Once more unto the breach...

A bacon sandwich and a cup of coffee - well, two cups of coffee. A great start for today.
I didn't write anything on paper over Christmas. Though I'm always writing in my head, the effects of food and the accompanying alcohol (or was that the other way round!) ensured I didn't dare write stuff down. And I had to do some extra research in Newcastle, which is still ongoing.
But tonight and onwards, the tying up of this latest new chapter and the others I've done, will get me to the point of no return @ 31/12/2013 i.e. about one third of the way through. Got to note: if I'm rubbish at a third the way through, I'll be rubbish after the rest of the story has been finished. Can't guarantee I'll get it right! Must try to, though...

2014 will see the relaxation of my life, though not in the writing of the story. Hopefully, I'll live a bit more this year. Couldn't guarantee that, either. I will try.
A third of the way through: 31/12/2013.
The resolution I've created around the beginning won't make the writing any easier, but it will make the writing happen rather quicker later.
So, the rest of it by 31/07/2014.
The spectres of Literary Agents rise before me!
Gulp... ;-)

Deadlines

I've been pretty poor at sticking to deadlines. The truth is, I've found everything very hard-going. This has been a tough story for me to write. But I'm talking in the past tense, when I've still got such a lot to do. I thought I'd have had it all finished by now - the first book, at least - but the turn of this year will see me a third of the way there. Still, a third is better than it looked to me some time back, when I wanted to throw it all in: writing this book, the blog, the whole literary journey. Agh, who knows? I may be writing something or nothing. I'll only know when it's done and the time has come to present it to the literary world.
Part of my problem is that I seem to need music and movies to help me through. Maybe I've been doing too much of that and I've been distracted. Anyway, they are not muses to discard lightly. So I won't. I've done so much reading, in the past, so my influences and instincts are rather well formed as to what kind of story I prefer. My musical influences reflect this, too.
Instinct. My hobby-horse. Without it, you will go nowhere. I've fuelled it; just gotta hope I've helped it enough to help me.
Enough about me: check out MG Harris. Maria is a writer on the up. She's a friend of mine on facebook - go take a look. We're talking books and movies long-term. Should be fun to see how far she can go. Yeehaa! lol
Now then, where was I...

Doing an Iain Banks

I've typed up a couple of chapters - not particularly long ones - whose makeup/style can only be described as Banksian. They are conversational and do meander a bit. But I like them very much and believe they help and entertain at the same time. They both need more work, but I never do anything in fine detail as a first pass.
I've also written a new chapter to fit in not too far from the beginning of the story. Once again, it's not too long and needs more work, but it does explain as well as show.
Realising that the narrative must roll, or flow, especially in the modern arena, has got to be a plus. My discussions with Dave Pimm and Noel 'The Ultimate Proofreader' Deighton have ensured that I must stop, think, go back. The beginning does need more than I have allowed it.
Now I need to look more at this beginning and ensure that the audience will be entertained, not just educated, as to the story itself. I'm a lover of poetry, and exposition, but I really need to take care over what is put before the reader, not just put there for myself.
I'm sure a rewrite of the original prologue will produce a result in the reader's knowledge and understanding of where the story began. The omission of the prologue, because of its flatline consistency, has caused a problem - or has caused me a problem. Any revision must come later, though, as there is a lot to get through before I can go back to it.
The opening poem pleases me. A few more tweaks and the end result should look far more like the intended result - which is very much a positive.
Always, there is this feeling as I write, that there needs to be something substantial already in the reader's thoughts before the opening words to the first chapter are read. It seems to me to be a must, a necessity. That I must ensure it. But equally, I also feel that, if everything is there, in front of my special team of readers, and even in front of literary agents, decisions can be made on what should be retained, or modified.
All small steps - all conscious steps, toward completion.

So it is that two of my heroes are dead. Tolkien and Banks. They now join such as Dickens, Lewis, Barrie. I do hope Dean Koontz and Stephen King stick around for a long time. I kind of feel a whole world is slowly disappearing. Then again, JK Rowling, Philip Pullman and MG Harris await me right around the corner. Can't be bad :-)
Gotta try and join them... x

The Planet Doctor

There is a thought - maybe no more than a feeling, perhaps, that might become a true thought - that the earth is actually a live entity.
The real reason the continents have moved could very well be because the earth is larger now than it once was: the land masses that appear at the earth's surface have moved because of the movement of the earth itself, and not some floating plate-theory. A bit like blowing air into a balloon.
Studies have shown that the surface of the earth beneath the sea is younger than the rest of the planet. Some kind of evolution appears to be happening continuously. But why beneath the sea? Does water have a further use, or raison d'etre, that we do not yet know about, or possibly can't comprehend? Is water actually earth's blood?
Many scientists do say that the more they study in their own particular field, the more they feel that there is an existence of a sentient being far outwith the senses that we know, or understand we know.
Hmmm... I do wonder...   Meteorites, volcanoes, tsunamis...  self-help within the planet earth? Or divine intervention/treatment from another body/entity?
"Maybe it's something we haven't seen yet!"  Aliens.
Noooo, not aliens the movie lol  Proper aliens. Maybe not, as that moves us away a bit from the 'live planet' theory. Unless we were put here by aliens.
All this reminds me of the early days of internet chatrooms. Many a conversation was struck with someone on the far face of this planet back then.  Someone said, in a main room, that Nature was not a concept. I immediately took issue with this, as Nature is totally a concept. What we call Nature is our perception of everything around us that is natural. Or what we believe to be natural. Nature may not be aware of us. There may be no Nature at all, only ongoing creation within the planet, or possibly evolvement. Maybe both. And we have no control over either. We can as easily be wiped off the face of the earth as woolly mammoths or sabre tooth tigers.
I know - let's colonize the moon.
Hmph - nothing much up there, except the aliens who spooked us from going back there since the early seventies.
Now I'm really rambling!  I'll return at a more suitable juncture, when I'm not too tired to pontificate more about our existence.
Yep, I'm in creative mode again.  Time to write... :o]

