In A Strange New Room

Four years.  Four years since the last post on here, and, no, Bedlam isn't finished.  It's not that surprising, given the demands life makes of us, that some things will fall by the wayside.  The trick is not to lose them, to remember where they are and pick them up again later.

While Bedlam isn't finished, something else is:  Exercise One.



A collection of seven short ghost stories, some of which may be familiar to those of you who have been following my Scribd page.  Nothing was written especially for Exercise One, but everything was edited and "remastered" for publication.  As the title suggests, it's a technical test for self-publishing and there will be more to come later.

I'll also try and get back into the habit of posting here on a regular basis.  In the mean time, I'll probably try and clear up some of the old projects, too.

Losing Battles, Winning Wars

Well, I only got to sixty-six pages for Script Frenzy this year.  However, the project looks like it will be over one hundred and fifty pages of script in two volumes, at least.
But with over two thirds of this volume written, I am now committed to finishing Bedlam.  Which is just as well, because I’ve really enjoyed it.  Thinking much more visually and considering layout as a narrative tool has been really interesting.
I can slacken off somewhat now, reducing my aim to only a page a day for as long as it takes to get done.  Then it’s a matter of finding an artist.  I have a distinct idea of how I’d like Bedlam to look and, if I find an artist that is interested in the project and has the right style, I can trust the rest to them.
And start the next volume…

Right back at the beginning of April, I did a short interview with Chris Kelworth for his blog.  It’s worth noting that not only has Chris managed to make over two dozen blog posts, but he’s only a page away from “winning” this year, with hours to go.

Radius of Action

After having a fairly rotten cold for two weeks, I’ve not been able to get nearly the page count down I’ve wanted for ScriptFrenzy.

This means that I’m not going to “win” this year.

Which, by extension, means that I’m going out fighting.

I’m sixty-three pages into the script and the die has been cast.  I am going to finish this - most likely in the middle of May- and it has resolved itself into a much clearer project.

What I’m writing now is only going to be volume one of the Knights of Bedlam’s story.  And when that arc is resolved, there is the possibility of looking at what happens with the Knights down the ages.  And a character has appeared who has only so far been lurking in background of notes for other projects and they deserve their own story.

I have the luxury of setting my own deadlines, so nothing is lost on this project.

Ice That Melts The Tips

Bedlam is really underway now.  By tomorrow night, I’ll be a third of the way through.  This bank holiday weekend has really placed me ahead of the curve.

There’s a lot that is not going in to this story now.  I’ve been able to maintain the feeling of an ensemble piece, but it’s really the story of one man.  I’m also beginning to wonder how much of what I’ve got planned will fit in one hundred pages.

This volume will probably end in the Holy Land and I’ll continue on with their journey across Europe in another story.  There are two fairly powerful enemies that they (so far) don’t know that they have who can provide the conflict for that.  And we know for a fact that at least one character is still around in modern times…

A Rational Quotient

The first working week of Script Frenzy is now over.  I’m one fifth of the way into the script and one quarter of the way through my allotted time.  This would bother me more if I didn’t have two whole Mondays allocated to the project later in the month.
As it currently stands, I’ve just played the inciting incident, introduced one (possibly two, depending on your point of view) of the antagonists and started fleshing out the characters.  There are two I want to do more work with, but they’re just about to reach prominence.
Now the story is to begin in earnest…

Wasting another night on planning my revenge

Eight pages in, and almost one tenth of Bedlam has been written.

I wasn’t feeling especially confident last night as it opens with a big single page introducing the main character and a double page spread which introduces everyone else.  I think I got about three pages done.

However, tonight I hit the earmarked “five-a-day” I’ll need to complete the one hundred pages by the 30th of April.  And with two Bank Holidays and a day off work for my birthday, I’m much happier about being able to finish the whole thing in a month.

Going to Bedlam

After another long lapse, I’m back again.

