until it is finished. I could have done Wheel of Time, but that damn thing takes up a whole shelf on my bookcase; I'd be reading it all year. So, by process of elimination, Harry Potter got the nod.
That said, I'm a fan of the series. It's not one that consumed me like the aforementioned hefty fantasies, but I was there buying the books on their day of release. I think this is my third time reading the first book (my rule only came into place a few years ago, as a way of stopping myself from re-reading too much). I can be a bit hipster about Harry Potter, because the first time I read it was when it was assigned to me at Uni in 1998, before it became a massive thing. I can remember reading that Rowling intended for the book to last seven volumes, and scoffing at the notion. I guess she had the last laugh there.
At first Philosopher's Stone felt to me a bit "kitchen sink". It's held together very well by the boarding school structure, but there's the sense that a whole lot of disparate elements have been thrown in that are extraneous to the plot. It turns out that I was fooled, because everything in this book ties back into the main plot, even down to the bloody wizard trading cards. Rowling sets about world-building with abandon, throwing all sorts of bits and pieces of the wizarding world at the reader, but the great thing is that nothing is there purely for world-building alone. It's quite remarkable that the book feels both rambling and tight at the same time.
Rowling's other particular skill is that she can establish character very quickly. It helps that she's working in children's fiction, where broadly drawn characters are more acceptable. Even so, she's good at it, and good at hinting around the deeper things going on with certain characters.
If I have one complaint with the book, it's the Dursleys. They are bastards on an absurd level, to the point where the wizard characters seem more realistic than they do. It's very effective at getting the audience's sympathies pointed at Harry, but there are times where it feels like way too much.
So I'm done with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and I enjoyed it so much I'm cracking straight into Chamber of Secrets. I remember liking that one a great deal, but that was over a decade ago. Let's see how it holds up.
That said, I'm a fan of the series. It's not one that consumed me like the aforementioned hefty fantasies, but I was there buying the books on their day of release. I think this is my third time reading the first book (my rule only came into place a few years ago, as a way of stopping myself from re-reading too much). I can be a bit hipster about Harry Potter, because the first time I read it was when it was assigned to me at Uni in 1998, before it became a massive thing. I can remember reading that Rowling intended for the book to last seven volumes, and scoffing at the notion. I guess she had the last laugh there.
At first Philosopher's Stone felt to me a bit "kitchen sink". It's held together very well by the boarding school structure, but there's the sense that a whole lot of disparate elements have been thrown in that are extraneous to the plot. It turns out that I was fooled, because everything in this book ties back into the main plot, even down to the bloody wizard trading cards. Rowling sets about world-building with abandon, throwing all sorts of bits and pieces of the wizarding world at the reader, but the great thing is that nothing is there purely for world-building alone. It's quite remarkable that the book feels both rambling and tight at the same time.
Rowling's other particular skill is that she can establish character very quickly. It helps that she's working in children's fiction, where broadly drawn characters are more acceptable. Even so, she's good at it, and good at hinting around the deeper things going on with certain characters.
If I have one complaint with the book, it's the Dursleys. They are bastards on an absurd level, to the point where the wizard characters seem more realistic than they do. It's very effective at getting the audience's sympathies pointed at Harry, but there are times where it feels like way too much.
So I'm done with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and I enjoyed it so much I'm cracking straight into Chamber of Secrets. I remember liking that one a great deal, but that was over a decade ago. Let's see how it holds up.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Ug and the Giant's Backyard
I've been pissing and moaning for the last few weeks about my lack of motivation, but I'm pleased to say that that isn't such a problem at the moment. I've been able to write most nights, and I'm happy with my output.
That said, I do feel like I'm caught in-between projects. Jack Manley and the Warlord of Infinity isn't selling, and The Lightless Labyrinth is quite far from completion. What I really need is a finished project that I can release in the interim, if only to bolster my own morale.
Luckily, I have one. About ten years ago I had a children's picture book published through a small press. (This was an achievement somewhat mitigated by the fact that I was on the editorial team, albeit in a different department.) Ug and the Giant's Backyard had about 200 copies printed, and to be honest I don't know how many of them were sold. I didn't see any money out of it, but it was pretty exciting at the time.
I'm going to try to publish it again, with a few alterations. I'm not going to touch the text very much, but I want to colour the illustrations this time. I did the art myself, and I'm not going to change that. I had a blast putting little macabre touches to an otherwise friendly kids' book.
Hopefully I'll be able to get it available within the next month or two. I'll keep you posted!
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 2144 words (31,508 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES
What I've Been Reading
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I've Been Watching
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Road
Resurrection season 1
Game of Thrones season 4
What I've Been Playing
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
That said, I do feel like I'm caught in-between projects. Jack Manley and the Warlord of Infinity isn't selling, and The Lightless Labyrinth is quite far from completion. What I really need is a finished project that I can release in the interim, if only to bolster my own morale.
Luckily, I have one. About ten years ago I had a children's picture book published through a small press. (This was an achievement somewhat mitigated by the fact that I was on the editorial team, albeit in a different department.) Ug and the Giant's Backyard had about 200 copies printed, and to be honest I don't know how many of them were sold. I didn't see any money out of it, but it was pretty exciting at the time.
I'm going to try to publish it again, with a few alterations. I'm not going to touch the text very much, but I want to colour the illustrations this time. I did the art myself, and I'm not going to change that. I had a blast putting little macabre touches to an otherwise friendly kids' book.
Hopefully I'll be able to get it available within the next month or two. I'll keep you posted!
