I'm gonna have me some fun.

This has been an odd, sad but enlightening week, so this post will be a little more personal than usual. But there is a saving grace to keep us all on topic with the following question: How much of your own emotional experiences should you put into a fictional story?

Since plenty of people who read this blog know me personally, I’ll keep things short and sweet: This week my fiancée and I broke up. It isn’t fun, but we remain close friends.

One thing that made me laugh, though, was remembering which scene I have to write next in the follow-up to Queen of the World. Ethanei, an incredibly drunk vagrant, has recently found his estranged wife in bed with another man. The start of the chapter cuts to him lying sprawled over a table spilling his emotional guts between sobs and curses to one of the series’ main character, Kanderil, who listens with a patient unease. He’s heartbroken, resentful and has given up trying to keep a lid on things, preferring instead to drown out his thoughts with alcohol. The guy’s self-destruction is in full-swing.

I can say with absolutely sincerity that this is a coincidence. The scene was the next in line and is not being written as result of my newly-found single status. There are plenty of written notes and around four preceding chapters to support my claim. Also the scene I described isn’t what I’ve been doing personally. There’s been a lot of beer involved but I haven’t quite reached the stage poor Ethanei has. However there are certain similarities between his current scene and mine. I reckon I could lay out a lot of my feelings – that is, the way I’m thinking and the things I want to say right now – through Ethanei’s actions and words, slipping them between the alcohol-fuelled excess and limb flailing. Being a fictional fantasy story I could get away with it too, most likely. In fantasy? Pfft. People expect angry men to fuckin’ RAGE, violent men to murder innocents on a nightly basis, and heartbroken men to start a quest or adventure or something equally redemptive. (They should at the very least write some poetry or sit in a bar staring at the same tepid ale for hours.) It wouldn’t be too hard to be metaphorical about the literal.

But I don’t want to pour too much out on the page. I want to focus and direct my personal experience into the dialogue, to give them a little realism and direction. But the rant Ethanei is going to give must be directed as his ex-wife, Claira. The words shouldn’t be directed at my ex-fiancée. So there’s the trick. It’s a fine line because I’ve already shared this joke with her and she found it kind of funny as well, but it also means she’ll be acutely aware of the scene when she reads it. I don’t want to offend her or come across as an idiot.

The adage ‘write what you know’, which I touched on a few posts back, is mightily applicable here. Other events in my life have been introduced to scenes and characters. Little sayings. Mannerisms. Almost all of them are so far in the background, or so layered underneath good ol’ fashioned fictional nonsense, that I don’t think even my closest friends of family could point out a line when Queen of the World launches and say ‘Oh man, this is so based on that time you...’ But my personal belief is that my experiences should add texture and a touch of reality to my fictional work. It shouldn’t dominate or make my created world semi-autobiographical. I need to save my real life stories for when I’m stinking rich and famous and am encouraged to pen my memoirs, after all.

Anyway, we’re getting to around two and a half months before the book should be released. Things are a little behind schedule – well, actually more than a little – but I retain my immense faith in Sara and Inspired Quill to get us back on course and keep things ticking over. I like to think I’ve had quite a lot of stuff going on this year, but it’s nothing compared to the amount of work and various other projects my editor has planned. I do my best not to stress her out with my occasional panic about things. Pretty sure it’s working so far.

As for now, I’ll be in Norway for another couple of weeks and then shipping off back to Essex for the foreseeable future. That’s going to be a barrel of fun. At the very least I will be doing much more writing in my old bedroom, which is the plan for now – type like a machine until I find a job to get things ticking over again. Good thing we’re heading into springtime. I haven’t spent a summer in England for about four years. Pub gardens, suspect barbecues and music festivals. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it?

Fix your face.

Last week I received my first 50 pages of edits from Inspired Quill. It was a really enjoyable experience. Reading through my work after it had been through the editing process was quite weird but super-funky at the same time. They sent it with a mixture of blue and red text. Blue text is mainly comments and suggestions, while red text is ‘Change this’. Almost all of the red text covers typos, odd grammar mistakes and incredible tense errors. A few of them had me wincing. ‘How the hell did I miss that!?’

There were a few editorial observations which have really helped already. It was pointed out I use a lot of ‘He/She’ at the start of sentences. While it made me giggle a little shamefully – mainly because there’s another 190 pages of that particular fault to come for Sara as she goes through the manuscript – it also made the problem quite clear. As a result my future writing will keep an eye out for overuse of such simple language terms. Also I tend to repeat words quite a lot. Some of it is stylistic, but occasionally I get carried away. Obviously this is a second draft thing, but I’ll certainly be looking with a more critical eye over my future drafts for five uses of the word ‘Bounced’ in a single paragraph.