The second draft of Teratogenesis is finished and I know how much writing and rebuilding I want to do on the third draft.  The short answer is: a lot.  I’m essentially allowing a year per draft at this point, considerably more than the 4 months of editing I first thought, but you keep going until it’s right and time is no longer a factor on this project.

But it is on Bedlam.

I’ve decided to try my hand at Script Frenzy this year.  Essentially, it’s NaNoWriMo but for 100 page scripts.  I’m aiming to get around 5 pages of script written per night, which is immensely optimistic, but this is aimed around only writing on “school nights.”  I can see there being huge weekend writing binges…

It’s actually going to be the script for a graphic novel (which, as a term, provokes a whole different debate) or web comic.  This end of things won’t even start until I’ve got a finished script, though, and may never will (if I can’t find the right artist at the right price).

Bedlam is the story of a knightly order sent to re-establish the Bishopric of Bethlehem in the wake of the Sixth Crusade.  History fans will note that they were not entirely successful.  It’s set in the same continuity as my other writing and will serve as something of a prequel to Teratogenesis and the Madison short stories.  There is a whole cosmology at work behind these which I hardly ever get to use, so Bedlam is an excuse to showcase some of this.

If you want to follow me on Script Frenzy, my profile is here.  Expect a few more blog updates as I suddenly become eager to distract myself.

Finally...

It has taken three hundred and seventy-eight days, but I've just completed the second draft of Teratogenesis.

This means I've now got to fill in the missing sections and write the framing story...

Grains of sand, falling

11:22am:

Well, it’s Christmas Eve again and, despite the late start, I’m still aiming to get a short ghost story written before midnight.

If you followed this last year, it’s the same deal.  I’ll be drawing Tarot cards and pinning them onto a simple story structure.  It sounds easy…

11:54am:

Card One:  The Knight of Wands (reversed)

This is a fiery and impetuous card, representing a lot of activity but also unreliability.

Of the 36 Dramatic Situations, I’ve paired this to number 30:  Ambition.  This means I’ll have to now select an ambitious protagonist, an object that is to be desired and an antagonist.  This is one of the oldest stories ever told, from Jason and the Argonauts to the “go here, get this” quests that fill computer games.  However, it’s rarely that simple…

 

12:10pm:

Card Two:  The Page of Wands (Reversed)

Another energetic and pro-active card, this represents an effervescent youngster and a surge of activity.  The fire of the wands is also indicative of a selfish charm and ruthlessness of ambition.  A good card for the protagonist of this situation!  However, reversed, it signals hyperactivity and a breakdown in communication.

I’m questioning which perspective to tell the story from now.  I want this card to belong to the ghost and to have them be looking for something, but I also want to keep it in a traditional third person limited, “haunted hero” point of view.

Let’s see what the other cards say…

 

12:30pm:

Card Three:  The Queen of Wands.

Considering that I’ve shuffled this deck of cards twice and it’s remained untouched since last year (when it was shuffled again), it is statistically improbable to draw three of the four court cards for the same suit.  In order.

Like the other two Wand cards, this is an active and self-centred card.  In this case, though, there is a practicality and nurturing element.  But it is the security of wealth and the drive to sustain prosperity, rather than an unconditional love.

From this I’ve decided that the coveted item will be an heirloom of the protagonist’s mother that carries as even more emotional worth than it does financial value.

12:50pm

Card Four:  The Six of Pentacles

Thankfully not the King of Wands, which would’ve left the story somewhat flat.

The Six of Pentacles is yet another covetous card.  Which makes it excellent for our antagonist.  It is an earth card, though, which means that they are interested in our heirloom for its financial value.  It also represents the beginnings of harmony and acting as a benefactor, so the antagonist will eventually soften to the ghost’s goals and become an ally in the resolution of the story.  This is further backed up by the fact that the card is reversed, indicating a lose.