Comfort Food

I've been eating too much of it, lately: biscuits, chips, mash, curries. Then again, I've been writing, so therein lies the tale. Still, honey and coconut oil ought to balance things out, as should apple cider vinegar and water. It all sounds odd, but when I see what too many people eat every day, all day, there's plenty of evidence that we're all headed for the funny farm! Food for thought... And I need to exercise - lots! The last time I went for a run, I don't think mobile phones were invented. At least now I'd be able to phone for an ambulance if it all proved too much. Then again, I'm always leaving mine in the house, so my next run may well end up being my last... hopefully...  ;-)

Back to the writing, and I won't bore you too much. I've basically had to leave everything and clear my head before embarking on a rewrite. It's taken months, but I'm now able to look at things with a fresh perspective.The worst part has been getting under the skin of the 'reasons'. They need to be plausible reasons, helping the story along, stopping it at the right moment, then surprising the reader at other moments. The narrative, at all times, must be relentless.
Relentless...

The Learning Game

You never stop learning, about people and things. I'm often surprised when I really shouldn't be. The answer is probably to try and think ahead a bit more. Surprises can be great, but most don't need to happen... life should be easier without them. Keep on moving...

Walking the walk

Well, it's been quite a while since I last posted. In truth, I had nothing to say that hadn't already been said - I was repeating myself ad nauseum about everything. It had to stop, otherwise... well, I dunno, maybe I'd have stopped blogging, probably forever.
During this time away, I've had to do a lot of thinking; rethinking, mostly. I've been very pleased with what I'd come up with. But not so pleased as to the direction the story took - Dave Pimm, one of my fabled readers, pointed out a huge shortcoming, so I had to take this seriously into account.
Difficult.
Unravelling can take a long time, and the thought process has been so tiring. You fall asleep thinking about stuff and you wake up thinking about the same stuff. For days and days, nothing seems to change. And it goes on and on. But all of the greats have had to endure rewrites, so why should I be any different?
It's been a long, hard road. It's my life - there really isn't much else to it these days. My choice, I guess. Sometimes, I've felt I wasn't up to it - that this story was too big for me. I've calmed down now, though. It's my story, so how could it be too big for me. That piece of silliness has disappeared. It's been replaced by realism: if I don't get to half-way by October, when I'm off for a week, then I'm probably ruining things. So I must get to half-way by October. Not long, then. And a lot needs to be done.
So, I'll shut up again and carry on to the midpoint. Agent-hunting may well be my next act of self-harm after that ;-)
Crashing out
Catch you soon x

Which way is up?

While drinking hot chocolate on this icy cold winter's night,  I pondered my next literary move. It was, as the modern idiom goes, a no-brainer: I have to write what appeals to me most. At each time.
It's a funny thing, but to have got this far, and to have come up with what I have, is hugely down to all of the influences from my early life right up until now. In short: my own instinct as to what I would have liked to read and write, had I been looking in any bookstore. This had to be something I hadn't read before, nor seen/viewed in a movie. And I've read a million books and movies...  I needed to trust whatever it was that brought me to this point.
So, consider this: I walked the streets of Shields and Newcastle, by day and night, in all kinds of weather standing in such places that appealed to my sense of 'witness', imagining what may have happened in these places. Afterwards, I discovered that Charles Dickens did the same. Bits of Dickensian life are dotted about my story. I feel like I'm walking the same path as the great man. Of course, his reputation and history is rather up there, while mine is somewhat 'down there'.
Unless I get it right, I'll always be on that lower level! Gotta dig deep...
I'm off from the 27th for eight days, during which time I'll have written stuff that will take me further down the road to completion. It's a long job and no amount of trying to speed things up is going to help. Once I've written most of the book, I'll return to the beginning and polish the good bits, eject the poor bits, and ensure the beginning reads more as I intended it to, not how it ended up. But nothing is ever as bad as it seems, and the slow burner of a beginning can, with a few tweaks, begin to rev along at a faster pace. It's fun, serious fun, but enjoyable, too. Got to keep on!
The plot Dickens - erm, thickens... ;-)

And so, into 2013...

As I've said, ad nauseum perhaps, I will finish writing this first book this year. Looking at how things have gone, and discounting the length of time it has taken to get this far - I had barely an idea when I started - I've got to be pleased with what I've done. But now, we are about to find out if I'm any kind of writer: I've got to complete the job.
I will resist my initial impulse to dwell more at the beginning - or, at least, the step I erroneously didn't take after the first three chapters. The chapters I have done after these three are destined to come later. They are vital to the knowledge of the hero (I still refuse to use the term 'protagonist' - Snow White was a protagonist, would you believe - it sounds like someone wearing a cape and mask, carrying a dagger to stab someone in the back! I've met a few in 2012, but let's not go there any more. Can't believe a writer thought up that term for a leading man or woman.)
I'm going to pick up chapters already listed and planned and try to put as much into them as possible. Hopefully, the knowledge and experience doing that will assist in the writing of a beginning that must match up. The better the rest of the story is, the better I must make the beginning. I know where the beginning now goes, just I want more information in order to write it out properly.
2013 will see me out and about more. Not too greatly, as writing will never allow me to be as I once was. But I can't carry on as I did during 2012. I feel like I changed in 2012. Time will show what it all meant.
To all my readers of this blog, I hope you have a 2013 to remember. Way into the future, if you remember reading all this, it might mean we got to where we intended to go... x