WEEKLY PROGRESS:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 2144 words (31,508 total)
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES
What I've Been Reading
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
Marvel Comics from 1965
What I've Been Watching
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Road
Resurrection season 1
Game of Thrones season 4
What I've Been Playing
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
The Happiness Dilemma
I haven't been able to rekindle my writing streak over the last week. To be honest, I haven't done much of anything besides spending time with my wife and son, and going to work. What I've also been doing is thinking, and one of the conclusion I've come to is that I would probably be happier if I didn't want to be a writer.
Life would be a lot easier. I could devote more time to my family. I would probably be satisfied with where I am in my job. I'd be able to get a good night's sleep for once. Most of all, I wouldn't have that constant voice nagging me at the back of my skull. You could be writing now, instead of wasting your time. You could be doing something productive. Why aren't you? Why are you wasting time working/sleeping/gaming/eating/etc.?
There are two solutions, of course. The first is to abandon writing and just try to relax and enjoy life. It's tempting, but impossible. I have to be working on something, and I don't want my obituary to just say "Well, he sure did read a lot of comics." It's a condition that I have to live with, even though at times I wish that I didn't.
The second solution is to write more, which sounds simple. The trick is squeezing it into the cracks of my life. I get up, I go to work, I come home, I spend time with my family, and by the time I can write it's close to midnight and I'm operating on about four hours of sleep from the night before. Mental exhaustion and the act of creation don't mix well for me.
So that's where I am right now. No doubt I'll try to struggle through another week, squeezing out as many words as I can in the wee hours of the morning. Perhaps I'll do better, perhaps worse. Perhaps I need to stop obsessing over word-count, and just be glad that I'm making some progress.
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES
What I've Been Reading
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
What I've Been Watching
Game of Thrones season 4
Resurrection season 1
What I've Been Playing
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Life would be a lot easier. I could devote more time to my family. I would probably be satisfied with where I am in my job. I'd be able to get a good night's sleep for once. Most of all, I wouldn't have that constant voice nagging me at the back of my skull. You could be writing now, instead of wasting your time. You could be doing something productive. Why aren't you? Why are you wasting time working/sleeping/gaming/eating/etc.?
There are two solutions, of course. The first is to abandon writing and just try to relax and enjoy life. It's tempting, but impossible. I have to be working on something, and I don't want my obituary to just say "Well, he sure did read a lot of comics." It's a condition that I have to live with, even though at times I wish that I didn't.
The second solution is to write more, which sounds simple. The trick is squeezing it into the cracks of my life. I get up, I go to work, I come home, I spend time with my family, and by the time I can write it's close to midnight and I'm operating on about four hours of sleep from the night before. Mental exhaustion and the act of creation don't mix well for me.
So that's where I am right now. No doubt I'll try to struggle through another week, squeezing out as many words as I can in the wee hours of the morning. Perhaps I'll do better, perhaps worse. Perhaps I need to stop obsessing over word-count, and just be glad that I'm making some progress.
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES
What I've Been Reading
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
What I've Been Watching
Game of Thrones season 4
Resurrection season 1
What I've Been Playing
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
'The Hound of the Baskervilles' by Arthur Conan Doyle
I've been on holidays for the last week, and I used some of the extra time on my hands to polish off The Hound of the Baskervilles, which has been sitting unread on my shelf for a couple of years. You shouldn't need me to tell you that it's a very good book, but it is. This book is tight. Every single thread of the plot is essential, and not one detail given is extraneous. It's easily my favourite of the Sherlock Holmes stories that I've read.
What's striking, though, is that Holmes himself is barely in it. He's there at the beginning, as the plot is being set up. He comes in at the end to solve the mystery. But for about a hundred pages in the middle he's absent, and we follow Dr. Watson's efforts to unravel the mystery. It's a bold choice, but I feel that in a story of this length it was a necessary one.
It should be noted that most Sherlock Holmes adventures are short stories. The Hound of the Baskervilles is a novel. Not a long novel, but a novel nonetheless. Getting rid of Holmes for a large stretch of the book was essential to maintaining that length and still keeping the character's integrity. This may be stating the obvious, but Sherlock Holmes is smart. Most of the time he solves his mysteries within twenty pages or so, and The Hound of the Baskervilles isn't that much more perplexing than other Holmes stories I've read. If he'd been present, the story should have wrapped up in half the length, or else Holmes would have felt uncharacteristically stupid. Doyle solved the problem deftly, by taking Holmes out of the equation and allowing the reader to piece together the details of the mystery along with Watson..
At first I was a little miffed at the absence of Holmes, but in retrospect I realise that it's the only way for the novel to have worked. A writer doesn't always need his star attraction front and centre. Sometimes what a story needs is for that character to stay in the background for a time, and let the story unfold without him. It's something to especially consider when writing stories with hyper-competent characters. Such characters can make life difficult for a writer, in that they can solve a lot of problems with little effort. This book has taught me that moving them offstage for a while isn't necessarily a bad thing.
What's striking, though, is that Holmes himself is barely in it. He's there at the beginning, as the plot is being set up. He comes in at the end to solve the mystery. But for about a hundred pages in the middle he's absent, and we follow Dr. Watson's efforts to unravel the mystery. It's a bold choice, but I feel that in a story of this length it was a necessary one.
