Breaking the blog hiatus

Hi all. Sorry for MIA blog status of recent months. Last I reported anything of import it was to say that I'd finished my first draft of a novel-in-progress. Well, the good news is that the draft has been through several revisions into a penultimate version and is currently circulating with a few select people to get some initial feedback :D.

In this weird pocket of time in which I'm not writing everyday, I've been trying to fill it with getting brushed up on how to approach agents/publishing world etc. It feels odd not coming home with an intent purpose to write and a manuscript taking shape. So I think I might go ahead and get cracking with the next novel. I have felt rather listless but I also didn't have a huge urge to start tapping away at the keyboard for the next round of writing either - something I was becoming keenly worried about. Was I losing my enthusiasm already? I, who had been enthusiastically working away at a MS for well over 18 months? Would I be able to continue such a spree or was it a one-off? Silly thoughts, of course. I reminded myself I'd been writing pretty much non-stop for 18 months so what if I was not really doing any real writing for a month or so?

But I want that 'month' to be over now. I think not having a project to focus my energies on is detrimental to my wellbeing. Ok, little dramatic but essentially I mean not having a project that is the anchor to my days and weeks, well yes, it casts me adrift, like a planet bereft of orbit. No thank you!

I did make myself goofily happy by purchasing these though:

Also, not sure how much I will update this blog. Currently re-evaluating whether I have something of worth to share and tbh, I kinda wanna do a blog/vlog that focusses on Greek and Roman mythology etc. Will keep you updated on that.

Final note - made plans to take a trip to Crete at the end of the summer, so will be visiting the Palace of Knossos and 'soaking' in the setting of the my novel. Very excited about that!

Spring Round-Up - Writers Group, Zombie Apocalypse, Finished MS!

YIKES to the MAX, reader, I haven't updated me blog for - what - 3 months? That's a quarter of a year.  I've just committed an 'unforgivable' in the world of blogging, methinks - as in an unforgivable curse in Harry Potter-dom. I wonder what the other two are?

Ok, so without further ado-es, a quickety-quick round up of what's gone down over April, May etc.

1. I took my annual trip to Paris with mumsy and this time we only did the day rather than the weekend. Twas lovely but nous some tres fatigues, reader.
2. I went to my first London Writers Cafe meet up - a talk about self-publishing and followed that by attending the groups 8th anniversary party recently.
3. I completed 2.8 Hours Later - a zombie apocalypse role play/immersive experience. You are running away from zombies. For. your. life.
4. I attended a supremely cool masterclass on Writing Historical Fiction with speakers Sarah Dunant and Celia Brayfield at Bloomsbury Publishing having finished 'Blood and Beauty' by Sarah Dunant shortly before.
5. I *AHEM* finished writing the MS for my latest novel. *Long, triumphant exhalation*

Ok so, I'll drill down on some o the more writerly points above.

MEET-UP and London Writers Cafe

I confess, reader, while I am thrilled that I've started to engage in the world of writers etc, I'm still aware that I haven't put any of my own work out there yet to be reviewed and critiqued by my wordsmithy peers. That's the next step, after I attend a class on 'building a community around your writing.' If you're in the London area and you fancy joining a writers' group, please check London Writers Cafe out - when I went to the anniversary party I chatted to a lot of cool and friendly people and the fab lady who runs it, Lisa, is just lovely and adorbs.

2.8 Hours Later

Oh, my days, reader. Before I launch into 'this was by far and away one of the scariest things I've done' spiel, lemme explain. Essentially this event involves going to a particular area of London (or whatever city it's being hosted in - these folks travel all around) - for us, it was spread out around Wembley Park. You enter this area with a team of several others (whoever you end up in the queue with while lining to get in) and your mission is to go get some fresh water and bring it back to camp. You have a map and you have certain locations to get to, where you type in a code into a computer terminal to get the co-ordinates for the next location. The scenario is an apocalyptic world and the 'asylum' needs resources - so you're venturing out into the zombie infested area to get them. You get tagged by any of the zombies, you're 'infected' and when you return to base at the end of the game and get made up into a zombie.

I kid you not, reader, these zombies proper run after you. I mean in one corridor we had to run past one zombie who crawled on the floor but the others came for you. and their make up and acting - well good enough for you to having a heart attack and running for your life. It was brutal. There were some areas where you had to run so much and more zombies would just come.

I don't why I did it - it's not my thing at all. I don't even like zombie movies! But my cousin was convinced it was an experience not to miss out on. But when we were crouching behind these banged up cars, waiting for a signal that the area was clear, even though we could hear zombies making noises around the corner, I kid you not, every single one of us were scared. I wondered what the hell I was doing there.

