Wednesday, 28 April 2010

Cover Art

I had the crazy idea that i could write a novel and recently i started to write it, a book, novel, novella i'll decide when its finished which category it fits into. I started by getting familiar with the characters and so set about writing character bios for the two main characters, plus a little research on the subject matter, to which i have already, in a previous blog, mentioned that its a Spy Thriller that has a complex sub-genre. 

I've written half of the first chapter, which i was eager to start so i used part of a bio i wrote, just to get started and today i designed the cover art work, of course this may change, but for right now its all i've got. Yea i know, its a little dark but it does fit the story floating around in my head, which changes from time to time, like earlier today, i was completely convinced i knew the plot, but on the way to my local chip shop i saw a Crow on the grass and things started to change, the Crow just gave me a simple change, but it got my thought processes going and i started to think more about the shady parts of the story, the more complex stuff, and then decided on a significant change to the plot, i love writing, i love the way it evolves in my head, happily it happened before i wrote it.

Sunday, 25 April 2010

Write what you know...?

I'm reading a book by Stephen King, no not that kind of book, its called 'On Writing by Stephen King', the first hundred or so pages are basically a brief biography centred around how he became a writer, and the rest are his thoughts on how to go about becoming a writer.

Don't get me wrong, he's not saying, Do what i do or Do as i say, he gives a rough guide to those of us who are aspiring writes, those of us who believe we have something to offer, he gives a starting point, he also tells us how he goes about the writing process, preferring to sit and start rather then spending time in character development or writing up plot guide lines, he said that if he is wrting a suspence thirller and he isn't exactly sure of what is going to happen next, then neither is the audience, i guess that makes sense however daunting it may seem, to start a book of roughly one hundred thousand words or more and not know how its going to turn out, but i guess thats what being a writer is all about. Take this blog, i had no idea what i was going to write, i just sat down and started. I have a character and a situation to solve, or not, so i have a starting point, and tonight i'm going to start the first chapter of my book.

King also said that routine is important, and that you should write a set amount every day, and read lots of books, these of course stand to reason, but also that, for the beginner, imitationis a given. We all have our favorite genres, i for one like Horror, Spy thrillers and Sci-Fi, so i guess i'll be writing along those lines, i also like to read them and that my first few books would be imitations of what i have read, as i read this in On Writing i thought about my idea, which is an imitation, after reading that i felt a little better about doing it that way. King says to set a daily target like one thousand words, roughly 5 pages, to "shut the door" which i though was a metaphor for shut out everything including your family and friends, he said to allow yourself to shut that door, if you have a window close the curtains unless your view is of a brick wall, i guess to shut out all distractions, unplug the television if one is near so your not temped to turn it on and catch your shows, Television he says gets in the way of writing, finish your daily target then watch your shows. King says that he listens to loud rock music while he writes, it helps to block out any other noise that might encroach.

Write what you know, we here this all the time but does it really work that way, i think not, neither does King, a referrence he used was The Firm by John Grisham, about an attorney working for the Mafia, now, Grisham was an attorney at some point but, as King says, i'm pretty sure he didn't and never has worked for the Mob, but The Firm is a believable depiction of it. So even though writing what you know is a good idea, its not a rule of writing, writers can always pull on their imaginations, after all isn't that what fiction is.

Well, without knowing how this blog was going to turn out or what i was going to write in it, it turned out okay.

Sunday, 18 April 2010

An Important Message from Taylor, by Geoff.

Today i read a blog that i thought was one of the best i've read in a long tme and wanted you guys to see it as well, and so i stole it from a website called Vloggerheads, it was written by a man named Geoff at some point today.


In the not so distant future a Niburan scout ship lands on the smoking husk of the planet once known as earth. Cool but not unfriendly eyes survey the empty landscape. Alien minds grapple with the puzzle of a species that showed so much early promise but managed only to destroy itself.