There was also some positive stuff throw in, along with chapter summaries. Sara has been very kind with her feedback so far. One of her comments about the protagonist, Sarene, really had me smiling. It’s quite a kick to be told by your publisher that a character is a favourite. In addition the small dashes of humour I throw into my work seem to be well received. I can’t wait for the rest of the edited manuscript to come back to me. Here’s hoping that she still enjoys it when the vampires and werewolves turn up in alien spacecraft halfway through the book.

-grins-

A recent conversation with @madeleinecook on Twitter gave me a bit of inspiration for this blog. Y’see, a lot of times when we communicate with others through text it’s hard to pick up how something is written. Sarcasm is a tricky one. While you hear a wry tone of voice when you type it, the person who reads it may hear deadpan, straight-forward delivery. Smileys help – a pokey-out tongue here and a wink there cuts a lot of the bite out of potentially hard words – but what if you don’t tack one on? (I smiley the hell out of my Facebook and Twitter posts, and it sometimes annoys me. Surely it just detracts from the words themselves?)

I guess the better you know a person the easier it is to work out their intentions. An odd example is when I send applications and cover letters to jobs. Yep, I’m job-hunting at the moment. Anyway, when I write those emails out to prospective employers, the words on the screen sound a little soulless and forced. You can’t inflect them with wit or charisma. You can’t build a rapport anywhere near as well as you can with a phone conversation or face-to-face meeting. You certainly can’t add a fucking smiley. While it’s now easier to communicate with others than it has ever been, the communication has changed. Words are plentiful but charm is lacking in its place. In my opinion anyway. But then, I’m one of those stuck-up arseholes who thinks textspeak will be the death of the English language, so you can’t really trust what I say too much.

In other news: I’m still in Essex for the time being. It’s been a bit quiet over here. Had one incredibly messy session with a few old friends in Romford last week, which was ace. Next week a lot of my buddies here in Grays will be taking various breaks from work so will be looking to be out and about a bit. I’ve picked up my workrate during my break from Norway, so the other two WIP I have at the moment are ticking along nicely. However that may all change when the new Star Wars MMO is released next week. I’m going to have to be pretty strict about doing my daily work before logging on. I might even get my brother to set up a parental control on my internet, arf.

Please feel free to add comments or thoughts below, and remember to follow my Facebook page (ick) and my Twitter account. Cheers.

I CAN'T EVEN SPEEL!

Writing is hard.

No, really. Ritin iz harrd. The nuts and bolts of actually writing a full novel is very tricky. I mean, I could probably throw out a thousand words in ten minutes if I wanted to discuss why I dislike Nickleback or how important it is to eat fajitas once a week. Writing stuff which is funny and stupid and honest is a breeze. Think about your current partner. Think about people at work. Think about that time in Amsterdam you got really messed up. You could probably write quite a lot about them easily and enjoy doing it.

Writing a long piece of work, especially fiction, is difficult. Not only does it have to remain interesting but it has to make sense. Well, technically it doesn't but that probably won't result in anything great. I've read plenty of books where stuff just happened with no real rhyme or reason. "I'm a reserved, insecure young woman but I just had to sleep with that guy to express my sense of freedom!"

Really? Or did you sleep with that guy because he happened to be an undercover agent, and if you hadn't there wouldn't be a book?

(That isn't aimed at anything specific, by the way. I'm hardly one to start criticising other works before I've had a single word printed.)

But yeah. Writing Queen of the World was hard. It's a matter of motivation and self-doubt. Does this character work? Why am I writing this scene? Is anyone going to be interested in this plot? Why did that character do that? What could I be doing instead? Isn't YouTube more fun that this?

When I hit a scene in my work that I really enjoy, or have been looking forward to reaching - it's usually one where action happens, or where some plots merge and things start to make sense - then it's good fun. I can plough through that like a tractor tearing up a plot of particularly soft mushrooms. But when it's something else, and where I need to do some research or work out character motivation, then it can be a drag. I can write the same paragraph for hours and still end up chucking it. It's the problem of being someone who believes in character progression over plot dictation. Sometimes my characters simply wouldn't do something I need them to do, so I need to work out a way around it. An intelligent and skilled man trying to avoid detection by his enemies isn't going to suddenly decide that a two-week shopping holiday in New York is a good idea, even if I really need to get that character to a New York shopping mall.

The self doubt in me sometimes exploits this and just yells at me. My inner critic sounds like Alan Rickman. His heavy, drawling tones will whisper in my ear "This is futile. It's too slow, the writing is boring and the characters aren't likeable. What's the point? You might as well go back to playing World of Warcraft and stop trying to make a career of this."

Usually a can of Red Bull and a cigarette shuts him up. Usually.

