Morocco. Pt.2

On the Morrocco trip, we happened by the large film studio in Ouarzazate. It had some sets still open in a vast dusty plain, where sets for previously made epics still stand. Parts of the Elizabeth Taylor film Cleopatra were filmed here. Parts of those sets were re-used to film the more recent Asterix and Obelix. But the set which most interested me was the huge replica castle built for the film Kingdom of Heaven. It’s still in one piece due to another film being planned for production there next year. Our tour guide didn’t know the name of it yet, but he would be working there as a driver.

The castle was mainly wood and plaster painted to resemble stone masonry. The scale was huge, hundreds of metres square. We paid a small fee to get inside and take a look around, climbing up to the battlements and wandering through the courtyards and corridors. We did have some pictures but the person who owned the camera dropped it down a sand dune and it was ruined. But I wrote a journal piece as an inspiration to myself, as a reminder of what it felt like to be on both sides of those huge walls and how it must feel for a soldier in those times. Here’s what I wrote; as with the last post, this will be unedited and copied ‘as is’.

First, from the viewpoint of an attacking soldier laying siege to the defending fortifications:

Staring up at the castle walls, you feel ineffective. They are too big, the tops too high and the stone too thick. Maybe in an assaulting army with battle cries around you, urging those ahead who already climb ladders, trying to gain a foothold on the walkway, men who know death is a strong possibility as arrows rain down from towers and killing windows. The gates are heavy, barred and portcullised. But then you see your siege weapons, trebuchets and assault towers and catapults, and you rain down hell on the walls and gates and ramparts. You sit back out of range and suffer the heat and try to find some shade, wondering when the next attack will be. Too soon, you are called upon to protect the battering ram, which swings heavy and solid under a slanted hide roof. Bodies litter the ground and you wave a temporary truce to collect them. You eat and try to sleep and then take to the walls again.

Bit all over the place, but I was writing it down in a bouncy jeep hurtling across a desert. Now, from the defender’s viewpoint:

You stand on the walls and look down. The armies besieging the city stand ready to attack. From this distance they are small in stature but thousands in number. Behind them the mountains stand, oblivious and uncaring to the fate of the soldiers. Standing at the edge of the battlements demands that crossbows are used while longbows step back, peppering any in range approaching. Stairs leading from wall to tower to courtyard are less than sturdy. Inner stairwells are claustrophobic, leaving little room to manoeuvre before the killing windows, with others climbing over you to make their way past. The courtyard is walled away from the city, the main gate providing a last bastion of open ground before the invaders would reach the streets. Open ovens sit beneath tall chimneys, for both bricks and food. The place smells stale; a mix of dust, manure and stone. Buildings are tiered, differing levels, allowing interesting movement along rooftops, Wells provide water enclosed in an underground stream. Knockers on the inside of the gates would rock as something pounds on the outside. Noise would be muffled or amplified by the natural acoustics.

So that’s that. I guess it’s easier for me to see the pictures because I was actually there (surprise!), but it would be nice to know what anyone reading this thought as well. Can you get an idea of how it must have been? Where there any other details you would have thought I’d include? Feel free to comment!

In other news – NaNoWriMo is still kicking my arse but I’m making a late cavalry charge on it, so it’ll go down to the last couple of days. I’m going home to England for a month to work on a few things. And the editor-in-chief of Queen of the World has been switched to someone who loves fantasy, so surely good things await.

National Novel Staring Month.

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short, is a love / hate relationship. Sometimes it inspires me to work harder than I usually would. Other times it hangs over me like a blanket of evil, whispering into my ear that I’m not going to make it.

Every year, thousands of people sign up for NaNoWriMo in an attempt to write a novel of fifty thousand words during November. This is my first year of taking part. I’ve been reading up on the forums of the website, trying to make a sense of it all. For some people it’s a breeze; fifty thousand words is obtained in a few weeks, and they assure everyone else that it is possible. All cheerleading and sabre rattling. Others find it a complete slog, shifting shit through a quicksand of ideas.

I’m currently in the second camp. I’m behind on my target and I’m finding it hard to catch up.

