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This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
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This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. It follows on from the old one, which is now full. An index of topics from old and new can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"  Feel free to comment and interact. And to suggest topics! |
| Novel #33 We come to a novel that I am not sure how to categorise. The idea is stupid, and the delivery is not the best, but I do like the characters, and I did kill a few characters off, and the ending makes sense. I also liked the setting, based originally on a local development that was being built on the site of an old reservoir, but changed completely. Still, there’s just something about it that feels… odd In the end, though, Cats And Rats is pulp fiction at its finest (worst?), and the title gives away everything about the story. It clocks in at around 61,000 words, but its one beta reader think the ending should be extended out to increase the tension. Now, I started this in 2012 as part of National Novel Writing Month, an American thing that at the time had started to penetrate into some sections of the Australian writing community. I tried to finish it during the month of November, but I failed because I ended up in hospital for 10 or so days. I got 50k words done before being shunted in, but the story was not completed until December. In the end, 33 days of writing saw this completed. I wasn’t working at the time, so I had a lot of time on my hands. This tale started with a very simple premise – I drew a picture some years before of a rat-man hybrid creature and decided to write about them. But the fantasy setting made them way too clichéd, and so I struggled. A short story did come of it, but it is not very good. Then, some years later it came to me in a flash of what we shall call inspiration that it needed a modern setting, so an urban fantasy/horror story idea was born. To give you an idea of where it initially went in my head, the working title was Crazy Cat Lady, and a whole bunch of crazy cat ladies make an appearance, and they turned out to be very important. By the time the story was fully formed I had pipes and a forest and stupid cops. I had the beginning, I had a middle scene and I had the ending all formed, so I just started to write, hoping to get from the beginning to the end via other scenes without too much trouble. I sort of thought it’d be a long novella (short novel?), around 40k words. The story was pretty flimsy at best, the characters didn’t really grow that much, and it was all by the numbers in what happened. But as I wrote it I realised that I had so much stuff in my head that it was going to be longer than I thought. Every chapter had something happen in it, it moves along at a not too bad pace and if the characters are a little like 2-dimensional stereotypes (even if I like them), so be it. It’s the story and the ride. This novel is, in fact, truly mediocre. But that’s okay, because I have read so much “professional” stuff that is truly mediocre, including from several multi-national huge publishing companies. So maybe mediocre is what they look for today. (Insert winking smiley here  …)Excerpt: “Please. I assure you, I am not crazy,” he tried. Joseph saw a small, fur-covered, long-fingered hand grasp the edge of the stairwell. He opened his mouth but the words stuck in his throat. Instead, all he could do was point with a trembling finger. The lawnmower man shook his head and looked down with contempt. With a speed that terrified Joseph three hands all reached up and grabbed the lawnmower man where they could, and then pulled down hard and just as fast. He lost his balance and tumbled from view in the blink of an eye, his scream ending with a very wet, echoing thud, the light from his torch switching off at the same time. But it was only when the head arose from the darkness, sniffing at the air, that Joseph moved. The small eyes set on him and narrowed, and he threw himself out of the door, then shoved it shut behind him. His trembling hands caused him to fumble too often and there was no need to guess just what the solid thing that slammed into the door from the inside was. There is a bit to like about this story, and I should go back and do a rewrite and update of it, because it is the sort of tale that seems to fit in with some of the weird or bizarre stories coming out at the moment. Again, a new beta reader probably also wouldn’t go astray… |
| Government Types I mentioned in a couple of reviews that the government style in a fantasy story didn’t work for the people involved, the setting used, and the time. Most modern writers use democracy as we know it, but that does not translate to the settings described. Or they use monarchy as we see it in the twenty-first century; absolute rule is a concept hard to get your head around. However, there are other forms of government that could help bring a fantasy or science fiction (or fictional country) to life. Etymologically-minded folks should note the difference between the suffix '-archy', meaning 'rulership', and '-cracy', meaning 'power', which both come from Greek roots. Later Classical scholars conflated the two… As happened. A lot. anarchy = government by none androcracy = government by men/ males aristarchy = government by the best aristocracy = government by the nobility (in particular, hereditary nobility) autarchy (monocracy) =government by an absolute ruler biarchy (diarchy, diarchy) =rule by two individuals bureaucracy = government by civil servants; those in titular command are still governed by civil servants confederacy = rule by diverse social elements cryptarchy = secret rule (think conspiracy theories about who rules the world) decarchy =government by ten individuals democracy =government by the people (or by a select group of ordinary people, e.g. tax-payers, over-18 year olds, etc.) ecclesiarchy = government by clerics or ecclesiastical authorities ergatocracy = government by the workers or the working class ethnocracy = government by one particular ethnic group or race in a multiracial society exarchy = government by bishops gerontocracy (geriatocracy) = government by the aged gynaecocracy (gynarchy, gynocracy) = government by women (females) hagiarchy = rule by saints or holy persons (not clerical people) hagiocracy = government by holy men (not saints and generally not clerical people) hecatontarchy = government