Okay, so I just tried to read Anne Rice's Angel Time and wow, I got as far as 118 pages before I simply had to stop.
Never before have I ever felt so much that a book was preaching to me. It was a heavy, ham fisted, 'correct-your-life-before-it's-too-late' morality tale that genuinely almost borderline offended me.
Apologies to Wendy Howard and Nicole Hadaway whom I know liked the book but, man, if I had known that Anne Rice had changed her style so dramatically, I'd have steered clear.
(Yep, this is one unique post in this blog, I know).
The thing is I was a Catholic but chose to become an athiest.
Too much didn't add up and you don't need to be a Christian to follow the ONLY rule worth following from The Bible :
'Treat Others As You Would Like To Be Treated.'
That's it! It's that simple! The rest is circumstantial.
So Anne Rice wrote The Vampire Chronicles, a series that (deservedly so) brought her world wide acclaim, fame and fortune, a group of dark yet beautiful vampiric tales that took you somewhere and allowed you to experience a real yearning, deep, soulful, immortal fictional landscape.
Then there was Memnoch The Devil. A novel basically about a conversation. Lestat and the Devil have a chat....
.....and that's about it.
That's the whole novel.
I gave up on that one too.
It, unfortunately now, seems like a strange and befuddled 'prequel' to the sanctimonous, holier-than-thou Angel Time.
The book starts well.
Asks big questions, sets up an intriguing protagonist. We get to learn about a sweet, healthy, determined past shrouded in brutal tragedy and are drawn in. We are on the same page and we like it.....
.....then there's time travel, monks, 13th century Norwich, battling Jews and devout Catholics, prayer upon prayer upon prayer and.....
....I didn't get much further.
So, my question (no, the whole post is not to slag off the book) is; writers should write for themselves, but should you hold anything back? Show some reserve?
Things that turn YOU on as a writer will hopefully turn on others......
......however, how far do you go to present a fictional story WITHOUT seemingly thrusting your religious, metaphorical, anaylitical, whatever, thoughts and beliefs upon the reader, almost without warning? And forcefully?! Not offering them for debate.....
I got no warning with Rice.
Though her prose is infamously heavy and often without capable editing (how often should you explain how a candle's flame flickers in the wind??), I have always loved her work. This book not only bored me but I honestly wanted a refund.
So I asked myself; have I ever pushed my own beliefs upon my audience in one of my stories? Was I too obvious in displaying my lack of belief in a God? Were any of my subjects palatable but my treatment of them distasteful?
I throw the question out; should you, as a writer, preach wholeheartedly as a storyteller?
(PS : No disrespect meant to any faiths and beliefs. I may not believe but I always respect.)
Wednesday, 27 April 2011
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Editing is fun!
My publisher's ethos is true!
Editing is fun!
Not only have I recently re-edited my manuscript for Swan's Song's short story collection (don't worry Gaynor, this was before I sent you the copy!) but I am also currently re-formatting my fourth screenplay, tightening dialogue and re-shaping scenes.
It's far more fun than actually writing!
With writing, there's all sorts of worries. Am I going too far? Am I not going too far enough? How am I going to give this a satisfactory resolution? Have I wandered too far from the beaten path? Do the character's motivations ring true? Have I lost sight of the original premise?
And so on and so forth......
With editing, with the story already in place, you have the blessed gift of hindsight. The writing is behind you, you know the story, all you have to do is take a craft knife and shape that puppy into a lean, mean emotion machine! That's not to say big changes aren't options (I once changed an entire third act and added a character purely on impulse) but there's no pressure to be creative. All you have to do is shape, tighten, sweeten, make better, make good, monkey see, monkey do...
Love it!
Scriptwriting is boring.
That's never been disputed. You have to rein yourself in, control your inner 'writer' from expounding on all sorts of shite! It's basic and simple, technical and methodical, but also very liberating. It's all very straightforward. A prose in a novel can get very convoluted, very easily, anyone who's ever wrote a book could agree with the sense of that. Am I flogging the dead pony? How many times do you have to question yourself; have I made this point succinctly enough?
And on that rather relevant note, have I made my point?
Editing is fun because there's no pressure.
Is there pressure when you're actually writing?
You better believe it sister!
Editing is fun!
Not only have I recently re-edited my manuscript for Swan's Song's short story collection (don't worry Gaynor, this was before I sent you the copy!) but I am also currently re-formatting my fourth screenplay, tightening dialogue and re-shaping scenes.