But we totes made it and the zombie disco afterwards was fun! Would I do it again? Hell, no. But I would recommend it. I'm kinda proud of myself too - if I was a sim character in a video game, I would have just contributed to my 'Overcome Fears' mission: '2014 Fear Quest - Objective achieved!'

The finished MS

Well, I'm pretty darn over the moon about this one. I set myself a target and well, I've also achieved this particular objective. Yes, yes, I still need to do a rewrite but I'm going to not look at for 10 days at least and then tackle it once more.

Furthermore, I'm pretty impressed with the word output in the last 3 months. In March we  were looking at 60,000 words. Now it's *ahem*, 120,000! So I doubled it, which surprised me because this story isn't hugely plot driven, or there aren't lots of event like instances but the last act, as it were, seemed to really gain pace. A lot more goes on then I realised in terms of how much words need to take to tell it. And reader, I know I'm getting ahead of myself because I'm still enamoured with the idea that this novel is a stand-alone but I don't want to leave Ancient Greece ever just yet, so I'm excited about the follow-up.

Now, I need to look out at the publishing options. On that note, some of the pointers I picked up from the self-publishing talk, hosted by London Writers Cafe.

- There's quite a spectrum for SP(self publishing). You can choose to do it ALL yourself - DIY SP (like speaker Ben Galley, who also does bake loads of consulting on the subject) - or have another publishing house to do some of the work for you. e.g. Matador Publishing.
- Polly Courtney, one of the speakers, listed her reasons why SP is done badly:

1. Bad cover design
2. No professional edit - you rely on beta readers, aka 'friends and family' and not someone who has an editing eye. She argued you can't really edit your own work alone, you need fresh eyes and there's nothing worse than seeing a line or phrase in the final print that you know could have been edited but wouldn't have picked up when doing it yourself. True dat.

Darn it, I knew I shouldn't have any of my characters reply with "Safe."
Totes takes you out of the mo!

So now to decide what is best for the novel nearly finished...I keep thinking that having to decide between trad publishing or SP means I might make the wrong decision.

Worse still, there's the nagging worry that I don't know who the book is really aimed for - partly because I wrote it for me. It will appeal to historical fiction readers or those who like mythology (I hope). So I'm clear on the genre, just not so much the audience? And I think that's the worse mistake, so I want to get sure on that, erm, for sure.

I think a robust brew is deserved as a mark of the triumph crossing the metaphoric 'finish line', reader. So I will settle on recommending 'Chai Red' because Yumchaa says 'Tastes like: Important work 

Drink When: You feel like a winner.' Shazam!

Writing for yourself

In the words of George Takei, 'Oh My...!' - I've fallen off the wagon - the consistency of blog post writing wagon that is.

I've been rather overtaken by my fiction writing of late, so have no fear, reader, it's not like I've not been writing. That's all I've been doing. That and finding myself watching 'Charmed' as it re-airs on E4 each morning? (Why?!)

The project that has been at the forefront of my writing endeavours has been a new story set in Ancient Greece. Because, of course. And yes, I started it before 'Atlantis' aired. I had it in my head that I would not work on anything else until my final revision of my fantasy novel manuscript would be complete. I was being as disciplined as I could be, methodically revising each chapter. Alas, though, the path does not stay true - or rather it does, just not straight.

What I mean to say is that, though I've been diverted, it's not a diversion. No writing ever is. I have my sis to thank for the proverbial kick up the backside/impetus needed to write this new tale. And I am happy to report that the process of writing it has been the very antithesis of writing the fantasy novel.  I just got the idea and ran with it, sans a) writing for a market/audience, b) analysing 'what am I trying to say'?, c) charting out pace and rhythm, d) wondering if my characters work. I wrote it for me. And by gods, if it isn't enjoyable. I'm quite taken and I don't want to leave this world I'm inhabiting.

Current location: Ancient Greece

I never left since the last blog post -
not when they have juice smoothies!

That doesn't mean I haven't jotted down thoughts and ruminations that could otherwise be blogged about. I just haven't set aside the space to write them up (see above note about not wanting to leave the setting of my new story's world). On that note, though, I did jot something down that I wouldn't mind sharing - it's a thought I imagine one of my characters from my (somewhat eastern inspired) fantasy novel would say but it sprang up in response to watching a video about the sadness of impermanence. Sadness - what sadness? Life only changes form.

The whole universal knowledge of existence can be known if man were to acknowledge and know the Tree - her truth, her actuality.
Do you think the tree weeps when winter's chill comes upon her? No, for she knows that she will be beautiful again come spring. And again. Eternally so.
And if she is uprooted, she does not weep then, not with sorrowful tears. Rather she has wept her seeds, which have gone on and spread afar - and so the tree will be renewed in numerous new places, ones she could not even dream of, once again to grow tall and beautiful.  

