Sweet Charity

That's the name of an old film, starring Shirley Maclaine. An original chick-flick if ever there was one. Anyway, off I went to a place called The Customs House, just off the river in Shields. My younger brother John's group, The John Christopher Theatre Company, was putting on a stage production of this film and it was my first visit to one of his gigs.
It was brilliant, I have to say! A minimalist set, lit up by a cast of enthusiastic young people and a lead girl who could sing, dance and act all at the same time, making you laugh and feel sad at so many different times.
I think John's found a new star, perhaps to rival Jade Thirlwell - she of Little Mix who spent 5 years as part of this same theatre company - but that's way in the future, as she's very young. Or seems so.
You know, having two brothers who've made such a success of their careers is great - my older brother Jerry has a travel company, among a list of things. I can be happy for them both and that's a good feeling. Awesome!
Me? I'm just a struggling writer. It's a fact, no getting away from it. And I won't live at all in the real world until after the New Year, when I'll be a good way into this new book.
BUT! Getting back to younger bro, he's got a new show to produce for November. Cats, would you believe! Yep, he's putting on Cats at the Customs House. This, I gotta see. This isn't the real world, so I can go...

The Intrepid Four...

... are no more!
Rich Howse has had to pull out of my readership, citing time difficulties, with which I fully sympathise. Rich is newly married and is also re-educating for teacherdom. Best of luck, Rich! It's a long road for everyone, whatever you do, so keep going, mate.
So now, we have the Fantastic Three...
I've written more of the opening poem in the last week, hardly much more of it to do, leading up to the next chapter on the agenda, the sixteenth chapter. Slightly hesitant as to which chapter this will happen to be, but my notes will reveal that to me when I study them in earnest. The next move is more apparent than it used to be, so it's willpower, really - getting on with it.
Been looking at agents... gotta keep my focus and not look at agents...
Sigh :-)

A Poem

There are, during the course of this story, poems.
They are all, as yet, unfinished - though they have their place within the narrative.
Last night, I wrote another one. It will sit at the beginning, before the prologue. I think I've said before, that the beginning that appeals to me most is one that captures the reader with intrigue and makes the reader want to know more. Two of my favourite books, The Lord Of The Rings and Seize The Night, will have you thinking quite a while before you get to the first page of the story itself. I am of that persuasion, so this feels good to me, that I've managed to do this. And it causes me to believe further that a resurrected and rewritten prologue, spinning off this poem, would show the reader that there is so much more to come. We'll see if that works out.
No-one will see this poem, nor the rewritten prologue, until the first book has been written out. The correct time will come...
Dave Pimm, one of the Intrepid Four, and who writes under the pseudonym Solvejg Anderson, once advised me to set targets. He was, as usual, quite right. My target, now, is to try and write a chapter a week. If it doesn't happen that way, I'm sure I won't be too far off that target.
So, the two weeks have went well with regard to moving into the tale. The timeline of events reads better than it did and the light at the end of this particular tunnel is a lot bigger and brighter than it has been for quite some time.
We are progressing fine, I feel...

Into the rain

My superhero David Bowie used to set himself tasks in the pursuit of excellence. No time can be wasted if you're doing something that could, and should, bring about some kind of change, or different grasp on reality.
So I set myself a task: as this story quite often takes place on rainy nights, I must go out on rainy nights too. To keep the feel...
It was raining hard, and in no time my jeans and coat were drenched. I couldn't see very much under my umbrella and I couldn't hear too well, either, as the raindrops drummed about my head. I called by a cashpoint, and, a couple of minutes later, had to call by the same cashpoint again: I'd dropped a glove. Such things capture murderers... :-o)
My cousin Alison has baked me a cake for my birthday - A Carrot Cake In Blue. It's on her Facebook, so I'll have to post it on mine for posterity. She's captured the ancientness of writing and forged it into a cake, a tribute to her artistry in this field! I'm amazed at Ali's imagination in constructing this. Of Coffee And Cake - the history of my life.
Chapter 15 has been written, though not in its absolute literary form: I've left some room for future thoughts. It's good - I like what I've written, as it's light, with lots of dialogue and a bit of intrigue. Panning it out further right now, trying to encompass more than I know concernng all events, would be a moderate move on my part. So I'm looking at the next chapter - cripes, if I could complete every chapter in one night like I did this one, I'd have all three books down by Christmas! But I think I can point at any chapter now and say: this one, tonight, and get into things fairly quickly. Promising!
Tomorrow, and a date with blue icing...

