Words, Words, Words, Words

Hello, Livejournal!

I just thought I would share the photo of my soon to be published book! No release date yet, as we are in the 'galley proof' stage at the moment, but we're getting there.

I'm really pleased with the cover - the artist totally got the mood I was going for. Also it is super cool to see my name on a book cover!

Silly how something like this can make me grin, but there you go. I sent a question in to Ken Levine, who's blog I read regularly. He's a television writer, and it's fun to hear about his insider stuff, as well as his reminisces of his own childhood. He also does baseball stuff, but that doesn't interest me as much. Anyway, I asked a question, and he answered. I thought I'd share it with you all:

And finally, Carol needs help (and a Valium):

I somehow volunteered to write some 'skits' for this fundraiser my theatre (Dead Playwrights Repertory - shameless plug!) is doing, and now I'm panicking. They will be Shakespeare related, and hopefully funny. Can you give me some calming words of writerly wisdom to help get me started? (or a rich Hollywood patron to support us so I don't have to do this?)

I’m still looking for a rich Hollywood patron to support me. First, off, relax. Once you finally finish you will realize the task wasn’t as daunting as you thought.

My advice would be to get something down on paper fairly quickly. Even if it’s very rough. But it’s always so much easier to fix when you have something already on paper.

So dive in. And try to fool yourself into thinking this will be fun and liberating. Good luck with it.

Morning world.

I'm pleased to announce I'm actually writing again; for whatever it's worth. I mean, I doubt I'll ever get it published, probably won't even try, but it's literally been years since I even attempted something fictional; I haven't even done any fanfic since the end of Doctor Who, series 4, So the fact that I'm at least putting pen to paper (well, okay, fingers to keyboard) makes me feel like I am still a creative being.

And the story, such as it is, is working so far. The plot is basically one I'd thought of ages ago, but I finally found a way to make it work. Or at least feel like it's working. It's about a young woman who left her rich husband and is working in her first job ever, and the job turns out to be an administrative assistant to a vice president of a company in charge of taking care of supernatural beings.

I'm still working on the mythology of this place, but basically the people in the company are almost like angels, and they remain corporeal and immortal as long as they have a symbiotic relationship with the person who is their assistant - as long as that relationship is intact, the women in the job do not age or get ill. This means they live a lot longer, maybe 150 years or so (I've not decided yet) but eventually they run out of life-span. They age kind of rapidly - not into a skeleton, or anything, that's way to "The Hunger" but until they are old, and then they will die.

And the conflict, I think, is going to be some being who wants chaos to reign on earth and is trying to destroy the guardians, and my girl gets all caught up in it.

I'm rather pleased with it so far; I'm mixing the mundane-ness of working in an office with the whole 'magic' thing. It's kind of fun.

So...there you go.

Have a lovely day, everyone.

I wrote this for my photo album I'm making for my family trip to the seaside. I've not written a poem in awhile, but I think it came out pretty well, so I thought I'd share.

Summer at the shore
never really changes;
fashions may shift
but the tide never ages.

The sun warms the sand
like it always has done
and waves crash to shore
with a promise of fun,

just as it always has
for the families that go there
with sea-shells and sunshine
and good times to share.

Summer at the shore
means wherever we roam
there's a place on a beach towel
that will always be home.

This means, of course, I have to find other bits of my writing and plug it in, to see who else I write like.

There's a neat topic on this television writer, Ken Levine's blog today about symbolism in writing. He says:

Every so often I’ll read an article or term paper or passage in a book that references a MASH episode my partner and I wrote. The piece is most always complimentary; sometimes overly so. But invariably the authors will analyze the episode. They’ll identify the symbolism, how when Hawkeye hangs up his laundry he’s really representing the Anti-Christ, and they’ll find all kinds of mythological parallel, subliminal messages, and odes to other works of literature. They’ll compare Klinger to Jane Austin, find significance in jeep license plate numbers, and detect hidden codes in Radar’s dialogue.

He goes on to say, er, no, we didn't do that ever. We just tried to write a good show.

The discussion in the comments got really interesting - How do we know if the writers meant what our English teachers told them they meant? And are good writers unconsciously adding symbolism? Is all good writing good because there is the possibility of symbolic interpretation in it?