It should be noted that most Sherlock Holmes adventures are short stories. The Hound of the Baskervilles is a novel. Not a long novel, but a novel nonetheless. Getting rid of Holmes for a large stretch of the book was essential to maintaining that length and still keeping the character's integrity. This may be stating the obvious, but Sherlock Holmes is smart. Most of the time he solves his mysteries within twenty pages or so, and The Hound of the Baskervilles isn't that much more perplexing than other Holmes stories I've read. If he'd been present, the story should have wrapped up in half the length, or else Holmes would have felt uncharacteristically stupid. Doyle solved the problem deftly, by taking Holmes out of the equation and allowing the reader to piece together the details of the mystery along with Watson..
At first I was a little miffed at the absence of Holmes, but in retrospect I realise that it's the only way for the novel to have worked. A writer doesn't always need his star attraction front and centre. Sometimes what a story needs is for that character to stay in the background for a time, and let the story unfold without him. It's something to especially consider when writing stories with hyper-competent characters. Such characters can make life difficult for a writer, in that they can solve a lot of problems with little effort. This book has taught me that moving them offstage for a while isn't necessarily a bad thing.
False Starts
I've been trying to restart my consecutive writing streak, with minimal success. I've done a day here, and a day there, but always with a day skipped in the middle. I'm still making progress on The Lightless Labyrinth, but being on holiday has messed up my schedule quite badly. I'm back at work tomorrow, and I aim to use that as a steadier to get my schedule back on track. I really want to beat that 17 day record into the dirt.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK
The Lightless Labyrinth - 1,521 words
CRPG Adventures - a final blog entry on PEDIT5 (aka The Dungeon)
Your Adventure Ends Here - a blog entry on the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
The Marvel Saga - the origin of the Fantastic Four
Save or Die - a continuation of my series on the AD&D Monster Manual
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES
What I've Been Reading
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
What I've Been Watching
Game of Thrones season 4
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
What I've Been Playing
The Dungeon (aka PEDIT5)
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
PROGRESS THIS WEEK
The Lightless Labyrinth - 1,521 words
CRPG Adventures - a final blog entry on PEDIT5 (aka The Dungeon)
Your Adventure Ends Here - a blog entry on the first Fighting Fantasy gamebook, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain
The Marvel Saga - the origin of the Fantastic Four
Save or Die - a continuation of my series on the AD&D Monster Manual
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES
What I've Been Reading
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
What I've Been Watching
Game of Thrones season 4
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
What I've Been Playing
The Dungeon (aka PEDIT5)
The Game of Dungeons (aka dnd)
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
The Twelve Days of Listless
I haven't written anything for twelve days. When I last posted here, I was on a 17-day streak. I had written something every day, for 17 days in a row. It wasn't always something substantial, it wasn't always something good, but I was creating. Just two days after that I stopped, and I haven't started again.
I often have trouble pinpointing why I can't sustain a regular writing habit, but in this case it's not a mystery. I've been having some personal problems. They're not something I want to delve into on the blog, but I've been experiencing a down period. It's not depression; I'm perfectly functional in my day-to-day life, but even so I begin to wonder what is the point of writing anything.
The thing is, I've been perfectly capable of making my word count every day. There's no reason that I could not have done so, no reason that I haven't banged out three or four chapters over those twelve days. At some point I have to accept that not writing is an active choice. There will be times when I can't do so, and that's fine. But when I can, I should. Time to get my streak going again.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
Nothing. Nada. Nil. Diddly. Zip. Zilch. Zero.
Oh, wait. I did blog about PEDIT5, the earliest CRPG in existence. It's over at crpgadventures.blogspot.com. That counts, right?
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Watching:
Resurrection season 1 (it's sentimental nonsense, but my wife enjoys it, so...)
Game of Thrones season 4
What I've Been Playing:
The Dungeon (aka pedit5)
Rogue
I often have trouble pinpointing why I can't sustain a regular writing habit, but in this case it's not a mystery. I've been having some personal problems. They're not something I want to delve into on the blog, but I've been experiencing a down period. It's not depression; I'm perfectly functional in my day-to-day life, but even so I begin to wonder what is the point of writing anything.
The thing is, I've been perfectly capable of making my word count every day. There's no reason that I could not have done so, no reason that I haven't banged out three or four chapters over those twelve days. At some point I have to accept that not writing is an active choice. There will be times when I can't do so, and that's fine. But when I can, I should. Time to get my streak going again.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
Nothing. Nada. Nil. Diddly. Zip. Zilch. Zero.
Oh, wait. I did blog about PEDIT5, the earliest CRPG in existence. It's over at crpgadventures.blogspot.com. That counts, right?
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester BolingbrokeWhat I've Been Watching:
Resurrection season 1 (it's sentimental nonsense, but my wife enjoys it, so...)
Game of Thrones season 4
What I've Been Playing:
The Dungeon (aka pedit5)
Rogue
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Jack Manley on Smashwords
One of my goals for 2014 was to get Jack Manley and the Warlord of Infinity published on Smashwords. I accomplished this weeks ago, but for some reason I never got around to mentioning it on here. It could have been during one of my hiatuses, or it could just have been a general lack of excitement on my part. As important as it was to get my book out on some more platforms, it kind of paled in significance to its very first publication on Amazon, so I wasn't quite as gung-ho to share the news with the world.
For those who don't know, Smashwords is an e-book distributor that takes your work and gets it out there on a heap of different platforms. Basically, if it ain't Amazon, Smashwords covers it. I'll admit that I didn't do as much research on how the site works as I did with Amazon, so I'm pretty hazy on how they pay royalties and the like. But I do think they provide a valuable service; if it wasn't for them, I dread to think of how many different ways I would have had to format the book.
As it was, the formatting for Smashwords was a bit of a nightmare. It's understandable; they need a file that can be readily converted for use on a lot of different devices. It makes sense that they ask for very specific formatting, but the process really was a bitch.
