Sunday 13th March, 2011

Another short writing update, for a change.

Having got into the habit of working on writing just about every evening, I found myself putting together the first draft of a new short story, currently under the working title of A Granted Wish. I’ve put it under the Stand Alone list but will bore you with more interesting background information on it (if I remember) once it’s been alpha read by Foxie [External Link].

No news on 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf (for those who don’t know a novel set in the Alex Jones’ world) except that first impressions are favourable. Several of the readers have told me that they are enjoying / have enjoyed it but the critiquing has yet to start. This means there is definitely no chance of getting anything together for the Angry Robot Books’ [External Link] open submissions (March 31st deadline) but I’d rather get things right than send it off half-baked.

And, assuming my evening writing habits continue, expect to see me making comments about The Three Guineveres over the next few months. I’ve finally picked up producing the first draft of this stand alone novel again. I’m not sure how far or fast it will progress but the general story arc is basically already set out as it borrows heavily from different sections of Arthuriana. Only with steam engines and Hadrian’s Wall and multiverses and… Yeah, okay, it’s a bit over the top.

For those who care: the weekend rugby has been a complete run of “they were so close”. Italy pulled off an amazing win over France (Wow!), Wales got lucky and just beat Ireland (Yay!), England beat Scotland but it was a close run thing (Noooooooooooo!).

Sunday 6th March, 2011

A short writing update (yes, I’m still boring you with 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf news) and some musing on gender.

At least this time you can stop rolling your eyes at my boring you to tears with the first draft. Yup, I finished the first draft of 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf! (For those who don’t know a novel set in the Alex Jones’ world that is only incidentally connected. Alex herself doesn’t appear in the book but other people mentioned in her stories do.) Having been ably alpha read by Foxie [External Link], the manuscript is now out with a handful of beta readers who will get formally name dropped at a later date. All of which basically means that the odds of hitting the Angry Robot Books’ [External Link] open submissions (March 31st deadline) has improved from not at all to slim to nothing.

Now the slightly less self-obsessed diary content. I’m not generally one for blogging or passing on opinion on the website. For me, my website does two things: it allows me to present my genealogy data in a relatively stable and readable form, and it allows me to do the same with my writing. In the past, it’s also covered other subjects and no doubt will again. In other words, it’s intended to be quite static – a product of a slightly older Internet generation than the current sea of blogs and opinions that change at a drop of a hat! While I admire people who express their opinion’s well, I know mine are changeable and I prefer to gather facts than to sound off. I live in fear of looking like an idiot because I missed one vitally important piece of information before I stood up. So today is a bit of a hi-jack. Except it’s not.

Gender identity and sexuality are huge subject areas that intersect and are very often confused with each other. It’s very choppy waters for someone who tends to just watch wide-eyed and bewildered. And, yes, I find other people much more eloquent and intelligent on the subject than I can ever be. However, some bits really interest me and this is why I’m going to point you in the direction of some interesting chatter. Do read the comments on each link, as they’re all interesting, even though you may want to follow links through, first.

The first entry point for me was this blog page: [External Link] That should take you to a page titled “As Weak As Woman’s Magic”, written by Athena Andreadis. The linked blog entry references two pieces, although the first link doesn’t actually work properly.

The first link Athena gives is to the Ursula K LeGuin opinion piece here: [External Link] called On Prospero’s Island. This is Ms LeGuin’s feelings on Prospero of The Tempest becoming Prospera, as played by Helen Mirren in the latest film of, well, The Tempest. Ms LeGuin has written some very famous science fiction and fantasy, and challenged a lot of gender biases in how those stories were put together. On the other hand, she also wrote some very famous science fiction and fantasy that was less, shall we say, challenging to the same gender biases.

The second link Athena gives is to her essay, also titled “As Weak As Woman’s Magic” [External Link], published in the latest Crossed Genres.

The short short version of the whole discussion is to say that the gender of a protagonist can vastly change the relationship between them and the world, whether these differences are perceived or actual. What do I mean by that? Well, to bring this back to me for five minutes, I always wanted to be a boy growing up. I wanted to grow up to be a man. I don’t mean I wanted to chase women or anything like that, I just realised that there was a social difference. However, the social difference is largely a result of perceived difference. There are biological, obvious differences: I could bear a child if I wanted to (or was, you know, seduced, raped, forgot contraception, etc, etc) and boy-me could have peed standing up and / or written his name in the snow. (A few who know me have heard this speech in various forms before.) Boy-me would also have had a bit of a head start on the upper body strength. The perceived differences are that people wouldn’t have been quite so surprised that I have more of a mathematical / scientific / engineering bent, when I can be persuaded to think, or that I’m not enamoured of the idea of being a mother.

