Pete Sutton's Blog, page 51
February 21, 2014
I've been talking to Anna Kashina about her latest book -...
I've been talking to Anna Kashina about her latest book - Blades of the Old Empire
Anna Kashina grew up in Russia and moved to the United States in 1994 after receiving her Ph.D. in cell biology from the Russian Academy of Sciences. She works as a biomedical researcher and combines her career in science with her passion for writing. Anna's interests in ballroom dancing, world mythologies and folklore feed her high-level interest in martial arts of the Majat warriors.
You can find out more about Anna and her books at the following links:
www.annakashina.com
http://annakashinablog.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anna-K...
https://twitter.com/annakashina
Thanks for supporting my new release. It is a pleasure to be here.
Tell us a little about the world of the book.
The book takes place in the Kingdom of Tallan Dar, the leading power that formed after the breakdown of the old Shandorian Empire. The society is basically medieval European, but this is true only for the few major cities. Venturing to the north brings you into the stronghold of the Majat warriors, which many are comparing to ninjas. Eastward lie the vast grass plains, home of the nomadic Cha’ori horts. Traveling south, one passes through Forestlands, populated by Slavic-inspired people, and then comes into the desert kingdom of Shayil Yara, a matriarchal society inspired by middle-eastern cultures, but with inverted roles of men and women.
Only glimpses of this world are shown in the current book, but I hope to have the opportunity to explore all these settings in the future and to tie in all these different cultures.
The Majat are formidable, were they inspired by Wuxia at all?
To answer this question I first had to google Wuxia warriors, so I guess at a face value the answer is “no”. At the same time, the Majat were influenced a lot by reading and watching movies about martial arts. I believe this fighting style, relying on speed and precision rather than heavy armor and weapons, is much more efficient than the traditional forms of fighting typical to medieval settings. It found it irresistible to explore how this type of warriors would fit into what we are used to as a medieval European fantasy world.
The important difference from the traditional martial artists: the Majat in general dress much more elegantly. A typical outfit is black (for stealth) and tightly tailored, to enable movement without having flaps of cloth hanging in the way. Top-ranked Majat can afford it, because they bring so much money to their Guild that no effort is spared in outfitting them. And of course this makes writing about them so much fun.
Which writers would you say influenced you most whilst writing this book?
Oh, there are just too many. I always strive to achieve the efficiency of Terry Pratchett’s style, and some of his lighter humor. I admire G. R. R. Martin’s skill in character development. I aimed for some traditional elements of the “Sword of Truth” series by Terry Goodkind. And, I hoped to bring in some distinct folklore, the way it is done in the Lord of the Rings, but with very different creatures, of course. Finally, even though this book came too late to influence me much, I felt that N. K. Jemisin’s “The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms” explores a loosely similar concept, of near-absolute power trapped by confinements of the mortal world. I see these elements in the way the Majat warriors, while enormously powerful, must always obey their code. But this is a bit far, of course.
If you could be a character from the book who would you be and why?
I would like to be Kara, just because she is so powerful and attractive. But in reality I would probably be Ellah, a common girl who is thrown into the top of the kingdom’s politics. I only hope I can discover a unique gift that could help me through, like Ellah did.
What are you most proud of about the book?
I am very proud of some characters. Ellah and Mai are my favorite. I am also proud of the way the story came together. Writing this book felt like watching a movie, in which I was in control of the action. Seeing it all come to life the way I hoped it would was such a special feeling.
Do you have a set writing process, if so what is it?
I used to, but now I tend to be so busy that I just fumble through at every moment I can find to write. The only thing that remains the same is the overall process. First, I write very quickly and just put the events down on paper without trying to find the exact right words. I then come back for a major pass where I make sure everything is phrased as intended, followed by polishing passes where I phrase things as perfectly as I can. After a few of those, I put the book aside for a long time and then edit it again with a fresh eye. When it all comes together, it feels so good.
What did you learn about writing whilst writing the book?
The first thing that comes to mind is how to write action scenes. There is a lot of fighting in the book, and I quickly learned that if you just try to write down the sequence of events it gets boring and repetitive very soon. Instead, I learned to show just glimpses of the action, followed by reactions it evokes in the participants of the scene, which could be observers or fighters themselves. This way, the fight becomes a bit like a dialogue, and such fights are never repetitive and always much more engaging. This is one example where “less is more” in writing.
In one sentence what is your best piece of advice for new writers?
I have less than a sentence to say: “Never give up.” This is the advice that helped me all my life. Bristol Book Blog Review: The plot revolves around a prince with a magical gift in a world where magic is usually against the law (enforced by the church). Various inimical forces are arrayed against him, such as a resurgent ancient evil cult, the church, politics etc. He has to travel to the Majat stronghold to renew the services of his bodyguard, and source of affection, whilst those forces seek to do him harm. The Majat are quite formidable, a bit like the legendary warriors in Wuxia (like Crouching Tiger or Hero) that can tirelessly and effortlessly defeat 50 opponents, swipe hundreds of arrows from the air, leap from tall buildings etc.
This is billed as the first book in a new series, but I believe there is a previous book set in the same world with the same characters. I used to read a lot of fantasy so this felt like very familiar territory which allows the author to skip much world building and go straight to the action. Although it did have the feel of a second book rather than first in series. As it was an ARC there were some other issues which perhaps will be tightened up in the final edit. The book is heavy on romance. I can enjoy books with romance in just fine, it’s just this sort of adolescent unrequited crush stuff doesn’t do anything for me. If you're fine with that and enjoy fantasy then this book may be for you. Overall – Romance and fantasy in a world of mighty warriors, nefarious plots and deadly politics.
Anna Kashina grew up in Russia and moved to the United States in 1994 after receiving her Ph.D. in cell biology from the Russian Academy of Sciences. She works as a biomedical researcher and combines her career in science with her passion for writing. Anna's interests in ballroom dancing, world mythologies and folklore feed her high-level interest in martial arts of the Majat warriors.
You can find out more about Anna and her books at the following links:
www.annakashina.com
http://annakashinablog.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Anna-K...
https://twitter.com/annakashina
Thanks for supporting my new release. It is a pleasure to be here.
Tell us a little about the world of the book.
The book takes place in the Kingdom of Tallan Dar, the leading power that formed after the breakdown of the old Shandorian Empire. The society is basically medieval European, but this is true only for the few major cities. Venturing to the north brings you into the stronghold of the Majat warriors, which many are comparing to ninjas. Eastward lie the vast grass plains, home of the nomadic Cha’ori horts. Traveling south, one passes through Forestlands, populated by Slavic-inspired people, and then comes into the desert kingdom of Shayil Yara, a matriarchal society inspired by middle-eastern cultures, but with inverted roles of men and women.
Only glimpses of this world are shown in the current book, but I hope to have the opportunity to explore all these settings in the future and to tie in all these different cultures.
The Majat are formidable, were they inspired by Wuxia at all?
To answer this question I first had to google Wuxia warriors, so I guess at a face value the answer is “no”. At the same time, the Majat were influenced a lot by reading and watching movies about martial arts. I believe this fighting style, relying on speed and precision rather than heavy armor and weapons, is much more efficient than the traditional forms of fighting typical to medieval settings. It found it irresistible to explore how this type of warriors would fit into what we are used to as a medieval European fantasy world.
The important difference from the traditional martial artists: the Majat in general dress much more elegantly. A typical outfit is black (for stealth) and tightly tailored, to enable movement without having flaps of cloth hanging in the way. Top-ranked Majat can afford it, because they bring so much money to their Guild that no effort is spared in outfitting them. And of course this makes writing about them so much fun.
Which writers would you say influenced you most whilst writing this book?
Oh, there are just too many. I always strive to achieve the efficiency of Terry Pratchett’s style, and some of his lighter humor. I admire G. R. R. Martin’s skill in character development. I aimed for some traditional elements of the “Sword of Truth” series by Terry Goodkind. And, I hoped to bring in some distinct folklore, the way it is done in the Lord of the Rings, but with very different creatures, of course. Finally, even though this book came too late to influence me much, I felt that N. K. Jemisin’s “The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms” explores a loosely similar concept, of near-absolute power trapped by confinements of the mortal world. I see these elements in the way the Majat warriors, while enormously powerful, must always obey their code. But this is a bit far, of course.
If you could be a character from the book who would you be and why?
I would like to be Kara, just because she is so powerful and attractive. But in reality I would probably be Ellah, a common girl who is thrown into the top of the kingdom’s politics. I only hope I can discover a unique gift that could help me through, like Ellah did.
What are you most proud of about the book?
I am very proud of some characters. Ellah and Mai are my favorite. I am also proud of the way the story came together. Writing this book felt like watching a movie, in which I was in control of the action. Seeing it all come to life the way I hoped it would was such a special feeling.
Do you have a set writing process, if so what is it?
I used to, but now I tend to be so busy that I just fumble through at every moment I can find to write. The only thing that remains the same is the overall process. First, I write very quickly and just put the events down on paper without trying to find the exact right words. I then come back for a major pass where I make sure everything is phrased as intended, followed by polishing passes where I phrase things as perfectly as I can. After a few of those, I put the book aside for a long time and then edit it again with a fresh eye. When it all comes together, it feels so good.
What did you learn about writing whilst writing the book?
The first thing that comes to mind is how to write action scenes. There is a lot of fighting in the book, and I quickly learned that if you just try to write down the sequence of events it gets boring and repetitive very soon. Instead, I learned to show just glimpses of the action, followed by reactions it evokes in the participants of the scene, which could be observers or fighters themselves. This way, the fight becomes a bit like a dialogue, and such fights are never repetitive and always much more engaging. This is one example where “less is more” in writing.
In one sentence what is your best piece of advice for new writers?
I have less than a sentence to say: “Never give up.” This is the advice that helped me all my life. Bristol Book Blog Review: The plot revolves around a prince with a magical gift in a world where magic is usually against the law (enforced by the church). Various inimical forces are arrayed against him, such as a resurgent ancient evil cult, the church, politics etc. He has to travel to the Majat stronghold to renew the services of his bodyguard, and source of affection, whilst those forces seek to do him harm. The Majat are quite formidable, a bit like the legendary warriors in Wuxia (like Crouching Tiger or Hero) that can tirelessly and effortlessly defeat 50 opponents, swipe hundreds of arrows from the air, leap from tall buildings etc.
This is billed as the first book in a new series, but I believe there is a previous book set in the same world with the same characters. I used to read a lot of fantasy so this felt like very familiar territory which allows the author to skip much world building and go straight to the action. Although it did have the feel of a second book rather than first in series. As it was an ARC there were some other issues which perhaps will be tightened up in the final edit. The book is heavy on romance. I can enjoy books with romance in just fine, it’s just this sort of adolescent unrequited crush stuff doesn’t do anything for me. If you're fine with that and enjoy fantasy then this book may be for you. Overall – Romance and fantasy in a world of mighty warriors, nefarious plots and deadly politics.
February 18, 2014
Airship Shape&Bristol Fashion ...
Airship Shape
&
Bristol Fashion
To celebrate the launch of Airship Shape & Bristol fashion Bristol Book Blog (BRSBKBLOG) will be running a First lines competition.Each of the stories in the book are listed below with their first lines. Can you write a Steampunk story title and first line that would fit? Entries by email (detail below). What we're after is a great title and evocative first line only, no need to write the whole story. Word count is up to you but it should be 1 sentance. (not open to the contributors of the book)First lines from the book -
Case of the Vapours, by Ken Shinn
“Bodysnatching.”
Brassworth, by Christine Morgan
It’s at times, don’t you know, when I’m aboard an airscrew driven factory, about to meet a captain of industry while pretending to be a peer of the realm, that even I have to stop and ask myself, “Reggie, old bean, how do you get into these predics?”
The Lesser Men Have No Language, by Deborah Walker
Visitors to Bristol’s green shaded streets may well be astonished at the city’s multitude of lesser
men.
Brass and Bone, by Joanne Hall
The abyss yawned beneath her feet.
The Girl with Red Hair, by Myfanwy Rodman
In my dreams the city is dying.
Artifice Perdu, by Pete Sutton
Its hand lay upon the trembling bird.
Miss Butler and the Handlander Process, by John Hawkes-Reed
I was hiding inside my father’s test elephant when they came looking for me.
Something In The Water, by Cheryl Morgan
If you are reading these words then I will be dead.
The Chronicles of Montague and Dalton: The Hunt for Alleyway Agnes, by Scott Lewis
The Asiatic Cholera epidemic of 1866 swept through Bristol like the proverbial hot knife through butter.