I followed the instructions provided, which recommended going for what they call the "nuclear option": cutting and pasting my novel into Notepad, then back to Microsoft Word. What this did was get rid of every little bit of formatting that had already been done on the file, to make it easier to go through step-by-step and configure the document to the Smashwords specs. Most of it was simple, if a little time-consuming: setting page margins, paragraph settings, etc.
My biggest problem came when I tried to format the indents at the start of my paragraphs. I had originally done this with two whacks of the spacebar, but Smashwords instructed me to set it up as part of my paragraph settings. To fix this I went through and erased every instance of a double space in the document. The problem was that I also used a double space after every full stop, and those got erased as well. I tried to solve this problem with the Find/Replace tool, adding a single space after every full stop. This in turn caused problems with my dialogue, particularly where a full stop was followed by a quotation mark. It was a long series of problems followed by solutions followed by more problems, and took me a few nights to properly sort out. I even had to read the whole damn book again (one thing that writer never tell you is how many times you'll have to read your book over; it can get pretty excruciating).
Nevertheless, it's up, complete with a spanking new cover design. Check it out!
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 2,080 words
I was on track for a cracking week, until some personal stuff came up and derailed me completely. That's going to happen; life won't ever stop kicking me in the nuts, I'm afraid.
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching:
Wrestlemania I
Resurrection
What I've Been Playing:
The Dungeon (aka pedit5)
Rogue
The Dungeon (aka pedit5)
Rogue
Monday, March 31, 2014
Increased Productivity
About a fortnight ago I had the internet connected at my house. This is a fairly novel experience for me, as I've spent the last six years without it. My only regular internet access has been through my job.
One of the fears I had when connecting was that it would impact my writing. You're all on the internet, you know what it's like. It's distracting. If there's anything that the internet is good at, it's distracting people. I could be watching Bert and Ernie on Youtube right now instead of typing this. I was rightly afraid that I would spend all my time watching or reading frivolous nonsense (as opposed to writing frivolous nonsense, a much more noble pursuit).
Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. In fact, quite the opposite has been true. Just a few minutes before this I finished working on The Lightless Labyrinth for the night. It's the fourteenth night in a row that I've done some writing for that novel. This is a record for me; I have never had such a period of sustained productivity before this. Not every day has been a winner. There was a day where I only managed 80 words, and a few were I didn't break 200. Nevertheless, it was progress. Even a small step is a move forward.
Part of it is that I started tweeting my word counts every day, as well as keeping track of how many days I have written consecutively. I don't know if anyone is paying attention, but it's enough that I believe there could be. I don't want to disappoint my phantom audience. The incentive to write gets larger the further I go, as well; the higher my consecutive days count goes, the more reluctant I become to break that streak. There has been at least one night where I banged out a couple of paragraphs at 3am just to maintain my run.
It hasn't all been positive, of course. I'm getting a lot less sleep than before. I often procrastinate, and don't start writing until after midnight. In general, I just waste a lot of time. I get distracted. Again, it's what the internet is good for.
On the other hand, I get motivated. I get inspired to create. The internet is good for that, too.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 2,514 words
Marvel Guidebook 1961: 342 words
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching:
The Walking Dead season 4
WWE Raw and Smackdown (It is Wrestlemania season, after all!)
What I've Been Playing:
The Dungeon (aka pedit5)
Rogue
One of the fears I had when connecting was that it would impact my writing. You're all on the internet, you know what it's like. It's distracting. If there's anything that the internet is good at, it's distracting people. I could be watching Bert and Ernie on Youtube right now instead of typing this. I was rightly afraid that I would spend all my time watching or reading frivolous nonsense (as opposed to writing frivolous nonsense, a much more noble pursuit).
Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. In fact, quite the opposite has been true. Just a few minutes before this I finished working on The Lightless Labyrinth for the night. It's the fourteenth night in a row that I've done some writing for that novel. This is a record for me; I have never had such a period of sustained productivity before this. Not every day has been a winner. There was a day where I only managed 80 words, and a few were I didn't break 200. Nevertheless, it was progress. Even a small step is a move forward.
Part of it is that I started tweeting my word counts every day, as well as keeping track of how many days I have written consecutively. I don't know if anyone is paying attention, but it's enough that I believe there could be. I don't want to disappoint my phantom audience. The incentive to write gets larger the further I go, as well; the higher my consecutive days count goes, the more reluctant I become to break that streak. There has been at least one night where I banged out a couple of paragraphs at 3am just to maintain my run.
It hasn't all been positive, of course. I'm getting a lot less sleep than before. I often procrastinate, and don't start writing until after midnight. In general, I just waste a lot of time. I get distracted. Again, it's what the internet is good for.
On the other hand, I get motivated. I get inspired to create. The internet is good for that, too.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth: 2,514 words
Marvel Guidebook 1961: 342 words
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching:
The Walking Dead season 4
WWE Raw and Smackdown (It is Wrestlemania season, after all!)
What I've Been Playing:
The Dungeon (aka pedit5)
Rogue
Monday, March 24, 2014
Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest 2014
About a month ago I submitted Jack Manley and the Warlord of Infinity to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Every year Amazon opens this contest to 10,000 entrants, with the grand prize being a $50,000 publishing deal. With that on offer, as well as a host of very good smaller prizes and no entry fee, I would have been a fool not to enter.
