Alex Laybourne's Blog, page 109

The Language of Fiction

There are a great many languages in the world, (and I am sure someone can tell me exactly how many) but the one that concerns me of course is the language of fiction.

I am English by birth and so grew up and leant how to write English correctly the British way. I put u's in my words and favour s's over z's in many instances. However, I find myself in somewhat of a quandary.

Age and Origins aside, there can be no denying that the American teachings of English spelling are the most recognized, thanks to television, subtitles and the internet. Now before I get accused of insulting Americans and their language, I have no issue with this, I am just pondering which 'version' of the English language I am best to use for my novel(s).

As I am looking to publish myself, most probably via Smashwords and Createspace my books will automatically be available to the entire world. This would lead to me abandon my teachings and change my spellings to the American style. Then again, I am English, and do I need to hide my nationality for the sake of an extra u in the odd word. I mean, it's not like the words are unrecognizable.

Undoubtedly I will end up with a combination of the two as I will always refuse to write grey with an a, and no matter what Aluminium will always be aluminium. That's just who I am.

Undoubtedly, the risk is ending up with a mixture of the two, and while I don't really see a problem with it, the key is to be consistently inconsistent. It isn't good to write color one sentence and colour the other. However, I won't be loosing any sleep because I have written the odd word with the English / American spelling

ROW80: Birthdays and the Dark Tower

For this past half week only I changed my ROW80 goals. I just had to finish the Dark Tower series.

Needless to say that between my busy family life, working week (including  – self drive – commute) and writing time, reading is more often than not something which happens in those few blissful moments between awake and asleep. Those wonderful minutes where, curled up in bed everything is either history or the future. The present is no more. Even then I would be luck to read more than 5 or 10 pages a night depending on how soon the soothing fingers of sleep would wrap around my body and squeeze me into wonderous oblivion.

Therefore please both forgive and indulge me for I just had to finish the journey by Roland's side lest the weary gunslinger tire of my dalliance and move on without me. Not to mention that it was my Birthday yesterday (31st May) and I celebrated it on Sunday so that was two days kind of written off.

I am  sure you can tell that writing was not done in much quantity this first half of the week, I think maybe 1000 in total but I am good with that because I finally made it to the top of the Dark Tower. The only thing is, that unlike Roland I can now move on to novels new. The Books of Blood Volumes 4, 5 and 6, along with Kait Nolan's Forsaken By Shadow on the Kindle.

I now have almost two weeks vacation from works and my eldest son has school so in between entertaining my other two children and keeping the house tidy I hope to get caught up with my writing. With the aid of some late nights and while still early (05.15am) mornings -as my children don't seem to understand the concept of sleep- the lack of office pressures means I can relax and unwind. Two things which are long since overdue.

Just to discuss writing in some small portion as that is the point of this entire posting (in theory) I am thinking of posting an extract of Through Hell and High Water later on this week, and maybe even add a new chapter to my Zombie short story just to help me unwind my creative mind and let it run free and unabashed over the keyboard for once. (It likes that)

The Future's Bright, The Future is……

everything.

There are a great many choices that are always going to be thrown our way, and for many of them we make our decision without really thinking about it.

What shirt should I wear today, Do I want Cereal or toast for breakfast, regular or decaf. Choices are unavoidable and control every aspect of our life at some level.

As I approach the end of my novel, the end of the editing process for this particular piece, or so I hope. I find myself staring down a choice I am stumped on.

My current novel 'Through Hell and High Water' is the first of a trilogy, and so I have two more novels to write in order to complete the journey these characters need to make. At the same time I have ideas bursting in my head and on scarps of note paper for other novels, standalone novels which I am just itching to write, or at least draft down.

My dilemma is which path should I choose? Do I charge headfirst into Book 2 of the trilogy, and allow my characters that chance to inch a little closer still to the redemption they will all grow to crave? Or should I give myself a break, allow this novel to sit and stretch my mind a little but slipping into a new world and a new mindset for a while?

Surely it would be cruel to leave them in their current state while I happily go and work on something else, something new.

Then again, could it not be considered an eggs and basket situation should I push on with the trilogy. As the sales and success of the second book will be directly linked to the popularity of the first. Nobody is going to read book two of a trilogy without having read part one, and so should I give part one time to get its name spread a little before I push forward? Likewise however, by delaying it too long I risk loosing whatever audience I am lucky enough to find,  and should (touch wood repeatedly) my book be well received and become a success then I am left stranded because I will need to finish a new ' unrelated' novel before I can even start to produce the next chapter in my epic Hell tale.