In our show (OPENING FRIDAY BOOK YOUR TICKETS ONLINE!)which is basically the three Henry VIs and Richard III, I've noticed the word 'basilisk' comes up a lot. Was Shakespeare going somewhere with that, or it's just imagery he liked, so he used it frequently? (Also calling people 'homicide' happens frequently. It's sort of amusing when you start to notice these things)

I personally think the best writers don't intentionally get hung up on symbolism and meaning and portents. They write a good story, but they understand the world, and people's imagination enough that occasionally literature happens in the process of them telling a good story.

I despise books that try too hard to be 'deep and meaningful'. Oprah Books, I call them. Written by and for people who seem to think that, in order to be literature, the story has to be heavy, laden with symbolism, and usually bleak and depressing.

(I blame the fact that most of the books that we're forced to read in school ARE bleak and depressing. Our Mutual Friend is a far superiour book to A Tale of Two Cities, in my opinion, but TOTC is what usually gets taught.)

What do you think?

I just posted this story on doctorwho* so I thought I'd share it here as well, because they liked it there, and I'm just a bit proud of it.

It's my first Doctor Who fanfic, unless you count the Ben 10/Doctor Who crossover I did for Charlie.

It has spoilers for Journey's End. Also it isn't beta'd or anything.

( Between the Stars )














*elfmanfan That's the community I was telling you about.

A little while ago I'd made a joking comment on probably the Torchwood community about there being some agency somewhere that handled the financial and business affairs of all the immortals in the world, and some people thought that would be a cool story.

So I was mulling it over in my mind, wondering if it would make a good story, and how one would go about creating a plot for it.

So far what I got is this. A young woman interviews at this firm, and is asked odd sorts of questions, and when she is hired she finds out her job is to handle the affairs of a particlar immortal. She finds out there are all kinds of immortals wandering the earth; some are vampires, some are fallen angel types, some are humans who, for some reason I haven't thought of yet, can't die.

I haven't come up with any kind of drama/conflict yet. I imagine the immortal she works for will drag her into some sort of exciting thingy. Normally I tend toward the 'romantic story' type of fiction, and my first thought is her client is a man, and she falls in love, but I'm also thinking maybe her client could be a woman, and it is more of a Thelma and Louise/buddy chick flick type of thing.

So far the only thing I have is a snippet of conversation between my main character and the HR person in the firm, that goes ( something like this )

What do you think? Does it sound vaguely interesting?

Did you ever read something that was so good it made you want to get back to your own writing?

I just finished reading a friend's rough draft of a book (won't say who in case I'm not supposed to) and it was, wow. It was brilliant. Really. It made me cry in the end. If it isn't published someday then there is no logic in the world at all.

I may have to hate her because I am convinced she is going to be the successful writer I want to be but don't have the drive to actually do something about it, and I'll be all bitter and jealous.

And now I want to get back to my own story, because I want to see if I have a tenth of the spark in my story that was in hers.

Seriously, I just had to share because...wow.

Charlie, as you know, has been 'writing stories' featuring his friends and himself as super heroes. I've posted some of the stories, but I wanted to share with you the super hero names and powers, because I think it is an amusing look into his imagination.

Charlie is "Strongshadow". He is very strong and can also move through shadows.*

Aquamonkey is played by Harry, so named because he can breathe in water and is a monkey. Why he is a monkey, and why that is a super power, I have no idea.

Adrian is "Flightice" because he can fly and make things cold.

Tyler is "Speedrod" because he is fast and, as Charlie informed me "rod is fire".

Byron, Charlie's boycrush, is featured despite Charlie never seeing the kid, and he is Invisastretch. See if you can guess why.

In the sequel to the first story, titled "Super Heros Meet Another Guy" we are introduced to Zack. Zack is Brainwind. Apparently "Zack has the power of brain", and is the super hero who comes up with the plans.

Devon, in what is something I would call the 'sidekick role' keeps showing up only to be told he can't have a super power and must go home.

The arch nemisis is Albafreak, featured in the first story and in the fourth, titled "The Return of Albafreak". Albafreak is a giant robot complete with 13 minions called Albafreaklets. The 1960s Batman series couldn't have come up with a better baddie name.

For some reasons all of the battles happen at the mall.



* The shadow thing I thought was particularly clever. He even has them using a flashlight to create a shadow so he can get to where Aquamonkey is trapped in one episode.