The contest is judged in a series of five rounds. In the first round the judges read the author's pitch for every entrant, and narrow the field down to 400 in each category. (There are five categories in the contest: general, mystery/thriller, sci-fi/fantasy/horror, romance and young adult.) In round two they narrow it down again, based on a 5,000 word excerpt. Round three narrows it down further based on the entire manuscript, and so on until there's a winner in each category and an overall Grand Prize Winner.
Alas, I didn't make it to the second round. I'm not particularly upset about it; rejection is part of the game, and I feel that you have to learn to take these setbacks well if you're ever going to get anywhere. Not only that, but I also have to figure out why my entry didn't make it.
Unfortunately, that answer is all too obvious: I totally half-arsed the pitch. I put literally zero effort into it, simply grabbing my back cover blurb and calling it a day. There's a thread over at the forums for the contest in which people who made it to the second round are posting their successful pitches. I plan to spend some time going over those, and trying to come up with something better for next year.
Because yes, of course I'm going to enter again next year. I failed this time around, but that's okay. It's time to keep writing, keep creating, and plan for my next attempt. Like I said, I'd be a fool not to.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 2,794 words
This is easily my best total since I started this blog, and made my resolution to write every day. For the first time, I actually did that for a whole week, and the results show. Even though I had one day where I only wrote 84 words (blame my interrupting wife!), I think I knocked out a respectable total.
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
Tarzan the Terrible by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching
The Walking Dead season 4
What I've Been Playing:
Rogue. Looooooooots of Rogue.
The contest is judged in a series of five rounds. In the first round the judges read the author's pitch for every entrant, and narrow the field down to 400 in each category. (There are five categories in the contest: general, mystery/thriller, sci-fi/fantasy/horror, romance and young adult.) In round two they narrow it down again, based on a 5,000 word excerpt. Round three narrows it down further based on the entire manuscript, and so on until there's a winner in each category and an overall Grand Prize Winner.
Alas, I didn't make it to the second round. I'm not particularly upset about it; rejection is part of the game, and I feel that you have to learn to take these setbacks well if you're ever going to get anywhere. Not only that, but I also have to figure out why my entry didn't make it.
Unfortunately, that answer is all too obvious: I totally half-arsed the pitch. I put literally zero effort into it, simply grabbing my back cover blurb and calling it a day. There's a thread over at the forums for the contest in which people who made it to the second round are posting their successful pitches. I plan to spend some time going over those, and trying to come up with something better for next year.
Because yes, of course I'm going to enter again next year. I failed this time around, but that's okay. It's time to keep writing, keep creating, and plan for my next attempt. Like I said, I'd be a fool not to.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 2,794 words
This is easily my best total since I started this blog, and made my resolution to write every day. For the first time, I actually did that for a whole week, and the results show. Even though I had one day where I only wrote 84 words (blame my interrupting wife!), I think I knocked out a respectable total.
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading:
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
Tarzan the Terrible by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching
The Walking Dead season 4
What I've Been Playing:
Rogue. Looooooooots of Rogue.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Hitting the Zone
Writing a novel can be hard. Sometimes the plot doesn't come together, or your characters lack drive, or there's just no drama or excitement. It could be any number of problems that don't seem to have an obvious solution. Whatever you do, however brilliant and talented you are, at some point in your writing career there will be a project that just refuses to work.
Earlier this week I was feeling that way about The Lightless Labyrinth. I couldn't get into my protagonist's head. There were too many characters clogging up the narrative. I just wasn't feeling it, and when the writer can't muster any excitement for a project it's probably time to chuck it in. Indeed, I had practically done that, not having worked on the book for over a week.
Then, just a few days ago, it all clicked. I had a revelation about my protagonist that suddenly made him interesting. My large ensemble cast started bouncing off each other, providing banter as well as drama. And just like that, I was getting excited to write it again.
In fact, it's like the book has started writing itself. This is, of course, a terrible cliche, and it's not strictly true. I've got an outline, and character arcs, and scenes worked out in my head. I'm still writing to my original plan. But now I've reached a place where I barely have to think about how the characters will react, and the words are flowing out pretty quickly. If I just had more time to write, I could get a hell of a lot done right now.
Even so, I've been feeling productive, and The Lightless Labyrinth is going ahead very well. I've hit the zone, where the book is coming together with little effort. All of a sudden, at least for now, writing a novel is pretty easy.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 1,794 words
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching
The Walking Dead season 4
What I've Been Playing
Adventure (the original text adventure game from 1976)
Earlier this week I was feeling that way about The Lightless Labyrinth. I couldn't get into my protagonist's head. There were too many characters clogging up the narrative. I just wasn't feeling it, and when the writer can't muster any excitement for a project it's probably time to chuck it in. Indeed, I had practically done that, not having worked on the book for over a week.
Then, just a few days ago, it all clicked. I had a revelation about my protagonist that suddenly made him interesting. My large ensemble cast started bouncing off each other, providing banter as well as drama. And just like that, I was getting excited to write it again.
In fact, it's like the book has started writing itself. This is, of course, a terrible cliche, and it's not strictly true. I've got an outline, and character arcs, and scenes worked out in my head. I'm still writing to my original plan. But now I've reached a place where I barely have to think about how the characters will react, and the words are flowing out pretty quickly. If I just had more time to write, I could get a hell of a lot done right now.
Even so, I've been feeling productive, and The Lightless Labyrinth is going ahead very well. I've hit the zone, where the book is coming together with little effort. All of a sudden, at least for now, writing a novel is pretty easy.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 1,794 words
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
Tarzan the Untamed by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching
The Walking Dead season 4
What I've Been Playing
Adventure (the original text adventure game from 1976)
Monday, February 24, 2014
Things I Learned as a Writer in 2013
Because nobody asked, but I'd like to codify it for myself, here are the
top five things I learned as a writer in 2013, in no particular order.
