Robin Tompkins's Blog: Rob the Writer, page 3
July 22, 2021
Sad Fishes and Other Animals…
So, I have been thinking about what I wrote in my previous post. ‘My Writer Brain, or, ‘Here Kitty, Kitty…’ To save you going back to check it out, it was about the idea that stories feel like they are in some way, already there, like an artifact waiting to be dug out of the ground.
I decided that that was something I related to, that it felt right. Adding to that, I said that if it was like archaeology, then there was that moment when you just catch site of the corner of the artifact sticking out of the ground, when you say to yourself, ‘it’s worth digging here.’
I then asked, ‘where does that first inkling come from?’ Answer, my ‘Writer Brain. This whimsical, capricious and somewhat feline part of my consciousness, that is not really under my control. It sucks in real life and spits out fiction. You know, in its own time, when it thinks it will, if it can be bothered. Unless you try to ignore it, at which point it needs you to know what it needs you to know, now, right now!
So, where do the, ‘Sad Fishes,’ come in?
I was thinking that sometimes I do get an idea of what ‘Writer Brain,’ has been getting up to while I’m not looking. I wrote a story called ‘Sad Fishes.’ Haven’t read it? No, no, I would have been more surprised if you had. That’s OK, I’m used to it. 😊
Anyway, one day, out of nowhere, part of a song arrives in my head. Not an earworm from the radio, a new song, one I had somehow managed to write, without actively trying to. Now, I love music, I have wide musical tastes but I am not musical… My singing would clear a good-sized room faster than a fire alarm. I don’t write songs.
But here in my head was…
Sad fishes, sad fishes, they’re eating from dishes,
Sad fishes, sad fishes, they’re dining at sea.
The next day I had…
They eat off fine china, from a sunken cruise liner,
Sad fishes, sad fishes, they’re dining at sea.
Now the good Captain’s table, is for all that are able,
Sad fishes, sad fishes, they’re dining at sea.
I then realised, that I had to set to and work out what the song meant. Finish the song with my conscious mind, not, ‘Writer Brain.’ Once I did, I would know what the story was about and I could write it.
Well, I did and the story is in the ‘Omar,’ collection if you are curious about how it turned out.
Not the point of this blog piece though.
Where did ‘Writer Brain,’ find the ingredients for the song that led to me unearthing the story? That’s the point.
Well, I think I know… most of the time I don’t but this time, I think I do.
I had been listening quite a lot, in that way you do sometimes, to a particular album. It had become a temporary obsession.
The album was ‘Keep it Unreal,’ (the 10th anniversary re-issue) by famously fish obsessed DJ and Musician Mr Scruff. In particular, I now see three tracks in a new light… ‘Get a Move On,’ ‘Shanty Town,’ and ‘Fish.’
I do not pretend to understand the exact process, ‘Writer Brain,’ used to arrive at ‘Sad Fishes,’ but I am totally convinced that this is where it started from…
I decided that that was something I related to, that it felt right. Adding to that, I said that if it was like archaeology, then there was that moment when you just catch site of the corner of the artifact sticking out of the ground, when you say to yourself, ‘it’s worth digging here.’
I then asked, ‘where does that first inkling come from?’ Answer, my ‘Writer Brain. This whimsical, capricious and somewhat feline part of my consciousness, that is not really under my control. It sucks in real life and spits out fiction. You know, in its own time, when it thinks it will, if it can be bothered. Unless you try to ignore it, at which point it needs you to know what it needs you to know, now, right now!
So, where do the, ‘Sad Fishes,’ come in?
I was thinking that sometimes I do get an idea of what ‘Writer Brain,’ has been getting up to while I’m not looking. I wrote a story called ‘Sad Fishes.’ Haven’t read it? No, no, I would have been more surprised if you had. That’s OK, I’m used to it. 😊
Anyway, one day, out of nowhere, part of a song arrives in my head. Not an earworm from the radio, a new song, one I had somehow managed to write, without actively trying to. Now, I love music, I have wide musical tastes but I am not musical… My singing would clear a good-sized room faster than a fire alarm. I don’t write songs.