I guess in this way, the tree never dies. And if a time were to come when there is no such time for trees even, well who would be there to 'record' and 'lament'? -  concepts that likely will have neither place nor meaning.

Letter to the BBC: hands off Ancient Greece!

Where I belongs, reader

Dear BBC - specifically to those in Drama Development,

I had not really been aware of your latest drama that occupies the Saturday primetime spot, Atlantis. Despite the show's content being Ancient Greece, it had not really registered. I happened upon the opening episode when it aired last week.

I am sorry to say that disappointment doesn't really adequately describe the feeling attributed to watching this show. My emotional arc can be summed up thus: eager anticipation, bemusement and then outrage.

Yes, outrage, which might seem a little of an overreaction to fiction. But here is my issue or gripe, as it were: Ancient Greek history and mythology (any mythology, for that matter) is a trove of immense storytelling. Most of it is nuts and that's why it's so enjoyable. But I believe BBC, you have handled this material with little regard and decency. It was so, so poor and I do not think it unreasonable to expect a little more from your institution. Though perhaps this is my error - I should not expect so much, I should resign myself to the fact that a whole load of nonsense comes out of your shows. However, that's not entirely true - you've got Sherlock, among other fine dramas. I understand Saturday evening is a 'fun time' slot and has been inhabited by equally silly but somewhat 'fun' shows like Robin Hood and Merlin.

I just don't understand the need to do away with a little authenticity in favour of cheap thrills. It's one thing to have poor writing and poor acting, quite another to trample over quality source material. Mythology and Ancient Greek is a bit of fun but can we at least get some simple details right, so that young people (any people) are at least educated a wee bit as well? Alas, I did not watch the entirety of the show - after 15 minutes or so, I was crying out at the TV screen, which is never good for one's blood pressure, so to ease it, I switched off. I quite literally cannot judge the rest of the episode but I can say that watching that much alone has induced quite a reaction in me.

I am not going to mention the predominant Anglo-Saxon ethnicity of the casting - Robin Hood and Merlin were authentic in that sense but are we still stuck in the 1960s? There are no shortage of talent you could employ. Instead, for reasons I know not why, Mark Addy, the kind of portly man who you'd have a pint with, seems to get noble and warrior-like roles, such as King Robert in Games of Thrones. Here, you have him as Hercules, despite his utter lack of warrior-ness. Bemusing. Worse still, he's got a Roman name. Is it so immensely difficult to have him referred to as 'Heracles', as that is Greek after all. And let's get one thing sorted right away - Heracles would not, WOULD NOT, be afraid of the Minotaur. That is woefully poor on the writer's part, woefully. It would have worked if the Heracles in question was in fact a young man, as yet to take part in his trials and so was not a schooled warrior.

WHAT THE HAY?! moment:

Wait, what? This guy is the infamous Hercules?!! But he's scared of the Minotaur...*SIGH*

That brings me to the depiction of 'the oracle'. There was little or no mysticism around this ridiculous character. An oracle is not a person but rather the person - woman rather - is a vessel for the oracle. She is also not someone who just answers random questions. As such, the writers leeched any real suspense (or coolness) around that scene where the protag visits her.

Of course, these are by the by, one could argue. I would argue it just comes off as embarrassing. I would also state that the reason I get so irate watching something on this subject is because I know that I would have created something of better quality. I do not believe I am coming from an arrogant, deluded position here; I absolutely adore Ancient Greece and her mythology and I am dying and so unbelievably keen to get my hands on something that I can then work with and bring to life (of course, I am writing my own material that will adequately reflect what I mean). I don't get overly excited about much but if anyone comes to me and mentions Ancient Greece, I'm there with bells on.

I can also tell you, there is nothing mutually exclusive about being true to their culture and stories AND being fresh and bringing something exciting to the audience. We've got it in our heads that people won't like it if it sticks too much to a traditional approach. You can be as creative and mad with a story that still holds true to the original setting or tales that come from that story (Scott's Gladiator is a fab example). In fact, that is the only way you can add true value, true meaning to a new telling. I could in fact forgive more if it was a modern adaptation/set in a more modern era. But if you are going to set it in Ancient Greece, goodness, do justice to that at least! Or step aside and let those who will do it worthily.

Lastly Ancient Greece is the home to drama, the kind of drama that we love and still sustains us. There is no end to the ridiculous high stakes situations and scenarios that run through their tales. So it's still mind boggling and immensely frustrating that anyone/group of people can fail to do it right, when it's already there - very richly so!

I highly doubt you'll care much that lil' ole me is not going to be a viewer of Atlantis. But if you'd done it even a little decently, you would have had an AVID viewer and advocate. Now, I'll just seek comfort in the saying, 'If you don't like the way it's done, see if you can do it better.' I shall sirs and madams, I shall indeed.