1. IT'S A BUSINESS. This point will not be foreign to anyone who has published through Amazon, but it bears repeating. I've never been all that business-minded, and setting up my payments for Amazon was a real trial. Being Australian made it that bit harder, as I had to register with the IRS, and there was no shortage of paperwork to be done. I'm almost glad that my book wasn't a roaring success, because then I'd have to deal with some nightmarish tax issues. As much as I'd like this writing thing to simply be just about the writing, that's not how it is. If you want to make money, you've got to run it like a business.
2. DON'T SWEAT THE FIRST DRAFT. The first draft of Jack Manley was a mess. Scenes were repeated. Characters changed names half-way through. Inconsistencies abounded. It was a genuine train-wreck. But here's the thing: you can fix all of that stuff. It took me a while, and it was not an easy process even for such a short book, but I got there eventually. It's a learning process, and I expect that my next book will not be quite so disjointed, but what it taught me was not to worry so much about what I'm writing on the first pass; just get it on the screen and come back to it later.
3. BOOKS DON'T SELL THEMSELVES. Psst, let me tell you a secret: my book has not sold a ton of copies. More like a few pounds. I haven't done any paid marketing. I focused on Facebook, Twitter and giveaways on Amazon and Goodreads. None of these have pushed my sales to any significant level. I'm considering some paid advertising, but I'm not even certain that this will make a difference. What I do know is that there are hundreds of thousands of ebooks out there, and with that amount of volume it's hard to get noticed. I need to get out and push this thing if I want to sell some books.
4. THIRD-PERSON CINEMATIC. This is what my writing style is called (at least according to noted writer and homophobe Orson Scott Card). If you read Jack Manley you'll notice that at no point does it go into the character's heads, and there are no interjections from the narrator. I tried very hard to keep things visual, to keep the narrative rattling along as fast as possible. Everything is described from the outside, and that's Third Person Cinematic. It's the style I naturally gravitate towards, to the point where I'm having some trouble getting into my protagonist's head in The Lightless Labyrinth.
5. RELEASING THINGS IS AWESOME. Seriously. It gives me a massive charge to know that I have a book out there and available on Amazon. I am a bona-fide self-published writer, which is a pretty damn radical thing to be. So don't expect this thing to slow down: I'll be doing this thing until I die, because it's what I love to do most.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 871 words
Marvel Guidebook - 0 words
Yes, those word-counts are super-low, but this week at least I have some decent excuse. Firstly, I have entered Jack Manley into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest, which could net me a cool $50,000 publishing contract (to be honest, I'll be happy just to make it past the first two rounds). Secondly, I have been formatting said book for Smashwords. It should be available through them within the week. So not much actual writing got done, but plenty of writing-related activity. I call it a win.
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading
Marvel Comics from 1964
What I've Been Playing
Super Mario Galaxy on the Nintendo Wii (I finally finished it, only to discover that I need to play through the whole thing again as Luigi. Not right now, Shiggsy!)
1. IT'S A BUSINESS. This point will not be foreign to anyone who has published through Amazon, but it bears repeating. I've never been all that business-minded, and setting up my payments for Amazon was a real trial. Being Australian made it that bit harder, as I had to register with the IRS, and there was no shortage of paperwork to be done. I'm almost glad that my book wasn't a roaring success, because then I'd have to deal with some nightmarish tax issues. As much as I'd like this writing thing to simply be just about the writing, that's not how it is. If you want to make money, you've got to run it like a business.
2. DON'T SWEAT THE FIRST DRAFT. The first draft of Jack Manley was a mess. Scenes were repeated. Characters changed names half-way through. Inconsistencies abounded. It was a genuine train-wreck. But here's the thing: you can fix all of that stuff. It took me a while, and it was not an easy process even for such a short book, but I got there eventually. It's a learning process, and I expect that my next book will not be quite so disjointed, but what it taught me was not to worry so much about what I'm writing on the first pass; just get it on the screen and come back to it later.
3. BOOKS DON'T SELL THEMSELVES. Psst, let me tell you a secret: my book has not sold a ton of copies. More like a few pounds. I haven't done any paid marketing. I focused on Facebook, Twitter and giveaways on Amazon and Goodreads. None of these have pushed my sales to any significant level. I'm considering some paid advertising, but I'm not even certain that this will make a difference. What I do know is that there are hundreds of thousands of ebooks out there, and with that amount of volume it's hard to get noticed. I need to get out and push this thing if I want to sell some books.
4. THIRD-PERSON CINEMATIC. This is what my writing style is called (at least according to noted writer and homophobe Orson Scott Card). If you read Jack Manley you'll notice that at no point does it go into the character's heads, and there are no interjections from the narrator. I tried very hard to keep things visual, to keep the narrative rattling along as fast as possible. Everything is described from the outside, and that's Third Person Cinematic. It's the style I naturally gravitate towards, to the point where I'm having some trouble getting into my protagonist's head in The Lightless Labyrinth.
5. RELEASING THINGS IS AWESOME. Seriously. It gives me a massive charge to know that I have a book out there and available on Amazon. I am a bona-fide self-published writer, which is a pretty damn radical thing to be. So don't expect this thing to slow down: I'll be doing this thing until I die, because it's what I love to do most.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 871 words
Marvel Guidebook - 0 words
Yes, those word-counts are super-low, but this week at least I have some decent excuse. Firstly, I have entered Jack Manley into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest, which could net me a cool $50,000 publishing contract (to be honest, I'll be happy just to make it past the first two rounds). Secondly, I have been formatting said book for Smashwords. It should be available through them within the week. So not much actual writing got done, but plenty of writing-related activity. I call it a win.
