Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Werewolves Are The New Vampires

Or so it would seem.

I’m rooting through my newsfeeds, at quarter to one in the morning (I don’t approve of my life much either) and find these:

Steve Pink To Direct Werewolves of Reseda: “Hangover meets… Teen Wolf?”

David Hayter to Direct Wolves.

No offence to Steve Pink, but comparisons to Teen Wolf are aiming pretty high.  Still, Solid Snake is getting in on the action, too, with his Ron Spencer artwork.

Werewolves generally get a short order in films because they’re a lot more expensive to show than their undead buddies: the vampire, zombie and mummy.  Over the last ten years, I can think of about half a dozen films with werewolves in them (Ginger Snaps, Dog Soldiers, Underworld I-III, Van Helsing and The Wolfman.)  And the main draw in four of them is Kate Beckinsale.  Consider how many vampire films have been made in the same time (two Blades, the Underworld series again, sequels to The Lost Boys, Twilight et al.) and those are just the ones that form part of a series!

I guess I just wanted to say I’m not jumping on any bandwagons here.   I’ve got posts going back to January and this was all meant to be up and running for 2007 anyway.

My dude was a werewolf before it was cool.  And he’s been to quiz night again…

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Pop Quiz, Hotshot!

I have to admit, Speed was a proficient and original thriller back in the day.

But it’s relevant now because next sub plot of Teratogenesis involves a pub quiz.  This is the point where we take our protagonist out of his isolation and see how he fares with other people.  This means we’ll be seeing an entirely different type of drama over the coming weeks.

Also, this is the first GLOSSOLALIA post to feature tags.  I’ve considered using them for awhile, so this is very much an experiment to see whether they are worth it.  I’ll be going back over previous posts and inserting them along the way.

And since Spring has finally sprung, I’ll be changing the theme of Teratogenesis, too.  It’s seasonal, by the way.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

False Endings.

Today, we come close to the end of the first cycle of Teratogenesis and I finally use “the W-word.”

I’ve mentioned before that Teratogenesis has been moving forward at a predetermined pace, and I don’t think it’s much of a giveaway now to say that it is a lunar cycle that is driving the story.  Essentially, each entry was chosen at a random point between one day and just over a week.  Where it fell on the lunar cycle determined the content of the post; and the events are occurring continuously, just because there has been no post, doesn’t mean nothing has happened!

Werewolf.

There I’ve said it, and I’ve finally said it in Teratogenesis, too.  There have been some fairly obvious hints along the way, the dream being the most explicit, but I’ve deliberately avoided the use of that word.  I almost used it last week when the dream subplot reached it’s climax, but left it conspicuously absent.  Even now, given the context in which it’s used, there is still an element of doubt…

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Thank You.

Almost half of you are reading this on a Macintosh.

As many of you are using Firefox as you are Internet Explorer.  Two of you are using Chrome and Opera.

Almost half of everyone, perhaps the same half as are using a Mac, came from the excellent Confessions of a Reluctant Lodger, and some of you have come through The Guardian, some of you through Facebook (yes, that’s actually me.)  Two people have come through my good friend Aaron’s blog.  Ta.

How do I know this?  Voodoo.

Well, perhaps not actual voodoo, but it’s the next best thing.  It’s Google Analytics.  I’m really surprised how much detail it returns, not that it identifies individual people (which brings me to the next issue) but it does everything else.

So that next issue:  Thank you.  Thanks for everyone who has visited, thanks for everyone who’s read anything I’ve written.  I don’t know who you are specifically, but I want to thank you for taking the time to visit.

So, from Salford to Singapore, Sweden to South Africa and to the visitor from the lovely Raleigh, NC who only got excluded from that because I couldn’t think of two more opposite places than Salford and Singapore, thank you for visiting, you’re always welcome here.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Speaker’s Corner

I mentioned in the last post, that I’m having trouble generating traffic for both this blog and Teratogenesis.  Generally, I’m using word of mouth / Facebook and linking back to this blog on every profile I have.  But it just isn’t enough.

I’m considering other forms of promotion, but I’m having to weigh the outlay such an effort would require compared to it’s reach.  So far, Teratogenesis is a pure profit project, there are no costs to consider and I’d like to keep it that way.

The first reason is, obviously, financial; it is much more likely to generate a profit without being hampered by the cost of marketing.  Secondly, I like the idea of creating something out of virtually nothing.  The only revenue stream from Teratogenesis are the links to the MP3s, I didn’t want to put ads on to a page and risk the audience’s suspension of disbelief (although there is something of a disclaimer in there so people don’t panic about… But I go too far, too soon.)  Thirdly, I appreciate that it is not Twilight and is unlikely to have a broad audience.

I’m not especially interested in making money out of this.  I’d like to, and I don’t intend to hamstring myself, but I want my writing to have value in and of itself; it has to stand on it’s own value first and any commercial concerns come far down on this list.

But currently, there is little in the way of an audience, and this is particularly demoralising.  Still, I’m not writing for you, I do this for myself because I have to.  Writing is something I’ve always done, apart from in the darkest days of my life, and something I always will do.  The trick is going to be reaching the people who will enjoy my writing.  And it’s proving elusive.