tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79387572890166211322024-03-14T00:21:58.768+00:00The Unforgiving MuseWords about the joys and frustrations of the writing process, occasional servings of useful information and extremely rare morsels of dry humour.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-66459344180473317822012-12-07T14:49:00.001+00:002013-05-15T21:16:30.560+01:00Twitter for the Uninitiated Writer<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url= http://simoncornish.com/Blog/2012/12/07/twitter-for-the-uninitiated-writer/" />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So What is all this Twitter Nonsense About? </span><br /><br />Whether you are a technophobe or a digital luddite, chances are you haven’t managed to escape the almost daily mentions of Twitter. Even the pope has an account, I kid you not: @Pontifex —read the article <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-20581755">here</a>. <br />What you may not appreciate is that a great part of the publishing industry has also embraced the 140 character social medium. <br /><br /> The benefits of using Twitter or any form of social media to help you as a writer are not immediately obvious; sign up for a new Twitter account and you will see a stream of drivel from the world informing you about what someone had for lunch or the current weather in Uptown Polemic. However, with the right filtering and a professional approach, Twitter can be very useful to you as a writer. <br /><br /><br /> <span style="font-size: large;">What apps should I use? </span><br /><br />The main browser based Twitter website is useful for administering your account and writing tweets when away from your home computer, but to use it seriously you need something that runs as a separate application on your computer desktop. I recommend the following apps, all of which are free and are available for various operating systems: <br /> <br /><a href="http://janetter.net/">Janetter</a> <br /><a href="http://destroytwitter.com/">Destroytwitter</a> <br /><a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/">Tweetdeck</a> <br /> <br />Each allows multi-column views as well as allowing you to filter the column to show only tweets that you are interested in. Some allow scheduled tweets, others allow you to tweet through all your different social media outlets like Google plus, Facebook and LinkedIn. <br /><br /> <br /><span style="font-size: large;">How should I use Twitter? </span><br /><br />There are a number of ways to use Twitter, though to be professional, avoid using it to inform the world that your cat is off his food –unless you are very famous, nobody is interested. Keep your tweets focused on what you intend. If you are talking about the writing process, do that. Tweet about your writing. By all means tweet about how you are progressing, even if you are struggling. Sprinkle in useful links to articles you have read. <br />Link your twitter account to your facebook account, so that when you tweet, the tweet also appears on your facebook wall. Aim to tweet fairly regularly. Once a week is too little, ten times a day is too much. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">How will Twitter help me? </span><br /><br />This is the big and rather vague question. We have all heard stories of how so-and-so has used social media to make millions. In the real world Twitter is not going to do that for you. If you are a published writer, it may help to promote your work and sell a few books, but the time put in to achieve anything significant through Twitter alone is not worth it. Rather, Twitter is another weapon in your arsenal of your online presence. What it does do, is allow people to see you are there, working, writing, being active in the industry. Agents and publishers will see this and realise you are serious about your career. Readers will be interested to see what you are doing now, what you will be doing next and to see that you are a real person. Other writers will be interested to learn from you, to have your support and vice versa. It is also a very good way to source articles that appear on blogs and newspaper sites that are focussed on your area of interest. <br /> <br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">What can I do with Twitter? </span><br /><br />First off, Twitter is a very rapid source of news sharing –possibly the most rapid in the world. A bomb goes off somewhere and you can guarantee that within one minute someone has tweeted about it. Within five, someone has uploaded a photo and put a link on Twitter. Before you follow anyone else sign up to follow all the big newspapers. Just do a search in the search option for any you can think of. Once you have done that start to add those areas of specific interest to you. All major publishing houses have twitter accounts, they do say things of use. Look at the websites for agents, they will often have twitter streams to follow. @PublishersWkly @HuffPostBooks @Writers_Cafe @NewYorker @littlebrown @randomhouse @PenguinUKBooks @EgmontUK @nytimesbooks @GuardianBooks @HarperFiction are all useful sources for writers. <br /> <br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Hashtags # and Extra Columns </span><br /><br />To have any kind of use from Twitter it is necessary to filter the streams. It is all very well to view just the tweets from those you have chosen to follow, but how do you find the good stuff, or new people to follow? The best way for tweet writers to make sure their tweets are seen by the right people is to use a hash tag # before the relevant keyword (you can just filter for keywords as well, but hashtags are more targeted). Set up