Alex Laybourne's Blog, page 112

Friendship in a Modern Age

Recently I have been asking myself a lot about friendship.

I myself do not have any friends. It may sound rather far-fetched and somewhat pitiful, but it is the truth. (My wife and children excluded) I have not one person in the world that I would really be able to label as 'a friend' at least not somebody that I know in a physical sense. Sure I had friends in school at things, but over the years you drift apart. It's a story as old as time, and it seems that these friends of yesteryear only come out of the woodwork when they have an idea they want to run past me. Some money-making scheme. (and yes I am talking about one 'friend' in particular here because the others are indeed all long gone.)

I get on with people, I am a people person, but it seems that this only stretches to the realm of professionalism. I am not comfortable in social circles, a crowd of more than three and I feel out-of-place and just want to leave. Over the years this friendless-ness (sometimes I like to make up words) bothered me tremendously, as I am sure it should, yet just the other day I asked myself…do I really care?

The answer was no. Not really. Sure I would like to have friends, people I can chat with and hang around with in the weekends, but if I am honest I simply don't have time for all of those things. I have a full-time job and 90 minutes of travel a day added to the 8.5 hours I trapped behind my un-fulfilling desk, factor in eating breakfast and dinner that is half a day gone. Then there are my three children, I want to spend as much time with them as possible as I am gone for such a large part of the day, then once they are in bed there is housework, showers and then finally time for writing. and maybe just maybe a little bit of TV and just relaxing on the sofa with my wife. My weekdays are pretty much gone.

Weekends see shopping trips, days out with the kids and football training and I am sure in the future once the kids are older various matches, classes and all manner of hobbies (which I can't wait for) This again leaves me with little time to divide between my wife and my writing, and lets face it, we all want to be full-time writers and that doesn't happen by writing 5 minutes a day it just isn't possible, we must be dedicated.

Enter social media. Once a writer (particularly one of the Indie persuasion) has a book published and available for general sale, social media becomes a big player in their career. From spreading a name, sales pitches, reviews and just generally keeping an eye on other writers you admire and dare I say fear (for their talents always appear much greater than your own) a large portion of time is now devoted to Social interaction.

Within the realms of social media I (much like every writer) have a good network of 'friends' (or buddies, followers, call them what you will it all boils down to the same thing) people we have never (in many cases) met, and for me 99% of whom live in not just different countries to me but different continents. 

A friend by any other name  just because you don't interact face to face, it doesn't mean that you cannot truly be friends with people right? I have several people online who know more about me as a person than my afore-mentioned 'high-school' friends ever did, yet there is always a strange sense of detachment floating around in the back of ones mind when it comes to 'social media' friends. Whether it is a lack of real commitment - any excuse is good and useable when you meet virtually – or maybe the time zones mean your interactions are often separated by hours rather than breaths and mouthfuls of coffee.

Is there a distinction between being friends in 'real' life and in the virtual world, in today's society the line of distinction between the two is blurred almost beyond the point of recognition so why can't the same be said for friendship?

Or is this just me making up excuses for myself for my lack of real life interaction with people? Am I lying to myself by saying I don't need friends I can physically reach out and connect with (just for the sake of clarity, I refer to social media friends and not childhood friends located in other areas.)

What is your ratio of real friends vs virtual friends like, and how many people have made the transition from one to the other?

ROW80 : Update

Well, its only been two days but I want to get in the habit of posting these regular updates (which I plan to do every Wednesday and Friday / Saturday as these days best fit my rather busy schedule)

I am actually very pleased to say that I am currently ahead of schedule in terms of how many words I wanted to edit per day, but want to give it another run over before I say it is done. Normally I do this in one go, but last night I ran out of time so will do it today. I will still be nicely ahead of my target, but that was my hope all along, although I know that there is a nasty section in the middle that I want to re-write and that will take me some time.

The one thing I want to be careful of is that I don't get too far ahead of my target because that means I am probably rushing and missing things. So please, if you see me posting about how far ahead of schedule I am please point this out to me and tell me to slow down.