by one hundred people heptarchy = government by seven people hierocracy = government by priests or religious ministers kakistocracy = government by the worst kritarchy = government by judges or a panel of judges magocracy = government by people possessed of magic powers (while this has no basis in history, it is a part of fantasy) matriarchy = government by women or mothers or the eldest females meritocracy = government by the meritorious militocracy (stratocracy) = government by military leaders monarchy = government by one individual (not necessarily absolute rule, but close to it) nonarchy = government by nine individuals ochlocracy = rule by mobs or “the mob” (a form of democracy taken to a an extreme) octarchy = government by eight people oligarchy = government by the few, by an unelected elite paedarchy = government by children pantarchy = government by all the people; world government pantisocracy = government by all equally paparchy = government by the pope alone (technically, the RC Church until the Reformation) patriarchy = government by older men or fathers pedocracy = government by the learned, savants and scholars pentarchy = government by five individuals plutocracy (chrysoaristocracy, chrysocracy) = rulership by the wealthy polyarchy = government by many people ptochocracy = rule of beggars or paupers; wholesale pauperization technocracy = government by technical experts tetrarchy = government by four people thearchy = rule by a god or gods; body of divine rulers (no basis in reality, but often seen in fantasy tales) theocracy = government by priests or by religious law; one religion only timocracy = government by the propertied class (those who own property and no-one else; often, the more property, the more power) triarchy = government by three people There are more, but these are those seen in works of fiction or have an actual basis in reality. And if you look at them, they can all make for some interesting works. So, this is something purely for interest, and to help writers expand their world-building. |
| Borrowing Ideas I have mentioned before that ideas are not copywritable. You can steal an idea to your heart’s content. You cannot steal story beats, you cannot steal character names, but ideas – fine! How far does this extend? This question came up on Discord, and I thought I'd answer here. That is an interesting question, and one that was tested in a court of law. A film company (okay, it was Asylum) was sued by Disney for having a space adventure where the characters used “laser-swords” which were light-sabers from Star Wars in all but name. The ruling was that although it was copied from Star Wars, the name was different, and it is an idea or concept. Now, this is Asylum, and their entire oeuvre is based on being derivative of the works of others. But what about others who want to be taken more seriously? An example is Eragon by Christopher Paolini, which is Stars Wars taken away from SF and put into epic fantasy. It is so Star Wars as to be laughable. I have talked about it before ("BOOK #11 – ERAGON" ), and received blow-back because some people are fans. Awesome. You can like crap. I enjoy the film Gymkata! But Eragon is Star Wars. And this book has a lot of fans, so the use of the ideas of others works for some.This brings me to the biggest issue a creative will have when borrowing ideas – being accused of theft, of being imaginatively bankrupt, or all sort of other things. Sometimes it can come across as fan fiction, and there are all sorts of issues with putting that into a public sphere. But sometimes it can be done quite wonderfully. Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire borrowed ideas and story beats from Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Dracula by Bram Stoker and The Vampyre by Polidori and created something that came across as wholly original and ended up being one of the best vampire books ever written. The original vampire mythos of Eastern Europe was shunted right to the background; she took from those who came before her in fiction. No-one is decrying her book as being derivative. No-one is accusing her of theft. Where Paolini suffered both accusations, none were thrown at Rice. It all comes down to delivery and how the influences and borrowed ideas are utilised. Another example is Kurosawa’s classic film Seven Samurai. Every idea and most of the story beats were taken and used to create the classic 1960 movie The Magnificent Seven, with the major difference being a shift from feudal Japan to the Wild West of the USA. Then Corman made Battle Beyond The Stars which shifted Kurosawa’s story to a Star Wars influenced science fiction setting. Remakes or reinterpretations of ideas? It’s a fine line. So, borrow ideas to your heart’s content. Remember to change words and names. But be original at the same time, in setting, delivery, tone and/or message. Don’t let it be an issue. |
| A Naming Pitfall One of my Discord servers is run by an independent (small) publisher. He recently shared something with all of us (we are mostly creatives on the server) that inspired this post. Here’s a copy-paste: If you are creating creatures or monsters or races or aliens for your stories please do NOT use names of things that already exist. You are giving the reader an unrealistic expectation and it is very difficult to go against the image they have in their head. I could list the examples here but it is a lot. Here is two. We had a story subed with “trolls” that were formless blobs and we had a story subed with “orcs” that were killer whales that live on land. I can get orcs being like orcas but Tolkien and D&D has taken ownership of that creature. Find a new words please! This is something that I have seen in a few stories and books for a while – the appropriation of a name of something that has a definite meaning or image, and changing it up. While I get the subversion aspect, as the publisher said above, there are reader expectations. This is not just monsters, though (that’s just apparently what the publisher is dealing with most often); I have read a book series where there are “knights” and yet they act and behave like blood-money mercenaries. It didn’t make sense, and judging by the reviews, I was not the only one to think that. Another is taking a common acronym or initialisation and giving it a new meaning. For example, in science-fiction stories, FTL is “faster than light” and is a form of travel convenient for crossing vast distances. However, I have read a book where a gun was FTL – Fluctuating Temporal Latency. Seriously. The gun could speed up or slow down the time in which another person was existing. But, again, the reviews all asked why use the same initialisation as Faster Than Light, which everyone knows? So, yeah, be inventive and utilise whatever you want. But, remember, if your readers do not gel with the changes you inflict upon them, it will affect their enjoyment of the entire work. |