Ultimately I will write all three books whether they are best sellers, no sellers or anywhere in between because at the end of the day I write for me and not for the chance of success or financial reward. I write because I love to write and have tales inside my head that I want to put on paper, and so I am leaning more towards just going on with book 2 straight away, as my mind is equally brimming with ideas and plot twists for my current friends – characters – as it is for the new ones I hope to make in other novels.

What would you recommend? Have you written a trilogy or a series of books along with individual novels? Is it s different concept and approach to writing a trilogy than a series? By that I mean, one story over 3 books, written one after the other, compared to three (or more) tales written with the same characters but each complete in its own right but perhaps sandwiched between other works.

ROW80: A few Good Days

Just for clarity I am not wearing for of uniform while writing this. It's stupid o'clock on a Sunday morning, I happy I'm wearing trousers!

The last week was actually a very good one. Progress slowed as it always does during the weekend, but on the whole it was an excellent week. I think I averaged about 1000 words a day (editing that is) and I reached the point which was a personal milestone I had set. It wasn't the midway point of the novel, I had passed that a few days before, but rather the end of well… I guess Act 1. All of my characters the first 6 characters have all died (I know strange for the first novel in a series, but there is a point to it) and been sent to their respective Chambers in Hell. We have witnessed the Judgement process and heard their tales. In short they have now been introduced (although we will learn much more about them in the later novels of course).

Getting that done and making the step over to Act 2; bringing them together and actually introducing the 'trilogy'plot was one of those markers for me, as I am sure we all have. The point when both writing and editing that just says. You're gonna make it, the end is in sight.

In slightly sadder news my fund for cover art and a possible proofread have taken a hit with several funding sources (namely birthday presents) dried up but I don't mind. I am focused on finishing the book first before I worry about something else. There is always a way around such problems so why stress out about them?

How are thing going with all of you?

Writing Children…. Mission Impossible

This may be because of the day I have just had with my eldest son (4 years old) but it is something that has been bouncing around my head for a while now.

Out of all the books I have read this year, none of them have had a child, a real child in them. Now, I will admit I don't much in the way of literature and have spent the most of the last 18 months working my way through the Dark Tower ( excuse me while I sob quietly at knowing I have but 70 pages to go.) but I have read things in between and with the exception of Lord of the Flies I have not come across a book with a real child character playing a major role.

Why?

I have narrowed it down to two theories, but would love to hear any more ideas you all may have to offer.

My first theory is that in life, a child's character is not there, not fully, it takes time to develop and grow, which in turn makes it difficult to write a fully developed child character because in theory it just doesn't exist.

My second theory is that a child is simply too unpredictable to be able to write one that doesn't come across as being either too over-the-top and unbelievable (in the eyes of those who do not have children themselves or in their lives to some extent) or not believable enough (for those of us who have children)

I have never even attempted to write a child, but may do so now, not in a novel, not straight away at least, but certainly in an attempt to unravel the mystery of why children do not appear that often in commercial fiction. (Please correct me if I am wrong on that point, as I may just need to broaden my reading horizons) when if you think about it, children are a large part of real life.

Fallback Posts

I am sitting here pondering a post. I have several I want to write, but they are kind of real sit down and focus kind of posts, and not the child on lap typing while feeding post that best suits the majority of my time.

This pondering got me thinking, is there a sort industry wide fallback post or subject that can be used when the time is thin and posts have been running dry. A kind of literary Piano Man if you will. A reliable old friend of a post that never runs out of tweaks and new slants.

I mean the purpose of a blog is to get regular traffic and I have even heard that some people follow blogs. This in turn increases sales opportunities and the cycle continues. If the objective is that simple then there must be numerous posts I or I should say we can fall back on. A post about the weather, or the game last night perhaps.

ROW80: Going Strong

So far it has been another productive week of writing / editing for me. I am hitting more than my targeted amount which is simply put GREAT NEWS. That being said today saw me have to work through my lunch as we had some visitors from our UK office and I had to give a small presentation which then put me behind schedule. I still have tonight however so am confident I will hit my target. Besides I'm up on the week so a small hit today and I can still break even.