But here in my head was…
Sad fishes, sad fishes, they’re eating from dishes,
Sad fishes, sad fishes, they’re dining at sea.
The next day I had…
They eat off fine china, from a sunken cruise liner,
Sad fishes, sad fishes, they’re dining at sea.
Now the good Captain’s table, is for all that are able,
Sad fishes, sad fishes, they’re dining at sea.
I then realised, that I had to set to and work out what the song meant. Finish the song with my conscious mind, not, ‘Writer Brain.’ Once I did, I would know what the story was about and I could write it.
Well, I did and the story is in the ‘Omar,’ collection if you are curious about how it turned out.
Not the point of this blog piece though.
Where did ‘Writer Brain,’ find the ingredients for the song that led to me unearthing the story? That’s the point.
Well, I think I know… most of the time I don’t but this time, I think I do.
I had been listening quite a lot, in that way you do sometimes, to a particular album. It had become a temporary obsession.
The album was ‘Keep it Unreal,’ (the 10th anniversary re-issue) by famously fish obsessed DJ and Musician Mr Scruff. In particular, I now see three tracks in a new light… ‘Get a Move On,’ ‘Shanty Town,’ and ‘Fish.’
I do not pretend to understand the exact process, ‘Writer Brain,’ used to arrive at ‘Sad Fishes,’ but I am totally convinced that this is where it started from…
July 14, 2021
Trailer Video
I have just uploaded a trailer for my upcoming collaboration with my sister Madeleine Purslow. The book is from an idea we have been tinkering around with for over twenty years. We are very proud of it and can't wait to launch it. It's coming soon now. Or as the Video says.. Something is coming...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvNnj...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvNnj...
July 5, 2021
My ‘Writer Brain.’ Or, ‘here kitty,kitty…’
So, when I did the initial Goodreads Q&A, the question of inspiration came up. I said, that the short answer was, that for the most part, ideas just arrive out of nowhere. I also said, that the long answer was more interesting and might make a blog piece. So, here we go…
I have read elsewhere, that it feels as if the stories are already there, just waiting to be found. It’s like archaeology, you see just one small corner of something sticking out of the ground, then after a lot of patient work with a trowel and a paintbrush… there it is. That does ring true, it feels right.
What about that bit that you see first though? That little glint in the corner of your eye? Where does that come from?
Let me introduce you to my ‘Writer Brain.’ Yes, I know, it’s a rubbish name for it. There must be a proper technical term but I have no idea what it is, so it’s my ‘Writer Brain.’
Most people have done a crossword at some time or another in their lives. If you have, then, you have probably had that ‘five across, six letters experience.’ You have the crossword finished, except for, ‘five across, six letters,’ and it just won’t come to you. You throw the magazine down and go on with your day. Seven hours later, you have your head in a supermarket fridge, deciding which bag of peas is the best buy, when a single word just drops into your head. It has nothing to do with frozen food, you don’t know what it’s doing in there. Then slowly, you realise that it’s the answer to ‘five across, six letters.’ The answer to a crossword clue, in a crossword that you gave up on seven hours ago and didn’t give a conscious thought to thereafter.
That’s what my ‘Writer Brain’ is like…
It exists somewhere in the back of my head, separate from my everyday brain, and it obeys its own set of rules. Somewhat like a cat, it won’t come when you call it, unless it feels like it. At other times, it just turns up unexpectedly, demanding attention. It’s a feline ‘Writer Brain,’ for sure.
It’s a greedy thing. It hoovers up everything, like a little black hole. Books, movies, TV, news, everyday conversation, overheard conversation, jokes, music, body language… anything, everything. Then it minces it, it slices it, dices it and rearranges it into something else.
It does this with little or no conscious input from me, just like, ‘five across, six letters.’