It's far more fun than actually writing!
With writing, there's all sorts of worries. Am I going too far? Am I not going too far enough? How am I going to give this a satisfactory resolution? Have I wandered too far from the beaten path? Do the character's motivations ring true? Have I lost sight of the original premise?
And so on and so forth......
With editing, with the story already in place, you have the blessed gift of hindsight. The writing is behind you, you know the story, all you have to do is take a craft knife and shape that puppy into a lean, mean emotion machine! That's not to say big changes aren't options (I once changed an entire third act and added a character purely on impulse) but there's no pressure to be creative. All you have to do is shape, tighten, sweeten, make better, make good, monkey see, monkey do...
Love it!
Scriptwriting is boring.
That's never been disputed. You have to rein yourself in, control your inner 'writer' from expounding on all sorts of shite! It's basic and simple, technical and methodical, but also very liberating. It's all very straightforward. A prose in a novel can get very convoluted, very easily, anyone who's ever wrote a book could agree with the sense of that. Am I flogging the dead pony? How many times do you have to question yourself; have I made this point succinctly enough?
And on that rather relevant note, have I made my point?
Editing is fun because there's no pressure.
Is there pressure when you're actually writing?
You better believe it sister!
Friday, 4 March 2011
Screenwriting
This year, I find myself an agent.
It's a promise I made to myself.
At present, I've penned five screenplays to date, four complete originals and one 'on spec' tribute.
A thriller/family bonded drama, a vampire east end tale (naturally!), a David Lynchian mind trip of a slasher, a black magic Buffy style college flick and one Star Wars fan fiction script. (The last one was actually commissioned by the producer of late night boxing on ITV but funding fell through before filming could begin).
There's two more in the works. A heartwarming, nostalgic story of small town regrets (where no one will die this time!) and (finally!) a gangster picture that delves deep into the heart of the Mafia. (Yes, another gangster film! I love them!)
I haven't looked at my scripts in a very long time. I've been so inspired to focus on my story/novel writing that I had almost forgotten them entirely.
There's a purity to writing screenplays. They dispense with the bullshit. Ultimately, they are blueprints, nothing more, for the finished product that will end up on the screen, alive in colour and motion. You don't really need to be a brilliant writer in order to write a cohesive screenplay. In fact, I've read a few commissioned scripts that were downright dreadful, both in terms of spelling and language. (John Hughes' masterpiece The Breakfast Club being a direct case in point!)
Even Quentin Tarantino was quoted as saying :
'No offense to screenwriters, but if I was a REAL writer, I'd write books!'
Harsh words. True?
It depends.
Do you want to be a WRITER or a STORYTELLER?
Is there a difference?
The answer is a resounding YES! At least from where I am sitting.
Should we not listen or read a man's colourful, emotion invoking work if it is poorly presented or inaccurately laid out?
(The director that was to take the reins of the SW fan work said I was a brilliant writer but a bad storyteller! I wasn't sure how to take that or if I wanted it the other way round. 'Hey, you tell great stories but you're pretty fucking stupid!' Yeah, cheers for that....)
Does it really matter all that much? I bet Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo spellchecked EVERY SINGLE WORD of their first draft of The Godfather script. I doubt Puzo even spelt Clark Kent correctly on his fifth draft of Superman 2. By that point, he could write his own frigging ticket and spell it anyway he wanted.
I think my scripts need seeing.
It's strange. My third and least liked script was the one my wife preferred. That's ultimately my favourite too.
So I think an agent may be able to steer my course a little better than me at the helm.
It's worth finding out if I have a cinematic future as well as a literary one, right?
It's a promise I made to myself.
At present, I've penned five screenplays to date, four complete originals and one 'on spec' tribute.
A thriller/family bonded drama, a vampire east end tale (naturally!), a David Lynchian mind trip of a slasher, a black magic Buffy style college flick and one Star Wars fan fiction script. (The last one was actually commissioned by the producer of late night boxing on ITV but funding fell through before filming could begin).
There's two more in the works. A heartwarming, nostalgic story of small town regrets (where no one will die this time!) and (finally!) a gangster picture that delves deep into the heart of the Mafia. (Yes, another gangster film! I love them!)
I haven't looked at my scripts in a very long time. I've been so inspired to focus on my story/novel writing that I had almost forgotten them entirely.