Not really got much else to report, the time has gone pretty quick and I haven't gotten much done. The kids are finally over the Chickenpox – Thank God it's a once a lifetime deal – and normality has returned.

I haven't posted much recently but that is simply because of time constraints rather than lack of ideas. I had two posts almost finished but had to scrap them as they were kind of time dependent and said time has now passed. I will try to get something else posted later in the week, and ideally I would like to add part 3 to my zombie short story that I began a few weeks ago. I have found writing a serialized short (free-writing aka unedited) story really helps free up my mind and untie all the ideas that often get tangled together as the weeks roll by. I guess you would call it escapism.

ROW80: Baby Steps

Way back at the start of this round I stated my intention to finish editing book. In hindsight this was not the most thought out of decisions.

I am currently 50% of the way through what I hope to be the final round of editing, and with that I am happy. I am also itching to get started on the second instalment and have lost a fair amount of time wandering down these story pathways.

I still hope to have the book finished within the next few months. I have 80 pages to go so the is three months MAX. One final read through and I hope to be good to go.

While it may not be the tempo I would like, I have been busy at work (GRRRRR) and with three young kids at home it is simply not always possible to write. I am posting this with a grumpy baby on one knee while playing a board game with my eldest.

I am in a good place now with my writing, in terms of both the current piece Through Hell and High Water and also its sequel.

On top of that I got a short story written and posted too.'

Thanks for sticking with me on this adventure and I hope we are still together at the finish.

It's a Long Walk Home

I was there the day he gunned my family down. I stood and watched their lives ended. I took my vengeance and by the night's end the air was blue with gun smoke.

I swore to the Gods that I would see true vengeance served. I stood, bathed in my family's blood, and the oath was made.

I ran, I hunted, I followed and sought. I walked every day always on this trail. The aroma of his guns was heavy in my nostrils, the salty taste of his sweat stung my tongue. He was always close at hand, yet just out of sight. I never slowed my pace, never sped for I 'knew he was oblivious to my presence; for he made no attempt to hide his tracks.

The days rolled by, the states changed, seasons came and went. Oceans were travelled and bodies were laid in the ground. For he understood that I was chasing him. I came close to him once, on an ocean liner heading across the seas. We called a strange truce; our feud put aside during journeys. Over land sea or air, we would often meet, yet our bond stayed our hands.

He sent many a follower to get me, to halt my pursuit over the year,s and each one I greeted with a smile and a flash of gun smoke. I think he sent them to die, thinning his own numbers so that it would just us.

And so it was; after countless decades of chase, the thrill began to die, and we stood alone, beneath the blazing desert sun. Finally I saw him, really saw him; my enemy. The rage, the feral desire to see his blood shed, body emptied, hollowed out and left to dry… was gone. For before me stood not the dashing villain that had slain my beloved, heartlessly murdered my children, but an old man. A decrepit bag of bones with skin several sizes too large. Fingers knotted with arthritis, and about as able to yield his weapon as an infant.

He smiled, his teeth long since left by the wayside. "Has it come to this?" He asked.

"Aye" I answer. My weapon roared, his body wilted like a flower removed from its bed. He did not bleed, for too many years had passed for both us to have anything left to shed.

The stench of death hung heavy in the air and as the sun beat its relentless tune on my back, I knew it was not him but me that was the source. So with my body rotting around me I turned and made my way back across the desert, for it was a long walk home to  be with those so long ago left behind.

ROW80: Nowhere Fast

Well, I almost didn't write this post. It's the mood I am in this week. I have edited I think 7 words all week and don't think I will be getting much more than that done in the remaining few days.

I have spent a lot of today asking myself why I bother? Sitting behind the pc every evening, waking up at 5.15 every morning to try to get something done. (More often than not failing due to either kids waking up or household chores getting in the way) I have to ask… what is the point? My book sales peaked at 6, although – looking back on it I hang my head in shame – it just wasn't really ready, and I haven't actually had a real visitor to my blog other than a misguided google search for almost two weeks.

Of course I'll carry on, but at times is just seems as though I am fighting a current that doesn't give me a break or even pretend to let up for a second. I have been working on this novel for almost 2 years and still don't seem to be getting anywhere. If I was a psychologist I would be asking myself if I really want to finish it. I do, that much I do know, I just need to clear my mind and find the damn time to do it in, not just grabbing 5 minutes here and editing one sentence there.