State of the Beecroft update
Off to hospital tomorrow to swallow a camera so they can check whether this is a stomach ulcer or not. They sounded alarmed that I’ve been steadily getting more anemic even while I was taking iron tablets, and instead of going “Take this and come back in a month” they’re now going, “OK, next week is too far away, can you come in tomorrow?” I can’t say I’m looking forward to it, but I get the choice to be sedated while it happens, so I think I’ll go for that.
This has all put a bit of a crimp on the writing, but I have started a new book and am 8000 words in. As is typical of me, having blogged about the Fantasy I began thinking “This needs more research time,” and have ended up writing a contemporary instead. This is fun because I have decided to take a leaf out of many peoples’ books (Midsomer, St. Mary Meade etc) and create my own small English city rather than set the book somewhere that really exists. So now I’m enjoying mapping out the environs and features of Trowchester, which will contain everything I find at all interesting and nothing I don’t. This satisfies my desire to worldbuild while also being cosily familiar, and I can do with as much cosy as I can get at the moment.
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You're making me very nervous. :-( WTH is going on over there, Alex?
Josh wrote: "You're making me very nervous. :-( WTH is going on over there, Alex?"Health wise or book wise? Health-wise, I had the endoscopy and it's not a stomach ulcer, so I have to go back for more tests on 21st of October and still don't know what's up. Book-wise, since everyone seems to prefer contemporaries, I'm having another go at learning to write them ;)
Alex wrote: "Josh wrote: "You're making me very nervous. :-( WTH is going on over there, Alex?"Health wise or book wise? Health-wise, I had the endoscopy and it's not a stomach ulcer, so I have to go back fo..."
Well, both of course. But the health stuff is worrying. I'm sure it's all fine! It's just so tiresome when the damned machine runs out of oil or loses a screw. :-D
Yay for trying something new! Always good to keep pushing those boundaries, right?
Josh wrote: "Yay for trying something new! Always good to keep pushing those boundaries, right?"Yes. The health stuff is making everything other than writing really hard at the moment. I do the daily writing and then there's nothing left over for anything else. But I am actually having fun with this contemporary!
I finally figured out that just because it was modern-set didn't mean it had to be slavishly realistic, any more than Alistair Maclean's stories are realistic. The fact that I can fill the thing with statistical outliers if I want makes me feel liberated and therefore a lot more enthusiastic.
Alex wrote: "Josh wrote: "Yay for trying something new! Always good to keep pushing those boundaries, right?"Yes. The health stuff is making everything other than writing really hard at the moment. I do the d..."
Exactly. I had the same epiphany this weekend with the next Dangerous Ground novella. It suddenly occurred to me that I was struggling for realism in something that is patterned after TV show bromance. :-D That conflict was killing the fun of it.
Josh wrote: It suddenly occurred to me that I was struggling for realism in something that is patterned after TV show bromance. :-D"Yes, who needs realism? We're writing fiction. All we need is enough verisimilitude to allow the reader to suspend their disbelief, and enough entertainment value for them to want to. Real life is what we all live with all the time, and it's generally not that interesting.
Alex wrote: "Josh wrote: It suddenly occurred to me that I was struggling for realism in something that is patterned after TV show bromance. :-D"Yes, who needs realism? We're writing fiction. All we need is e..."
Well, and certainly stories need to be realistic and certain stories just...don't. :-D Realism messes the whole thing up!
