So Hard it could crack an egg

I’ve been writing…

 

My first draft of my “Regenerations” story is complete – and frankly it needs some serious work. The ending is awful, it’s there because something had to be – I sort of knew what had to happen in the end but wrote myself into a contrived confrontation. Still, it’s seven thousand odd words actually written down, which is better than nothing – though I’m not sure what it’s rambling about. Hopefully a week or so away from it may give a fresh perspective and help me figure out just what these people are doing. Rampaging Moas, errant teens, strange, super-powered girls? What the hell is going on? And I’m the writer.

 

As a kind of back-up, I’ve returned to an earlier story that could well fit the bill for the Regenerations book – a story I was convinced was definitely complete. A new look at it does reveal the need for a little more oomph and a bit of restructuring. I’ve been using my “technique” that I used for “The Royal Wedding from Hell” – which uses the Lester Dent Masterplot concept of looking at your story in 4 parts – which I think of as:

 

Intro – where we meet the characters and situation, and problems

Build-up – where we throw more problems in their way and reveal what’s going on

Blow-up – where the poor buggers get even more crap thrown their way and we reveal what’s REALLY going on

Finale – where everything gets sorted out

 

It’s not overly dissimilar to structure ideas explained superbly by Larry Brooks – his latest blogpost lays it out very well (he refers to the 4 parts as Setup, Response, Attack, Resolution). And I heard of Larry via Debbie Howell, interviewed in my previous blog as part of SpecFicNZ blog week.

 

So having done the “pantser” bit with both stories – in other words just getting some bl**dy words down which, at least, give me characters, places and some kind of idea – I can move on to the rebuilding bit, where we turn all that raw material into a coherent and (hopefully) engaging story.

 

In addition to all that, I’ve started plodding along with a novel – “The Camp” – I have a rough structure of 4 parts laid out, but am feeling my way forward, finding out what makes my main man tick to start with. 5000ish words so far, only about 45000 or so to go.

 

I’ve been watching…

 

Dr Who – the latest 5 episodes (Season 7, part 1) were an improvement on last season (“Asylum of the Daleks” was the best episode since Time of the Angels/ Flesh and Stone from a couple of seasons ago) – but, when you know that the Ponds are leaving at the end of episode 5, then the other 4 episodes have an air of just being there to fill up time waiting for the important one. Thankfully, Amy and Rory are gone now, as far as I’m concerned they royally overstayed their welcome, the new girl seems interesting (at least from her intro in Asylum of the Daleks) so we wait for Xmas and the other 8 episodes to come along. And it’s the big 50^th anniversary next year so who knows what excitement is planned?

 

The fun and jollies of the US Election - like most of the rest of the world, I feel relieved that our man Obama won. Romney, himself, doesn't seem like an idiot (unlike say, George W Bush, Sarah Palin or Rick Santorum) BUT, he has to swallow the rest of the party line to keep the support of all the other red-neck loons that make up his party. I've got more to say on the warped ideology of the American right, but it will take another blog for that.

 

With the weird atmosphere of untruth that surrounded the US election, I found myself re-reading 1984 - I read when I was about 18. It was superb then, but with the wisdom that comes with age, it is simply staggering today. I will bring these threads together in my next blog.

 

Okay, and now, this month’s drabble is more of a sort of prose poem – compiled from the subject lines of the spam I get about various pills and, uh, “enlargement” products. Do they form some kind of art work? I’ll let you judge. If anyone wants me to forward one of the spams, please shout. I offer no guarantees about their products….

“So hard it could crack an egg.

Saucy young college hotties.

Germany gets first strike with extra inch

Vids from Yacht party

Your love tool is set to thrill

Butts that look awesome

Girls at $200 a pop

What really happened on the Tonight show?"

 

So - has anyone else written several thousand words of story, get to the end and decide that it really makes no sense at all?

What did everyone else think of the latest part-series of Dr Who? Are you glad the Ponds have gone?

And can anyone see art in spam? Probably not.

 

Now - go and buy "The Royal Wedding from Hell"

Spec Fic NZ Blogging Week - Final Episode

Phew, this is sneaked in at the last minute but we made it. 7 days, 7 drabbles, 1 story. Ladies and Gents, I give you the finale:

"Panathea - Bunyip Girl of Prophecy - Episode 7"

Grunt was knackered. Another food riot supressed, another few hundred dead. He stumbled in to see Panathea.

Grunt sat. "It was never this bad before."

"Before what?"

"Before they had  hope," he replied. "Too many people hoping for too much."

Pan looked out upon her city. Grunt was right. The numbers didn't add up. But she was the Bunyip Girl, here to bring the age of plenty.

Plenty was relative, however. If you can't increase supply, then reduce demand.

"Is that it?" she asked, "Am I prophesised to kill half the population?"

Grunt shook his head. Prophecies were just crap.