a new column in your app that is just for tweets containing the #amwriting tag, see what you get. Other relevant tags will be #publishing, #writing, #books, #authors, #agents, #editing, or #writers. There are many more. Often tweets are sent with multiple hashtags so you can just make a new column to see what is going on in any that sound interesting to you. You may eventually want a column for mentions if people start replying to you or re-tweeting your tweets. <br /> <br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Following and Followers </span><br /><br />You don’t need huge numbers of followers, just good ones. Some people are merely observers and never tweet, others get sucked in and tweet about every moment in their lives, you probably want to be somewhere in-between. Having followed a few papers and publishers, you may find one or two have decided to follow you back. Great, now you have some people who might even view what you tweet. Try being a bit braver, search out your friends and follow them. If you have been watching a hashtag stream like #writers and someone’s tweet amuses you, check them out, click follow. Often people you follow will follow you back. If someone follows you out of the blue, check them out first, then follow them back. It is good to have a spring clean every so often, block anyone who has started following you who appears to be a spammer. Check out your new followers own list of followers, these are likely to be people who might be interested in you -you can even click to follow a few of them. <br /><br /> <br /><span style="font-size: large;">Other Things to be Aware of </span><br /></span><br />
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<li>Twitter is a social media just like facebook. Reply to people’s tweets using the reply option; they will see your tweet. If you are lucky you may even get a thanks from someone famous. </li>
<li>Be polite, if someone re-tweets one of your tweets, thank them, or even start a tweeted conversation. </li>
<li>If you think a writer is great, and want to recommend them, write a tweet on Writers Wednesday #WW, or give a list of people worth following on Follow Friday #FF. You will find the favour returned. </li>
<li>Avoid following people without profile pictures, people who haven’t bothered to write a profile or who seem to be spamming in their tweets. </li>
<li>NEVER fall for stupid ploys like: "someone has been saying rude things about you, check it out at stupidviruswebsitelink.com". </li>
<li>Monitor your follower list, if people unfollow you, return the favour, they obviously only followed you to get their numbers up. <a href="http://who.unfollowed.me/">http://who.unfollowed.me</a> is a useful helper for this.</li>
<li>Block anyone who is filling the airwaves with drivel, you don’t have the time. </li>
<li>Double check your tweets for typos; once sent they cannot be recalled. </li>
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<br /><br />I hope that is enough to get up and running with Twitter. It is not for everyone, but giving it a proper go may prove to be useful. <br /><br /><br /> <br />Simon Cornish</span></div>Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-59692124140436907612012-08-27T21:43:00.001+01:002013-05-15T21:17:53.578+01:00Looking Back Down<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url= http://simoncornish.com/Blog/2012/08/27/looking-back-down/" />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Ten things that helped me write a novel</span></b><br />
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After just over two years steadily climbing towards this point, my first novel is finished and ready for the next step. It’s an odd place to be. Along with an odd sense of vertigo, I can see a lot from this hilltop: there’s the next book to decide on —all those other hills— as well as that publishing mountain looming on the horizon. But for now it’s just nice to sit here and admire the view, to look back down at some of those paths, guides and handholds that have helped me get to this point. The route hasn’t always been straight or easy, but I’ve found my way.<br />
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Here are some of the things that have helped me get here:<br />
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<b>1. Doing a Course.</b><br />
Doing some kind of course in writing, even if it is a short semester at the local community college, will provide invaluable grounding and experience, as well as offering a boost to the confidence of anyone thinking of writing professionally.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In 2009 I began a Masters degree in professional writing through University College Falmouth, I graduated in 2011. I cannot say enough about how much this has changed my understanding of writing, the industry and what it entails to be a writer. I feel privileged to have worked with the combination of staff and fellow students for that time.<br />
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<b>2. Having Good and Supportive Mentors</b><br />
Writing is a lonely activity; one in which self-doubt and second-guessing can creep into your thoughts as easily as over-confidence and blindness to fundamental errors. Having the right mentors at the right times will not only help you continue with your work, but will hopefully give you the right perspective on it. A mentor does not have to be the all-wise sensei of the martial arts films, simply a person whose knowledge and opinion you trust. Though, as in the films one should always respect such individuals and never pester them with trivial questions.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I was lucky enough to work with some first class tutors as part of my MA, but I’ve also had other mentors both from my background in the film industry and new ones I have encountered since starting out as a writer. Finding mentors is not as difficult as some might believe; experienced writers will often answer queries through social media and a little research can turn up a whole plethora of experts in various fields, who are often flattered to be consulted as long as you are sincere.<br />