So, I am walking over to the supermarket one dark evening, (possibly it’s for those peas, I don’t remember). Into my head and apropos to nothing, comes a little snippet of dialogue. Two people are talking on a balcony, in the dark, looking out over city lights. One is explaining how dark air is different to light air, how dark air conducts magic so much better than light air, just as water conducts electricity better than air.
Shiny, shiny, it’s the corner of a story sticking out of the ground… where is my trowel?
I have read elsewhere, that it feels as if the stories are already there, just waiting to be found. It’s like archaeology, you see just one small corner of something sticking out of the ground, then after a lot of patient work with a trowel and a paintbrush… there it is. That does ring true, it feels right.
What about that bit that you see first though? That little glint in the corner of your eye? Where does that come from?
Let me introduce you to my ‘Writer Brain.’ Yes, I know, it’s a rubbish name for it. There must be a proper technical term but I have no idea what it is, so it’s my ‘Writer Brain.’
Most people have done a crossword at some time or another in their lives. If you have, then, you have probably had that ‘five across, six letters experience.’ You have the crossword finished, except for, ‘five across, six letters,’ and it just won’t come to you. You throw the magazine down and go on with your day. Seven hours later, you have your head in a supermarket fridge, deciding which bag of peas is the best buy, when a single word just drops into your head. It has nothing to do with frozen food, you don’t know what it’s doing in there. Then slowly, you realise that it’s the answer to ‘five across, six letters.’ The answer to a crossword clue, in a crossword that you gave up on seven hours ago and didn’t give a conscious thought to thereafter.
That’s what my ‘Writer Brain’ is like…
It exists somewhere in the back of my head, separate from my everyday brain, and it obeys its own set of rules. Somewhat like a cat, it won’t come when you call it, unless it feels like it. At other times, it just turns up unexpectedly, demanding attention. It’s a feline ‘Writer Brain,’ for sure.
It’s a greedy thing. It hoovers up everything, like a little black hole. Books, movies, TV, news, everyday conversation, overheard conversation, jokes, music, body language… anything, everything. Then it minces it, it slices it, dices it and rearranges it into something else.
It does this with little or no conscious input from me, just like, ‘five across, six letters.’
So, I am walking over to the supermarket one dark evening, (possibly it’s for those peas, I don’t remember). Into my head and apropos to nothing, comes a little snippet of dialogue. Two people are talking on a balcony, in the dark, looking out over city lights. One is explaining how dark air is different to light air, how dark air conducts magic so much better than light air, just as water conducts electricity better than air.
Shiny, shiny, it’s the corner of a story sticking out of the ground… where is my trowel?
June 24, 2021
Pompous and Pretentious
So, pompous and pretentious… Strangely enough, that’s not a firm of solicitors. Although, if Cedric Pompous and Celia Pretentious, Attorneys at Law, are reading this, please don’t sue me, it’s just a coincidence, honestly.
I’ve written a couple of new blog pieces now, read them back, laughed at myself and scrapped them. Mr Ego is not my friend, I must not trust him, he is always setting traps to make me look stupid. When I get enthusiastic and start banging on about something, it’s so easy to jump on the banana skin and slide with it. 😊
So, if you do catch me sounding like a hybrid of Captain Mainwaring from Dad’s Army, Mr Micawber and a, ‘trendy vicar,’ just ignore me. I don’t mean it; I will probably grow out of it and I’m sorry.
Where was I… Oh, yes… Now, you know writing, writing is a little bit like God’s love…
I’ve written a couple of new blog pieces now, read them back, laughed at myself and scrapped them. Mr Ego is not my friend, I must not trust him, he is always setting traps to make me look stupid. When I get enthusiastic and start banging on about something, it’s so easy to jump on the banana skin and slide with it. 😊
So, if you do catch me sounding like a hybrid of Captain Mainwaring from Dad’s Army, Mr Micawber and a, ‘trendy vicar,’ just ignore me. I don’t mean it; I will probably grow out of it and I’m sorry.