2:05pm:

After lunch and an unexpected trip to the shop, the writing begins…

3:40pm:

Four hundred and forty two words and I’m still in the first act.  Less than eight and a half hours to go.  Not looking optimistic.

4:32pm:

First thousand words done.  So far I’ve been writing with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s soundtracks to The Social Network and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in the background.  Great music to keep you in a specific place without intruding into your own work.  Apart from the cover of Immigrant Song which is just epic.

5:27pm:

First sighting of the ghost comes in at around one and a half thousand words.  I reckon I’m about a third of the way in so far.

6:14pm:

Two thousand words in and the second act as begun.  I think it’s time to start ramping up the tension now that the “protagonist” is alone in a haunted house….

7:44pm:

Tea has taken far long than expected.  10pm finish not looking so optimistic.  Why, oh why do I give myself these deadlines?

8:52pm:

Although I’m about to reach the beginning of the end of the second act, a ten pm finish is still looking unlikely.  We need a lot more of our Page of Wands.

Incidentally, because I’m running out of time, her appearance will be based on an actress.  If anyone can guess who it is, I’ll dedicate the story to you.  Like me, you have until midnight.

Just realised, I’m the only one who can see this so far (maybe a plan for next year?)  So that’s Midnight Monday 26th December, and I’ll update the Scribd copy.

9:57pm:

It’s going to be a race against the sand this year.  I’ve just turned into the third act and while midnight still looks possible, getting it formatted and up on Scribd might be a bit optimistic.

 

12:00am:

I’ve fallen at the final hurdle.  Or rather sentence.  Just as the church bells started to ring, I was in the second to last line.  I’ll finish it up, go to bed and post it some time tomorrow.

Massive disappointment and the lesson learned is:  Christmas is about family, but for one day of the year, could you please leave me alone to write?

Let Us Go In...

For once, I've managed to deliver.

Here is 'The Fog Is Rising,' a ghost story for Halloween.  Halloween doesn't actually feature, but it is pretty scary.

The Fog is Rising

I asked for suggestions and I damn near used them all.  I think there was only Owen Wilson and The Sixth Sense that didn't make the cut.

Over the last two weeks, I've got into a nice routine of writing which I intend to stick to and not only are the ideas coming in thick and fast, but they are taking shape as something useful.  I'm also making good progress on the Teratogenesis edit which looks like it will take an even twelve months to finish.

Next year is beginning to look quite macabre, too:  This story may be first in a series based on a common theme, I intend to finish a serial I started several years ago and I might even dust off something I set aside as too dark, something beginning with S...

Grinding Exceedingly Fine

That's probably the best way to describe the drafting process for Teratogenesis.  I'm pretty sure that it will take just as long to edit the first draft as it did to write the damn thing.  But progress is being made.  Slowly.

With Halloween coming up, I plan on posting a new ghost story on Scribd.  I've said it now, so I'm committed. In this case, I'm actually fairly interested in peoples input, so let me know in the comments what you're interesting in reading.

I've actually had a bit of a clean up of my Scribd account.  Everything on there is now mobile formatted and I've removed the duplicates  I'm pretty impressed with the way things are going with Scribd.  Unlike Google Docs, which seems to have been "upgraded" so that it's harder to format documents.

Some thought is being given to projects for next year.  It might include revisiting something that I've had locked away for awhile.  Something deemed so horrible, it was never to be unleashed.  Or it could be something a bit more light hearted and considerably different from everything I've put out so far.

Long Time, No See

To say that my output this year has taken a downturn would be something of an understatement.

Frankly, due to changes of circumstance, I just don't have the energy to write of an evening lately.

This has left the second draft of Teratogenesis stalled.  My short story output is dead in the water too.

There is also the fact that I was going to host the second draft of Teratogenesis on the HarperCollins Authonomy website.  But given that HarperCollins is owned by News Corporation, it's not a company I want to be generating content for.  After all, they're good enough at that themselves...