There's a purity to writing screenplays. They dispense with the bullshit. Ultimately, they are blueprints, nothing more, for the finished product that will end up on the screen, alive in colour and motion. You don't really need to be a brilliant writer in order to write a cohesive screenplay. In fact, I've read a few commissioned scripts that were downright dreadful, both in terms of spelling and language. (John Hughes' masterpiece The Breakfast Club being a direct case in point!)
Even Quentin Tarantino was quoted as saying :
'No offense to screenwriters, but if I was a REAL writer, I'd write books!'
Harsh words. True?
It depends.
Do you want to be a WRITER or a STORYTELLER?
Is there a difference?
The answer is a resounding YES! At least from where I am sitting.
Should we not listen or read a man's colourful, emotion invoking work if it is poorly presented or inaccurately laid out?
(The director that was to take the reins of the SW fan work said I was a brilliant writer but a bad storyteller! I wasn't sure how to take that or if I wanted it the other way round. 'Hey, you tell great stories but you're pretty fucking stupid!' Yeah, cheers for that....)
Does it really matter all that much? I bet Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo spellchecked EVERY SINGLE WORD of their first draft of The Godfather script. I doubt Puzo even spelt Clark Kent correctly on his fifth draft of Superman 2. By that point, he could write his own frigging ticket and spell it anyway he wanted.
I think my scripts need seeing.
It's strange. My third and least liked script was the one my wife preferred. That's ultimately my favourite too.
So I think an agent may be able to steer my course a little better than me at the helm.
It's worth finding out if I have a cinematic future as well as a literary one, right?
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Am I Making Sense?
I haven't blogged in a while so I figured it was time once again to put thoughts to paper, or words to screen, whatever.
I recently managed to catch the breathtaking Black Swan and a whole slew of emotions and new ideas swam through my addled mind as I tried to make sense of the piece. It genuinely will reward in greater measure if you forsake your devotion to 'what REALLY happened' and just allow yourself to be taken along for the ride, allow yourself to be seduced by it. Think David Cronenberg, where things happen that are so bizarre, you're never really quite sure if events unfolded as seen, or anything by David Lynch (Lost Highway being a particular doozy).
Are films genuinely more entertaining if you can make sense of the flick or doesn't it matter?
Directors stress all the time that although audiences are very smart, you can lose them very easily and then it's a real struggle to get them back. A few of my friends found Black Swan's ambiguity too much to take, leading them from anxiety to eventual frustration. I can totally understand this. Some stories are so convoluted and warped in style and structure you almost get the sense the creator literally made it up as they went along with no clear objective in mind.
And here, to the point of this post; how much sense is required for a story to be enjoyable?
My third screenplay plays fast and loose with structure and design, involving complicated dream like sequences and operatic mood pieces, basically you are never really sure if things are happening as they seem. Most that read it detested it for it's non linear approach. I kept stressing that a script is merely a blueprint for a movie and not the finished article, but I had lost them. It was too late.
My stories/novella thus far have been fairly restrained but I do often wonder, how much must a story make sense in order to entertain?
After watching Black Swan, I am ever so slightly tempted to lessen reality's reins on my upcoming tales, although I realise that if I follow through on this, I'm on my own, I won't have the adorable Natalie Portman in my corner to save me from the detractors.
It's a pickle.
I recently managed to catch the breathtaking Black Swan and a whole slew of emotions and new ideas swam through my addled mind as I tried to make sense of the piece. It genuinely will reward in greater measure if you forsake your devotion to 'what REALLY happened' and just allow yourself to be taken along for the ride, allow yourself to be seduced by it. Think David Cronenberg, where things happen that are so bizarre, you're never really quite sure if events unfolded as seen, or anything by David Lynch (Lost Highway being a particular doozy).
Are films genuinely more entertaining if you can make sense of the flick or doesn't it matter?
Directors stress all the time that although audiences are very smart, you can lose them very easily and then it's a real struggle to get them back. A few of my friends found Black Swan's ambiguity too much to take, leading them from anxiety to eventual frustration. I can totally understand this. Some stories are so convoluted and warped in style and structure you almost get the sense the creator literally made it up as they went along with no clear objective in mind.
And here, to the point of this post; how much sense is required for a story to be enjoyable?