Xeno-cryptographers manage to translate a few scraps of electronic data, broadcast transmissions winging their way to infinity. Apparently a sentient life form known sometimes as matthawes, and other times as thenocturnalavenger, managed to weaponize plutonium and ... well, here the record goes dark. We may never know the story of earth's final days.

Atomic warfare blasted human culture and left it mostly in unintelligible fragments. A few coherent artifacts, the Rosetta Stone, the Complete Works of Sedona Leigh (but tragically only volumes XXXII through LXXI), and a blog post from something called a "Taylor," are swaddled in neutral gasses, sealed in transparent bubbles, and transported back to the Niburan home planet and installed in the Museum of Planetary Oddities (closed Mondays).

Dear Vloggerheads Community:

I am leaving you because I am bored. Trolling you, never a great challenge, has become so routine and repetitive that it can no longer stimulate my flaccid self-regard to even the slightest degree.

If just one of you had proved a worthy opponent I might have managed to drag this charade on for another decade or two, but no one came close to understanding my secret intent or comprehending the power I hold over you. I had high hopes for flophousepoodle. She called me a Turing Test once. While I actually am a human being, in my interactions with the site I rarely deviated from half a dozen fixed rules. I could just as easily be a machine, and a simple one at that. A mirror dangling a few rusty gears, a canyon echo hitched to a flywheel.

But the rest of you wasted your breath and wore down your spacebars speculating about whether I was Jeremy, Renetto, or PizzaBoy, or the weepy Alan Williams. You imputed to me motives drawn from the drama of the day and didn't seem to grasp how I embodied each conflict, sucked its juices, and then moved on to the next drama without a backward glance. I'm not going to tell you who I really am because it really doesn't matter. I have no fixed opinions or strong feelings--at least not where VloggerHeads is concerned. I could be anybody.

I was interested exclusively in creating the biggest ripples with the tiniest pebbles. That is my art. Sometimes I surprised even myself. I managed to drive InMendham crazy with a simple Yawn. To be sure that wasn't a long drive, but to see all that passion and intelligence laid low by the tiniest pinprick of disrespect... You may think that was a proud moment for me but it was actually the beginning of the end. For days afterward food lost its savor and even the green shoots beginning to bud in my window box seemed insipid. We all want success to come easily to us but not too easily. No one values what they attain without struggle. Don't put out on the first date.

You called me a troll, and of course that is what I am, but none of you took the time to really appreciate how I operated. Did I ever follow a user from post to post, smothering him with unwelcome comments? How often did you see me yawning on someone's home page? My insults were rarely as coarse as the insults I endured in return. I never went for the knock-out punch (to be honest I couldn't have gone toe to toe with some of your heavy hitters) but relied on the death by a thousand cuts strategy.

I had what Joseph Conrad called "the miserable advantage of having nothing to lose." (Yes, Geoff, I do read books, you condescending bastard.) I trickled like smoke between the fingers of those who tried to engage with me. My greatest joy--before it all turned to ashes in my mouth--was to goad the intelligent ones, the ones who should have known better. Their anger at me was fueled in large part by their anger at themselves for falling for my act--yet again. Do you see what I mean now when I speak of big ripples and tiny pebbles?

I simply inserted myself into quarrels large and small, championing and then abandoning Zen, Argent, Peri Urban, and Lima when they were at odds with the site. Or I poked around for weak spots and insecurities. How many times did I ask for citizenship and then withdraw, make complaints about being treated unfairly, threaten to leave? The sensible thing might have been to ignore me or at least to discount me. I think I even told you that on a number of occasions. That you never did would probably continue to fascinate me if I was still capable of taking an interest in anything at all.

I have admitted that all my dealings with you were calculated and insincere. That isn't entirely true. I honestly believe that Lima is adorable and that Phantom409 of Phantom409.com is a giant among men.

That's all I got to say. Have a nice day.

Saturday, 17 April 2010

Its too much...


I think i would concider myself as a writer, of course i have my bad days when writing something simple and it comes out as if a 5 years old wrote it, this happens a little to often for my liking but i move past it.