So, in fiction, does it matter what gender a protagonist is? To some people, with regard to established, traditional stories, yes. But the issues reflect more on the mind of the audience than that of the artist. The whole thing got me thinking and I’ve been looking back through various fairy stories and mythologies while trying to turn another half-formed short story idea I had into the actual story. It’s surprising how many versions a story can go through and how different characters can get shoe-horned into different genders depending on what the social expectations are when it’s being told.

Sunday 27th February, 2011

What was I doing again?

It’s one of those times when work seems to be a bit manic. Basically my work has several annual reporting periods – to the Environment Agency [External Link] no less – and February is the time get the Pollution Inventory stuff together and put into their online forms. No further comment on the reporting process / the EA / work. Well, for today, anyway.

As I type this, I’m also waiting for some buns to finish baking. Not a euphemism. I’ve been working on what I now call my “bitter orange” recipe, i.e. buns for growed ups, for the last few weeks but have a niece-friendly version in the oven to take round for the family dinner. The adult version involves dark chocolate chips, orange rind and grated root ginger, none of which she likes. Still, she’s only four / almost five, so she’s got plenty of time to develop some taste!

And the bit you’ve all been waiting for, I’m sure. 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf (see the Alex Jones’ page) is almost complete, at least in first draft form. I have the last werewolf to slay and am also gradually working through the notes from my alpha reader, Foxie [External Link]. Which means I shall soon need beta readers – and preferably quick readers, at that, in order to have something I can submit to the Angry Robot Books’ [External Link] open submissions (March 31st deadline). If you have time and are interested, send me a DM or a message (from whatever online platform you choose).

My 6 Nations Rugby weekend summary:

  1. Yay for the Welsh!
  2. Dammit, I wanted the French to win!
  3. Come on the Irish (in a few minutes)!
  4. /

Sunday 20th February, 2011

SWASH 2011 [External Link] has been and gone. Life continues.

SWASH 2011 started on Friday (18th) and finishes some time today (20th). You can probably tell from the vague-ness of that comment that I didn’t do the whole weekend. I was there for Saturday morning and a touch of the afternoon, helping Simon McGrory from the Sheffield SSS [External Link] teach a lesson on smallsword disarms. I say “help”, I mean I got disarmed, repeatedly, while he used me to demonstrate the techniques to the class. Despite thus spending an hour and a half looking useless, I enjoyed the day. Snow outside does not prevent fun with swords.

25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf (world info on the Alex Jones’ page) continues. I now only have three werewolves to kill. Which, if you’re interested, means I have three chapters to do away with the “big bad” and provide an end that suits the character arcs. While the book does more or less what it says in the title (presents 25 ways to kill werewolves, subject to the rules presented in that particular fictional world), the characters involved go through a story line that is more than just a weekly monster – their own lives, in fact. The paths they’ve gone on weren’t exactly mapped before I set out but I had a rough idea of how my three teenagers would grow up. Now I’ve just got to heckle them into place for the final scenes. After that, rewrite! Rinse and repeat, etc. Will I get it finished in time for the end of the Angry Robot Books’ [External Link] open submissions (March 31st)? We’ll see.

Sunday 13th February, 2011

A repeat heads-up for SWASH 2011 [External Link] and a little about writing.

Exactly as I said last week: I shall be at SWASH 2011 [External Link] at Leeds Royal Armouries on the weekend February 19th & 20th. More precisely, I shall be stooging (being an instructor’s sidekick and whipping boy) for the “Small Sword dis-arms” session on the Saturday, the instructor being Simon McGrory from the Sheffield SSS [External Link]. Entrance to the sessions and talks at SWASH is charged but members of the public will actually be able to observe the training sessions. If you’re at all interested in taking up fencing, sport or historical, or any other western martial art for that matter, it’s well worth a look.

It shouldn’t affect the website update next weekend.