ROW80: My Goals

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have decided to throw my hat into the ring and participate in the second (and I hope all subsequent) rounds of ROW80 brought to you by the wonderfully talented Kait Nolan.

If figure the best way to start is to state my goals, put them out there for the world to read, so that there is then no more going back!!! (Yikes)

Well, my plan is actually quite simple. I have 107,000 word novel, I have edited about 10,000 words already and I want to have it finished by the end of this round. It sounds doable less than 1500 words a day, but with three kids running around it makes it difficult to find the time, but I will find it somewhere. I have to, I have stated my goals and I will meet them.

On the editing front, I happened to stumble across a web application the other day which has revolutionised my editing and has opened my eyes to the art of editing. EditMinion is an incredible site / tool and I throughly recommend it to anyone who either struggles with editing or simply wants to make sure that they have removed all those annoying prepositions and adverbs which invariably creep into our text at some point.

I have a lot more I wish I could say, but I must run… but fear not for I will return with posts and updates throughout the week. If you are also taking part in Round 2 I wish you good luck, and if you are not, then all I can say is good luck and hope to see you next time around.

Eureka!!

Don't you just love it when ideas and solutions to long thought over plot holes and linkages just come to you. I mean completely out of the blue, when the issue itself was not even in the back of your mind.

Friday, just as I was driving home, thinking about nothing more than the weekend and the trip we had planned to the Linnaeushof (Europe's largest Playground) which is about 20 minutes drive from where we live, when out of nowhere (and I genuinely imagined a lightbulb above my head) it came to me.

I have had a crime novel floating around in my head for several years now and I have started writing it at least half a dozen times, only to fail at the same place.

I don't want to give anything away, as the formatting of the book and presentation of te chapters is unique as far as I can tell not to mention integral to the plot. All I can say is the I could never find a smooth way to link everything together, the passage from chapter to chapter, at least not in a way that wasn't either too fractured or detracted from the effect I was trying to create.

As is always the case, the solution was almost embarrassingly obvious, but then again, what isn't with hindsight? One simple idea has managed to tie up all of the loose ends and if I am honest, it has also created a much better plot and ending.

What is the best writing brainwave to hit you when you weren't expecting it?

Revisions

I have decided to take part in this amazing competition that is doing the rounds in the writing world. ROW80 takes the amazing focus generated by NANOWRIMO and instead spreads it over 80 days and lets us set out own targets of achievement based on what we are doing, whether it be plotting, writing or editing.

As the next round (the first of which I missed) begins on Monday, I thought it would be cheating to include my recent editing accomplishment in it, and so will get it down in print for the world to read (it people are interested) before Monday so that I know that I am starting with a clean slate come April 4th.

Editing my work has always been the big challenge for me, and over the past few months I have devoted a lot of time to educate myself in the art of editing. From plot holes and character consistencies through to those dreaded grammar errors.

So you can imagine how received and satisfied I felt last night when I finally finished the editing of the first chapter of my novel. 6600 words stripped away of adverbs, sentences ending with prepositions (and yes I was alarmed at how many I found) not to mention minimizing the use of a passive voice and simply deleting any weak words. After all I'm writing a novel not just creating a word count.

While I am sure that there are still a few point that will need attention – and I am still very much planning to have my book critiqued before I publish it – I have never felt more satisfied with a piece of my work and cannot wait to get going on Chapter 2.

Nec-Romancer

Edwin stared at the girl who lay next to him. He reached out with a trembling hand, and gently brushed a strand of hair from her face. He leaned in close and kissed her softly on the cheeks. "I love you Sarah" He whispered in her ear.

Edwin made love to her, while all around them scented candles burned, turning their entwined bodies into long shadows on the wall.  Edwin's passion rose and pleasure washed over them. Edwin rolled back onto his side of the bed and kissed Sarah once more. Passionately this time, cupping her expose breast with his free hand.

"The guys would be so jealous if they got a look at you." He whispered to her. "I brought you some flowers." He added hurriedly as if only just remembering it. "I hope you like them."