And there we are. The fun part about making it up as you go along is that you really don't know where it's going to go - and I really didn't think it would end up like this. Far bleaker than I was expecting, but then, maybe just beating the bad guys can't be the end - it really just gives something to start with. Beating the bad guys is the easy bit.

So Good Luck Pan, I hope you don't have to kill half your people but I leave it in your hands.

If you enioyed this - go check out the other blogs at SpecFicNZ .

And when you're done - go to Smashwords and buy my awesome ebook:
"The Royal Wedding from Hell"

As Mrs Doyle would say "Oh go on, go on, go on then...."

SpecFic NZ Blogging week Episode 6

Okay, maybe not posted every day...but, I WILL do the final episode by the end of today. So, on with the show:

"Panathea - Bunyip Girl of Prophecy - Episode 6"

The Big Kahuna dangled high above the city.

"Where's the food, Kahuna?" said Pan, "People starve, a bag of rice costs a week's wages. Release the food. Let us live."

"There's no more food, there's too many bloody people," he screamed, "the few eat, the rest barely survive. If it was fair, everyone would starve."

Pan looked down to her gang. They couldn't hear the conversation. The city sprawled out around them. Taking charge of it was a big ask of a street gang. But she was the girl of Prophecy.

Pan cut the rope and the Kahuna went down.

So what will Panathea do now?????

Find out later!!!!

Spec Fic NZ Blogging week episode 5

I'm really enjoying Spec Fic Blogging week this year. The genius who got us all to interview each other should be rewarded - it's great to read about the different Spec Fic writers, what they're up to and how they do it.

For example, here's a great interview with Paul Mannering, who was good enough to publish my story in "Tales from the Bell Club".

And this link takes you to the Spec Fic website with all of the great postings.

And on with the show:

Panathea - Bunyip Girl of Prophecy - Episode 5

"You killed my parents, and pretended to kill me," said Panathea to the battered form of Inspector Grunt.

"There was some prophecy," said Grunt, "I assume you know about that."

Panathea sat back. The record had said she would bring down the Big Kahuna and usher in a new age of plenty.

"I'll help you get the Kahuna," said Grunt, "I can use my security clearance, get you close, you can take him out."

Panathea looked to the gang. The Roos seemed keen. The Wallabies were angry. Tangi the Moa was determined.

"Betray us," said Pan, "and you will die."

Hmm, 200 words to wrap this up.....

SpecFicNZ Blogging week Episode 4

And on we rush....seven days, seven drabbles, One story.....

Panathea - Bunyip Girl of Prophecy - part 4

Another city block collapsed but Grunt wasn’t bothered. If he caught the Bunyip girl, all would be forgiven. He ordered the copdroids on, but the Street scum were putting up one hell of a fight.

 

The gang made their last stand at the last block. Most copdroids assaulted the front. Grunt took a smaller squad to the rear to capture any escaping Bunyip girl.

 

Suddenly, the copdroids fell silent. A gun was pushed into Grunt’s ear.

 

“Override command for copdroids; takes a while to work, eh?” said Panathea.

 

“You’re under arrest,” said Grunt.

 

“And you’re going to die,” said Pan.

 

3 episodes to go...but what has been prophesised? And have I thundered towards a finale way too soon?

SpecFic NZ Blogging week - Episode 3

Oops, missed yesterday so will have to do two today...

Seven days, seven drabbles, ONE story: Episode 3 of:

"Panathea - Bunyip Girl of Prophecy"

Inspector Grunt was called to Big Kahuna himself.

“We got it sweet right now,” he said, “Them poor, they is oppressed, they is hungry, they is broken. Which means they is happy. Which means us one-percenters is happy. Whole world is happy, eh?”

Grunt said nothing.

“ ’Cept for this Bunyip gang!”

“Just a bunch of kids, boss,” said Grunt.

“They busted the Records Office. Kid’s stuff, eh?”

“OK, they’re organised kids?”

“Zat so? How ‘bout that bunyip kid prophecy? Prophecy you was supposed to have nixed, like years ago.”

“We’ll nix it now,” said Grunt, “Nix it real hard.”

More later...

SpecFicNZ Blogging week day 2

First things first, Episode 2 of "Panathea - Bunyip Girl of Prophecy"

Mama Bunyip found the baby Panathea, almost dead, in the sewer. Most Bunyips would just eat the human child.
But Mama Bunyip had the Touch and saw there was something about that girl. Touch said Prophecy.
So Pan was raised by Bunyips in the dark and stinking tunnels beneath the City.
Pan was 13 when Mama Bunyip died; her protection among the other Bunyips gone. She climbed to the streets above.
Most stray teenage girls were chewed up and spat out by the Streets.
But Pan was raised by Bunyips. The other Street scum soon found out what that meant.

More excitement tomorrow....