So, the hunt begins for a new home for Teratogenesis, efforts must be made to make the effort and some progress needs to come of a year that's running away from me.

This isn't the 'droid you're looking for...

This is just a quick test to see if the Blogger Android app is working.

Inch By Bloody Inch…

Progress is being made on the second draft of Teratogenesis.  Slow progress but progress, nonetheless.
I’ll be honest, the short story a week is dead in the water.  I’ve simply had more on my plate with other things than to churn out four thousand words every week.  Or month.
There will be more being posted on Scribd, but there is a fair amount up in the air at the minute.
I’m not even going to put a date on when Teratogenesis will be done.  I’ll do my second draft, then I’ll ask for volunteers and try the same “distributed proof-reading” they do on Project Gutenberg.  Then I might see about getting an expert in to look at the final draft.
Even with the supplementary material I’ve got planned, I think it would be too slim a text to merit a print run.  Although, fewer pages means fewer plates, which means cheaper book….  Instead, I’ll format the final draft into an e-book.  And spare the trees.

Lacunae

So, today is the first of March?  What happened to February?  And wasn’t it Christmas the other week?

This year is flying by.  Maybe I was just keeping closer track of last year with the schedule I had set for the Teratogenesis updates.  Maybe it’s all an elaborate joke and everyone is moving the clocks back a minute at midnight every night.

“Escalation” was to be my watch word this year, but I suspect “consolidation” might be closer to the mark.  The Wicked Steeple, the latest, first and only new short story this year, has taken me two months to write.  Or one sixth of the entire time I’ve spent so far on Teratogenesis.

It’s taken almost exactly two months, because it’s based on a nightmare I had in the early hours of New Year’s Day.  This is third longest writing period I’ve ever spent and actually finished the piece.  The other two were my final project for university (six months) and Teratogenesis (a year.)

Why has it taken two months?  I’ve been distracted by Twin Peaks, the cat and conquering aliens (on the computer.)  I need to step up the pace.  But in the meantime, I’ll be reorganising and redrafting the other short stories on Scribd and looking at MobiPocket editions.

Tempus Fugit

“…One a week for a year.  I’ll tell you now: it won’t happen…”

Well, that became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
But I’ve got my excuses ready:

• I had the actual flu for the first two weeks of this year.
• I’ve started three short stories to make up for it.  But not actually finished any of them…

So it’s the usual case of feast and famine.  The whole point of this short story exercise is to take the more structured approach from Teratogenesis and push it further.  When the focus is undone, it all falls down.
It’s also the end of the “cooling off” I’ve imposed on Teratogenesis, so that means assembling the final manuscript.  And getting it edited.  And designing the cover….
So the first short story should be up in (Chinese) New Year and we’ll see about getting back on track.

del.icio.us Tags: Short Story,TeratogenesisUK,Prophecy,Influenza,Feast,Famine.

Escalation

It’s strange to think that it is only a year since I started writing Teratogenesis, but today the story has ended.

Teratogenesis:  Thirteen Lunar Months In The Life Of A Lycanthrope.

The closest feeling I have ever felt to this before was when I graduated university.  I’m fairly proud but know I could have done better and the real work is only just about to begin.

There is the editing still to do, any and all volunteers would be very appreciated.  I need a cover for the eBook for which I intend to hold some sort of invitational.  Costing needs to be sorted, a lot easier than with print, but since both Amazon and Google Checkout charge a commission and, for some reason, eBooks are subject to VAT, there is a fair amount of number crunching to get the balance right.  Some sort of promotion should be done.

Not only is there all that (and more, no doubt) but next Saturday sees the start of my weekly short story series.  One a week for a year.  I’ll tell you now: it won’t happen, but we’ll see what the score is this time next year, eh?

 

del.icio.us Tags: TeratogenesisUK,Online Serial,Lunar Cycle,Optimism,Pragmatism.