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<b>3. The Notebook</b><br />
As an animator and illustrator I learned to use sketchbooks to record interesting things that I encountered as well as ideas as they occurred to me. My sketchbooks also were also where I worked out and developed rough concepts and images. I would also note and develop any script ideas. So much, in fact that I began to realise that I got more from the writing than I did from the drawing. But notebook or sketchbook, the point is the same; I have a lot of ideas, some good, some rubbish and some a little outlandish, but if I don’t record them somewhere I’ll forget them as soon as new ideas arrive to push them out of my head. Even if an idea isn’t going to fill out to my next novel it may still form a scene, make a short story or flash fiction piece.<br />
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<b>4. Research</b><br />
It goes without saying, but there are still times when I have felt unable to progress because I didn’t fully understand something. This has occurred both with the technical aspects of writing and also with such things as background for characters or places.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Public libraries, or better still sneaky visits to university libraries are always rewarding, buying the relevant books is even better if you can afford it. For some elements of research it is worth investing the time and visiting places, or interviewing people with direct experience. That said, we live in an era of unprecedented access to information and it is possible to look many things up on the internet within minutes or visit a location through Google Earth. Such research should always be double checked, but it’s saved me a lot of time and frustration. <br />
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<b>5. A Professional Approach</b><br />
Though there are times when we all slip; when we could be more thorough, deal with people better or remember important details; everything undertaken as a writer should be with professionalism at the back of your mind. Whether tweeting, blogging, updating a website or sending an email, you should be conscious of who might read it.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It is not just the copy, the content, editing or structure that is important to being professional: it is how the process is approached. I made a decision early on that if writing was going to be part of my career, I would need to dedicate a portion of my life to it. For the last two years that is exactly how I have worked, dividing my day in two, with mornings reserved exclusively for writing. It is part of my job and I try to discipline myself to work as if I’m being employed to do so.<br />
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<b>6. Understanding Yourself</b><br />
This is an odd one that won’t appear in many books, but finding out about your writing foibles and working with them can help your productivity as well as avoid frustration in your work. I’ve done a fair amount of research into what makes writers tick (more about that another time) and the conclusion is that we really do implement different thought processes for different writing tasks. These can be divided roughly into freeform creative writing and analytical editing. Like many people I’m not able to perform the two at the same time. I’ve learnt to accept that my creative brain can’t spell, uses punctuation like fairy-dust and insists on inserting apostrophes into embarrassing places, but I can come back to the piece later and let my analytical mode give a long suffering sigh and sort it all out.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I’ve learned that I’m a very focussed writer, but a lousy multi-tasker: if I’m working on a project, I need to shut myself away from outside distractions. I also find it far too easy to jump between different projects then end up in a tissy about which to work on. To avoid this I’ve taken to prioritising my projects and keeping at it until I’m finished.<br />
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<b>7. Keeping Going</b><br />
I’m not a volume writer: Nanowrimo is not my thing, but I like to think I’m an inspired writer. Unfortunately there are inevitably days when the muse doesn’t feel like pushing me on to the next sentence or when the narrative demands I write an event or character interaction for which I feel no magic tingle in my fingers. Sometimes I’m not inspired, sometimes I’m daunted by what I’ve set out to achieve. My usual solution to this, perhaps after a short walk or a coffee, is to just get on with it and brute it down on paper with intentional recklessness. This sometimes yields surprising results. On other days I’ve sat and written a list of four very easily achievable tasks: write the next sentence, write what Mel says, check the time it takes to fly from Heathrow to Bordeux, finish the paragraph. Once the list is complete I can feel good, get up, reward myself with yet more coffee and then write another list.<br />
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<b>8. Understanding Structure</b><br />