The Sound of Gyroscopes, by Jonathan L. Howard
We have spoken of Blakes before, and it seems we shall speak of it again.
Flight of Daedalus, by Piotr Świetlik
In the beginning there was light.
The Traveller’s Apprentice, by Ian Millsted
The rusty digging tool hit something metallic.
Lord Craddock: Ascension, by Stephen Blake
Lord Byron Craddock was deemed mad by many, at least strange by most.
The Lanterns of Death Affair, by Andy Bigwood
The hangar doors opened, armoured slats pulling apart to reveal first a line of incandescent sunlight, and then the blue and white cloudscape of an English summer’s day.
The prize?
A hardback copy of Airship Shape & Bristol fashion signed by as many of the contributors as I can possibly track down (and/or come to the launch) AND a miniature of Sutton’s Writers Unblock
Tasting Notes - What better way to enjoy your first trip to Cambridge, than to visit the first distillery in Cambridge?! As a whisky fan, it was no great surprise that Peter’s gin should be rich and complex with plenty of earthy, smoky character. At once spicy, floral and herbaceous, Sutton’s Writers Unblock is best enjoyed with only ice as an accompaniment.
The gradual dilution from slowly melting ice reveals more and more of the character of this gin, allowing time to enjoy the ever changing palate whilst contemplating the important matters in life, such as the correct placing of an apostrophe!
Mail brsbkblog@gmail.com with your entry before the 22nd March.
Winning entries will be chosen by an expert panel and announced at the Airship Ballhttps://www.eventbrite.co.uk/contact-organizer?eid=10368790331 and on the Blog on 29th March.
I've been chatting with David Edison http://davidedison.c...
I've been chatting with David Edison http://davidedison.com/ about his new book The Waking engine:
The Waking Engine was released Feb 11, 2014 in the US—we don’t have a UK release date yet.
David Edison was born in Saint Louis, Missouri. In other lives, he has worked in many flavors of journalism and is editor of the LGBTQ video game news site GayGamer.net. He currently divides his time between New York City and San Francisco. You can find him on Twitter. Read chapters one and two of The Waking Engine on Tor.com.
Tell us a little about the world of the Waking Engine & the City Unspoken
The Waking Engine is the first book in a quartet of books which center around the City Unspoken. If death had a capital city, this would be it: a city older than humanity, built and rebuilt like a palimpsest through the ages.
The world—the metaverse—arose from my dissatisfaction with existing takes on the afterlife: I wanted a premise that would give mortals more time to learn how terribly messed-up we are. 'Way, way too long’ seemed a more promising definition of one’s existence than ‘way, way too short.’ That led me to dismantle deities and see what kind of flawed people might be hiding within, and by that point I had the makings of a book.
One of the strengths of the book is its complexity – did it take a long time to write & edit? What was the path to publication like?
It did indeed take a long time to edit - we went through two major edits after the sale, and one before. I began tinkering with the ideas that would become the book around 2003, but shut them up in a drawer until 2008-2009, when I finally found myself in front of an agent, and she told me to finish the few chapters I had. About 18 months later, I brought back a completed manuscript—my agent told me to cut 100 pages and change the ending, so I did. Then my editor at Tor told me to do the same thing, so I did, again! After the first edit at Tor, my editor, who is wonderful, said, “This is what a book normally looks like when we first buy it.” I got the hint, and know what to shoot for this time around.
How would you describe its genre? If you agree with the New Weird label its getting can you expand on what you think makes a book New Weird?
I absolutely agree with the New Weird label, because labels help books reach their target audience, and most things that fall under New Weird already have a handicap in that regard. I don’t put much stock in the New Weird concept myself, insofar as I don’t think about it when I’m writing—my attitude is, forget about genre while I write. Someone will assign it a genre if they think it will sell.
We live in a world of elevator pitches: I don’t begrudge an industry an umbrella term that catches the interstitial or cross-pollination of genres. My concept of New Weird is that it must have elements of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, and be otherwise immune to categorization. I’m sure there are better definitions!
You’re obviously a big fan of Walt Whitman (no spoilers), which writers would you say influenced you most whilst writing this book?
I really drank deeply from the well of writers I chose to inhabit for the epigraphs—I begin most chapters with a fictional quote from a deceased writer, sort of my chance to be an actor and a writer on the page at once. What might Sylvia Plath have written, had her suicide failed the way it would have in this world? All of them were inspirational and therapeutic. When I couldn’t stand the sound of my own voices anymore, I’d go pretend to be Jack Kerouac for a bit.
British fantasist Storm Constantine is a huge, huge influence on me as a weird writer and a queer writer, both. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that her work was largely responsible for teaching me that I could write the weird, queer things I wanted to write.
If you could be a character from the book who would it be and why?
I spend a lot of my time acting just like Purity Kloo. That’s my wish-fulfillment. I remember Anne Rice talking about how Lestat was her alter-ego—well, Purity might be mine.
What are you working on right now? (apart from this interview of course!)
The next book! I realized early on that this story would not fit into one volume, decided to make it a quartet rather than a trilogy for multiple reasons (mostly I’m bored of them and worry that the middle volume always seems to suffer), and threw myself at the task. I’m about 60,000 words in and am just finding my stride. I love my job.
What are you most proud of about the book?
Its mere existence. I know it’s a cliche, but I suffered so much doubt about the viability of this story that to see readers and reviewers enjoying and responding to it—how much more can I want? To have your work generate conversation, that’s the brass ring, as far as I’m concerned. Also I pulled off those epigraphs.
You are a graduate of Clarion West – how did you find that experience?
Truthfully, I did not even meet another speculative fiction writer until I had finished the novel. I kept myself in seclusion, I was so afraid of losing my nerve. When I finished, and realized that I had a lot more to learn, Clarion West was an absolute oasis: I met 19 soul mates and learned at the feet of giants like Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Ellen Datlow… I had to make peace with the fact that The Waking Engine would not benefit from my Clarion West education, which took some resolve, but now I’m more excited than ever to continue with the work.
Clarion West was six weeks at Hogwarts, Starfleet Academy… It was heaven. Anyone even thinking about applying should do it.
Do you have a set writing process, if so what is it? What did you learn about writing whilst writing the book?
I am a critter of habit, so I have a routine, but it isn’t particularly special. I wake up, write over coffee or tea, then go off and do other things, and then come back to writing in the evening and late at night. I write most days, but when my brain needs to rest, I let it. I always warn the men I date that my job is 60% daydreaming, and I’m protective of that. You can’t sit down with the intent to daydream—you’ve got to create space in your life for daydreams to sprout on their own. Or at least I do. Room of one’s own kinda-sorta thing.
What I learned? Oh, SO MUCH. To stay humble, that perfection is an ever-receding horizon, to listen to criticism especially when it hurts, and to slaughter my darlings left and right.
In one sentence what is your best piece of advice for new writers?
KEEP WRITING. I’ve yet to learn anything half so important as that. Bristol Book Blog review -
When we die, we don’t cease to exist or turn into shimmering motes of ectoplasm or purple angels or anything else you may have been brought up to believe. We just . . . go on living. Someplace else
When I was offered this as an ARC I said yes because of the cool premise. It is a first book and I didn’t know anything about the author but it does have a cool cover too. After you die you wake up on a new world, and continue to do so forever unless you go to one of the few places in the vast multiverse where Final Death can be obtained. The City Unspoken is one of those places and True Death is controlled by the nobility of that city, in addition it is possible in the City for you to be Body Bound (made so that you cannot die). However the ruler of the city, the Prince, is missing, the undead and their mortal servants The Undertow are becoming ever more powerful and there is a new madness malaise affecting part of the population called the Svarning. Into this world Cooper awakes, an ordinary man from New York, this is his first re-awakening, a really unusual occurrence as people generally spend many many lifetimes before arriving in the City Unspoken. Sesstri & Asher, who find Cooper, hope that he will bring the solution to the city’s problems. Meanwhile In the Dome the nobles have been locked away for several years, unable to leave into the wider city and Purity Kloo, a nobleman’s daughter has tried to escape by killing herself every day for a week but can’t escape her body binding. There is also a killer stalking the Dome. That is a Killer who can Murder (give the Final Death).
The plot summary has taken a while because there is a lot going on in the book (and I’ve over-summarised as there are actually a few more plot strands that I’ve not mentioned, for brevity), it is a complex highly interwoven tale with a host of neat ideas working for it. When it works, it works well and pages go by with me loving some of the world building and ideas. There are some fantastic flights of fantasy with beautiful imagery and poetic writing. For example the Apostery where the ideas of all the many gods are buried, since it’s now proven that there is no afterlife in the heaven/hell sense. Edison also seems to have the knack, like China Mieville (who I see he is being compared to), of taking existing fantasy tropes and putting a new shine on them. Edison’s liches are one example and I enjoyed his descriptions of these (even though undeath doesn’t make much sense in his multiverse?). It’s also refreshing for there to be a prominent gay character in a fantasy book.
However there are some issues here too. The overcomplicated nature of the book sometimes gets away from Edison and in some places it is obscure or incoherent (although perhaps as an ARC these may be tightened up in the final edit?). Edison could have done a little more work integrating the cool ideas. We occasionally cross the line from dark into just plain creepy (not in a good way) for example the whores of the city were Body Bound as a reward in the past, so now can’t die. Therefore there are now a type of whore called Bloodslut who sell their bodies to people who like to torture and kill them and will leave their payment in the dead whore’s mouth knowing that the whore will eventually stop being dead. Or the host of youths called Death Boys and Charnel Girls who are all HIV victims who now worship the undead liches. One of the characters, Nixon in a young boy’s body, seems to be there as a comedy sidekick most of the time but at one point goes off on a racist rant. Is racism supposed to be funny? There are scenes of low comedy (the comedy wasn’t to my taste tbh) and deeply dark episodes, sometimes on the same page.
In such a vast multiverse how come our protagonist seems to mostly meet people from our world? Cleopatra as queen of the whores, or the aforementioned Nixon are only a couple of examples. There is a little bit of telling rather than showing and because of that the personality of Cooper didn’t come across as strongly as it could have. He seems to be heroically nonchalant about dying and never being able to see his friends and family ever again, as well as later in the book on being tortured and losing body parts. There is a lot of nice worldbuilding in here but the city failed to totally come alive for me and I never got a good sense of what is was like. I’m not sure all of the characters make total sense either but don’t want to go into spoilers. It feels to me that Edison should have been given a couple of hundred extra pages to thoroughly explore some of the things that feel a little rushed and incoherent. Perhaps later books in the series will do so? He does display a prodigious imagination and there is a lot to like in the book but for me it was sadly let down a little in execution.
Overall – Flawed but with nice worldbuilding. I was left with too many questions, ones that were integral to understanding.
The Waking Engine was released Feb 11, 2014 in the US—we don’t have a UK release date yet.
David Edison was born in Saint Louis, Missouri. In other lives, he has worked in many flavors of journalism and is editor of the LGBTQ video game news site GayGamer.net. He currently divides his time between New York City and San Francisco. You can find him on Twitter. Read chapters one and two of The Waking Engine on Tor.com.
Tell us a little about the world of the Waking Engine & the City Unspoken
The Waking Engine is the first book in a quartet of books which center around the City Unspoken. If death had a capital city, this would be it: a city older than humanity, built and rebuilt like a palimpsest through the ages.
The world—the metaverse—arose from my dissatisfaction with existing takes on the afterlife: I wanted a premise that would give mortals more time to learn how terribly messed-up we are. 'Way, way too long’ seemed a more promising definition of one’s existence than ‘way, way too short.’ That led me to dismantle deities and see what kind of flawed people might be hiding within, and by that point I had the makings of a book.
One of the strengths of the book is its complexity – did it take a long time to write & edit? What was the path to publication like?
It did indeed take a long time to edit - we went through two major edits after the sale, and one before. I began tinkering with the ideas that would become the book around 2003, but shut them up in a drawer until 2008-2009, when I finally found myself in front of an agent, and she told me to finish the few chapters I had. About 18 months later, I brought back a completed manuscript—my agent told me to cut 100 pages and change the ending, so I did. Then my editor at Tor told me to do the same thing, so I did, again! After the first edit at Tor, my editor, who is wonderful, said, “This is what a book normally looks like when we first buy it.” I got the hint, and know what to shoot for this time around.
How would you describe its genre? If you agree with the New Weird label its getting can you expand on what you think makes a book New Weird?
I absolutely agree with the New Weird label, because labels help books reach their target audience, and most things that fall under New Weird already have a handicap in that regard. I don’t put much stock in the New Weird concept myself, insofar as I don’t think about it when I’m writing—my attitude is, forget about genre while I write. Someone will assign it a genre if they think it will sell.