In 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf news (world info on the Alex Jones’ page), I am down to the last five werewolves to kill. So I continue with the “Almost there! Woot!”. I might even get the first draft finished for the end of February. And the way I’ve been writing it means a lot of the niggles that usually get worked on in the second draft have already been sorted. But there are still plenty of spelling mistakes and plot-holes to fill, I’m sure, so I’m not promising I can get everything done for the end of March and the end of the Angry Robot Books’ [External Link] open submissions. On the other hand, they only ask for the first 5 chapters and standard synopsis-type materials, so I should be able to get that up to final draft standard. Once the story arc is nailed down, it’s just tweaking. (You do realise this is all bravado, right?)

Okay, I’m off to go cheer for Ireland against France to complete my rugby weekend. The summary so far for this weekend: Bad luck Italy, stonkingly well done England (and I managed not to boo and hiss, and everything!); Bad luck Scotland, yay the boys in red!

And, yes, I didn’t mention it last weekend because I was still sulking about the Wales-England opener. Yes, sulking. Now stop reminding me about it or I’ll sulk some more.

Monday 24th January, 2011

Things don’t taste quite like I expected.

I’m a day late with the update, as I warned last week, due to attending a wedding up in Scotland on the 22nd. So, I shall start with the Scottish border patrol not being as it should be. After all, they let me in! The wedding itself (apparently called WedCon 3, an in-joke peculiar to the bride and groom’s university friends) was beautiful although some of the groom’s family missed the festivities due to novovirus. You can see where this is going, can’t you? Other attendees have come down with the virus, including the bride and groom. It hit me about 10pm last night and while I seem to have shucked most of the symptoms off, everything I taste tastes funny. To the point where even the flavour of a cup of tea is wildly different from what I expect.

In 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf news (do you really need to be told that it’s set in the Alex Jones’ world, though not with her in it?), I am now up to 15 methods on “paper”. With everything else that’s going on, I have’t actually had the brain space to consider working on any other projects like a short story or two. If I want to get everything up to a reasonable standard by the end of March for the Angry Robot Books [External Link] open submission period, I don’t have time, either!

Sunday 16th January, 2011

Are we there yet?

As said previously, January is the annual review period at work. So. January continues. Report writing continues. Enough about work.

Outside of work news, I’m now about half way through the first draft of 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf (set in the Alex Jones’ world, though not with her in it). According to my copy of OpenOffice ([External Link]), I have 145 pages with 32,325 words on them. And my heroine (currently named Elkie Bernstein, not sure why that name occurred to me) has 12 more werewolves to send to the here-after. Yes, the plot does more or less exactly what it says on the tin. Well, discounting the fact that life is that thing that happens while you’re out killing werewolves and life keeps kicking poor Elkie in the… Actually, that’s not going to work, she doesn’t have the right anatomy. Will “stomach” do you? Anyway, I’m still aiming to finish and submit to Angry Robot Books [External Link] by the end of March. The wordage is going to need steroids and some serious workouts before I get there but I shall try.

I’m out at a couple of friends’ wedding next so the update next week will probably be on Monday (24th). Believe it or not, this will actually be my first trip North of the border to Scotland. Considering that I used to live in Cumbria (and one of my ex-sites was just 7 miles South of the border), my lack of adventure in Scotland is just shocking.

Well, see you next week.

Sunday 9th January, 2011

Pottering away in the background. Yeah, I know that’s all I ever do.

Have you noticed how most people around you go through life like swans (ducks / geese / insert swimming bird of choice). Everyone else seems to look calm enough and is if they’re barely doing any work but, underneath, they’re also paddling along like fury to stay afloat. Or maybe icebergs would be a better analogy because no-one wants to get caught up in the work that really goes on underneath!

So, what’s my point. Not a lot really. I’m busy with “real” work for January (and a few months afterwards) as the annual review season opens – which means lots and lots of non-fiction writing that will never be appreciated by anybody, least of all the unnamed report author. And because I like a challenge, I want to get 25 Ways To Kill A Werewolf (set in the Alex Jones’ world, though not with her in it) finished and up to submission standard by the end of March. Why? Well, not just because I like a challenge. Angry Robot Books [External Link] will be having an open submission month in March. Like many of my writing friends, acquaintances and, dare I say, colleagues, I’ve decided to have a crack at it. And you guys won’t see any of this in terms of web-site updates.

Well, 13 more werewolves to kill so I’d better get back to work! See you next week.