Prior to my MA my knowledge of structure for both scripts and stories was a vague belief that there should be a beginning, middle and end, coupled with an instinctive seat-of-the-pants approach to the way a narrative unfolded. To be fair, my instincts weren’t too bad, but on several occasions I had to abandon projects that had gone awry. With hindsight I now know this was caused by a lack of understanding of the necessary structure. On my MA course, I had a genuine moment of epiphany when I realised how different narrative structures could be used to work through any story, novel or a script. Thanks <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/1451584539/ref=sr_1_12?p=random&ie=UTF8&qid=1346098074" target="_blank">Aristotle</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aristotles-Poetics-Screenwriters-Storytelling-Civilization/dp/0786887400/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346097914&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Michael Tierno</a> and<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hero-Thousand-Faces-Joseph-Campbell/dp/0586085718/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346097965&sr=1-5" target="_blank"> Joseph Campbell</a>.<br />
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<b>9. Getting into Character</b><br />
Characters are the story. It is their struggles and reactions to what gets thrown at them that make the magic happen; make the reader love them or love despising them. Trooping out a set of caricatures is passé for animation work let alone your novel. Characters take time to distil and develop. Research helps, but it can still tend to be a bit dry and remote. I’m lucky I have a background in <i>nerdiness</i>; I’m not ashamed to admit that I play roleplaying games; it’s an enjoyable and social pastime that also gives me regular practice of getting behind the eyes of different characters. I found it useful to develop back stories for such characters and have even created a questionnaire that asked for details of a character’s early childhood, adolescence and life as an adult. This works perfectly well for my book characters as well and can be used to develop character complexities as well as explain existing quirks. Getting a friend to hit you with questions while ‘in character’ can also throw up some useful material. Much of this will never actually come out in the book, but the more time you spend playing around in your characters’ heads the better rounded they will be.<br />
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<b>10. Having a Story Worth Telling</b><br />
Well, duh! But this is a more actively applied process than most people imagine. It is very easy to have a great concept, but a concept isn’t a story; it’s merely the premise to a story. I have notebooks full of such premises, I also have bits of storyline concepts, characters or situations which are all good material, but not actually a story. Being able to tease a concept out into a worthwhile story is a good skill to develop. Being able to recognise which concepts to pursue; which will make a full novel, which a short story, which will actually be saleable and which a white elephant; is equally important. Developing this skill in choosing what to write next could make the difference between being an earnest hobbyist or an earning professional.<br />
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The route to the top of the first hill is probably different for each writer. Are there any hand-holds that have helped on your own journey? The gallons of coffee and small Chocolatey rewards, along with the support of family and friends all go without saying.<br />
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<br /></div>Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-12921146488880071252012-07-27T15:21:00.000+01:002013-05-15T21:08:01.843+01:00First Novel Completed<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">So I’ve finished writing my debut novel, <i>The Different</i>. Good for me —yay!</span><br />
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Quite an achievement for someone who only learnt to write three years ago. Not that I was illiterate, far from it; I’d already waffled my way through a couple of unpublished non-fiction books, film scripts and the expected raft of dissertations and magazine articles. But three years ago I learnt there was a craft to it. Before that, I could string a sentence together, even make sense, but I was oblivious to the words being any more than a means to deliver my ideas, the writing little more than an inconvenient step. I knew such a thing as good writing existed, I’d read and appreciated enough of it in my choice of fiction, but I never thought I could be a writer of such. Perhaps that was why I stuck to scripts for so long, why I never actually tried to publish anything.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Having the scales peeled from my eyes about the potential of my writing was a revelation. I remember being, not flattered as I should, but slightly stunned when Helen Shipman, my tutor at Falmouth, in her slightly admonishing tones commented how I could be a very good writer if I could write everything as well as the piece I’d just handed to her. I can trace it back to that point when I decided to learn the craft, hone it and perfect it; not as the medium through which my ideas are delivered, but with which they are painted.<br />