It's kind of stressful at the moment because not only am I trying to write a follow-up to Queen of the World but I'm also trying to learn Norwegian and earn money. Writing another hundred thousand words just seems like trying to cut down a redwood with a piece of cheese. But I'll get there. I love writing even when it's hard, and I love the characters and the world I have so far.

Wouldn't it be great is all jobs were like that?

Other updates - no reponse from the publisher I did a full submission to(yet), so at least I haven't been turned down (yet). I've joined Twitter - find me @HennessyWrites . It's pretty addicitve. Also, I've got a craving for hamburgers which I'm judiciously encouraging. There's worse things to be addicted to.

If you're considering being a writer then read this. Read it if you like reading things which make you laugh, as well. Then buy his book.

Prologue, Pt.2

So there is an objective to this blog. I have three objectives directly. Between those objectives I have some other stuff I’m going to write about, such as the second draft of the book, the process of revising and researching the bits I blagged the first time around (Like how to build a windmill. No, really), and anything I read which generally proves useful to me. I should start by giving a little more information about all this, so you lovely people have a reason to come back and read more. I’m not sure how successful my ramblings would be otherwise.

The book is called ‘book’ at the moment. I haven’t decided on a title but I have a few in mind. I wanted to wait until I’ve reviewed what I have before naming it all. The book is a fantasy story of a young girl’s adventure as she finds herself in a situation she knows nothing about. Forced from her home and chased across the country, she finds herself escorted by a reclusive woodsman in the search for her brother in the hope that he can protect her from the people who hunt her.

Now that’s about as basic as I can get it. Being honest, when I write it with such a vague tone it sounds a little unoriginal as well (It isn't, I hope!). I don’t want to give a full blurb just yet until I’m sure all the elements I’ve used so far are retained in the second draft. Also, don’t be scared by the word ‘fantasy’. There is not an elf, dwarf or dragon to be found in my tale. That sounds snotty, but it’s true (Don’t get me wrong, I love high fantasy novels with monsters, magic and mythical beings). The story is intentionally character driven, and while it may not be a modern day story, I think certain aspects of the story can be adapted to everyday life.

I like the story. I’m proud of the book so far. I had the idea in my head for a good three or four years before I sat down and put it down in words. Let’s be honest, if I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t have made this blog. I would have waited until I had a ‘better’ book with a greater chance of success. As it is I think I this story is good enough to push. I’m looking forward to finishing it completely and getting the ball rolling. For now, I’m waiting a few weeks until I’ve forgotten about it to an extent. Apparently it’s important to leave a first draft for an extended period (experts!), but I do want to just get back to it. Rawr.

Anyway, here’s the main three objectives of this blog:

1. Find an agent.

No, I probably don’t need one yet. I mean, I’m one guy with a big chunk of text at the moment. I don’t have any writing credentials, publishing credits or anything. However, it appears that a lot of authors who seek the traditional publication route (I.E want their books in the stores) could do worse than have an agent to help them do that. I also like the idea of have a literary agent, Californication style. There’s a few I’m interested in but until I’ve finished up the second draft, I can’t really send off manuscripts.

2. Find a publisher.

Yep. Get someone to print the book. Not a real hard one to understand, but for me the best part of writing is having other people read it. If someone’s willing to put in the time to read the three or five or seven thousand words committed to page then that shows that what I’ve done is at least vaguely interesting. Now I’ve got 131,289 words, though. Mwuahaa. Anyway, it’s been something of an ambition of mine to have something I’ve written on the shelves of a Waterstones or W.H Smiths. I think I’d get a hell of a kick from achieving that. Suppose it’s the same from a band seeing their record on a CD rack, or an actress having their name imprinted on a theatre poster. It’s certainly an ego thing, but also a validation that they’re getting somewhere.

3. Failing those, self publication.

In recent times, authors skipping the old school publishing houses and going straight to Amazon Kindle, E-books and iPad typeofthings has become pretty popular. Last year e-books sold more copies than regular books. Now bear in mind that there’s a fair few reasons for this – e-books are a lot cheaper, it’s more convenient to just download a book than go to a store, internet shopping as a whole is still rising, to name a few – but it’s interesting to note. It has been said that self publication (termed also as ‘vanity press’) is for those people who’s work is not deemed good enough for regular publication. I feel that’s quite a cheap way of phrasing it. With the advent of companies like Createspace you can supply paperback copies of your book to those who buy it online. I think the main difference is that publication companies will provide a much more stable route to the bookshops. I really want to get my book into the regular publishing machine, but self publication is always a fall back option.

I’ll probably learn much more about this over the coming months. Come back to this page later in the game and we can laugh together about how completely uninformed I am/was.

Oh, and feel free to share and follow this blog. I’ll try not to spam you too much, and it’d be nice to hear what people think about the process. <3