We live in a world of elevator pitches: I don’t begrudge an industry an umbrella term that catches the interstitial or cross-pollination of genres. My concept of New Weird is that it must have elements of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, and be otherwise immune to categorization. I’m sure there are better definitions!
You’re obviously a big fan of Walt Whitman (no spoilers), which writers would you say influenced you most whilst writing this book?
I really drank deeply from the well of writers I chose to inhabit for the epigraphs—I begin most chapters with a fictional quote from a deceased writer, sort of my chance to be an actor and a writer on the page at once. What might Sylvia Plath have written, had her suicide failed the way it would have in this world? All of them were inspirational and therapeutic. When I couldn’t stand the sound of my own voices anymore, I’d go pretend to be Jack Kerouac for a bit.
British fantasist Storm Constantine is a huge, huge influence on me as a weird writer and a queer writer, both. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that her work was largely responsible for teaching me that I could write the weird, queer things I wanted to write.
If you could be a character from the book who would it be and why?
I spend a lot of my time acting just like Purity Kloo. That’s my wish-fulfillment. I remember Anne Rice talking about how Lestat was her alter-ego—well, Purity might be mine.
What are you working on right now? (apart from this interview of course!)
The next book! I realized early on that this story would not fit into one volume, decided to make it a quartet rather than a trilogy for multiple reasons (mostly I’m bored of them and worry that the middle volume always seems to suffer), and threw myself at the task. I’m about 60,000 words in and am just finding my stride. I love my job.
What are you most proud of about the book?
Its mere existence. I know it’s a cliche, but I suffered so much doubt about the viability of this story that to see readers and reviewers enjoying and responding to it—how much more can I want? To have your work generate conversation, that’s the brass ring, as far as I’m concerned. Also I pulled off those epigraphs.
You are a graduate of Clarion West – how did you find that experience?
Truthfully, I did not even meet another speculative fiction writer until I had finished the novel. I kept myself in seclusion, I was so afraid of losing my nerve. When I finished, and realized that I had a lot more to learn, Clarion West was an absolute oasis: I met 19 soul mates and learned at the feet of giants like Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Ellen Datlow… I had to make peace with the fact that The Waking Engine would not benefit from my Clarion West education, which took some resolve, but now I’m more excited than ever to continue with the work.
Clarion West was six weeks at Hogwarts, Starfleet Academy… It was heaven. Anyone even thinking about applying should do it.
Do you have a set writing process, if so what is it? What did you learn about writing whilst writing the book?
I am a critter of habit, so I have a routine, but it isn’t particularly special. I wake up, write over coffee or tea, then go off and do other things, and then come back to writing in the evening and late at night. I write most days, but when my brain needs to rest, I let it. I always warn the men I date that my job is 60% daydreaming, and I’m protective of that. You can’t sit down with the intent to daydream—you’ve got to create space in your life for daydreams to sprout on their own. Or at least I do. Room of one’s own kinda-sorta thing.
What I learned? Oh, SO MUCH. To stay humble, that perfection is an ever-receding horizon, to listen to criticism especially when it hurts, and to slaughter my darlings left and right.
In one sentence what is your best piece of advice for new writers?
KEEP WRITING. I’ve yet to learn anything half so important as that. Bristol Book Blog review -
When we die, we don’t cease to exist or turn into shimmering motes of ectoplasm or purple angels or anything else you may have been brought up to believe. We just . . . go on living. Someplace else
When I was offered this as an ARC I said yes because of the cool premise. It is a first book and I didn’t know anything about the author but it does have a cool cover too. After you die you wake up on a new world, and continue to do so forever unless you go to one of the few places in the vast multiverse where Final Death can be obtained. The City Unspoken is one of those places and True Death is controlled by the nobility of that city, in addition it is possible in the City for you to be Body Bound (made so that you cannot die). However the ruler of the city, the Prince, is missing, the undead and their mortal servants The Undertow are becoming ever more powerful and there is a new madness malaise affecting part of the population called the Svarning. Into this world Cooper awakes, an ordinary man from New York, this is his first re-awakening, a really unusual occurrence as people generally spend many many lifetimes before arriving in the City Unspoken. Sesstri & Asher, who find Cooper, hope that he will bring the solution to the city’s problems. Meanwhile In the Dome the nobles have been locked away for several years, unable to leave into the wider city and Purity Kloo, a nobleman’s daughter has tried to escape by killing herself every day for a week but can’t escape her body binding. There is also a killer stalking the Dome. That is a Killer who can Murder (give the Final Death).
The plot summary has taken a while because there is a lot going on in the book (and I’ve over-summarised as there are actually a few more plot strands that I’ve not mentioned, for brevity), it is a complex highly interwoven tale with a host of neat ideas working for it. When it works, it works well and pages go by with me loving some of the world building and ideas. There are some fantastic flights of fantasy with beautiful imagery and poetic writing. For example the Apostery where the ideas of all the many gods are buried, since it’s now proven that there is no afterlife in the heaven/hell sense. Edison also seems to have the knack, like China Mieville (who I see he is being compared to), of taking existing fantasy tropes and putting a new shine on them. Edison’s liches are one example and I enjoyed his descriptions of these (even though undeath doesn’t make much sense in his multiverse?). It’s also refreshing for there to be a prominent gay character in a fantasy book.
However there are some issues here too. The overcomplicated nature of the book sometimes gets away from Edison and in some places it is obscure or incoherent (although perhaps as an ARC these may be tightened up in the final edit?). Edison could have done a little more work integrating the cool ideas. We occasionally cross the line from dark into just plain creepy (not in a good way) for example the whores of the city were Body Bound as a reward in the past, so now can’t die. Therefore there are now a type of whore called Bloodslut who sell their bodies to people who like to torture and kill them and will leave their payment in the dead whore’s mouth knowing that the whore will eventually stop being dead. Or the host of youths called Death Boys and Charnel Girls who are all HIV victims who now worship the undead liches. One of the characters, Nixon in a young boy’s body, seems to be there as a comedy sidekick most of the time but at one point goes off on a racist rant. Is racism supposed to be funny? There are scenes of low comedy (the comedy wasn’t to my taste tbh) and deeply dark episodes, sometimes on the same page.
In such a vast multiverse how come our protagonist seems to mostly meet people from our world? Cleopatra as queen of the whores, or the aforementioned Nixon are only a couple of examples. There is a little bit of telling rather than showing and because of that the personality of Cooper didn’t come across as strongly as it could have. He seems to be heroically nonchalant about dying and never being able to see his friends and family ever again, as well as later in the book on being tortured and losing body parts. There is a lot of nice worldbuilding in here but the city failed to totally come alive for me and I never got a good sense of what is was like. I’m not sure all of the characters make total sense either but don’t want to go into spoilers. It feels to me that Edison should have been given a couple of hundred extra pages to thoroughly explore some of the things that feel a little rushed and incoherent. Perhaps later books in the series will do so? He does display a prodigious imagination and there is a lot to like in the book but for me it was sadly let down a little in execution.
Overall – Flawed but with nice worldbuilding. I was left with too many questions, ones that were integral to understanding.
Seems I have some things to catch up on. I went to the Ki...
Seems I have some things to catch up on. I went to the Kitschies awards, saw Mike carey at Toppings and last night went to BristolCon Fringe.
Kitschies
http://www.thekitschies.com/
Got to be my favourite award, the short list is always interesting and they definitely choose books that should go onto the shelves. Congratulations to this year's winners:
The Red Tentacle (Novel), selected by Kate Griffin, Nick Harkaway, Will Hill, Anab Jain and Annabel Wright:
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Canongate)
The Golden Tentacle (Debut), selected by the above panel:
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
The Inky Tentacle (Cover), selected by Craig Kennedy, Sarah Anne Langton, Hazel Thompson and Emma Vieceli:
The Age Atomic by Adam Christopher (Angry Robot) / Art by Will Staehle
The Black Tentacle - the judges' discretionary award - was given to Malorie Blackman.
It was nice to see a mention of Bristol Festival of Literature during the intro too.
A fun evening in the company of old friends and new.
Mike Carey
Mike Carey came to Toppings in Bath to perform a reading from The girl with all the gifts and answer questions.
I'm burning to get to the book after the reading, really want to dive into that story (but will have to finish a couple of others first)
advanced blurb -
NOT EVERY GIFT IS A BLESSING
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class.
When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite. But they don't laugh.
Melanie is a very special girl.
Emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end, THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS is the most powerful and affecting thriller you will read this year.
Mike was happy to answer questions on the book, his previous books, scriptwriting, comics and more. A great evening.
BristolCon Fringe
Last night's fringe was sadly missing Scott Lewis who is on submarine patrol in Somerset. But we were treated to a first reading of the first story in the launched on the night Airship Shape
Which has a story in by yours truly. The official party will be on the 29th March. Details here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/contact-organizer?eid=10368790331
After Ken Shinn read out the beginning of his story "Case of the Vapours" we were treated to a collection of shorts by Jonathan Pinnock http://www.jonathanpinnock.com/, including some very amusing poetry - worth a listen when BristolCon put up the podcasts! And then Snorri Kristjanson http://snorrikristjansson.com/?page_id=2 read out the prologue to his first book, the third chapter to it's sequel and a short story on the theme of villains. They were mostly about "vikings, swearing and beards" much like Snorri (his words, not mine)
Another very enjoyable evening. The next is Monday March 17th: Rosie Oliver & Roz Clarke & the one after Monday April 14th: Fringe in a Flash I'll be reading out 1000 words....
Kitschies
http://www.thekitschies.com/Got to be my favourite award, the short list is always interesting and they definitely choose books that should go onto the shelves. Congratulations to this year's winners:
The Red Tentacle (Novel), selected by Kate Griffin, Nick Harkaway, Will Hill, Anab Jain and Annabel Wright:
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Canongate)
The Golden Tentacle (Debut), selected by the above panel:
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (Orbit)
The Inky Tentacle (Cover), selected by Craig Kennedy, Sarah Anne Langton, Hazel Thompson and Emma Vieceli:
The Age Atomic by Adam Christopher (Angry Robot) / Art by Will Staehle
The Black Tentacle - the judges' discretionary award - was given to Malorie Blackman.
It was nice to see a mention of Bristol Festival of Literature during the intro too.
A fun evening in the company of old friends and new.
Mike Carey
Mike Carey came to Toppings in Bath to perform a reading from The girl with all the gifts and answer questions.
I'm burning to get to the book after the reading, really want to dive into that story (but will have to finish a couple of others first)advanced blurb -
NOT EVERY GIFT IS A BLESSING
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class.
When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite. But they don't laugh.
Melanie is a very special girl.
Emotionally charged and gripping from beginning to end, THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS is the most powerful and affecting thriller you will read this year.
Mike was happy to answer questions on the book, his previous books, scriptwriting, comics and more. A great evening.
BristolCon Fringe
Last night's fringe was sadly missing Scott Lewis who is on submarine patrol in Somerset. But we were treated to a first reading of the first story in the launched on the night Airship Shape
Which has a story in by yours truly. The official party will be on the 29th March. Details here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/contact-organizer?eid=10368790331 After Ken Shinn read out the beginning of his story "Case of the Vapours" we were treated to a collection of shorts by Jonathan Pinnock http://www.jonathanpinnock.com/, including some very amusing poetry - worth a listen when BristolCon put up the podcasts! And then Snorri Kristjanson http://snorrikristjansson.com/?page_id=2 read out the prologue to his first book, the third chapter to it's sequel and a short story on the theme of villains. They were mostly about "vikings, swearing and beards" much like Snorri (his words, not mine)
Another very enjoyable evening. The next is Monday March 17th: Rosie Oliver & Roz Clarke & the one after Monday April 14th: Fringe in a Flash I'll be reading out 1000 words....
February 14, 2014
This week I've been chatting with author Meg Kingston who...
This week I've been chatting with author Meg Kingston who is launching a book about writing.
Meg is a self-publishing, profit-making author based in South Wales – just across the bridge from Bristol. Her latest book, Just Add Writing, is a pocket guide for new (and experienced) writers who want to take their writing to the next level. Her previous book was Chrystal Heart, a Steampunk novel; the one before that was The MonSter and the Rainbow: Memoir of a Disability. So naturally I asked her what her top ten tips for new writers were.
Over to Meg
Ten? You’re giving me space for a whole ten tips? That’s a luxury!