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading
Marvel Comics from 1964
What I've Been Playing
Super Mario Galaxy on the Nintendo Wii (I finally finished it, only to discover that I need to play through the whole thing again as Luigi. Not right now, Shiggsy!)
Friday, February 7, 2014
What I Read in 2013
Here's the list of books I knocked over last year:
About Time vols. 2-5 by Tat Wood and Lawrence Miles
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe
English Grammar Essentials for Dummies
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Sub-Mariner Vol. 1 by Bill Everett
Sandman vols. 1-9 by Neil Gaiman
A Memory of Light by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan
The Quest for Tanelorn by Michael Moorcock
The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth by H.G. Wells
In the Days of the Comet by H.G. Wells
The Sleeper Awakes by H.G. Wells
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
The War in the Air by H.G. Wells
The Wheels of Chance by H.G. Wells
Kipps by H.G. Wells
Tono-Bungay by H.G. Wells
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules verne
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
The Armageddon Rag by George R.R. Martin
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone
The Citadel of Chaos by Steve Jackson
The Forest of Doom by Ian Livingstone
Starship Traveller by Steve Jackson
City of Thieves by Ian Livingstone
Deathtrap Dungeon by Ian Livingstone
Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos by Terrance Dicks
Good On Paper by Andrew Morgan
So I read fifty-two books last year, which is the most I've done in a long while. It came at the expense of my comic reading, but them's the breaks.
H.G. Wells was the obvious winner here, with twelve entries to his name. I have a lot of time to listen to audiobooks while I'm at work, but I also don't have a lot of money to spend; consequently, I've been listening to a lot of works in the public domain. I started with Mr. Wells, determined to get through as many of his books as I could find, naturally starting with the sci-fi and working outwards. I enjoyed his better-known works well enough, but was surprised to find some gems further down the list. The First Men in the Moon was particularly entertaining, and I was oddly touched by The Wheels of Chance, a book about a downtrodden draper's assistant going on a bicycle holiday. On the whole I think he's a better writer when working outside of the science fiction genre; the characters are more vivid, the worlds more well-realised. His sci-fi books were more innovative, and more immediately iconic, though, and thus much more well-remembered.
I also delved into the other two grandfathers of sci-fi, Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Verne was enjoyable, if a touch episodic for my tastes. Burroughs I loved. The first Tarzan book is much better than you'd expect, and his John Carter novels are tons of fun. They get repetitive after a while, and Burroughs' reliance on coincidence borders on the absurd, but for pulp action-adventure of the era you can't do much better. He's possibly the earliest author that I'd read for pure pleasure.
George Martin's The Armageddon Rag was very good. A Memory of Light was a fitting wrap up to the epic Wheel of Time series. Sandman was pretty much as amazing as I'd been led to believe.
The Worst Book I Read in 2013: I'm giving this to the gamebook Starship Traveller by Steve Jackson. It's a lazy piece of design from a normally brilliant gamebook writer. Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos by Terrance Dicks was a contender, but I had to admire the ruthless efficiency of its prose; while I didn't enjoy it particularly, it certainly did the job it set out to do. Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Sub-Mariner Vol. 1 was also in the running, but in comparison to other comics of the 1940s it's rather good.
The Best Book I Read in 2013: This is tough. Looking at the list objectively it's probably Moby Dick, only I found that book to be extremely tough going. The Armageddon Rag was damned good, utterly gripping. There are probably a good four or five Sandman volumes that could win it. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is my favourite book of all time, but I'll discount it on the grounds of nostalgia-blindness. A Memory of Light must be acknowledged for the sheer magnitude of the task that Brandon Sanderson pulled off, and pulled off well. But I think I'm going to give it to Sandman Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections by Neil Gaiman and various artists. It's a volume of short stories mostly divorced from the ongoing saga, but each of them is brilliant. I find that I like Gaiman's work best in the short form, and here he knocks it out of the park with every story.
Reading Plans for 2014: I'm going to continue with the classics, as I have an iPod and the spare time to use it. Once I've listened to all the Burroughs books in the public domain I'll branch out into some less genre-based stuff, maybe Jane Austen or Dickens. I'd also like to read some more modern works. Of all the books I read last year, only three were written within the last few years, so I want to focus on some genre fiction by modern authors. Perhaps China Mieville or Patrick Rothfuss or Joe Abercrombie. My tastes have become a little stale and old-fashioned. Also, I want to read more comics. There are literally tens of thousands of stories set in the Marvel Universe that I haven't read. I'd like to remedy that.