Thoughts on completion

Most of the time, these past nine days, have been spent sparring around the order of events. Some things bothered me, mainly because some other things hadn't been resolved, which then affected something else.
Looking at what I called a Timeline and an addendum I called a Storyline, I feel now that the narrative is almost complete in note form. Should anything happen to me, anyone taking up this project would be able to follow a reasonably cogent picture of what I call a 'written movie' - very little 'tell', lots of show. Hopefully, that is what it is!
Whatever changes brought about by the Intrepid Four's thoughts, the narrative 'as is' must be able to withstand changes, therefore it is my interpretation that is the key. And I do think it can withstand changes - it must, otherwise I'm wasting my time and maybe should take up some other form of self-torture.
Once the full story has been offered back to the Intrepid Four for final analysis, the next step would be to try to find an agent. Unless we all think otherwise e.g. halfway, two thirds in, perhaps. I must stress that any decision to approach an agent with this work would be after advice, as I am not the greatest judge of 'when' in that aspect, nor who.
If I sound lacklustre in this post, it's because it's after 5 a.m. and I don't write during the day. Cripes, you know I went out on Sunday - it was great to see the guys, but my hermit-like existence is killing me. Had some great conversations, but left after about 6.30 as I needed to sleep. I'm a bit tired now...  :-O  sleep most of the day today I hope.
Writing tonight, of course!

Jeez this gets tougher!

Somehow, I managed to step out of the zone I'd created... and lost myself off. I know why, or at least, I know what I was trying to do: shift into a new area within the story. I didn't have to do anything more than write, except I'd already written the next chapter and fiddling with minor bits caused me to stumble and lose my step.
Gradually got my head back to where I was at, and the support system that is my notes helped me out. I honestly didn't realise how extensive my notes were. Glad they are there. This is not a short story, and there will be at least three... I couldn't say for sure if I'll have half done by the end of this year, but if I do I'll be pleased I've got that far.
Shook a few bones in an online chatroom tonight - where? why? what?   Mmmm, just throwing a bit of controversy into what was a rather sedentary discussion. Was all in a good cause, as it helped with what I was doing - me searching again. And I was trying to find out what yer average joe/joanna actually knew about what they'd said. A bit inconclusive, in the end, but it was fun viewing different people's reactions. I like to throw the odd hand grenade in, but, on balance, it wasn't really worth it this time.
Good to remember that Keats used dashes... I'm in good company! '-)
Noticed, too, that my Russian readers are falling - come back! lol I'm not all that mad, really I'm not...

The Prologue Revisited

Among other things thus far left out of the stuff I sent to the guys, is the prologue. I kid you not: it made grim reading. Since the decision was made to set it to one side, I've not looked at it since. This is deliberate, as I need the freshness of a new look when the moment has come to revisit it. At the last read, the prologue had little life - lots of information - but little life. I'd love to have rewritten it entirely and had this foundation underpinning everything written afterwards. I won't leave it too long to rewrite, but I feel I need to reach into the future with the new chapters, capturing a bit more information/knowledge, before attempting to work on it more. As I've said previously, a prologue may not be desired by anyone other than myself. I'll make it available, then, just in case. Considerate, aren't I? lol ;-)
In case anyone thinks I might not have noticed, my blog viewing figures have lurched upwards out of recognition. People from as far away as Russia and the far east, as well as Australia and... let's not forget, South Shields... visit my blog to read my less than sane ramblings. Of course, given that followers of Dave Pimm, Richard Howse, MG Harris, Amy Engelhart could probably overspill onto my facebook page, I believe you have to be a facebook 'friend' to actually see my blog link. But it could overspill from blogs themselves, and these guys have them.
Hmmm, I usually leave myself logged in, then wander off for hours to the life-enhancing maze that is Youtube. Could be Vika's fans (vkgoeswild to the uninitiated) having an effect. And Dale Kavanagh's, too. Hey, what if I go to Lady Gaga's Marry The Night and say something outrageous like: Grace Jones FTW! Do you think some of the 46,000,000 we are told have visited that one song might have a quick peek at my channel and say F-something back ;-) Death by networking lol
You know, I could be getting spidered-out. Now that would be something, too. Hardly, though - I'm not even nearly famous now. Ask Cliff!!!
Thanks for reading, anyway. Do stop by and chat if you like, guys - I'd like that very much x  But if not, and it's all an illusion...    A Good Nite to you all  :-) x

A Small Matter Of Thinking Technology

The shift in direction at chapter 14 calls for a change in attitude. The previous 13 chapters have created a base upon which to launch the rest of the book. Chapter 13 could have been better, but I didn't dare write any more: I needed a time-out to crystallize what I was trying to say and I'm sure the Intrepid Four will give me some grief for what I've said already. But I have to treat that part of the book as a separate entity. Plenty of time to get fractious over the fractions! :-)
Music, notes and references all need to be reviewed, allowing me to consider the next chapters with a different outlook. It's a small adjustment, but it has to have a big effect on how I'm thinking.
I have to bring in other areas now, and fit them into the reader's perspective. The entertainment perspective. That's not to say I haven't done that so far, just that I have to be aware that the longer the story goes on, the harder I have to work to keep the reader wanting to turn the page.
New people, new scenes; original people moving through these scenes, affected by these scenes, not overshadowed by the new people and new scenes, unless that is required.
Controlling these new people and scenes is my job and everything has to fit. And what I've seen, I must try to recreate so that the picture in my head is transferred to the page and then into the reader's head.
I'm off now, nearly two weeks to consider things. I couldn't say if I will write a lot. But I will think a lot.
I feel a trip to the Dolly Peel coming on...