1. Read. The first thing any writer needs to do is to read as much as they can in their chosen genre. Haunt your local charity shops, pester your librarians – get hold of all the books you can and read each one at least twice. You’ll soak up lots of information about the way those books work without even noticing it and the second reading allows you to see how the author drip-feeds information to the reader. Don’t worry about copying another writer’s style, you’ll tell your story in your own way and soon develop your own distinctive “voice” as a writer.
2. Write. Write whenever you can. We all waste the odd half hour during the day – even ten minutes can be useful. Whether you write longhand or type two-fingered on a keyboard, the important thing is to keep doing it. If you have a spare moment when you can’t write, think about writing! Carry a notepad and make a note when something occurs to you. Txt msgs cn b svd n a mobl! Some of my favourite plot twists have come when I’m queuing or waiting for someone.
3. Edit. Learn to be a critical reader of other people’s work and to polish your own work. There’s no easy way to do this – just read it, mark (in your head if it’s a book you don’t want to deface) what could be improved and then work out how to make it better. Don’t expect to make all the changes in one pass; you should make several drafts of each piece. It’s easier to read something critically after a break, so put your current work aside for a while and spend time on another project – you’ll find it easier to edit with a fresh pair of eyes. Editing takes more of a writer’s time than writing the first draft. A lot more! Always remember that good writing is about knowing which words to delete more than writing them in the first place.
4. Communicate. Even the most solitary scribbler can learn from better writers. Talk to others, whether you do it online or join a local writing group; but try to find a group that actually does write, not just socialise. Don’t expect the others to spend hours critiquing your work and don’t assume your comments are more important than everyone else’s, just be part of the community. A writing group can be a great place to learn how to improve your work from others, but remember they’re also trying to write, not just mentor you. If you can’t find a group that suits the way you work, start your own! Advertise in your local library for people also looking for other writers and discuss how you want the group to work.
5. Listen. If you get chance to listen to a successful writer talking about their craft, do. Many writers can be found attending Literary Festivals or Author Events at bookshops and libraries. Or on radio or television. If it’s a broadcast, record the programme so you can listen again and again. Read their books and think about their comments – did they give a really useful tip on how they maintain suspense in a book? How they research their topic? How they build characters? Make notes and apply it to your own work. We can all learn, even if it sounds like a really basic tip – can you apply it to your own writing?
6. Warn. Tell your family and friends that you really want to have a go at this writing lark. It’s much easier to find time to write if other people respect your space. You need the people around you to understand the dangers of interrupting a writer whether the words are flowing from your fingers or you’re concentrating on rewording a sentence. You’re not just staring aimlessly into the middle distance – you’re working on your plot. But remember it is still illegal to murder someone for interrupting you, so don’t go too far in enforcing this!
7. Practice. Repeat steps 1-3 again. Yes, really. Try to spend some time on it every day, look for ways to vary your writing time, like an event at your local library. Don’t wait for the muse to do your work for you – she won’t. Writing is a craft that takes a lot of practice; writing muscles need a regular workout, especially the ones in your brain. Remember to think about your characters often. (I find it handy to work out how someone from my books would deal with a problem I’m facing. Chrystal may find it easier than I would, so it’s handy to let her think it through before I have to deal with it in the real world.)
8. Persevere. Find time to read, to write, to edit. We all let fragments of time slip through our fingers that we could be dedicating to improving our skills. Learn to spot those slippery minutes and put them to work. If you say, “I don’t have any spare time,” then you won’t have any. Say, “I am a writer, I will find time to write!” and you’ll find it. Don’t be disheartened that you’ve been working for months without anything to show – it will take time. Track your wordcount so you can see your progress, keep copies of any work you’ve had published close to hand. Remind yourself what you’re aiming for.
9. Share. When a piece of work is as good as you can make it, let one or two trusted friends read it. Tell them you want to know everything that’s wrong with it. Then show it to a writing buddy and tell them the same. Be prepared for them to savage your work and then thank them for it – even through gritted teeth. If they don’t find anything they don’t like, you’re asking the wrong friends. You’re not looking for people who’ll smile and say they like it – you’re looking for those who will nit-pick. You don’t have to do everything they suggest – it’s your work, not theirs. Think about every comment as if you’re a reader, not the writer. Learn to accept feedback and incorporate it into your writing. It’s a difficult step to master, but an important one.
10. Submit. When you’re happy with your work, then it’s time to send it out into the big wide world. Whether it’s a letter to a magazine or a short story for a local competition, it’s finally time to seek validation that your writing is good enough for a selective market. Start small and you’ll soon know the joy of seeing your name in print. But don’t sit and wait for results – get on with your next project. When something’s rejected, polish it again, make it even better and find somewhere else to send it. You may collect a lot of rejection letters, but if you stick with it, you’ll get there. J
There’s no magic wand to make someone into a good writer, the most important thing is to work at your writing. Some people get lucky and sell a lot of books that aren’t very well written. Many more work at their craft for years before they sell anything. Writing is hard work – but it’s also tremendously rewarding to make something out of thin air.
Above all, remember to Read – Write – Edit.
Meg Kingston is an Independent Author. She’s sold work to some major magazines and retails her self-published paperback books through many outlets. She presents writing workshops and other events for a variety of organisations. Her books can be ordered through libraries and book retailers. Signed copies are also available direct from Meg at:
http://www.jaywalkerwriting.co.uk/
Just Add Writing: Release the Novel Inside You is Meg’s pocket guide to moving your writing on to the next stage. It’s down to earth, full of tips and with plenty of innovative exercises to inspire your writing. Many of the exercises are designed to work with random numbers and if you have a set of Dragon Dice, you’ll find them very useful!
Chrystal Heartis the first novel in a planned series of Steampunk novels, featuring Chrystal – a Victorian lady whose gemstone heart has kept her alive into the 21stcentury. You’ve never met anyone like Chrystal before! And you might just wish you had.
The MonSter and the Rainbow: Memoir of a Disability is Meg’s account of life with a chronic illness in a world that isn’t as equal as it thinks it is. If you ever wanted to read a non-whinging, bestselling book about life viewed from wheelchair height – this is it.
For more info or to contact Meg, visit:
http://megkingston.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MegKingstonA...
Meg is a self-publishing, profit-making author based in South Wales – just across the bridge from Bristol. Her latest book, Just Add Writing, is a pocket guide for new (and experienced) writers who want to take their writing to the next level. Her previous book was Chrystal Heart, a Steampunk novel; the one before that was The MonSter and the Rainbow: Memoir of a Disability. So naturally I asked her what her top ten tips for new writers were.
Over to Meg
Ten? You’re giving me space for a whole ten tips? That’s a luxury!
1. Read. The first thing any writer needs to do is to read as much as they can in their chosen genre. Haunt your local charity shops, pester your librarians – get hold of all the books you can and read each one at least twice. You’ll soak up lots of information about the way those books work without even noticing it and the second reading allows you to see how the author drip-feeds information to the reader. Don’t worry about copying another writer’s style, you’ll tell your story in your own way and soon develop your own distinctive “voice” as a writer.
2. Write. Write whenever you can. We all waste the odd half hour during the day – even ten minutes can be useful. Whether you write longhand or type two-fingered on a keyboard, the important thing is to keep doing it. If you have a spare moment when you can’t write, think about writing! Carry a notepad and make a note when something occurs to you. Txt msgs cn b svd n a mobl! Some of my favourite plot twists have come when I’m queuing or waiting for someone.
3. Edit. Learn to be a critical reader of other people’s work and to polish your own work. There’s no easy way to do this – just read it, mark (in your head if it’s a book you don’t want to deface) what could be improved and then work out how to make it better. Don’t expect to make all the changes in one pass; you should make several drafts of each piece. It’s easier to read something critically after a break, so put your current work aside for a while and spend time on another project – you’ll find it easier to edit with a fresh pair of eyes. Editing takes more of a writer’s time than writing the first draft. A lot more! Always remember that good writing is about knowing which words to delete more than writing them in the first place.
4. Communicate. Even the most solitary scribbler can learn from better writers. Talk to others, whether you do it online or join a local writing group; but try to find a group that actually does write, not just socialise. Don’t expect the others to spend hours critiquing your work and don’t assume your comments are more important than everyone else’s, just be part of the community. A writing group can be a great place to learn how to improve your work from others, but remember they’re also trying to write, not just mentor you. If you can’t find a group that suits the way you work, start your own! Advertise in your local library for people also looking for other writers and discuss how you want the group to work.
5. Listen. If you get chance to listen to a successful writer talking about their craft, do. Many writers can be found attending Literary Festivals or Author Events at bookshops and libraries. Or on radio or television. If it’s a broadcast, record the programme so you can listen again and again. Read their books and think about their comments – did they give a really useful tip on how they maintain suspense in a book? How they research their topic? How they build characters? Make notes and apply it to your own work. We can all learn, even if it sounds like a really basic tip – can you apply it to your own writing?
6. Warn. Tell your family and friends that you really want to have a go at this writing lark. It’s much easier to find time to write if other people respect your space. You need the people around you to understand the dangers of interrupting a writer whether the words are flowing from your fingers or you’re concentrating on rewording a sentence. You’re not just staring aimlessly into the middle distance – you’re working on your plot. But remember it is still illegal to murder someone for interrupting you, so don’t go too far in enforcing this!
7. Practice. Repeat steps 1-3 again. Yes, really. Try to spend some time on it every day, look for ways to vary your writing time, like an event at your local library. Don’t wait for the muse to do your work for you – she won’t. Writing is a craft that takes a lot of practice; writing muscles need a regular workout, especially the ones in your brain. Remember to think about your characters often. (I find it handy to work out how someone from my books would deal with a problem I’m facing. Chrystal may find it easier than I would, so it’s handy to let her think it through before I have to deal with it in the real world.)
8. Persevere. Find time to read, to write, to edit. We all let fragments of time slip through our fingers that we could be dedicating to improving our skills. Learn to spot those slippery minutes and put them to work. If you say, “I don’t have any spare time,” then you won’t have any. Say, “I am a writer, I will find time to write!” and you’ll find it. Don’t be disheartened that you’ve been working for months without anything to show – it will take time. Track your wordcount so you can see your progress, keep copies of any work you’ve had published close to hand. Remind yourself what you’re aiming for.
9. Share. When a piece of work is as good as you can make it, let one or two trusted friends read it. Tell them you want to know everything that’s wrong with it. Then show it to a writing buddy and tell them the same. Be prepared for them to savage your work and then thank them for it – even through gritted teeth. If they don’t find anything they don’t like, you’re asking the wrong friends. You’re not looking for people who’ll smile and say they like it – you’re looking for those who will nit-pick. You don’t have to do everything they suggest – it’s your work, not theirs. Think about every comment as if you’re a reader, not the writer. Learn to accept feedback and incorporate it into your writing. It’s a difficult step to master, but an important one.
10. Submit. When you’re happy with your work, then it’s time to send it out into the big wide world. Whether it’s a letter to a magazine or a short story for a local competition, it’s finally time to seek validation that your writing is good enough for a selective market. Start small and you’ll soon know the joy of seeing your name in print. But don’t sit and wait for results – get on with your next project. When something’s rejected, polish it again, make it even better and find somewhere else to send it. You may collect a lot of rejection letters, but if you stick with it, you’ll get there. J
There’s no magic wand to make someone into a good writer, the most important thing is to work at your writing. Some people get lucky and sell a lot of books that aren’t very well written. Many more work at their craft for years before they sell anything. Writing is hard work – but it’s also tremendously rewarding to make something out of thin air.
Above all, remember to Read – Write – Edit.
Meg Kingston is an Independent Author. She’s sold work to some major magazines and retails her self-published paperback books through many outlets. She presents writing workshops and other events for a variety of organisations. Her books can be ordered through libraries and book retailers. Signed copies are also available direct from Meg at:
http://www.jaywalkerwriting.co.uk/
Just Add Writing: Release the Novel Inside You is Meg’s pocket guide to moving your writing on to the next stage. It’s down to earth, full of tips and with plenty of innovative exercises to inspire your writing. Many of the exercises are designed to work with random numbers and if you have a set of Dragon Dice, you’ll find them very useful!
Chrystal Heartis the first novel in a planned series of Steampunk novels, featuring Chrystal – a Victorian lady whose gemstone heart has kept her alive into the 21stcentury. You’ve never met anyone like Chrystal before! And you might just wish you had.
The MonSter and the Rainbow: Memoir of a Disability is Meg’s account of life with a chronic illness in a world that isn’t as equal as it thinks it is. If you ever wanted to read a non-whinging, bestselling book about life viewed from wheelchair height – this is it.
For more info or to contact Meg, visit:
http://megkingston.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MegKingstonA...