A Race Against Midnight

Welcome to my “televised” attempt at writing a short story.  Hopefully, it will work and we’ll have something to read at the end of it.  But that’s not really the point;  it’s just an exercise that I quite like to do.

 

9:42am

Typical.  When you need to use your computer and time is a factor, there are updates to be installed.

First things first: music.  I’ve already done this as I prefer to operate a computer with music playing.  This year it’s mostly bluesy, rocky music with a lot of Nick Cave and BringTheWarHome.  With that sorted, we can move onto the actual writing.

All stories basically consist of: a beginning, a middle and an end.  They needn’t come in that order, but they all have to be present.  Stories tend to conform to archetypal structures, as well.  The most famous of these is the monomyth as described in Joseph Campbell’s Hero With A Thousand Faces.

The shortest description of this is Star Wars (the old ones, not the new ones) which adheres to pretty much this exact map.  It also appears in the classical hero stories, Wizard of Oz and myths from around the world.

But it’s a bit unwieldy for a short story, so I’ll just be using Georges Polti’s 36 Dramatic Situations, which are a little more condensed.

The decision making process I’ll be using means drawing a Tarot card (from a Colman-Smith deck,) looking at what images appear to me, referencing it to A.E. Waite’s The Pictorial Key to the Tarot and then making my decision on that.

So, I’ll draw the first card…

 

10:07am

The first card drawn is the Page of Pentacles, reversed:

My first impression was an image of a young man, hands raised as if in offering, between a copse of trees and a hill.  Pages are traditionally female cards, but the shadow of the jaw creates the rebus of a goatee beard when reversed.

Arthur Edward Waite describes the Page of Pentacles reversed as follows:  “Prodigality, dissipation, liberality, luxury, unfavourable news.”  After looking through the 36 Dramatic Situations, this seemed to fit closest to Number 35:  Recovery of a Lost One.

 

10:24am

This dramatic situation only includes two characters, One Who Is Lost and a Seeker.  There is no specific conflict between them; it is the situation that they have to overcome, rather than each other.

The next card I drew was for The One Who Is Lost:

The Moon represents the tension between the mind and the soul, the intellect and the spirit.  As stern (and solar) as the Moon looks, she is waxing and offering hope.  The scorpion represents a “nameless and hideous tendency that is lower than the savage beast.”  The path leads between a dog and a wolf, between civilisation and the wild.

Again, synchronicity rears its head and returns us to the themes of Teratogenesis…

 

10:41am

The card I’ve drawn for the Seeker is the Knight of Swords:

Sometimes, harmonies and correspondences appear between the card that appears and its place in the story.  The Knight of Sword is the prototypical questing knight and a perfect card for our Seeker.

He represents all the qualities of the chivalric hero, both good and bad:  “Skill, bravery, capacity, defence, address, enmity, wrath, war, destruction, opposition, resistance, ruin.”  He is someone who is willing to not only brave death but also to deal it in pursuit of his goals.

 

10:53am

The card I’ve drawn for my beginning is Strength or Fortitude, reversed:

This isn’t a physical strength, as suggested by the  taming of the lion, but a strength of faith as per the chain of roses which bind the beast.  However, it is reversed and suggestive of a loss of faith and an unleashing of the feral instincts.  This ties quite nicely into the image of The One Who Is Lost that we already have.

 

11:05am

The card drawn for the middle of the story is The Emperor:

The Emperor is not just a temporal king but a manifestation of the will, of exerting ourselves onto reality.  This is often in simple ways, like making and discarding, but goes right up to the stage of life or death decisions.  In many ways, he is the direct opposite of the previous card, showing a recovery of the self.

 

11:17am

Hmm.  I seemed to have missed out the Emperor in that last post, but he’s back now.

The final card I’ve drawn is a Minor Arcana, the Two of Wands:

Another appropriate card, as the Two of Wands indicates that through hard and difficult work, success is likely.  However, it may not bring the pleasure or satisfaction that we wanted…

 

11:31am

So this gives us a condensed plot that looks something like this:

Someone has given into their baser instincts and become lost. Someone else, capable and ruthless, is sent after them. When they find them, they have recovered themselves but are not necessarily able to come back.