Edwin struggled to hold back the tears as he pulled the bed covers back up over them both. "It's cold out tonight." His words were choked and as he lay back down he let out a long sigh. "I wish morning didn't have to come." He laid on his back as he spoke, addressing the room.

Come morning Edwin knew what would happen, it was always the same story. He would meet a girl, he would bring her home, have a wonderful night and in the morning it would end. There was no other way. To take a body for one night was easy, but to keep one for two was just asking for trouble. Besides there would be a new girl in the morning. It was a big city, there was always someone dying. Besides, he had the photos and the rest of the gang really would be jealous of this one.

A Sincere Apology

It has been rather painfully brought to my attention that there are some rather glaring errors in my short story collection The Musings of  a Hideous Mind. These errors are centered mainly around the grammar (which is a known weakness of mine and something that I am working extremely hard on now that I am editing my first Novel), however there is also one inexcusable error in the first story whereby for two lines the character's name changes.

How has this happened? I spent a long time asking myself this yesterday evening and the time answer is I messed up. I could easily sit here and blame all number of factors, and ask why the few 'friends' who read my stories over the time I wrote them never picked up on it, but that would be pointless. The buck stops with me, the writer. I simply didn't do a good enough job when it came to editing.

Thankfully I have learnt one hell of a lot in the few short months since I started editing my novel and know that this time it is being done in a much more professional manner, and I will go back and update the my short stories also.

However it just didn't feel right to me that I ignore the obvious fact that my work was sub-standard and just change it silently and hope nobody would notice. I hold my hands up and will not hide. The simply fact of it is …. I apologize to you all, and I hope that you can forgive me.

When Promotion Becomes Procrastination

For the Indie writer building a solid platform to advertise their work, and social media is one of the key areas to build and develop this. Just look at the incredibly talented Kait Nolan and L M Stull who are well on their way to mastering the skill of platform building.

The question that came to me today however is at what point does promotion stop being what it is and become procrastination?

You have worked hard and published your first novel and now you are eager to follow it up with an even better second. Your sales are going well but you are sure that they can go ever further and so you are working hard getting your name out there, with book tours, tweets and wall postings. At the same time you are trying hard to rewrite a certain chapter of your follow-up novel that just doesn't seem to flow as well as you would like. So what do you do? Do you knuckle down and force your way through will full confidence in your writing ability? Do you skip ahead to the next chapter knowing that you just need to give it time to stew? Or do you open up twitter and send a few tweets out advertising your book, and start socializing? As you can't just use your twitter account to plug your work without socializing, making friends expanding your social network?

I am sure that for many of us all three apply, but we would foolish to say that the additive pull of social media doesn't lead to the dreaded procrastination from time to time.

But how much is too much?

The answer really depends on your available time. For one person a few hours a day of chatting and 'non-essential' tweeting may be fine, whereas for others time management is key and a well structured approach is best?

Of course we need an escape route from our writing, we need to be able to chat, bounce around ideas and meet new people who share our interests, and those that don't. We just have to be careful that we don't lose sight of our goals and sight of ourselves. Convincing ourselves that those last few tweets or wall posts were valid marketing tools can sometimes be all too easy.

I understand the key to social media and am all for using it to build solid platforms, but please, be aware of the dangers that lurk in the dark corners of those twitter halls. Procrastination is a tricky son of a bitch and will take a hold on your long before you realise it is even there.

On a happier note, after a few days of outrage regarding a certain writer's somewhat unnecessary reaction to a slightly unfavourable book review, I was delighted to read about Amanda Hocking's success and wish her all the best.

Hidden Agenda

I often speak about my love of writing, my desire and yes I do indeed dream of becoming a famous writer. A writer that doesn't have to rely on an 'empty' office job to pay the bills, but I will admit that I do have a hidden agenda of sorts.

I was perfectly happy to continue waiting for that agent to pick up my manuscript from the pile and send me that letter offering me their services and a sure-fire guarantee of large numbers of zeros flooding into my bank account. Then one day I got to thinking, what if I could bring my writing to the world and improve myself at the same time.