February 10, 2014
I grabbed a pre-release copy of Europe in Autumn by Dave ...
I grabbed a pre-release copy of Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson and had a chat with him about it. My review follows the interview. The book is now available.
Tell us a little about the world of the Europe in Autumn and how it differs from our own
Europe In Autumn is set - in Europe, oddly enough - somewhere between fifty and seventy years from now. It’s a world where the European Union, for various reasons – a flu pandemic, serial economic crises – has splintered and new nations have begun to pop up everywhere. Apart from that, and some new bits of technology, it’s really not all that different to the world we live in now.
How would you describe its genre? It's been compared to both Le Carre and Kafka, are you happy with the comparison?
It’s enormously flattering to be described like that. I usually have a hard time describing my stuff to people, but as far as I’m concerned Europe In Autumn is science fiction. Although I have started describing it as a near-future espionage thriller, because that sounds pretty cool.
How much were the original Coureurs Des Bois an influence?
In a way, they were pivotal. I first heard the term in the television adaptation of James Michener’s Centennial back in the 70s, I think, and the image of these French trappers running through the woods stuck with me for a very long time. I originally called the Coureurs in the book ‘Postmen,’ but that always seemed clunky and inadequate. So I renamed them ‘Coureurs,’ and there was kind of a sense of rightness, of things snapping together. I think that was the first time I realised there might be some mileage in the book. So yes, they were a big influence.
In my review I say that some of the ideas are Borgesian. Who would you say are the greatest influences on your writing?
I’m certainly a fan of Borges, although it’s been years since I read him. One of the biggest influences on my writing has been Keith Roberts. He could be a variable writer, but at his best – in stuff like Pavane and some of his short stories – he captured, I thought, a uniquely English voice and sense of landscape that I hadn’t encountered before in my reading. It was the first time I’d realised that science fiction could be about English people – and English people who ran cinemas and garages, at that – rather than Americans with starships. If you asked me which science fiction writer I’d most like to be ‘like,’ I’d have to say Roberts. I admire the hell out of his stuff and he seems not to be talked about so much any more, which I think is a shame.
Other influences are definitely Len Deighton and Raymond Chandler, and more pertinently for Europe In Autumn, Alan Furst, who writes these marvellous espionage novels set around the beginning of the Second World War. Structurally at least, and perhaps even in tone, his stuff influenced Europe In Autumm a lot.
You have a very broad canvas in the book and I especially liked how Estonia and Poland play a large part, have you travelled extensively in that part of Europe?
I’ve never visited Estonia but I have been to Poland a lot. It’s sort of become my default setting for stories, along with London and Scotland. A big chunk of my previous novel, The Villages, is set there, as well as at least two short stories that I can think of. I love Kraków; I think it’s a fantastic city. Gdansk – the Old Town, anyway - is pretty wonderful, too. The food is brilliant, the people are terrific and they don’t half know how to party.
How much research did you have to do?
Less than I did for The Villages, where I researched the Blitz to the point of obsession. I knew some of the settings from having been there, but I had to research the Estonian section just in order to describe it right. Oddly enough, I was helped by the fact that it took me such a long time to write the book; when I started, Google hadn’t been around all that long – it certainly wasn’t the all-consuming juggernaut it is now. There was no Flickr or Pinterest or Streetview or Wikipedia or Tumblr. If I’d tried to write the Estonian bit back then, it might have been quite different, but as it was by the time I got round to it the technology had caught up and the internet was full of photos of the manor house at Palmse and stuff about the national park and restaurant menus. I remember someone telling me that Thomas Pynchon had never visited England before he wrote Gravity’s Rainbow; he got all his information from guidebooks. And so did I. Best invention for a writer ever, the internet. Although maybe Twitter wasn’t such a great idea if you need to get things done...
If you could be a character from the book who would it be and why?
Hahaha! Good question. Well, it wouldn’t be Rudi; he has a terrible time, poor sod. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. I think I’d quite like to be one of the rangers in the national park in Estonia. It sounds like a smashing place. I hope I get to visit it one day.
What are you working on right now? (apart from this interview of course!) - <Please say the sequel will come soon....>
Right now I’m working on...not a sequel as such, more a companion to Europe In Autumn, which gives another angle on some of the events of the first book. That’s a lot more intentionally le Carré in tone. Over the past couple of weeks, though, I’ve started to see how there could be a direct sequel, although that’s still a kind of misty idea in the back of my head. I’m also working on a detective thriller about gnomes and the nature of Reality.
What are you most proud of about the book?
I’m insanely proud of the whole thing; I think it’s the best thing I’ve done. As I said, I wrote it, off and on, over a very long period, and I’m delighted that it hangs together the way it does. I did a lot of other stuff during that time, and my writing style changed and developed, so the fact that the joins aren’t hugely visible in the book pleases me a lot. The single partof the book I’m most proud of, oddly enough, is the Prague chapter. I read an article about the Czechoslovak television series The Thirty Cases Of Major Zeman about eight years ago, and sort of mentally tagged the title for a chapter heading without having the first idea what I was going to do with it. When it came to sit down and actually write something, I typed the title and ‘The war started on a Thursday,’ and the whole thing just wrote itself. I’m very pleased with the way that turned out.
I should say that no book really happens in isolation. A friend of mine proof-read and copy-edited the book while I was finishing it, and there are some things in it which wouldn’t have been there without her. Myself, I don’t think I would have got it finished at all without her help, and I will always be grateful.
Do you have a set writing process, if so what is it? What did you learn about writing whilst writing the book?
I don’t really have any set routine; I just sit down and write. I don’t need total silence or isolation to do it – I used to listen to a lot of late-night talk radio while I was writing because it made me angry and helped me concentrate – but I do need to sort of get into a groove, tune in to what I’m doing. If I can’t do that, I just wind up staring at the screen of my laptop sighing and shaking my head. I’ve found that I write dreadfulstuff, unsalvageable stuff, if I try to force it. There isn’t a magic formula; some days it clicks, some days it’s best just to mess around on Twitter and try again tomorrow.
I find the act of writing very hard. The bit of writing that I do enjoy is the imagining of stuff, and that can happen anywhere, any time. Stories start in different ways – with a title or an image or a character or a bit of dialogue – and then they cook for a while, gradually picking up other bits and pieces, until they kind of reach a critical mass where stuff needs to be written down. Sometimes a story will get written sequentially, from beginning to end, but it’s more usual for me to think up scenes and bits of dialogue out of sequence and bolt them together. After that, there’s a variable amount of rewriting. I think I spent two years rewriting The Villagesbefore it finally found a publisher and I had to stop, but I have published short stories – and no, I’m not going to tell you which ones – which were basically copy-edited first drafts.
I think the main thing I learned is that I’m still learning, still getting better. Europe In Autumn is quite different from, say, the stories in my collection As The Crow Flies. It’s really quite startling. I’m very pleased with all those stories, but they’re different, from another part of my life. Ten years from now, I might be writing something as different again from Europe In Autumn. I don’t know; all I can say for sure is that I will still be writing.
In one sentence what is your best piece of advice for new writers?
Don’t be afraid or embarrassed; write, and write, and write, and then write some more.
My Review Rudi is a chef hailing from Estonia who has wound up working in a Polish restaurant in an alternative history Krakow. Following devastating economic and medical crises Europe has splintered into a plethora of tiny polities and splinter states. When Rudi gets involved in crossing a border on behalf of his boss’s cousin he is drawn into a new career, part-spy, part postman, part people smuggler for an organisation called Les Coureurs des Bois (for which there is a real life equivalent - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coureur_des_bois). Starting as a part time past time Rudi is drawn ever further into the shadow machinations of espionage and counter-espionage, conspiracy and counter-conspiracy and the book winds us ever further into second guessing what is going on.
At first the genre element is very lightly done but later in the book we get to explore some very cool, almost Borgesian ideas, it has also been described as Le Carre meets Kafka which I think it deserves. I loved the fact that the really cool ideas are fully integrated with the plot and when we get to the revelation it feels natural. The Coureur organisation is quite a neat idea too, and I liked the introduction of the various special code words etc. Rudi’s induction into the organisation was very well done and the succession of rug pulling felt exciting and interesting and certainly kept me reading. My only, very minor, gripes here are to do with pacing, although I’m not a thriller reader so perhaps it’s just me but some of the set up feels a little slow, later when there are several POV changes it feels a bit like a series of resets. However the overall quality of the writing, the characterisation and the central premise are easily good enough for me to forgive this. My only real complaint is that I didn’t know if this was the first in a series and I felt a little disappointed when it ended, hoping for a sequel. Not sure that even counts as a complaint, wanting to spend more time in the world Hutchinson creates!
Overall - If you like spy thrillers, if you like alternative history, if you like SF&F I thoroughly recommend you check this out
Tell us a little about the world of the Europe in Autumn and how it differs from our own
Europe In Autumn is set - in Europe, oddly enough - somewhere between fifty and seventy years from now. It’s a world where the European Union, for various reasons – a flu pandemic, serial economic crises – has splintered and new nations have begun to pop up everywhere. Apart from that, and some new bits of technology, it’s really not all that different to the world we live in now.
How would you describe its genre? It's been compared to both Le Carre and Kafka, are you happy with the comparison?
It’s enormously flattering to be described like that. I usually have a hard time describing my stuff to people, but as far as I’m concerned Europe In Autumn is science fiction. Although I have started describing it as a near-future espionage thriller, because that sounds pretty cool.
How much were the original Coureurs Des Bois an influence?
In a way, they were pivotal. I first heard the term in the television adaptation of James Michener’s Centennial back in the 70s, I think, and the image of these French trappers running through the woods stuck with me for a very long time. I originally called the Coureurs in the book ‘Postmen,’ but that always seemed clunky and inadequate. So I renamed them ‘Coureurs,’ and there was kind of a sense of rightness, of things snapping together. I think that was the first time I realised there might be some mileage in the book. So yes, they were a big influence.
In my review I say that some of the ideas are Borgesian. Who would you say are the greatest influences on your writing?
I’m certainly a fan of Borges, although it’s been years since I read him. One of the biggest influences on my writing has been Keith Roberts. He could be a variable writer, but at his best – in stuff like Pavane and some of his short stories – he captured, I thought, a uniquely English voice and sense of landscape that I hadn’t encountered before in my reading. It was the first time I’d realised that science fiction could be about English people – and English people who ran cinemas and garages, at that – rather than Americans with starships. If you asked me which science fiction writer I’d most like to be ‘like,’ I’d have to say Roberts. I admire the hell out of his stuff and he seems not to be talked about so much any more, which I think is a shame.
Other influences are definitely Len Deighton and Raymond Chandler, and more pertinently for Europe In Autumn, Alan Furst, who writes these marvellous espionage novels set around the beginning of the Second World War. Structurally at least, and perhaps even in tone, his stuff influenced Europe In Autumm a lot.
You have a very broad canvas in the book and I especially liked how Estonia and Poland play a large part, have you travelled extensively in that part of Europe?
I’ve never visited Estonia but I have been to Poland a lot. It’s sort of become my default setting for stories, along with London and Scotland. A big chunk of my previous novel, The Villages, is set there, as well as at least two short stories that I can think of. I love Kraków; I think it’s a fantastic city. Gdansk – the Old Town, anyway - is pretty wonderful, too. The food is brilliant, the people are terrific and they don’t half know how to party.
How much research did you have to do?
Less than I did for The Villages, where I researched the Blitz to the point of obsession. I knew some of the settings from having been there, but I had to research the Estonian section just in order to describe it right. Oddly enough, I was helped by the fact that it took me such a long time to write the book; when I started, Google hadn’t been around all that long – it certainly wasn’t the all-consuming juggernaut it is now. There was no Flickr or Pinterest or Streetview or Wikipedia or Tumblr. If I’d tried to write the Estonian bit back then, it might have been quite different, but as it was by the time I got round to it the technology had caught up and the internet was full of photos of the manor house at Palmse and stuff about the national park and restaurant menus. I remember someone telling me that Thomas Pynchon had never visited England before he wrote Gravity’s Rainbow; he got all his information from guidebooks. And so did I. Best invention for a writer ever, the internet. Although maybe Twitter wasn’t such a great idea if you need to get things done...
If you could be a character from the book who would it be and why?
Hahaha! Good question. Well, it wouldn’t be Rudi; he has a terrible time, poor sod. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. I think I’d quite like to be one of the rangers in the national park in Estonia. It sounds like a smashing place. I hope I get to visit it one day.