I was interviewed today by Debbie Howell as part of Spec Fic NZ Blogging week and my answers are on her excellent blog - (http://deberelene.wordpress.com/2012/09/18/author-interview-richard-barnes/#more-1399) She writes about far more interesting things than me as well.

In return I chucked some questions to her. And please, I'm sure Debbie's ignorance of Doctor Who is just an accident of circumstance and not an appalling lack of taste, after all, she correctly identifies Tim Tams as being better than Toffee Pops:

Tim Tams or Toffee Pops?
I think I'd have to go TimTams ... That's a bit of an eye-opener, eh? When I was younder, it would definitely have been Toffee Pops. But, I guess, my sweet tooth isn't quite what it once was.
On the other hand, Toffee Pops thrown in a food processor (a whole packet) with some cream cheese (250g?? I think ... been a while), whizzed, rolled into balls and covered in choc sprinkles, or chopped peanuts, or whatever .... divine ... let me repeat - DI-VINE.

What was the best meal you ever had?
Hmm .. There are a few that I vaguely remember, but the one I can actually describe, was the old version of the Moonriver Salmon from Lone Star (did I say I was classy? Hey, Lone Star used to do good value meals ... now they're expensive, but they give us free meals for our birthdays ...). The salmon was served on noodles. The noodles had some sort of brown sauce on it ... soy, mixed with oyster, perhaps? (I think that's what I did when I recreated it at home, anyway). But the best bit? The aoli with just a hint of wasabi through it ... YUM!

And which movie can you watch over and over again?
Much to my husband's chagrin: UHF (aka "The Videot from UHF"), aka: Weird Al's movie. But, last time we watched it (I found another person who hadn't seen it! Yay! I had to enlighten them ... but, no, you don't borrow the DVD, I must watch with you ...) hubby still laughed. I think he just groans about it for show. It's a funny movie. Otherwise, there's the classics like "The Neverending Story", "Dirty Dancing", "Cocktail", and of course "Star Wars". I suppose Michael Jackon's "This Is It" counts as a movie, so that one slides in there, too.

Who is best Doctor Who?
Erm ... next? (oops)

What piece of writing are you most proud of and why?
I'm going to say I have two. I have a short story called "Oasis", which I was challenged to write last year by the Canaries from thecanaryreview.com. I had been lamenting over how much harder it was to write fiction than non-fiction (once the research has been done, of course), and that led to a challenge to write 10 pages, double-spaced in three days, with the prompt: "Main character wakes up with no memory, a stolen animal (your pick), and an incessant cough". The cough was easy - I had a cold at the time, myself. It was tough - I was sick and I had to turn all dragon-lady-ish over my writing time, banishing hubby and toddler from the house as often as possible, but I did it ... and then that story went on to earn 2nd place in a local Writers' Workshop contest. Not too shappy.
 And, of course, I'm proud of my novel, "Healer's Touch". It started out as nothing more than a way to pass the time when I was temping. I found myself with the most mind-numbing job of sitting there waiting for the phone to ring so I could put the caller through to the person they actually wanted to talk to ... Yeah ... no "Press 1 for so-and-so", nope, you got me for that. In between phone calls, there was nothing for me to do (and for security reasons the internet was pretty well locked down, so no email, no FB, no games ...). And so, I turned to pen and paper.
 What started out as nothing rekindled my relationship with the written word (I had left fiction behind in my pursuit of a scientific career ... yeah, that turned out well). And now I'm due to publish it early next year! Of course, the story bears little resemblance to those early days, although my original MC is still there, he's just been relegated. Also, I wasn't going to have magic, initially ... I wanted a "real world", with scientific explanations. But, magic is fun to play with, so I brought that in, and the story shaped itself from there.
 So, yeah, keep an eye out for "Healer's Touch" in 2013 (o:

Outliner or Pantster?
I started out as a pantster because I wasn't even trying. But once I got it on my head that I'd like the story to really be something, I drafted an outline here and there, and I applied story structure - woo! Sure, I had a go at writing off on other tangents, but I did, ultimately, return to the outline I kind of had in the back of my head from way back when. Sure, I've slipped in parts of my experiments, but on the whole, I stuck to my vague plan, that became less vague as time went on.
 These days, I find myself more comfortable with something in the way of a plan in mind. But, if I start hearing voices in my head, then those scenes get written down as is, ready to go where they are needed.
I think I am a Pantsliner? Hmm ... that doesn't sound right ...

Do you have a day job?
Oh yes. Technically 2, I guess. I have a part-time job as well as being a mum. Luckily being mum to a toddler means I get day-time sleep times to write/read/interwebs, for now ...

Lady Macbeth is often seen as the Fourth witch. Discuss.
 Oh, gosh ... Been too long since I checked out any Shakespeare. And my favourite was always "A Midsummer Night's Dream", so I'm a little lost on the witches ... and Macbeth. Better add them to my reading list, eh?