I am all for taking things into my own hands, not listening to others and going against the flow. Some may say I am a natural-born trouble maker who has a (ever so small I promise) problem with authority. Yet my foray into the Indie goes way beyond mere rebellion.

I do not believe in regrets. I don't really see the point in them, because every step we take, every choice that is made shapes us, maybe not now but at some point down the road everything will play its part in some way.

BUT there is always ONE exception that proves the rule.

For me this is my education. I was clever, correction I am clever, I was always in the top levels of my class(es) and got consistently good grades in school and excelled in coursework and research related projects. However, being young I was also an idiot and simply expected to get what I wanted without having to put the work in and ultimately this laziness bit me in the ass and I ended up missing out on university. Electing instead to head straight into employment, and while I have done well, I have done little more in my 8 years since school ended that move from one unfulfilling position to another.

This burning desire to complete a part of my life that I and I alone took away from myself haunts my every day. I cannot drive past the local university without feeling a wash of guilt and dare I say a pinch of self-hatred. So when I heard about indie publishing I knew that it was something I wanted to look into. Once I realised that it was more than just paying thousands of dollars to have a publishing company print a few thousand copies of my book.

Sure the fact that my work can be put out there for others to read is a big part of what motivates me, the ability to know that somewhere in the world there are x number of people who have paid for my work and (I hope ) enjoyed reading it. However, I also knew what I wanted to do with any money that I did make from it. I want to go back to school. With three kids and being the sole working part of the family – and I would have it no other way because I believe that children don't need two working parents who are never there, especially not during the first few years of their lives – I cannot simply take off and enrol in school. No, what I want is to be able to pay my way through a distance learning course so that I can finally fulfil my dream and complete my education.

What is it that I want to study? English? Literature? History? All would make fitting subjects and are passions of mine, however what I want to study is Anthropology. With a view of moving into biological anthropology and eventually forensic anthropology. Not because I think it would make me a better writer (which I am sure it would do) but because it is a passion of mine, and something I have wanted to do ever since I was old enough to know what forensics was about.

I am not saying that you all need to go and buy my book(s) just so that I can educate myself. Far from it. Rather I am confirming my desire by setting myself a goal based outside of the written word because that in itself makes me even more determined to succeed.

Power Writing

Writing is a creative process, as writers we don't just think of moving characters from A to B via C, but rather we consider why a character would move from A to B, why would do something one way when another may seem simpler to us. In short we have to get inside the head of each and every character and really explore them. Obviously these characters are our own creation and so getting into their minds should be easy for us.

The question that has been bugging me recently is not about how or why we have to do this, those answers should be obvious for without them we would not be writers. No, what has been troubling me (once again) is time.

Writing is one thing, we sit down and write, we let the words and ideas flow, it doesn't really matter if it makes sense, not for the first draft. Afterall, that one is written for our eyes only (well, a very select few pairs of eyes) so if we are only able to sit down for 20 minutes and bash out a few hundred words then all is well and good.

Editing however, is a completely different kettle of fish. When it comes time to take that raw lump of creative expression and chip away at it until it resembles something like a book.

Can this be done in fifteen minute bursts?

I don't think so, not really. Although this last few months I have found myself being forced to edit Through Hell and High Water in periods of circa 15 minutes. Not only does this make for some very slow going, with me averaging about 1 page a day at best, but it also makes it very hard for me to get into the character as they say.

Sure, as writers we are always thinking at least in the back of our minds (when working the day job) about our writing, especially any WIP that you currently have. This natural but there is a difference between having an idea that would like to try in your editing or figuring out a solution of a pitfall in your first draft (and yes there are bound to be many unless you are a serial plotter…which I am not) and then getting into character and setting it down on paper in a fitting manner.

I am living proof that it is possible to edit a manuscript in such short bursts, but what is really troubling me is the thought of whether it is actually doing any good, or could it be more detrimental to the overall tone of my work?

Do you also find that there is a difference in the time and 'environment' you need around you when writing that first draft compared to editing the subsequent ones?