What are you working on right now? (apart from this interview of course!) - <Please say the sequel will come soon....>
Right now I’m working on...not a sequel as such, more a companion to Europe In Autumn, which gives another angle on some of the events of the first book. That’s a lot more intentionally le Carré in tone. Over the past couple of weeks, though, I’ve started to see how there could be a direct sequel, although that’s still a kind of misty idea in the back of my head. I’m also working on a detective thriller about gnomes and the nature of Reality.
What are you most proud of about the book?
I’m insanely proud of the whole thing; I think it’s the best thing I’ve done. As I said, I wrote it, off and on, over a very long period, and I’m delighted that it hangs together the way it does. I did a lot of other stuff during that time, and my writing style changed and developed, so the fact that the joins aren’t hugely visible in the book pleases me a lot. The single partof the book I’m most proud of, oddly enough, is the Prague chapter. I read an article about the Czechoslovak television series The Thirty Cases Of Major Zeman about eight years ago, and sort of mentally tagged the title for a chapter heading without having the first idea what I was going to do with it. When it came to sit down and actually write something, I typed the title and ‘The war started on a Thursday,’ and the whole thing just wrote itself. I’m very pleased with the way that turned out.
I should say that no book really happens in isolation. A friend of mine proof-read and copy-edited the book while I was finishing it, and there are some things in it which wouldn’t have been there without her. Myself, I don’t think I would have got it finished at all without her help, and I will always be grateful.
Do you have a set writing process, if so what is it? What did you learn about writing whilst writing the book?
I don’t really have any set routine; I just sit down and write. I don’t need total silence or isolation to do it – I used to listen to a lot of late-night talk radio while I was writing because it made me angry and helped me concentrate – but I do need to sort of get into a groove, tune in to what I’m doing. If I can’t do that, I just wind up staring at the screen of my laptop sighing and shaking my head. I’ve found that I write dreadfulstuff, unsalvageable stuff, if I try to force it. There isn’t a magic formula; some days it clicks, some days it’s best just to mess around on Twitter and try again tomorrow.
I find the act of writing very hard. The bit of writing that I do enjoy is the imagining of stuff, and that can happen anywhere, any time. Stories start in different ways – with a title or an image or a character or a bit of dialogue – and then they cook for a while, gradually picking up other bits and pieces, until they kind of reach a critical mass where stuff needs to be written down. Sometimes a story will get written sequentially, from beginning to end, but it’s more usual for me to think up scenes and bits of dialogue out of sequence and bolt them together. After that, there’s a variable amount of rewriting. I think I spent two years rewriting The Villagesbefore it finally found a publisher and I had to stop, but I have published short stories – and no, I’m not going to tell you which ones – which were basically copy-edited first drafts.
I think the main thing I learned is that I’m still learning, still getting better. Europe In Autumn is quite different from, say, the stories in my collection As The Crow Flies. It’s really quite startling. I’m very pleased with all those stories, but they’re different, from another part of my life. Ten years from now, I might be writing something as different again from Europe In Autumn. I don’t know; all I can say for sure is that I will still be writing.
In one sentence what is your best piece of advice for new writers?
Don’t be afraid or embarrassed; write, and write, and write, and then write some more.
My Review Rudi is a chef hailing from Estonia who has wound up working in a Polish restaurant in an alternative history Krakow. Following devastating economic and medical crises Europe has splintered into a plethora of tiny polities and splinter states. When Rudi gets involved in crossing a border on behalf of his boss’s cousin he is drawn into a new career, part-spy, part postman, part people smuggler for an organisation called Les Coureurs des Bois (for which there is a real life equivalent - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coureur_des_bois). Starting as a part time past time Rudi is drawn ever further into the shadow machinations of espionage and counter-espionage, conspiracy and counter-conspiracy and the book winds us ever further into second guessing what is going on.
At first the genre element is very lightly done but later in the book we get to explore some very cool, almost Borgesian ideas, it has also been described as Le Carre meets Kafka which I think it deserves. I loved the fact that the really cool ideas are fully integrated with the plot and when we get to the revelation it feels natural. The Coureur organisation is quite a neat idea too, and I liked the introduction of the various special code words etc. Rudi’s induction into the organisation was very well done and the succession of rug pulling felt exciting and interesting and certainly kept me reading. My only, very minor, gripes here are to do with pacing, although I’m not a thriller reader so perhaps it’s just me but some of the set up feels a little slow, later when there are several POV changes it feels a bit like a series of resets. However the overall quality of the writing, the characterisation and the central premise are easily good enough for me to forgive this. My only real complaint is that I didn’t know if this was the first in a series and I felt a little disappointed when it ended, hoping for a sequel. Not sure that even counts as a complaint, wanting to spend more time in the world Hutchinson creates!
Overall - If you like spy thrillers, if you like alternative history, if you like SF&F I thoroughly recommend you check this out
February 7, 2014
Todays Guest post has been provided by Gaie Sebold. I tho...
Todays Guest post has been provided by Gaie Sebold. I thoughly recommend her rip roaring rollicking (run out of r's for any more alliteration but rest assured they're really good) Babylon Steel books, seek em out and give them a damn good reading.
Over to Gaie -
Pete has very kindly – and perhaps somewhat foolishly – asked me to give a list of my top ten writing tips. Having read over them I realise that they are not, in the main, tips on technique.
For technique, I’m just going to recommend a few books I return to over and over again. Nancy Kress: Dynamic Characters. Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey. Stephen King, On Writing. Dwight Swain, Techniques of the Selling Writer – (Swain is old fashioned, in some cases painfully so, but still has some good, practical advice). Donald Maass, Writing the Breakout Novel.
(Subclause: When looking for books on writing I recommend checking that the person whose book you are about to buy has actually had some success at writing and/or publishing the kind of fiction you’re interested in – not just at selling books about writing fiction. There is enough snake oil out there to submerge a continent.).
What follows are largely tips on how to make life easier for yourself as a writer and things which happen to be in the forefront of my mind right now. I hope they are of use - or at least of interest.
Gaie’s (current) top ten writing tips
1 Read. Please read. If you want to write for television it’s fine to spend a lot of your available time watching television (although I’d still suggest watching the kind of stuff you want to write – and reading television scripts, as that’s what you’ll be writing). If you want to write books, read books. In your genre. In other genres. The sort you want to write and the sort you wouldn’t dream of writing. For all sorts of reasons. You will learn a huge amount by sheer osmosis about pacing, plotting, and style. You will expand your working vocabulary. And you will get ideas. These are all good things. Also, just read, dammit. If you don’t read other people’s books, why would you expect other people to read yours?
2 Research is worth it. Even if you’re writing fantasy – in fact, especially if you’re writing fantasy, because those little details can help bring the story alive, and make it feel like a real, three-dimensional world. Also, fantasy and SF readers are often very well-informed people who know about things from rocket-science to the history of brewing to the difference between a longsword and a greatsword. If you don’t bother to at least try and get it right, you may irritate them, and they’ll go read someone else.
Another reason research is worth it – you never know when some odd little detail or character you discover will spark an entire new direction in your story, or an entirely new story.
(Sub-clause: you will, and should, do more research than you’ll ever use. Always remember you’re writing a story, not a treatise on 17thcentury cake-decorating, or whatever. However fascinating the details you’ve discovered, unless they have relevance to character development or plot, think hard about whether they need to be on the page).
(Extra bonus sub-clause, type a - things I didn’t do and wish I had: If you don’t have a lot of spare cash, set yourself a budget for research books, if you’re anything like me and cannot resist an excuse to buy books. I don’t think the taxman is going to believe my next claim. I’m not sure I do, and I was there.).
3 Do new things. Absorb stuff. Watch films. Read non-fiction. Go to art galleries and museums and sculpture parks and exhibitions. Get out into nature and surround yourself with space and green and silence. Get into the heart of a big city and surround yourself with crowds and buildings and chatter. Take a class in something new. Go to an event or a place you haven’t been before. Ideas are everywhere; sometimes you just need one new thing in your daily experience to set off a whole chain of them.
4 If you can, (and I know this is a hard one for some people) talk to your taxi-driver, to the woman behind the counter at the coffee shop, to your dentist (when you haven’t got a mouthful of metal and anaesthetic, obviously), to coppers and beauticians and undertakers. And don't just talk - ask questions. Listen. People have unexpected lives and know all sorts of unexpected things. If you find talking to strangers really uncomfortable, then watch interviews, read biographies and autobiographies. Engage with how other people, with different backgrounds, cultures, jobs, sexualities, view the world. People are the absolute base material of all fiction.
The last four points are all about filling the pot. The more you have in your pot, the more resources you have of ideas and approaches, characters and settings.
Now, emptying the pot.
5 Blocks and problems. I’m going to cheat a little here. Problems with actually getting the words out are legion and there is far more and better advice out there than I can give in a single blog post. If you’re struggling with blocks, I’d suggest Hilary Rettig’s Seven Secrets of the Prolific Writer as a good starting point. Clear, simple, humorous and effective.
6 Try to get yourself the best possible writing space. Even if that’s a café near work in your lunch hour, try to get a table that’s comfortable, out of drafts and somewhere your co-workers aren’t likely to come and interrupt you. If you’re working at home, again, comfort rules. Comfort makes it so much easier to work. I like having a dedicated writing space, my partner prefers to be flexible. Choose what works for you. Get a decent chair and an ergonomic keyboard if you possibly can.
(Sub-clause: for lunchtime/ post-work writing: Starbucks is not your only option. Look for other venues like arts centres or theatre bars – theatre bars are often very quiet at lunchtime and can be thoroughly writer-friendly).
7 Get the most decent equipment you can afford. I’m not talking about fancy software – just a keyboard you find easy to use, sufficient battery life, something not too heavy if you’re going to be lugging it around all day. Use pen and paper if you prefer it. Either way, carry it in something that will keep the rain out (seriously – I know people who’ve lost work to a downpour, not to mention expensive equipment). And back up. A lot.
8 There are free programmes to limit or shut off your internet access for given amounts of time; Freedom and Self Restraint are two I use. I really recommend programmes like these. Really.
9 Write what you love. Don’t write zombie tiger S&M because that’s currently selling – by the time you’ve written it, edited it, found a publisher or self-published (if you’re doing it properly self-publishing, while quicker than the other sort, still takes time) – the trend is likely to have changed or died anyway. Write zombie tiger S&M because you love it to bits and want other people to share your joy. Don’t write for the approval of parents, tutors, partners, or that divvy you met in college who made sniffy noises about ‘lowbrow’ fiction. That person probably now has a really boring life. Write what you love, what you can’t wait to get on the page, the stuff that makes you swoon or giggle with delight, the stuff that’s driven by the fury in your soul. Passion matters, and passion shows. If you’re writing by the numbers, slogging your way through, readers will smell it.
And besides, why would you do this if it wasn’t – well, maybe fun is the wrong word, because you might want to write stories that are brutal and grim and leave reality flayed and screaming on the operating table – if it wasn’t what you’re driven to do? It’s often frustrating and a grind and doesn’t generally pay that well. So don’t make it harder by forcing yourself to write things you don’t really care about.
10 Do the work. Do the work when you’re feeling as though you don’t know anything, as though you’ve never had a decent idea in your life, or had one and have now used it and will never have another. Do the work even when you think that everyone loathes every word you ever wrote or said or so much as thought. Do the work when it feels as though there’s a massive conspiracy against anything you do getting anywhere or being seen by anyone or making any money or having any impact whatsoever. Do the work when it feels completely pointless.
Because the work is never pointless. Even if this particular piece doesn’t get you where you want, it’s another step on the road, it’s a brick in the house you're building, it’s practice. Do the work. The work is always worth it.
Gaie Sebold February 2014 Gaie Sebold is the author of the Babylon Steel series (Solaris) – the adventures of a heroine who runs a brothel while dealing with Fey, mad wizards, vengeful gods, tax collectors and other dangerous creatures. Her new book, Shanghai Sparrow, a steampunk spy caper, is due out shortly. She has had a number of short stories published, including one in the current David Gemmell Memorial Anthology, Legend. She also runs writing workshops, cooks, gardens, occasionally hits people with swords and procrastinates at Olympic level. Her website is at www.gaiesebold.com
Over to Gaie -
Pete has very kindly – and perhaps somewhat foolishly – asked me to give a list of my top ten writing tips. Having read over them I realise that they are not, in the main, tips on technique.
For technique, I’m just going to recommend a few books I return to over and over again. Nancy Kress: Dynamic Characters. Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey. Stephen King, On Writing. Dwight Swain, Techniques of the Selling Writer – (Swain is old fashioned, in some cases painfully so, but still has some good, practical advice). Donald Maass, Writing the Breakout Novel.