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I know that my skills as a marketeer, not those as a writer will be tested next, but for now I’d like to relish this milestone and celebrate a long worked-for achievement.<br />Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-57650125938115794692012-04-01T23:04:00.000+01:002013-05-15T21:12:17.860+01:00The Book of Revelations Encoded Into Pi<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url= http://simoncornish.com/Blog/2012/04/01/the-book-of-revelations-encoded-into-pi/" />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Conspiracy, contrivance, or just an inevitability?</span></h2>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mathematicians working for <a href="http://www.gchq.gov.uk/" target="_blank">GCHQ</a> in the United Kingdom have long known the fact that the entirety of Revelations along with various other biblical references are mathematically encoded into</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi" target="_blank">pi</a>. For those that are a bit foggy on their maths, pi or</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px;"><b><span class="texhtml" style="font-family: serif; white-space: nowrap;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">π</span></span><span class="texhtml" style="font-family: serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: nowrap;"> </span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">is the mathematical constant arrived at by dividing the circumference of a circle by its diameter, which works out as approximately 3.14. One of the many notable features of the number is the 'approximately' bit, because it isn't precisely 3.14 or even 3.14159265, the actual number of decimal places of pi is seemingly endless and continues without any kind of discernible repetition.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>What the boffins at GCHQ have been sitting on is a code within those infinite random digits, a mathematical code that translates verbatim to the original Book of Revelations written in Greek.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>GCHQ is the offspring of the HM Government institution that was based at <a href="http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/" target="_blank">Bletchly Park</a> where the <i>enigma code</i> was broken and the first electronic computer developed. For any maths genius, cracking such a code would be a relatively simple task (and GCHQ boasts a number of expert code crackers). The greatest challenge would not be the mathematical code itself, but finding where in the unending string of decimals that code would be hidden. So far pi has been <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-m-borwein/pi-day_b_1341569.html" target="_blank">calculated to over 16 trillion digits</a> and there are plenty more where those came from. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>However, even if they don't yet know where <i>The Book of Revelations code</i> lies within pi's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">infinite </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">number string, mathematicians at various institutions around the world can now verify that its existence can be predicted, along with a number of other works including: <i>The Book of the Dead</i>, Aristotle's <i>second book of Poetics</i>, a rendition of <i>All You Need is Love</i> by the Beatles*, and of course, the complete script to Shakespeare's <i>Hamlet</i>.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Go figure.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">*pi is yet to be sued for copyright infringement by the performing rights society.</span></div>
<br />Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-77915866042874203942011-12-05T12:43:00.001+00:002011-12-09T14:41:37.903+00:00Real-time Fiction: a Guide<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTgyKkSTFRSc1i2eSjRrrQHD9DGmUMCTY6sD1zthVyVfl2JJHCTBagFXlIZh-0QStjKqGO-1LcBpEi6hCYRcKSH-v6a0GjqvUOfLqPqZKVGfjbvIOs3EHN9ZntWNAd9enU4O22MBqd72hd/s1600/timeflies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTgyKkSTFRSc1i2eSjRrrQHD9DGmUMCTY6sD1zthVyVfl2JJHCTBagFXlIZh-0QStjKqGO-1LcBpEi6hCYRcKSH-v6a0GjqvUOfLqPqZKVGfjbvIOs3EHN9ZntWNAd9enU4O22MBqd72hd/s1600/timeflies.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">S.Cornish: <i>Time Flies</i> </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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This is frontier territory; beyond that line of jagged prose <i>there be dragons</i>.<br />
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Using tweets to drip feed the narrative directly to the reader is pretty novel. This is a strange and unfamiliar format, even to me. Follow it as a reader and you catch the story, blink and you’ll have to scroll back to catch up. Twitter isn’t the medium to simply deliver an existing piece of prose fiction line by line, no-one will want to read that. As a writer it takes some planning to write a story that unfolds in real-time, but it doesn’t need to be difficult or intimidating to do.<br />
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What makes any story a good story is an interesting premise, strong believable characters and an engaging narrative. Put this across as a succession of tweets that unfold the story in a fictional real-time and you have a temporal tale.<br />
