Paperback writer

So it's official, I'm now published in paperback. Again self published but still a brilliant development, will be getting my proof copy later in the week for review before it goes on Amazon but it's currently available on Lulu http://www.lulu.com/shop/holly-webster/blood-born/paperback/product-20973144.html

Desperate to see my book in the flesh :)

All I want is a space somewhere

Everyone needs a space to let loose their creative side, I'm blessed with a converted attic in our rental, but damn was it depressing. The walls were a drab blue grey that had been up there for long enough for it to be grime ingrained and nasty.  Luckily I got the landladies permission to redecorate and finally I've gotten everything fixed up a nice bright yellow (meant to inspire creativity.) Soon to have plot boards and lots of storage. I'm so happy right now :)

Fan Fiction Addiction

In a previous blog on characterisation I mentioned watching TV as an aid to improving your understanding of character and writing about the characters as practice. I am of course referencing an often miss understood phenom, Fan Fiction.

Fan Fiction, or fan fic, is taking an established ‘Universe’ (in this instance Universe is the realm inhabited by particular cast of characters in books or TV with it’s own physical and metaphysical rules) and then creating their own scenarios often times seriously changing the plot and messing with the universe rules. Fan fic is an exercise in make believe for the creative geek, it’s fun it’s engaging and most importantly it’s really good practice.

There’s a tendency among some writers to look down on fan fic that it’s the realm of the obsessive fan, tantamount to plagiarism, and ‘lazy’. To this I say for the most part. Balls. So long as credit is given to the intellectual owners of the characters and world, for which most fan fic has a staple header, there’s no copyright harm and this is not done for profit. Also who among you can say you’ve never obsessed over anything? And lazy, you may want to go out and read some of these fictions, while it’s true there’s some real stinkers out there it’s just as true that there are some amazing pieces of writing from short to truly epic in length.

Fan fic allows us to explore our own writing skills in a comfortable recognisable sandbox. We already know the characters, we’re used to them and how they react to situations so it’s easy to work them into what we’re planning because we automatically adjust the situation to them, which is what needs to happen for a good story. In essence it’s a way of teaching yourself how to write.

I have always been making up stories for as long as I can remember and I spent years trying and failing to write them down, I’d get lost my plot was poor my characters totally un-relatable. I was (and still am) a complete telly addict, and I fell in love with Buffy, this was just before we got internet for the first time and so obviously the first thing I did when looking into the net was look up Buffy, this was where I discovered fan fic for the first time and it was a revelation. I’d always made up little ‘what ifs’ about my fave shows but writing them down never occurred and sharing them with the world… I set up a page and got to work. My first attempts were pretty bad still, but it improved to the point where I got compliments on my work, especially my dialogue which had been my worst point but thanks to the excellent work of one Joss Whedon I learnt this key skill and it’s become one of my strongest.

So long live fan fiction and all those writing for their fave shows, hold your heads high and keep writing!

Who are you and what are you doing here?

Character driven fiction is something I’ve always aspired to and something I value in the books that I read. There’s nothing worse, I find, than reading a book where a character’s actions don’t fit with their personality. It jars so badly it can completely throw my focus and if it happens too often my interest also wanders and before you know it the book is down and I’m done. So what are my personal (and I’m not an expert on the matter) thoughts behind how this happens.

Lack of experience

A lot of writers when starting out (myself included) underestimate the need for a fully developed skill set. After all, writing is easy, you just put your words down on the page and viola – Story. Wrong. Oh so wrong. With the best will in the world you can’t just sit down one day and write the best novel ever written if you don’t practice. So put down that manuscript and grab a pen and just write, not even necessarily full stories just write scenes. You don’t have to worry about getting your story right you’re just learning how to bring realism to your interactions and descriptions. You should also be absorbing as much as you can from other sources. Read other books vary the authors so you don’t get sucked into a particular style that may not suit you and (shock horror) grab a TV remote. Some people may not agree with this but growing up I was a Telly addict and TV is all about characters. You can’t have a good show (especially a series) with inconsistent characters. Watch and learn, and even write about characters you see on TV as practice (I’ll talk about this a bit more in another post).