(Subclause: When looking for books on writing I recommend checking that the person whose book you are about to buy has actually had some success at writing and/or publishing the kind of fiction you’re interested in – not just at selling books about writing fiction. There is enough snake oil out there to submerge a continent.).
What follows are largely tips on how to make life easier for yourself as a writer and things which happen to be in the forefront of my mind right now. I hope they are of use - or at least of interest.
Gaie’s (current) top ten writing tips
1 Read. Please read. If you want to write for television it’s fine to spend a lot of your available time watching television (although I’d still suggest watching the kind of stuff you want to write – and reading television scripts, as that’s what you’ll be writing). If you want to write books, read books. In your genre. In other genres. The sort you want to write and the sort you wouldn’t dream of writing. For all sorts of reasons. You will learn a huge amount by sheer osmosis about pacing, plotting, and style. You will expand your working vocabulary. And you will get ideas. These are all good things. Also, just read, dammit. If you don’t read other people’s books, why would you expect other people to read yours?
2 Research is worth it. Even if you’re writing fantasy – in fact, especially if you’re writing fantasy, because those little details can help bring the story alive, and make it feel like a real, three-dimensional world. Also, fantasy and SF readers are often very well-informed people who know about things from rocket-science to the history of brewing to the difference between a longsword and a greatsword. If you don’t bother to at least try and get it right, you may irritate them, and they’ll go read someone else.
Another reason research is worth it – you never know when some odd little detail or character you discover will spark an entire new direction in your story, or an entirely new story.
(Sub-clause: you will, and should, do more research than you’ll ever use. Always remember you’re writing a story, not a treatise on 17thcentury cake-decorating, or whatever. However fascinating the details you’ve discovered, unless they have relevance to character development or plot, think hard about whether they need to be on the page).
(Extra bonus sub-clause, type a - things I didn’t do and wish I had: If you don’t have a lot of spare cash, set yourself a budget for research books, if you’re anything like me and cannot resist an excuse to buy books. I don’t think the taxman is going to believe my next claim. I’m not sure I do, and I was there.).
3 Do new things. Absorb stuff. Watch films. Read non-fiction. Go to art galleries and museums and sculpture parks and exhibitions. Get out into nature and surround yourself with space and green and silence. Get into the heart of a big city and surround yourself with crowds and buildings and chatter. Take a class in something new. Go to an event or a place you haven’t been before. Ideas are everywhere; sometimes you just need one new thing in your daily experience to set off a whole chain of them.
4 If you can, (and I know this is a hard one for some people) talk to your taxi-driver, to the woman behind the counter at the coffee shop, to your dentist (when you haven’t got a mouthful of metal and anaesthetic, obviously), to coppers and beauticians and undertakers. And don't just talk - ask questions. Listen. People have unexpected lives and know all sorts of unexpected things. If you find talking to strangers really uncomfortable, then watch interviews, read biographies and autobiographies. Engage with how other people, with different backgrounds, cultures, jobs, sexualities, view the world. People are the absolute base material of all fiction.
The last four points are all about filling the pot. The more you have in your pot, the more resources you have of ideas and approaches, characters and settings.
Now, emptying the pot.
5 Blocks and problems. I’m going to cheat a little here. Problems with actually getting the words out are legion and there is far more and better advice out there than I can give in a single blog post. If you’re struggling with blocks, I’d suggest Hilary Rettig’s Seven Secrets of the Prolific Writer as a good starting point. Clear, simple, humorous and effective.
6 Try to get yourself the best possible writing space. Even if that’s a café near work in your lunch hour, try to get a table that’s comfortable, out of drafts and somewhere your co-workers aren’t likely to come and interrupt you. If you’re working at home, again, comfort rules. Comfort makes it so much easier to work. I like having a dedicated writing space, my partner prefers to be flexible. Choose what works for you. Get a decent chair and an ergonomic keyboard if you possibly can.
(Sub-clause: for lunchtime/ post-work writing: Starbucks is not your only option. Look for other venues like arts centres or theatre bars – theatre bars are often very quiet at lunchtime and can be thoroughly writer-friendly).
7 Get the most decent equipment you can afford. I’m not talking about fancy software – just a keyboard you find easy to use, sufficient battery life, something not too heavy if you’re going to be lugging it around all day. Use pen and paper if you prefer it. Either way, carry it in something that will keep the rain out (seriously – I know people who’ve lost work to a downpour, not to mention expensive equipment). And back up. A lot.
8 There are free programmes to limit or shut off your internet access for given amounts of time; Freedom and Self Restraint are two I use. I really recommend programmes like these. Really.
9 Write what you love. Don’t write zombie tiger S&M because that’s currently selling – by the time you’ve written it, edited it, found a publisher or self-published (if you’re doing it properly self-publishing, while quicker than the other sort, still takes time) – the trend is likely to have changed or died anyway. Write zombie tiger S&M because you love it to bits and want other people to share your joy. Don’t write for the approval of parents, tutors, partners, or that divvy you met in college who made sniffy noises about ‘lowbrow’ fiction. That person probably now has a really boring life. Write what you love, what you can’t wait to get on the page, the stuff that makes you swoon or giggle with delight, the stuff that’s driven by the fury in your soul. Passion matters, and passion shows. If you’re writing by the numbers, slogging your way through, readers will smell it.
And besides, why would you do this if it wasn’t – well, maybe fun is the wrong word, because you might want to write stories that are brutal and grim and leave reality flayed and screaming on the operating table – if it wasn’t what you’re driven to do? It’s often frustrating and a grind and doesn’t generally pay that well. So don’t make it harder by forcing yourself to write things you don’t really care about.
10 Do the work. Do the work when you’re feeling as though you don’t know anything, as though you’ve never had a decent idea in your life, or had one and have now used it and will never have another. Do the work even when you think that everyone loathes every word you ever wrote or said or so much as thought. Do the work when it feels as though there’s a massive conspiracy against anything you do getting anywhere or being seen by anyone or making any money or having any impact whatsoever. Do the work when it feels completely pointless.
Because the work is never pointless. Even if this particular piece doesn’t get you where you want, it’s another step on the road, it’s a brick in the house you're building, it’s practice. Do the work. The work is always worth it.
Gaie Sebold February 2014 Gaie Sebold is the author of the Babylon Steel series (Solaris) – the adventures of a heroine who runs a brothel while dealing with Fey, mad wizards, vengeful gods, tax collectors and other dangerous creatures. Her new book, Shanghai Sparrow, a steampunk spy caper, is due out shortly. She has had a number of short stories published, including one in the current David Gemmell Memorial Anthology, Legend. She also runs writing workshops, cooks, gardens, occasionally hits people with swords and procrastinates at Olympic level. Her website is at www.gaiesebold.com
February 6, 2014
Bristol Bad Film ClubHaving thoroughly enjoyed attending ...
Bristol Bad Film Club
Having thoroughly enjoyed attending Bristol Bad Film Club I asked the guys a few questions. Why films when this is a book blog? Well as well as books I'm a keen film fan and occasionally do rant and/or froth on here about film ( you may remember this rant from May last year - http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/this-rant-may-contain-spoilers-if-you.html) Anyway without further ado here are Ti & Tim to tell you all about Bristol Bad Film Club:
Can you introduce yourselves and explain what the Bad Film Club is & where to find you on the net & elsewhere?
Tim: I'm Tim Popple, father of two, lover of bad puns, music administrator by day, self-confessed film geek by night.
Ti: Timon Singh. The mouth of the Bristol Bad Film Club. I'd say Tim's the brain... but I'll take that title too.
You can click through to bristolbadfilmclub.co.uk, follow us on twitter, @TheOtherBBFC, or like us on Facebook. How did you guys meet and who came up with the idea to have a Bristol Bad Film Club?
Ti: We actually met via the Empire film forum, however a few years later Tim moved to Bristol and soon we were beering and filming together.
The idea for the bad film club was actually mine. It came to me after having a double bill of The Room and Samurai Cop with some friends in June. After becoming rather obsessed with The Room, I was upset that nowhere in Bristol appeared to do regular screenings of cult films. In London and other major cities, there appeared to be a cinema or community club that did something similar, so I thought we could do the same for Bristol. How hard could it be? Turns out it was rather complex...What do you class as a proper bad film?
Tim: It has to be entertaining. It has to have tried. A film like The Phantom Menace is just bad. A film like Samurai Cop has tried to be a great film, and failed on every level, and through that failure has become immensely entertaining. We're laughing at the incompetence that has created these perfect storms of films, but we're doing it in a good-natured way. The obvious question, that most people will want to know, is how do you choose the films? Have you got a list of possibles as long as your arm or do you choose them as you go?
Ti: I actually have a long list which I add to as and when I discover a potential gem. I actually like to watch bad films in my spare time. Either I host a bad movie night, where I show my latest discoveries to friends and gauge their reaction or I watch them alone, when my girlfriend has gone to bed.
The trick with picking a film is that it has to be both 'bad' and highly entertaining. There would be nothing worse than watching a bad film that wasn't amusing in any way and would just be a torturous 90 minutes. What's been your favourite film you've shown so far (or is that like a parent trying to choose a favourite child?)
Ti: Samurai Cop. I love Samurai Cop so much. It's the film that just keeps on giving. Whether it's the awful wigs, the gratutious nudity or cars that explode for no reason, I can't not watch that film and be entertained. Before we screened the film last September, I'd probably seen it about three times. And I'd only discovered it four months earlier...
Tim: Starcrash. Everything about the screening was perfect. The film, which is such high camp, the audience, who reacted so brilliantly to everything, and the location at the Planetarium, which was a fantastic end to the year.How many times have you watched the films that you show before the event itself?
Tim: At least one of us has always seen the films beforehand. We'd never show something "blind", without having vetted it to make sure it is entertainingly bad. In some cases, we've seen them many, many times. Possibly more times than is healthy...What's the one film you have watched more than any other (doesn't have to be a "bad" film)?
Ti: Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Tim: Back to the Future.What's the worst film you've ever seen and why?
Ti: Scary Movie 3. I was young, drunk and at uni and it seemed like a good idea at the time. It wasn't. How could David Zucker (The Naked Gun, Airplane!) fall so far?
Tim: Ever? Tough call. In recent years it was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which was made so very much worse because the people involved were all capable of so much better. What's your favourite bad film and why?
Ti: It alternates between Samurai Cop and The Room, but for the sake of consistency, let's go with Samurai Cop! Where else can you see Robert Z'Dar hiding in a laundry basket to kill a witness in a hospital... despite the fact he's disguised as a doctor?
Tim: The Room. Since I first saw it, it's been The Room. It defies everything you expect in a film. It's brilliant. It's awful. It's perfect. It's an abomination.What do you ascribe the success of the bad film club format?
Ti: Beer. Beer always helps. But truthfully, I think it's because we view our screenings as good old fashioned entertainment. We know the films we're showing aren't good, so it gives us more freedom to have fun with it. Couple that with beer and it's good times for all.I like the fact that you do research and show other stuff beside the films (this is always entertaining) & you obviously have a lot of fun doing this but how much "work" is involved in each event?
Tim: Like an elegant swan, there's a lot of paddling beneath the water to ensure everything is smooth on top. Liaising with venues is the easy part. The obscurity of some of the films we show makes tracking down exactly who holds the screening licence a trial and a half. But we do this because we love these films; it's fun, not a chore, and that's all made worthwhile when we can see the audience reaction to what we've organised.What makes these films so compelling? After all they may have bombed and be recognised as absolute stinkers but something elevates these particular films from merely bad films such as say Battlefield Earth (which many people say is a truly bad film, although I must confess I've not seen it)
Ti: I think films like Battlefield Earth fail for one or two reasons - it's often script or acting. Most of the time, big budget failures have a lot of things going for it, in terms of effects or production talent. However the films we show are often from the time when VHS was king, and a large number of cheap knock-offs were being made to compete with the blockbusters.
After all, if your dad is in the video shop, he's not really going to know the difference, at first glance, between Predator and RoboWar. They both look similar, have identical concepts, but whereas one is an action classic, the other was put together by people who had literally no idea what they were doing. And that's hilarious.
It's the fact that these films were rushed into production with no talent in front or behind the camera, but the intention was still to make a decent (or at least watchable film), that makes them such a trainwreck. Or in our case, goldmine. Why do you think these films work best with a group of people?
Tim: I think Ti said it best with the one word answer, 'beer'. It's the shared experience of seeing something that you can't quite believe was made. The films are often so ridiculous, so unbelievable, that sharing it with others is the only way to make sense of it. And comedy always works better with company. And beer. Did we mention the beer?How do you choose the charities you support with the club?