Now it is time to essentially wrap this up in the uniform of a ghost story.  Currently, the story could be about anything: a kitchen sink story of infidelity, a two-fisted war story of guilt, a romance, anything.  But the goal of the exercise is a ghost story, so that is how we’ll dress our set.

Now, the hard part begins, the actual writing…

 

12:47pm

The story is wearing its ghostly robes, the characters are all named and the scene is set.

Time to splice the main brace and move onto the first draft…

 

1:43pm

We have a title: Dependence.

All of the Christmas ghost stories have one word titles:  Harbinger, Sacrifice and Dependence, which remains unpublished because its not very good.

 

3:09pm

This is turning out far darker than I expected…

 

3:47pm

First draft done in 6 hours and 5 minutes, not bad going.

But the balance of horror and terror isn’t right.  This isn’t a ghost story, it is a horror story.  Horror is a much more visceral thing, while the creeping sense of terror is far more subtle.

Time to let it rest for a few hours and then the second draft…

 

6:37pm

There’s so much to change  on a second draft…

 

6:56pm

Decent templates make formatting so much easier…

 

19:00pm

And there we go!

Dependence, a Christmas horror story written and posted in nine hours and eighteen minutes.  Available from Scribd formatted for screen and mobile devices.

It’s far more gruesome than I expected and falls well short of the definition MR James used for his ghost stories, but it’s done and it’s up.

 

Thanks to everyone who’s been following this, I’ve enjoyed and hope you have too.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

del.icio.us Tags: Synchronicity,Short Story,Christmas,Tarot,Live,36 Dramatic Situations,Horror

Unlocking

A huge and penultimate Teratogenesis update today.  There is only one chapter remaining and then it’s done.  I can’t quite believe it.  Mostly because it’s not necessarily true.  There’s still the editing, the two missing chapters (which will foreshadow Lyall’s return) and Trudie’s prologue and epilogue to write.

Then I’ll have to design the ebook, market the ebook, write the theme tune, sing the theme tune…  It’s a year in and I’m only just beginning.

I’ve got something special planned for the cover, which will hopefully avoid me having to hack something out of Paint and be useful to someone else.

I’m also making another attempt at my annual Christmas ghost story.  It’s a mostly Victorian tradition, but it’s an exercise that I quite enjoy.  Basically, I have one day to write a short story from scratch.  Two of the previous stories, Harbinger and Sacrifice, are both up on Scribd already, but aren’t formatted for monitors or ereaders, these a classic A4 pages.

This year, I plan to “write live” which essentially means I’ll be blogging as I go.  I’ll be starting work at 9am and detailing the various stages it goes through here, on this blog, on Friday 24th December 2010.  And obviously, the finished item will be posted to Scribd… If it does get finished!

 

del.icio.us Tags: TeratogenesisUK,Online Serial,Little Britain,Short Story,Scribd,Blogging,Christmas,Finales

Stage Fright

This chapter of Teratogenesis was even harder than the last.

The big problem with working on this for a year, is that now it comes to the end, I’m so invested in it that I don’t want it to end.  And this brings in the issues of dissemblance and skiving.

But then, killing my darlings was the very problem Teratogenesis and my Scribd account are meant to be solving.

On a related note- synchronicity rearing it’s head again- I’ve just watched Reichenbach Falls on BBC4, which is on a similar theme.  Essentially, it’s a fictionalised Ian Rankin killing off an even more fictionalised Rebus.  To an extent.  Well timed to say the least, especially since I finished Exit Music, the last Rebus novel on Friday.

del.icio.us Tags: TeratogenesisUK,Online Serial,Synchronicity,Short Story,Ian Rankin,Sherlock Holmes