Where was I… Oh, yes… Now, you know writing, writing is a little bit like God’s love…
June 22, 2021
The Sonic Bubble…
From time to time, I will blog about stuff that I do that works for me. I’m not qualified to tell people how to write and I wouldn’t presume to. This will just be stuff I pass on, in case it is of use to anyone.
So, the Sonic Bubble…
The world at large doesn’t have a volume control, I wish it did. It can be very hard to concentrate sometimes.
For a lot of people, the answer might be to wear headphones. That’s a good solution. It doesn’t work for me though. I am deaf in one ear and have tinnitus. I only get the sound from the left channel. With headphones on, it’s like listening to a hi-fi with a broken speaker, in a room full of starlings. Not helpful. I have to play music out in the room, that way I get balanced mono and the tinnitus fades into the background.
The idea though, headphones or not, is sound. You can’t control the external environment, so you create your own. The Sonic Bubble. Even if it doesn’t shut out the extraneous noises, it gives you a point of focus. Concentrating on the music you have chosen, puts it into the foreground and helps to put the unwanted noise into the background.
I think I heard somewhere that Ian Rankin plays Tangerine Dream albums when he writes and that Steven King plays rock music… very loudly. Well, I’m not arguing with a master storyteller but that wouldn’t work for me. He probably has a laser like focus or something, for my feeble, powers of concentration, this would be a disaster. If someone is loudly yelling rock lyrics at me in a language I understand, I will start typing them as dialogue…
For me, it has to be something engaging enough that I can focus on it but not so engaging that I can’t focus on my work.
Ambient music works for me. This is a quote from the sleeve notes of Brian Eno’s 1978 album Ambient one – Music for Airports….
“Ambient music is intended to induce calm and a space to think. It must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.”
Eno’s Ambient works and Robert Fripp’s Soundscapes are my ‘go to’ thing. To change things up, I will sometimes listen to solo piano music, classical, or modern classical works like those of Ludovico Einaudi, Arvo Part, Phillip Glass or Phami Gow.
Here’s a little playlist of my current ‘trying to concentrate,’ favourites…
Mixing Colours – Brian Eno and Roger Eno
Equatorial Stars – Brian Eno and Robert Fripp
The Pearl – Brian Eno and Harold Budd
Thread – Theo Travis and Robert Fripp
At the End of Time – Robert Fripp
Ambient 2 Plateaux of Mirrors – Brian Eno and Harold Budd
Ambient 1 Music for Airports – Brian Eno
What works for you could be something completely different. Why not experiment and find out?
Maybe you already do this? Anyway, I hope that this was useful to somebody, somewhere.
So, the Sonic Bubble…
The world at large doesn’t have a volume control, I wish it did. It can be very hard to concentrate sometimes.
For a lot of people, the answer might be to wear headphones. That’s a good solution. It doesn’t work for me though. I am deaf in one ear and have tinnitus. I only get the sound from the left channel. With headphones on, it’s like listening to a hi-fi with a broken speaker, in a room full of starlings. Not helpful. I have to play music out in the room, that way I get balanced mono and the tinnitus fades into the background.
The idea though, headphones or not, is sound. You can’t control the external environment, so you create your own. The Sonic Bubble. Even if it doesn’t shut out the extraneous noises, it gives you a point of focus. Concentrating on the music you have chosen, puts it into the foreground and helps to put the unwanted noise into the background.
I think I heard somewhere that Ian Rankin plays Tangerine Dream albums when he writes and that Steven King plays rock music… very loudly. Well, I’m not arguing with a master storyteller but that wouldn’t work for me. He probably has a laser like focus or something, for my feeble, powers of concentration, this would be a disaster. If someone is loudly yelling rock lyrics at me in a language I understand, I will start typing them as dialogue…
For me, it has to be something engaging enough that I can focus on it but not so engaging that I can’t focus on my work.
Ambient music works for me. This is a quote from the sleeve notes of Brian Eno’s 1978 album Ambient one – Music for Airports….