Rigid storyline

So you have an Awesome plot, it’s got everything a story could want and your characters WILL stick to it. With exactly the right characters this can work, but more often than not it will end up with a ‘train track’ story. i.e you’ll feel like you’re on rails being dragged along inexorably and it may lack for connection. For gamers out there if any of you have ever played Res Evils the Umbrella Chronicles on Wii you’ll know what I mean. It was a point and shoot where you didn’t direct the character you just moved along like you were on some ghost train ride shooting things as they went past. It was dull and frustrating. If you have to break your characters to suit the story the way you want it then you’ll loose your audience. Example from my own work. If your character is habitually drawn into poor abusive relationships and has come to expect that level of treatment, why would you expect her to gather up her things and walk out of a flat in the middle of the night when a new boyfriend starts acting a little off? She wouldn’t she’d stay and try to work out what she’d done wrong. I laboured over that niggle for about a year before I stopped making her leave and it worked out so much better. This brings me onto my last point.

Not understanding your characters.

Characters, or at least main characters, are not just puppets. They’re people, imaginary and invisible but still people with their own thoughts and motivations, and they will surprise you. As stated above stick them in a rigid storyline that doesn’t fit them and you’ve got problems. You need to get to know your characters. It’s best if at all possible to stop even calling them characters but refer to them by their names. Think about them wherever you are put them in all sorts of outlandish situations and see how they react. Some people talk to their characters but I prefer to remain an unobtrusive presence in their world and watch them talking to one another. A well nurtured character will develop a rich back story and their reactions will flow naturally lending your story a far more realistic quality. 

Back from the void...

So it's been a while, a long while in fact. However I'm determined to bounce back. A lot of other life stuff has been getting in the way for a while. Sort of job change (same place wildly different department) house move and various other little taxes on my time have meant I've not had the time or energy to keep up with promoting my work or talking to you lovely people. As such, things have suffered a little, but (she says holding up a determined finger) these things are not irreparable. So you'll be seeing more of my posts on here and twitfest and faceback. There will be stories, there will be reviews there will be pretty pictures and most importantly there will be cake. :)

Premature NaNo-ing

Yes November is nearly here again and bringing with it the wonderful NaNoWriMo. The month of the year when masochistic writers the world over pledge themselves to write a novel in one month... or at least 50,000 words of one. From the 1st to the 30th of November we'll be beavering away attempting to jot down at least 1666 words a day (or there about) in order to hit that jackpot total and be crowned a winner of the NaNoWriMo. What do we get as a prize for this epic feat? Well, a 50,000 word novel of our choosing and a bit of a pat on the back. Seriously.

We must be mad, barmy, utterly intent on the destruction of our own minds. It takes use 11 months to recover from this insanity and then when the next November comes around we jump up and down and say 'I want to go again!!'

Well, madness of madness, I'm going for NaNoWriMo+1/2 from the 16th of October to the 30th of November I'm going to write Dead Meat, all 90,000-ish words of it. This means a total of 2000 words every day for 45 non stop days. I'm currently at 21,000 words and still working, having fallen ever so slightly behind on monday and tuesday this week, so I have to step up a bit over the weekend but I can do it, I know I can. The blog and other such things may suffer slightly as a side effect, but hopefully I'll be ready and raring to go come the end of November.

Until next time (hopefully before the end of the writing effort)

Rockabye Baby

Have just found the best albums EVER! Called Rockabye Baby they are Lullaby Renditions of some really great rock and metal bands. Dependant on the song they sound a little like xylophone music and are totally instrumental. Have to say I loved them from the get go and have now picked up MP3 copies of AC/DC, Metallica, Nirvana, Led Zep and Green Day, and I don't even have any children yet!

So if you're a bit of a rocker like me and you want you're little ones to grow up with an appreciation for good melodies for a young age pick these up, there's lost of bands to choose from (I'm hoping they're going to do an offspring cover version soon). Though I will add a note of warning, some of these songs WILL send you to sleep!