So, on to the blog, i have a simple problem, and that is, i can't stop thinking of new ideas, you may not see this as a problem, especially if i concider myself to be a writer, i mean new ideas are great, right? but not when i'm still working on the last one.

I guess i started my writing with film, screenplays, i spent maybe 4 years finishing my latest, and in that 4 year period i had near 30 new ideas for films, having that many ideas is a good thing, but it distracts me from the current one, which then slows down the progess of my writing, thats why it took 4 years to write one script, a script that has 114 pages to it, i did start a to rewrite it from page one 2 years back, but still, 4 years on one writing project is just to much, how am i supposed to write 30 more if it takes me 4 years to finish 1, i don't think i have 120 years to sit and write scripts.

Now, i'm trying to give myself reasons to write more often, i have 4 blogs here, the scripts and some short stories that i've been working on for the last year or so, but now i figure i can write a novel, yea i know, start small right, i started to plan out the characters and ease the plot into shape, its coming along nicely and at a good pace, well one i'm comfortible with anyway, but on the way into work today i was thinking about another novel i could write, it was an old script idea that i scrapped, but i think it could work as a book.

Where does it stop, no matter what i try to do, i'm always thinking about the next project, even before i've made suffient head way with the current one, i like all the new ideas, that seem to come at me only when i'm working on something else, but i sometimes wish they'd stop and let me finish, i write notes on the new ideas, then go back to the project i'm working on, but once i stop or try to sleep, the new idea kicks me in the head and will not leave me alone, its like a puppy that can see i'm not working and now whats some attention, i give it a tummy rub hoping that it'll be enough but it just wants more and when i try to sleep, it jumps up onto my lap and tries to lick my face.

I like being creative, but my creativity is starting to piss me off.

Wednesday, 7 April 2010

Can i write a novel?

Well i'm not exactly sure myself, but i'm willing to give it a try, my only danger is the brain numbing and creativity destroying job.

Happily its a novel on a few subjects i enjoy, no, love, the first is Star Trek, i've been a fan for a long time, i'd watch the Original Series on Sunday afternoons with my Dad, then started to watch The Next Generation during secondary school (11-15), in college i meet others who like it just as i did, which just re-enforced my love for it. The second is Spy Thrillers, i love watching movies and reading books on this particular genre so i figure, i like writing and might just try my hand at writing a novel on these subjects, a Star Trek Spy Thriller, the detail i 'm going to keep close to my chest, for obvious reasons.

Just hope i can keep it going, but first i have a ton of research to do, i'm going to be aiming for around 350-400 pages.

If i start to make any head way on this i'll let you know.

"Go the Distance"


I ordered and have received two DVD's in the post from Amazon this morning, "Field of Dreams" and "Paranormal Activity", and once I have re-watched Field of Dreams and watched for the first time Paranormal Activity I'll will try to write a review of both. Being as unbiased as I can, to be posted on my other blog Fiskys Movie Reviews


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thursday, 1 April 2010

This'll just be a quickie

Now that i'm back to work as usual, i've noticed that my sleep is suffering and my feet are starting to swell again.

I've mentioned this crap before so i won't go into it, but i had a kip (nap) today because i was just to tired to stay awake, from 12:00 till about 18:30, and a few days ago i noticed the till till signs of my feet swelling, first the itch, then the expanding soarness, which feels like an insect bite, then the swelling, its like walking around with chewing gum stuck to the bottom of your foot.

Why do i blame work, well because of this, i had to take my last 6 days off recently, so i decided to stagger them, 3 days off, then back on shift, then more days off, i work Fri, Sat & Sun (7pm - 7am) so the first three days gave me 11 days off, and i felt better during that time, then i was back to work for three days, which was okay because i knew i was off again the following week, which again gave me 11 days off, during the second break i didn't have any sleep or tiredness problems and my feet didn't swell, itch or go soar.

So i blame my job, for me its the logical answer.