“Ambient music is intended to induce calm and a space to think. It must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.”
Eno’s Ambient works and Robert Fripp’s Soundscapes are my ‘go to’ thing. To change things up, I will sometimes listen to solo piano music, classical, or modern classical works like those of Ludovico Einaudi, Arvo Part, Phillip Glass or Phami Gow.
Here’s a little playlist of my current ‘trying to concentrate,’ favourites…
Mixing Colours – Brian Eno and Roger Eno
Equatorial Stars – Brian Eno and Robert Fripp
The Pearl – Brian Eno and Harold Budd
Thread – Theo Travis and Robert Fripp
At the End of Time – Robert Fripp
Ambient 2 Plateaux of Mirrors – Brian Eno and Harold Budd
Ambient 1 Music for Airports – Brian Eno
What works for you could be something completely different. Why not experiment and find out?
Maybe you already do this? Anyway, I hope that this was useful to somebody, somewhere.
The Kindle App is Free…
Just a quick mention of something that crops up a lot when I’m talking to people about my writing. “I would really like to read one of your books but the paperback edition is a bit more than I was expecting and I don’t have a Kindle.”
Well, you don’t need a Kindle.
I love Kindles and I wouldn’t be without mine but you don’t need a Kindle to read Kindle books. You can download the Kindle App for free, from Amazon or the Play Store.
Obviously, you will mainly want it for reading my books 😊 but it’s worth having anyway, because there are hundreds of free and inexpensive titles you can download once you have the app installed. You can use a phone, a tablet, a PC, or a Mac.
I don’t care what format you read me in and for the record, I actually make slightly less on a print copy than a download. I cut my royalty to keep the print copies affordable, as I know many people will only buy print books. I have nothing against Kindles personally but I respect the opinion of those who have.
You can download the Kindle edition of one of my books for the price of a posh coffee. Two years work has to be worth as much as an Americano, doesn’t it?
Well, you don’t need a Kindle.
I love Kindles and I wouldn’t be without mine but you don’t need a Kindle to read Kindle books. You can download the Kindle App for free, from Amazon or the Play Store.
Obviously, you will mainly want it for reading my books 😊 but it’s worth having anyway, because there are hundreds of free and inexpensive titles you can download once you have the app installed. You can use a phone, a tablet, a PC, or a Mac.
I don’t care what format you read me in and for the record, I actually make slightly less on a print copy than a download. I cut my royalty to keep the print copies affordable, as I know many people will only buy print books. I have nothing against Kindles personally but I respect the opinion of those who have.
You can download the Kindle edition of one of my books for the price of a posh coffee. Two years work has to be worth as much as an Americano, doesn’t it?
So, what kind of thing does this guy write anyway?
It's a good question. If you haven't heard of me and let's face it why would you have? With all the voices there are out there in the world trying to get your attention, what are the chances of you having heard mine before? You have likely stumbled upon this blog by accident and are know asking yourself what sort of stuff I write.
The quick answer is Fantasy mainly.
I have been known to tinker with various genres, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror and all the variants thereof. My first book, 'Omar the Teller of Tales and Other Stories,' contains thirty one different stories in a variety of genres and formats. It was intended as a bit of a showcase. I hung it on the peg of 'Omar,' because Omar actually won something (unusually for me). The British Fantasy Society short story prize in 2010.
By inclination though, my thing is Fantasy.
The other two books I currently have out there, are parts one and two of my 'Bell Hill' trilogy. 'After Bell Hill' and 'The Road to Bell Hill'.
At its roots, the ‘Bell Hill,’ trilogy, comes from wanting to write about, extremism, intolerance and persecution. I wanted to be very free to write about those things though, so it needed to be set in a fictional world. To be honest, as always, I also wanted to entertain. I don’t do, ‘relentlessly grim,’ it’s not in my nature. A fantasy setting helps with that too. The ‘Bell Hill’ world, largely stems from me thinking about past persecutions, thinking about witch trials, persecution of witches, the deaths of hundreds of innocents, mainly women, because of twisted ideology and dogmatic thinking. That was the jumping off point and I built the world from there.