My third screenplay plays fast and loose with structure and design, involving complicated dream like sequences and operatic mood pieces, basically you are never really sure if things are happening as they seem. Most that read it detested it for it's non linear approach. I kept stressing that a script is merely a blueprint for a movie and not the finished article, but I had lost them. It was too late.
My stories/novella thus far have been fairly restrained but I do often wonder, how much must a story make sense in order to entertain?
After watching Black Swan, I am ever so slightly tempted to lessen reality's reins on my upcoming tales, although I realise that if I follow through on this, I'm on my own, I won't have the adorable Natalie Portman in my corner to save me from the detractors.
It's a pickle.
Monday, 13 December 2010
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel
At last!
Finally, I have finished the twelve short stories that will pad out the paperback edition of Swan Song.
It's been a long time coming and I must admit, those last three stories damn near killed me!
There's truly no such thing as an easy slam dunk! Especially if your quality meter is as high as mine!
What appeared simple became difficult and what appeared difficult became EPIC!!
They are finished, that's the point, and I am very proud of them!
It will be so cool to have people finish reading Swan Song and then just over the page, have twelve new 'experiences' waiting for them! I think that's pretty cool.
In addition, six
of those stories will be available as an exclusive FREE ebook collection entitled Against The Grain.
The other six will remain EXCLUSIVE to the Swan Song paperback and, again, I think that's pretty cool.
The stories range in themes, as I have previously discussed here in other posts, yet I hope I have shown my heart in all of them.
There's violence but redemption, love but loss, humour but deadly serious threat and it's all been tied together with one simple premise; the mythic obsession we have with the creature of the vampire.
I promised my publisher a long time ago I would stay true to what I hope is my unique calling card, the London setting for my tales. I am glad to say that except for one story, London played a welcome and fitting host for my stories. At no time did I feel I really had to change locale. It links me to the town I live in all the more succintly and my debut novella.
(Even my front cover for this collection, taken in Camden Town, is the bridge Lewis Morrison finds himself under during the storm when he finally accepts Katrina for what she is in Swan Song. I like this oh so subtle reference).
So now it's all gone off to my darling publisher, and we play the waiting game.....
What does the immediate future hold?
Well, interestingly enough, as mentioned before, I have THREE potentials vying for my affections to be my next REAL book.
It's going to be fun letting them fight to the death!
To the victor, the spoils!
Finally, I have finished the twelve short stories that will pad out the paperback edition of Swan Song.
It's been a long time coming and I must admit, those last three stories damn near killed me!
There's truly no such thing as an easy slam dunk! Especially if your quality meter is as high as mine!
What appeared simple became difficult and what appeared difficult became EPIC!!
They are finished, that's the point, and I am very proud of them!
It will be so cool to have people finish reading Swan Song and then just over the page, have twelve new 'experiences' waiting for them! I think that's pretty cool.
In addition, six
of those stories will be available as an exclusive FREE ebook collection entitled Against The Grain.The other six will remain EXCLUSIVE to the Swan Song paperback and, again, I think that's pretty cool.
The stories range in themes, as I have previously discussed here in other posts, yet I hope I have shown my heart in all of them.
There's violence but redemption, love but loss, humour but deadly serious threat and it's all been tied together with one simple premise; the mythic obsession we have with the creature of the vampire.
I promised my publisher a long time ago I would stay true to what I hope is my unique calling card, the London setting for my tales. I am glad to say that except for one story, London played a welcome and fitting host for my stories. At no time did I feel I really had to change locale. It links me to the town I live in all the more succintly and my debut novella.
(Even my front cover for this collection, taken in Camden Town, is the bridge Lewis Morrison finds himself under during the storm when he finally accepts Katrina for what she is in Swan Song. I like this oh so subtle reference).
So now it's all gone off to my darling publisher, and we play the waiting game.....
What does the immediate future hold?
Well, interestingly enough, as mentioned before, I have THREE potentials vying for my affections to be my next REAL book.
It's going to be fun letting them fight to the death!
To the victor, the spoils!
Monday, 15 November 2010
And the 3rd contestant is...
I now have three up and running contenders for my next book!
This won't be a sequel to Swan Song, I've made that pretty clear, but in the course of my short story collection, so much has inspired me that man, I can't nail it all down!
Three ideas are vying for my affections for my second book, technically; my first feature length novel sized story, even a conversation with my wife about the nature of horror films has helped!