WHAT ELSE I'M WORKING ON:
It's still the three major projects at the moment. I'm nearly finished a first draft of part 1 of The Lightless Labyrinth. Once that's done I might fling it out into the wild to be savaged by vicious alpha readers. I've nailed down a format for the Marvel Guidebook I'm working on, and am now knuckling down to do the writing. I plan on creating a test volume containing all the Marvel super-hero comics from 1961, just to see how it comes out and whether it actually makes for a good read or not. Finally, I've just about hashed out the story for Jack Manley and the Interchronal Deathmatch Tournament, which will be the opening storyline if I decide to go ahead with an ongoing serial.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 1,948 words
Marvel Guidebook - 1,455 words
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading
Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 by those guys in the title
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching
Transformers: The Movie (the rad animated one, not the crap recent one)
What I've Been Listening To
Armageddon by Guy Sebastian (not by choice, even though it's quite a good pop record)
What I've Been Playing
Super Mario Galaxy on the Nintendo Wii
About Time vols. 2-5 by Tat Wood and Lawrence Miles
Marvel Comics: The Untold Story by Sean Howe
English Grammar Essentials for Dummies
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Sub-Mariner Vol. 1 by Bill Everett
Sandman vols. 1-9 by Neil Gaiman
A Memory of Light by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan
The Quest for Tanelorn by Michael Moorcock
The Gods of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Beasts of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Son of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth by H.G. Wells
In the Days of the Comet by H.G. Wells
The Sleeper Awakes by H.G. Wells
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
The War in the Air by H.G. Wells
The Wheels of Chance by H.G. Wells
Kipps by H.G. Wells
Tono-Bungay by H.G. Wells
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules verne
Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne
The Armageddon Rag by George R.R. Martin
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone
The Citadel of Chaos by Steve Jackson
The Forest of Doom by Ian Livingstone
Starship Traveller by Steve Jackson
City of Thieves by Ian Livingstone
Deathtrap Dungeon by Ian Livingstone
Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos by Terrance Dicks
Good On Paper by Andrew Morgan
So I read fifty-two books last year, which is the most I've done in a long while. It came at the expense of my comic reading, but them's the breaks.
H.G. Wells was the obvious winner here, with twelve entries to his name. I have a lot of time to listen to audiobooks while I'm at work, but I also don't have a lot of money to spend; consequently, I've been listening to a lot of works in the public domain. I started with Mr. Wells, determined to get through as many of his books as I could find, naturally starting with the sci-fi and working outwards. I enjoyed his better-known works well enough, but was surprised to find some gems further down the list. The First Men in the Moon was particularly entertaining, and I was oddly touched by The Wheels of Chance, a book about a downtrodden draper's assistant going on a bicycle holiday. On the whole I think he's a better writer when working outside of the science fiction genre; the characters are more vivid, the worlds more well-realised. His sci-fi books were more innovative, and more immediately iconic, though, and thus much more well-remembered.
I also delved into the other two grandfathers of sci-fi, Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Verne was enjoyable, if a touch episodic for my tastes. Burroughs I loved. The first Tarzan book is much better than you'd expect, and his John Carter novels are tons of fun. They get repetitive after a while, and Burroughs' reliance on coincidence borders on the absurd, but for pulp action-adventure of the era you can't do much better. He's possibly the earliest author that I'd read for pure pleasure.
George Martin's The Armageddon Rag was very good. A Memory of Light was a fitting wrap up to the epic Wheel of Time series. Sandman was pretty much as amazing as I'd been led to believe.
The Worst Book I Read in 2013: I'm giving this to the gamebook Starship Traveller by Steve Jackson. It's a lazy piece of design from a normally brilliant gamebook writer. Doctor Who and the Claws of Axos by Terrance Dicks was a contender, but I had to admire the ruthless efficiency of its prose; while I didn't enjoy it particularly, it certainly did the job it set out to do. Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Sub-Mariner Vol. 1 was also in the running, but in comparison to other comics of the 1940s it's rather good.
The Best Book I Read in 2013: This is tough. Looking at the list objectively it's probably Moby Dick, only I found that book to be extremely tough going. The Armageddon Rag was damned good, utterly gripping. There are probably a good four or five Sandman volumes that could win it. The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is my favourite book of all time, but I'll discount it on the grounds of nostalgia-blindness. A Memory of Light must be acknowledged for the sheer magnitude of the task that Brandon Sanderson pulled off, and pulled off well. But I think I'm going to give it to Sandman Vol. 6: Fables and Reflections by Neil Gaiman and various artists. It's a volume of short stories mostly divorced from the ongoing saga, but each of them is brilliant. I find that I like Gaiman's work best in the short form, and here he knocks it out of the park with every story.
Reading Plans for 2014: I'm going to continue with the classics, as I have an iPod and the spare time to use it. Once I've listened to all the Burroughs books in the public domain I'll branch out into some less genre-based stuff, maybe Jane Austen or Dickens. I'd also like to read some more modern works. Of all the books I read last year, only three were written within the last few years, so I want to focus on some genre fiction by modern authors. Perhaps China Mieville or Patrick Rothfuss or Joe Abercrombie. My tastes have become a little stale and old-fashioned. Also, I want to read more comics. There are literally tens of thousands of stories set in the Marvel Universe that I haven't read. I'd like to remedy that.
WHAT ELSE I'M WORKING ON:
It's still the three major projects at the moment. I'm nearly finished a first draft of part 1 of The Lightless Labyrinth. Once that's done I might fling it out into the wild to be savaged by vicious alpha readers. I've nailed down a format for the Marvel Guidebook I'm working on, and am now knuckling down to do the writing. I plan on creating a test volume containing all the Marvel super-hero comics from 1961, just to see how it comes out and whether it actually makes for a good read or not. Finally, I've just about hashed out the story for Jack Manley and the Interchronal Deathmatch Tournament, which will be the opening storyline if I decide to go ahead with an ongoing serial.
PROGRESS THIS WEEK:
The Lightless Labyrinth - 1,948 words
Marvel Guidebook - 1,455 words
OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:
What I've Been Reading
Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 by those guys in the title
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar by Edgar Rice Burroughs
What I've Been Watching
Transformers: The Movie (the rad animated one, not the crap recent one)
What I've Been Listening To
Armageddon by Guy Sebastian (not by choice, even though it's quite a good pop record)
What I've Been Playing
Super Mario Galaxy on the Nintendo Wii
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