The 'Bell Hill,' world is one of change. It centres around the fight for freedom by the oppressed people of the Mid-Lands and the West against the invading Father/Sons. As well as hopefully being an epic fantasy adventure (if I'm doing it right) it also asks questions. When does a freedom fighter become a terrorist? How bad is a good person prepared to be if they feel they have a just cause? How good is a bad person prepared to be if they feel they have a just cause?
You can find my Amazon Author page here if you want to know more...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Robin-Tompki...
The quick answer is Fantasy mainly.
I have been known to tinker with various genres, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Horror and all the variants thereof. My first book, 'Omar the Teller of Tales and Other Stories,' contains thirty one different stories in a variety of genres and formats. It was intended as a bit of a showcase. I hung it on the peg of 'Omar,' because Omar actually won something (unusually for me). The British Fantasy Society short story prize in 2010.
By inclination though, my thing is Fantasy.
The other two books I currently have out there, are parts one and two of my 'Bell Hill' trilogy. 'After Bell Hill' and 'The Road to Bell Hill'.
At its roots, the ‘Bell Hill,’ trilogy, comes from wanting to write about, extremism, intolerance and persecution. I wanted to be very free to write about those things though, so it needed to be set in a fictional world. To be honest, as always, I also wanted to entertain. I don’t do, ‘relentlessly grim,’ it’s not in my nature. A fantasy setting helps with that too. The ‘Bell Hill’ world, largely stems from me thinking about past persecutions, thinking about witch trials, persecution of witches, the deaths of hundreds of innocents, mainly women, because of twisted ideology and dogmatic thinking. That was the jumping off point and I built the world from there.
The 'Bell Hill,' world is one of change. It centres around the fight for freedom by the oppressed people of the Mid-Lands and the West against the invading Father/Sons. As well as hopefully being an epic fantasy adventure (if I'm doing it right) it also asks questions. When does a freedom fighter become a terrorist? How bad is a good person prepared to be if they feel they have a just cause? How good is a bad person prepared to be if they feel they have a just cause?
You can find my Amazon Author page here if you want to know more...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Robin-Tompki...
On the Scrapheap at 64
So, I’m a writer who also designs T-Shirts
Why? Well, because it takes six months to two years to write a book and twenty minutes to four hours to design a shirt.
Why is that important? A thing takes as long as it takes and if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing, yes? Not when our old chum Covid gets you made redundant, after forty plus years in the Foodservice industry. No, then you really appreciate your freedom from the nine to five like never before and you really, really, don’t want to go back to it.
I’ve been writing more or less all my life with some but limited success and designing stuff really, just as a hobby, mainly greetings cards for friends and family amongst other things. The nine to five does not make me happy. Writing makes me happy, designing stuff makes me happy.
I’m sure it’s in the rules somewhere that I’m allowed to be happy… It is isn’t it?
My writing website is here...
robin-tompkins-author0.webnode.co.uk
And if you are curious about my design work, you can find that website here...
cats-eye-uk.webnode.co.uk
Why? Well, because it takes six months to two years to write a book and twenty minutes to four hours to design a shirt.
Why is that important? A thing takes as long as it takes and if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing, yes? Not when our old chum Covid gets you made redundant, after forty plus years in the Foodservice industry. No, then you really appreciate your freedom from the nine to five like never before and you really, really, don’t want to go back to it.
I’ve been writing more or less all my life with some but limited success and designing stuff really, just as a hobby, mainly greetings cards for friends and family amongst other things. The nine to five does not make me happy. Writing makes me happy, designing stuff makes me happy.
I’m sure it’s in the rules somewhere that I’m allowed to be happy… It is isn’t it?
My writing website is here...
robin-tompkins-author0.webnode.co.uk
And if you are curious about my design work, you can find that website here...
cats-eye-uk.webnode.co.uk