Ti: We know a lot of people involved in assorted charities, so again it's all about working down a list. Although many of our venues have charities that they'd like to support and we're completely ok with that. With the advent of crowdfunding do you think that there will be a new era in bad films?
Ti: I think crowd-funding is great and it's led to the production of some films that really hark back to the classic 80s/VHS days - such as Kung Fury. However these films are more loving tributes to the genre instead of 'all-out dreadful'. I think as long as people want to make films, completely unaware of their own lack of talent, we'll always have bad films. Seemingly SF & F spawn more bad films than other genres, why do you think this is?
Tim: SF and F inherently need a bigger budget, by merit of the effects that are needed. If you have no talent in front of or behind the camera, and a budget of £4.20, you're not going to get great effects. The result is, as you might expect, gold.One of my"highlights" of bad film is bad dialogue - what film has the worst dialogue do you think? What's your favourite example of bad dialogue?
Ti: The Room's dialogue is bizarre as it sounds the script was written via Google Translate. However, that just makes it unique and hilarious (as well as stilted).
In terms of straight-up 'bad dialogue', it's often the phrases that just serve as pure exposition, such as the 'Solaranite' scene in Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Tim: This one really is like choosing a favourite child. Miami Connection, which we showed in January, has some awful "this isn't really exposition dialogue" examples, delivered woodenly. Each film has its own example of bad dialogue, but Starcrash has a winner for me, with, "IMPERIAL STARSHIP: HALT...THE FLOW OF TIME", for the sheer balls to introduce such an obvious deus ex machina in a phenomenally cackhanded way. It's also impressive.
So far there have been no zombie films, is that because they are too obvious? Are there any films or genres that you'll steer clear of?
Tim: When we find the right zombie film with the perfect balance of good intentions, bad execution, hilarious result, it'll be on the list... In terms of other genres? If it's bad and entertaining, then we're game. What's next for the club? Tell us a little about the next film.
Ti: Currently, I'm still in the middle of trying to get permission for us to show it, but if all goes to plan, it'll be sharktacular. Many thanks to Ti & Tim. The next film to be shown is The Room on the 20th February - you can buy tickets here: https://ti.to/bristol-bad-film-club/the-room-screening
Having thoroughly enjoyed attending Bristol Bad Film Club I asked the guys a few questions. Why films when this is a book blog? Well as well as books I'm a keen film fan and occasionally do rant and/or froth on here about film ( you may remember this rant from May last year - http://brsbkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/this-rant-may-contain-spoilers-if-you.html) Anyway without further ado here are Ti & Tim to tell you all about Bristol Bad Film Club:
Can you introduce yourselves and explain what the Bad Film Club is & where to find you on the net & elsewhere?
Tim: I'm Tim Popple, father of two, lover of bad puns, music administrator by day, self-confessed film geek by night.
Ti: Timon Singh. The mouth of the Bristol Bad Film Club. I'd say Tim's the brain... but I'll take that title too.
You can click through to bristolbadfilmclub.co.uk, follow us on twitter, @TheOtherBBFC, or like us on Facebook. How did you guys meet and who came up with the idea to have a Bristol Bad Film Club?
Ti: We actually met via the Empire film forum, however a few years later Tim moved to Bristol and soon we were beering and filming together.
The idea for the bad film club was actually mine. It came to me after having a double bill of The Room and Samurai Cop with some friends in June. After becoming rather obsessed with The Room, I was upset that nowhere in Bristol appeared to do regular screenings of cult films. In London and other major cities, there appeared to be a cinema or community club that did something similar, so I thought we could do the same for Bristol. How hard could it be? Turns out it was rather complex...What do you class as a proper bad film?
Tim: It has to be entertaining. It has to have tried. A film like The Phantom Menace is just bad. A film like Samurai Cop has tried to be a great film, and failed on every level, and through that failure has become immensely entertaining. We're laughing at the incompetence that has created these perfect storms of films, but we're doing it in a good-natured way. The obvious question, that most people will want to know, is how do you choose the films? Have you got a list of possibles as long as your arm or do you choose them as you go?
Ti: I actually have a long list which I add to as and when I discover a potential gem. I actually like to watch bad films in my spare time. Either I host a bad movie night, where I show my latest discoveries to friends and gauge their reaction or I watch them alone, when my girlfriend has gone to bed.
The trick with picking a film is that it has to be both 'bad' and highly entertaining. There would be nothing worse than watching a bad film that wasn't amusing in any way and would just be a torturous 90 minutes. What's been your favourite film you've shown so far (or is that like a parent trying to choose a favourite child?)
Ti: Samurai Cop. I love Samurai Cop so much. It's the film that just keeps on giving. Whether it's the awful wigs, the gratutious nudity or cars that explode for no reason, I can't not watch that film and be entertained. Before we screened the film last September, I'd probably seen it about three times. And I'd only discovered it four months earlier...
Tim: Starcrash. Everything about the screening was perfect. The film, which is such high camp, the audience, who reacted so brilliantly to everything, and the location at the Planetarium, which was a fantastic end to the year.How many times have you watched the films that you show before the event itself?
Tim: At least one of us has always seen the films beforehand. We'd never show something "blind", without having vetted it to make sure it is entertainingly bad. In some cases, we've seen them many, many times. Possibly more times than is healthy...What's the one film you have watched more than any other (doesn't have to be a "bad" film)?
Ti: Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Tim: Back to the Future.What's the worst film you've ever seen and why?
Ti: Scary Movie 3. I was young, drunk and at uni and it seemed like a good idea at the time. It wasn't. How could David Zucker (The Naked Gun, Airplane!) fall so far?
Tim: Ever? Tough call. In recent years it was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which was made so very much worse because the people involved were all capable of so much better. What's your favourite bad film and why?
Ti: It alternates between Samurai Cop and The Room, but for the sake of consistency, let's go with Samurai Cop! Where else can you see Robert Z'Dar hiding in a laundry basket to kill a witness in a hospital... despite the fact he's disguised as a doctor?
Tim: The Room. Since I first saw it, it's been The Room. It defies everything you expect in a film. It's brilliant. It's awful. It's perfect. It's an abomination.What do you ascribe the success of the bad film club format?
Ti: Beer. Beer always helps. But truthfully, I think it's because we view our screenings as good old fashioned entertainment. We know the films we're showing aren't good, so it gives us more freedom to have fun with it. Couple that with beer and it's good times for all.I like the fact that you do research and show other stuff beside the films (this is always entertaining) & you obviously have a lot of fun doing this but how much "work" is involved in each event?
Tim: Like an elegant swan, there's a lot of paddling beneath the water to ensure everything is smooth on top. Liaising with venues is the easy part. The obscurity of some of the films we show makes tracking down exactly who holds the screening licence a trial and a half. But we do this because we love these films; it's fun, not a chore, and that's all made worthwhile when we can see the audience reaction to what we've organised.What makes these films so compelling? After all they may have bombed and be recognised as absolute stinkers but something elevates these particular films from merely bad films such as say Battlefield Earth (which many people say is a truly bad film, although I must confess I've not seen it)
Ti: I think films like Battlefield Earth fail for one or two reasons - it's often script or acting. Most of the time, big budget failures have a lot of things going for it, in terms of effects or production talent. However the films we show are often from the time when VHS was king, and a large number of cheap knock-offs were being made to compete with the blockbusters.
After all, if your dad is in the video shop, he's not really going to know the difference, at first glance, between Predator and RoboWar. They both look similar, have identical concepts, but whereas one is an action classic, the other was put together by people who had literally no idea what they were doing. And that's hilarious.
It's the fact that these films were rushed into production with no talent in front or behind the camera, but the intention was still to make a decent (or at least watchable film), that makes them such a trainwreck. Or in our case, goldmine. Why do you think these films work best with a group of people?
Tim: I think Ti said it best with the one word answer, 'beer'. It's the shared experience of seeing something that you can't quite believe was made. The films are often so ridiculous, so unbelievable, that sharing it with others is the only way to make sense of it. And comedy always works better with company. And beer. Did we mention the beer?How do you choose the charities you support with the club?
Ti: We know a lot of people involved in assorted charities, so again it's all about working down a list. Although many of our venues have charities that they'd like to support and we're completely ok with that. With the advent of crowdfunding do you think that there will be a new era in bad films?
Ti: I think crowd-funding is great and it's led to the production of some films that really hark back to the classic 80s/VHS days - such as Kung Fury. However these films are more loving tributes to the genre instead of 'all-out dreadful'. I think as long as people want to make films, completely unaware of their own lack of talent, we'll always have bad films. Seemingly SF & F spawn more bad films than other genres, why do you think this is?
Tim: SF and F inherently need a bigger budget, by merit of the effects that are needed. If you have no talent in front of or behind the camera, and a budget of £4.20, you're not going to get great effects. The result is, as you might expect, gold.One of my"highlights" of bad film is bad dialogue - what film has the worst dialogue do you think? What's your favourite example of bad dialogue?
Ti: The Room's dialogue is bizarre as it sounds the script was written via Google Translate. However, that just makes it unique and hilarious (as well as stilted).
In terms of straight-up 'bad dialogue', it's often the phrases that just serve as pure exposition, such as the 'Solaranite' scene in Plan 9 From Outer Space.
Tim: This one really is like choosing a favourite child. Miami Connection, which we showed in January, has some awful "this isn't really exposition dialogue" examples, delivered woodenly. Each film has its own example of bad dialogue, but Starcrash has a winner for me, with, "IMPERIAL STARSHIP: HALT...THE FLOW OF TIME", for the sheer balls to introduce such an obvious deus ex machina in a phenomenally cackhanded way. It's also impressive.
So far there have been no zombie films, is that because they are too obvious? Are there any films or genres that you'll steer clear of?
Tim: When we find the right zombie film with the perfect balance of good intentions, bad execution, hilarious result, it'll be on the list... In terms of other genres? If it's bad and entertaining, then we're game. What's next for the club? Tell us a little about the next film.
Ti: Currently, I'm still in the middle of trying to get permission for us to show it, but if all goes to plan, it'll be sharktacular. Many thanks to Ti & Tim. The next film to be shown is The Room on the 20th February - you can buy tickets here: https://ti.to/bristol-bad-film-club/the-room-screening
February 5, 2014
How Fiction Works by James Wood Average Woods i...
How Fiction Works by James Wood
Average
Woods introduces the book by comparing what he is attempting to do with The elements of drawing by John Ruskin. A book that aimed to be a primer by casting a critic’s eye over the business of creation, to help the practising painter, the curious viewer, the ordinary art lover… So in creating this book Wood says In this book I try to ask some of the essential questions about the art of fiction and it is supposed to be aimed at both writers and a general audience who want to know how books work without doing formal literary criticism. A specialists guide for the non-specialist supposedly.
It starts well using clear examples that are a mix of contemporary and classic. However Wood soon forgets that he is aiming the book at a general audience and it starts to enter the rarefied air of almost academic literary criticism. The earlier chapters I fully grasped and found interesting but when he started on a chapter called a history of consciousness I confess he lost me and subsequent chapters on dialogue and realism never really got me back. Wood also falls into the trap of good fiction = only the fiction he likes and he really really likes Flaubert. When he starts being sniffy about “why genre isn’t any good” he lost my good opinion completely and when he starts criticising other critics at the end of the book it meant I drew a sigh of relief when it was all over.
Overall – starts well but soon becomes stuffy, I can’t recommend this. One for the discard pile.
Average
Woods introduces the book by comparing what he is attempting to do with The elements of drawing by John Ruskin. A book that aimed to be a primer by casting a critic’s eye over the business of creation, to help the practising painter, the curious viewer, the ordinary art lover… So in creating this book Wood says In this book I try to ask some of the essential questions about the art of fiction and it is supposed to be aimed at both writers and a general audience who want to know how books work without doing formal literary criticism. A specialists guide for the non-specialist supposedly.
It starts well using clear examples that are a mix of contemporary and classic. However Wood soon forgets that he is aiming the book at a general audience and it starts to enter the rarefied air of almost academic literary criticism. The earlier chapters I fully grasped and found interesting but when he started on a chapter called a history of consciousness I confess he lost me and subsequent chapters on dialogue and realism never really got me back. Wood also falls into the trap of good fiction = only the fiction he likes and he really really likes Flaubert. When he starts being sniffy about “why genre isn’t any good” he lost my good opinion completely and when he starts criticising other critics at the end of the book it meant I drew a sigh of relief when it was all over.
Overall – starts well but soon becomes stuffy, I can’t recommend this. One for the discard pile.
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