So as it currently stands, I need to finish one story for the collection and then I have three already begun ideas for my next book.
And I CAN'T WAIT!
The truth is these ideas are so big in scope, they may take up all my spare time! It's exciting as hell! Ever feel swallowed by your concepts? Daunted by them? Thrilling isn't it?
I'm bad at research. I always have been.
My stories are kept close to my heart, my core, grounded in a reality only I understand. These ideas will test me, push me. I think I need to do that at this point in my writing life. I still adhere to the tried old and tested belief that a story can be small in scope yet epic in moral and message. Usually, those are the most effective (think The Shawshank Redemption, or the incredibly underrated Unbreakable, which I love!) but I do think it's time to push the boat out, as it were.
I just hope I don't come apart at the seams!
Hell, I'll just throw in some hokey jokes and a shocking scene or two to patch up the gaps.
(Joke! That was a joke people!)
This won't be a sequel to Swan Song, I've made that pretty clear, but in the course of my short story collection, so much has inspired me that man, I can't nail it all down!
Three ideas are vying for my affections for my second book, technically; my first feature length novel sized story, even a conversation with my wife about the nature of horror films has helped!
So as it currently stands, I need to finish one story for the collection and then I have three already begun ideas for my next book.
And I CAN'T WAIT!
The truth is these ideas are so big in scope, they may take up all my spare time! It's exciting as hell! Ever feel swallowed by your concepts? Daunted by them? Thrilling isn't it?
I'm bad at research. I always have been.
My stories are kept close to my heart, my core, grounded in a reality only I understand. These ideas will test me, push me. I think I need to do that at this point in my writing life. I still adhere to the tried old and tested belief that a story can be small in scope yet epic in moral and message. Usually, those are the most effective (think The Shawshank Redemption, or the incredibly underrated Unbreakable, which I love!) but I do think it's time to push the boat out, as it were.
I just hope I don't come apart at the seams!
Hell, I'll just throw in some hokey jokes and a shocking scene or two to patch up the gaps.
(Joke! That was a joke people!)
Friday, 5 November 2010
Waffling On
Short stories rock.
Short, sharp shocks that require no real commitment to read.
So how come recently every time I start a short story, the bastard grows legs and develops into a fully fledged monster that 6 A4 pages won't do justice?
The problem in the beginning was finding ideas that went somewhere.
Now the problem is every story WANTS to go somewhere and take me along for the ride!
Four times in the last two months, I have started work on what I intended to be the last short story that would complete the 12 story collection that will pad out the paperback edition of Swan Song (yes, that old chestnut again, bite me), and every time, the story mutates into something that 6 to 8 pages of material couldn't possibly contain.
So what do I do?
Chop the legs off a running beauty of a story and prematurely bring about it's demise so I can include in a paperback collection? Or start from scratch with an idea that hopefully won't grow a further head?
I'm actually asking!
In truth, and I wasn't going to admit this, I went back and looked into my older work, stuff that NO ONE has ever seen, and pulled a bit of material from it in order to further my collection.
Problem is each idea that frustrated me then blossoms into an uncontrollable flower the minute I put pen to page, or fingertip to key. I can't keep these bastard stories short anymore.
Is it time to write a follow up to 'War And Peace?'
With vampires?
Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me?
Short, sharp shocks that require no real commitment to read.
So how come recently every time I start a short story, the bastard grows legs and develops into a fully fledged monster that 6 A4 pages won't do justice?
The problem in the beginning was finding ideas that went somewhere.
Now the problem is every story WANTS to go somewhere and take me along for the ride!
Four times in the last two months, I have started work on what I intended to be the last short story that would complete the 12 story collection that will pad out the paperback edition of Swan Song (yes, that old chestnut again, bite me), and every time, the story mutates into something that 6 to 8 pages of material couldn't possibly contain.
So what do I do?
Chop the legs off a running beauty of a story and prematurely bring about it's demise so I can include in a paperback collection? Or start from scratch with an idea that hopefully won't grow a further head?
I'm actually asking!
In truth, and I wasn't going to admit this, I went back and looked into my older work, stuff that NO ONE has ever seen, and pulled a bit of material from it in order to further my collection.
Problem is each idea that frustrated me then blossoms into an uncontrollable flower the minute I put pen to page, or fingertip to key. I can't keep these bastard stories short anymore.
Is it time to write a follow up to 'War And Peace?'
With vampires?
Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me?
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