I think NaNoWriMo in itself is a great idea. The chance to bring people together through a mutual love of writing and to give them a goal is something I’m totally in favour of. I’m generally in favour of anything which brings people together through writing. So for that I commend it, and would advise anyone with more than a passing interest in the craft to take part next year (if you haven’t already had a pop).

On the other hand, my goodness is it a burden. Falling behind a couple of days is fine. You think to yourself ‘Sure, I’ll pick it up again next time. Easy.’ Nope. I’m so far behind I feel like I’m in a great big tunnel of fail. The light at the end is becoming dimmer by the day, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to find the end in time.

That’s a touch dramatic, but I hate missing deadlines. True, I’ve had enough distractions in the past couple of weeks to give a vaguely admissible excuse, but that doesn’t mean I’m losing. I want to win, God-damnit, and get my forum picture to prove it for next year.

I basically took part so that I could take some time off from Queen of the World. I’d been writing about that universe and the characters within it for nearly a year, and I needed the time to focus on something else. I’m going to finish the NaNoWriMo project before I move on regardless of if I finish it in November, so it’s simply a matter of how long it takes me.

Right now it feels like aaaaages.

In other news; well, nothing much happened this week. I’ve been writing, procrastinating, eating and sleeping. I actually have a bed in my room now. That might not sound like big news, but it’s been about four months since I was sleeping in a double bed with the missus. Norwegian sleeping arrangements are weird.

Oh, the second part of the Morocco trip is coming. It’s a bit of a writing-inspiration thing. You’ll see.

If any of you are taking part in NaNoWriMo this year then please add your comments on how it's going. Also, go and like my fan page if you haven't already. Ta!

His presents filled the room.

This week Sara-Jayne of Inspired Quill and I went over ‘groundwork’. It’s basically a measure of my online presence, to help with marketing and networking. It involves keeping me active on various social media, as well as providing a platform for me to talk about my ninja squirrel encampment work.

It’s pretty straightforward. I need to blog at least once a week – technically this post counts! – as well as post on my Twitter once a day and use various writing forums and websites to keep up a communication with people. I also need to keep my new Facebook fan page updated.

Yep. Fan page.

They’ve changed the term for it (you now ‘like’ a page instead of becoming a fan of it) but it’s the same concept and people are generally intelligent enough to realise that. I understand it’s a publicity and advertising thing, but it really does make me cringe a bit. I’m generally not someone who enjoys making a big deal of myself. I’m not trying to say I’m humble... Well, I am, but that isn’t the point. I mean that I’ve always tried to keep away from the ‘look at me!’ aspect of whatever I do. When I was travelling I’d post pictures and make status updates and send emails and that would be enough. I wouldn’t need to actively draw attention to the fact. People either took notice of they didn’t. Same as when I worked at Blizzard – people either found it cool or they couldn’t care less. It wasn’t up to me to try and make them think I was cool.

Now I understand that the point of a fan page isn’t to show off. I’m not putting it up for my old school friends on the basis that they’ll think I’m all successful and whatever. I’m not bragging to my peers. It’s purely another aspect of online presence to help me provide information on myself so I can hopefully sell a few books and make a few contacts. But there’s still that (Alan Rickman) voice in my head saying ‘All your friends are going to think you’re a conceited arsehole.’ Which is dumb. But it still happens.

We also covered the first steps of cover art. I’ve had an idea in my head for Queen of the World for a while now, so we’ll have to see how it matches up with what the publisher thinks. I’m open for compromise of course, but I’m glad Inspired Quill have given me some say in what will go on the cover. Apparently a lot of publishers just give you a cover and that’s that. If all else fails I’ll just demand a picture of Batman on the cover. People always buy things with Batman on the cover.

In other news Halloween was quite fun, if messy. I’m making plans to be home in Essex for Christmas. And I found a credit card at the feet of some young lady at a bar. I thought it was hers, so I tapped her on the shoulder and offered her the card. She smiled and put it into the card machine, thinking I was offering to pay for her drinks. It was only when I tried to explain to her that I thought she’d dropped it that she pulled it out, turned it over and handed it to me. On the back was a picture of the owner, a hairy fella named Andreas. I think she was quite insulted but I couldn’t understand what she was saying, so I ran away. Hah.