Rod Duncan's Blog, page 7
December 2, 2016
The Final Action Sequence
A quick status update this morning (I've just noticed it is the afternoon already. That is an indication of how deep the writing experience has been.)
I wanted to tell you that I've today reached the ending sequence of the novel - that point where all the different parties to the story become aware of each other's intentions, jolting the action into a series of conflicts of ascending intensity that will run right up to the end. The shadow boxing is over. This is the real fight.
My past experience is that this section of the novel gets written faster than anything before. All the careful construction, the laying down of story threads - all that pays off at this stage. Because, if I have done it right, everything is now set up and the action will inevitably lead to the long-planned conclusion.
That doesn't mean...
The full article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
I wanted to tell you that I've today reached the ending sequence of the novel - that point where all the different parties to the story become aware of each other's intentions, jolting the action into a series of conflicts of ascending intensity that will run right up to the end. The shadow boxing is over. This is the real fight.
My past experience is that this section of the novel gets written faster than anything before. All the careful construction, the laying down of story threads - all that pays off at this stage. Because, if I have done it right, everything is now set up and the action will inevitably lead to the long-planned conclusion.
That doesn't mean...
The full article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
November 18, 2016
Winning an Award!
I won an award last night! It’s not the kind of thing that gets a mention in The Bookseller. But I couldn’t feel more honoured.
To explain, I need to rewind the clock to the early nineties. We’d been some years In Taiwan working on an environmental education project on behalf of the Baha’i community. Towards the end of my time there I began to write. A poem or two at first. Then a short story. Then I dived into the deep end and began to write a novel. I had no idea what I was doing. But the experience was exhilarating. I was back in the UK by the time I finished it.
One day, I spotted an article in the local paper, which said that there was an organization called Leicester Writers’ Club and that it was having an open evening on the coming Thursday. ‘I’ve written a novel,’ I thought. That means I am a writer. Perhaps I should go along...
The full article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
To explain, I need to rewind the clock to the early nineties. We’d been some years In Taiwan working on an environmental education project on behalf of the Baha’i community. Towards the end of my time there I began to write. A poem or two at first. Then a short story. Then I dived into the deep end and began to write a novel. I had no idea what I was doing. But the experience was exhilarating. I was back in the UK by the time I finished it.
One day, I spotted an article in the local paper, which said that there was an organization called Leicester Writers’ Club and that it was having an open evening on the coming Thursday. ‘I’ve written a novel,’ I thought. That means I am a writer. Perhaps I should go along...
The full article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
November 6, 2016
Creating a Victorian Rookery
Whilst researching the Custodian of Marvels, I spent many hours reading about the rookeries of London and exploring the city via Google Street View. I chose the Cable Street / Cannon Street area for Elizabeth, Fabulo and the others to disappear into. But I had two problems in fixing the precise geography:
1) Significant areas of the street plan were wiped clean with the clearance of the slums.
2) There is no railway in the Gas-Lit Empire version of London, so the line to the north of Cable Street would never have been built.
I turned to maps dating from before the slums were cleared. It would have been possible to make up a fictional road layout. (It's unlikely that anyone would check up on the arrangements of now-demolished streets to make sure I had it all correct.) But having a definitive map was helpful. It made the place feel real to me. It is my conviction that if a location feels precise and vivid to the writer...
The complete article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
1) Significant areas of the street plan were wiped clean with the clearance of the slums.
2) There is no railway in the Gas-Lit Empire version of London, so the line to the north of Cable Street would never have been built.
I turned to maps dating from before the slums were cleared. It would have been possible to make up a fictional road layout. (It's unlikely that anyone would check up on the arrangements of now-demolished streets to make sure I had it all correct.) But having a definitive map was helpful. It made the place feel real to me. It is my conviction that if a location feels precise and vivid to the writer...
The complete article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
October 30, 2016
Working Out the End
This morning I finally worked out the entire ending sequence of the novel. I already knew where the story had to get to. But in my various plans of the final act, I had statements like: 'Elizabeth figures out a clever way to....' followed by the THING which I can't tell you because it would be a massive spoiler.
This morning, sitting in the car outside a well known supermarket...
The full article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
This morning, sitting in the car outside a well known supermarket...
The full article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
October 14, 2016
High Art and THAT Nobel Prize
Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize for literature. First I had to check I wasn’t reading a headline from the Waterford Whisperer or some other satirical news page. I went to check in the Washington Post and the Guardian. Even Auntie, was reporting it - so it had to be true!
Oh marvellous, fabulous, beautiful day.
My hope was that people of high literature would be angry. That sounds mean of me. But there is a pompous myth of high art that I want to see exposed in argument...
The full article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
Oh marvellous, fabulous, beautiful day.
My hope was that people of high literature would be angry. That sounds mean of me. But there is a pompous myth of high art that I want to see exposed in argument...
The full article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
October 11, 2016
A virtual tour of the Gas-Lit Empire
Would you like a tour of the Gas-Lit Empire but can't make it over here to Leicester? Having last week walked people around the streets where Elizabeth's adventures unfold, I have just this moment realised that I can offer a wider invitation to explore through the marvel that is Google Street View.
Not every location in the books is precisely mapped onto the real world. But many are. So here are a selection of views, which you can explore by rotating the image...
The full article can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
Not every location in the books is precisely mapped onto the real world. But many are. So here are a selection of views, which you can explore by rotating the image...
The full article can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
September 20, 2016
Visit the Gas-Lit Empire
Would you like to walk the streets of the Gas-Lit Empire, from the disrepute of The Backs to the splendour of the North Leicester Postal Sorting Office?
If you can get to Leicester on Saturday...
The full article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
If you can get to Leicester on Saturday...
The full article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
August 26, 2016
World Building Month
August 2016 has been a fairly intense month in my creative life. The story has moved on to a new setting. I've researched feasible technologies and designed an aesthetic for a group of people living beyond the Gas-Lit Empire. I've started to fashion a distinct culture for them and a nascent legal system - derived from a quirky piece of history that has long fascinated me...
The full article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
The full article can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
August 10, 2016
Book 4 = Book 1
Q When is book 4 not book 4?
A When it is book 1 in the next series.
That, in a nutshell, has been my problem with writing Elizabeth Barnabus’s next adventure. I’ve been trying to satisfy new readers and continuing readers to an equal degree; trying to give someone who is just discovering the Gas-Lit Empire the feeling that they haven’t missed out.
It took me several months to find the answer. And then, once I’d found it, it proved difficult to write. In July I finally got it sorted. Initial feedback from my Beta readers is very promising.
Since then the writing speed has picked up. I’ve written...
The complete article can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
A When it is book 1 in the next series.
That, in a nutshell, has been my problem with writing Elizabeth Barnabus’s next adventure. I’ve been trying to satisfy new readers and continuing readers to an equal degree; trying to give someone who is just discovering the Gas-Lit Empire the feeling that they haven’t missed out.
It took me several months to find the answer. And then, once I’d found it, it proved difficult to write. In July I finally got it sorted. Initial feedback from my Beta readers is very promising.
Since then the writing speed has picked up. I’ve written...
The complete article can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/gaslitempire...
July 5, 2016
Workshop on generating narrative drive
I am going to be running a day-long workshop on generating narrative drive in stories. It will take place in Leicester on 30th July 2016. All the money raised will go to finishing the feature film From Leicester to Hollywood.
If you know of anyone who might be interested, please share this with them. I would also bring the workshop to you if you can get a group of people and a venue together.
Details can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/17701...
If you know of anyone who might be interested, please share this with them. I would also bring the workshop to you if you can get a group of people and a venue together.
Details can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/17701...