| Novel #32 So, the next novel… This is one of those stories that was a reaction to a pop culture thing that really irritated me. Being a writer meant I had a perfect outlet for my frustration… and also means that this story has aged remarkably badly. Singer, Not The Song (title from lyrics from a song by The Who) started life as a short story. A humourous tale crapping all over modern music, with a hint of sci-fi about the ending. Well, I set down to rewrite it. 33 days later, 67500 words on, and it was finished. Originally it was 70k words, but the whole last chapter felt like a tacked on, feel-good after-thought, and that wasn’t what the story needed. It needed to end ambiguously. But it’s still essentially a comedy, no-one dies, music is still slammed, I make fun of TV shows and the main bad-guy character might or might not be a British TV media guy who appears all over the place. Within years every joke in it was dated, and it was rejected 5 times. So, my gripe was with the absolute glut of “talent” shows (the word talent used quite wrongly) that filled television at the time. And, from my years as a teacher, I used another thing I noticed to add to what I assumed was the humour – I taught classes with girls named “Tayla”, and had seven different spellings of the name! So I named every single girl in this story Jacinta, and each was spelt differently. A month of venting my spleen and a novel was born! The précis: Basically a show much like any other TV talent show throws up a winner, the second placed person somehow sells a lot of records, their fans riot, the bad-guy media mogul who is in no way Simon Cowell takes over, Australian beer is used to destroy everything, and the world collapses at the end. That’s it! How’s that for a synopsis that gives away absolutely nothing. Excerpt: The Old Dragon And Duck Hotel was an authentic Victorian pub built in 1996 by an Australian with too much money and not enough sense. In what British people considered genuine Victoriana (which was to originally include children cleaning the chimneys until the chimney cleaners’ union had complained about it) strode Marcus Kennedy as though he owned the place. But the few glances cast in his direction by the other patrons told him that he might actually have walked into one of the few places in London where he wasn’t even known. That was not a comfortable feeling, and he hated being on the back foot from the word go when negotiating with some-one, even the father of some-one whose contract he already owned. In a booth by one of the stained glass windows he saw the man, staring at the pint in front of him with calm detachment. And for once his smartphone was not in his hands. Marcus slid in opposite him without so much as a by your leave. “What the fuck’s wrong with your daughter?” he growled angrily. He was beyond caring. He needed to get this album out and strike while the iron was hot and any delay was, quite literally, going to be money. He smiled at the mogul. “Drink?” he asked calmly. Marcus could barely control himself. This jerk was playing with him! Well, he would feel the full wrath of Marcus Kennedy if he continued this sort of stupid arrogance. Who did this guy think he was? No, really, who was this guy? Marcus calmed himself. “Look, maybe we’ve got off to a bad start.” He offered his hand. “I am Marcus Kennedy.” “I am Andrew Sumner,” the man replied, taking the hand firmly and shaking it with more power than Marcus had been ready for. “Pleased to meet you.” Marcus knew he was on the back foot again. He had spent fourteen weeks with this man’s daughter and he had only just found out the guy’s name. This man was good, very good. Maybe there could be a place for him somewhere in the organisation after all. “Look, we need to talk about your daughter,” Marcus said, getting down to business straight away, trying to gain any ascendency over his opponent. “Let me guess, she won’t do anything. Right?” His smile was sympathetic and charming and Marcus fell onto the back foot yet again. “I need you to come in and talk to her,” Marcus said. “What makes you think that’d do any good?” he asked. “Because I’ve seen families like yours, where the kid is so focused on having a career that they have no relationship outside of their parents. It’s dangerous for the child, and the bond needs to be broken if they are to grow and progress. Do you see the problem we have and that your daughter will continue to have if things continue down this path?” He even used his sincere face to make sure that what he was saying was getting through to the man. But the response he received was not anything he was expecting. “And in normal children, I am sure you are one hundred per cent correct,” Andrew replied quietly. “But, you see, Jacintah is not a normal little girl. In fact, I would go so far as to say that neither you nor anyone else has met her likes before.” He leant forward. “And the singing she did for you on that show was not what she is capable of. That girl who got second place, she sang so much better than my Jacintah ever could. But not now. Now my Jacintah can sing her under the table. Her voice will soar with the eagles. You will have the finest voice to come out of a kid in years, and this time it won’t be destroyed when she reaches eighteen, and she won’t go off the rails. You’re going to have a kid the other kids are going to watch and love, and who parents are going to like being a role model for their little girls. She is going to be loved across generations, and her talent is going to show through as well. She is going to make you – and me, of course – a lot of money, Mr Kennedy. But I need to be involved.” Slightly longer excerpt there, but I do still like this tale, and the ending is something I am surprised at how well I contrived it. The three beta readers who have perused it have said they enjoyed it, though it might be too British and/or Australian they all said for a US market. It can be amazing the emotions that can lead to works of writing. Anger and frustration clearly work for me! |
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