When setting out to write a temporal story there are a few things worth thinking about.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Temporal fiction lends itself to the first person, present tense written as if the narrator/character is sending the tweets. </i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></i><i>Give it some structure. </i><i>Like any story, a beginning establishes the characters and setting, the middle moves the story on from the driving incident/motive and the end brings it to a conclusion along with any consequences. </i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The story will unfold over several hours or days, so try to pace the delivery of tweets to allow the story arc to work with that, making sure interest is maintained even on the days that are leading up to the major bits of drama.</i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> In some respects temporal fiction will work more like a film script or radio play than a short written story. It is worth writing a treatment beforehand to help plan how the story will unfold and how long it will take to do so.</i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>5.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Making short plot notes also helps as these are already part way to being tweets in their own right.</i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>6.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Note down any extra foibles that occur to you about the characters or situation, these can often be worked into the main story arc for additional interest/drama/comedy.</i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>7.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Most likely any dialogue will need to be reported, unless it is addressed directly to the reader. But it isn't the only way, be inventive.</i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>8.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Suspension of disbelief should be maintained: if the story had been relying on the character sending tweets on their phone and they get tied up: how are they going to be able to send more tweets?</i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>9.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Twitter is a restrictive medium; there are only 140 characters for each tweet (both MS Word and Apple Pages will give a useful character count of any chunk of text you select), avoid having to break a segment of story into more than one tweet. But if it can’t be helped then try to use a device like an interruption to make this seem more plausible.</i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>10.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Short snappy delivery of the narrative as reports or recounts is easier to write and read.</i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>11.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> A one day story may need as many tweets as a five day story, try ensuring there is a tweet every few hours to keep the audience interested. </i><br />
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If you have any other ideas or thoughts on using twitter as a storytelling medium please comment.<br />
These pointers aren’t rules, they are just things learnt from messing round with the format,<br />
an experimental format. With it, anyone can be a ground-breaker and make up the rules as they go along. Go on, surprise us all.<br />
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<a href="http://twitter.com/#!/TemporalTales/" target="_blank">@TemporalTales</a> is looking for story submissions by new or established writers that can be tweeted over a period of one to fourteen days. Please email stories (.doc .txt or .pages format) to:<br />
muse (at) simoncornish.com<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(I’ve used (at) instead of @ to defeat the bots. I’m sure you can figure out how to reassemble it). </span></div>Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-21144108173649478262011-12-04T14:10:00.001+00:002011-12-05T12:54:40.212+00:00Temporal Tales<br />
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<img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6NjN4wdyAJTh1_lDOLLp0UuUAANJV9GhP511b0qZ6F7B8xRYLuLcFbuz74ScIzKrLjCg3x61VRRD59JpNnZmz_vHdwH49fQiCJoJ26fL18XLr5e44Dk89wMJ8zIioqjJnaVUeJ1X7alDA/s320/Temporal+fly.jpg" width="320" /></div>
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Having got the bit between my teeth with this whole idea of streaming real-time stories through twitter, I've now created a new twitter channel <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/TemporalTales" target="_blank">@TemporalTales</a> that will be dedicated to the format, but how is this new way of telling and distributing short fiction through twitter even going to work?<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>No, the wheel has not been reinvented, experiments in real-time storytelling, like Jeremy Bushnell's <a href="http://www.imaginaryyear.com/intro.html" target="_blank">Imaginary Year</a>, have been created before, but the demands of the twitter medium calls for a new format to put over the stories in a much more immediate way.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>After the successful tweet broadcast of the Bad Hair Daze story in April 2010, I started writing a Christmas story that would be broadcast in December of that year, but workloads being what they are, the broadcast was delayed until this year and <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/HoBloodyHo" target="_blank">@HoBloodyHo</a> will begin tweeting on the 15th December. I’ve been excited getting it all ready and working out the bugs to be able to schedule the tweets. Making a new twitter account for each story has worked for these first two pilot stories, but I’ve realised that to broadcast more stories on a regular basis needs a different solution. Having a tailor made twitter stream for a story looks great, but having to build up a following prior to the story launching is hard work, and most of that following will drift away once the story is over. The idea of a dedicated stream is a much more attractive option, allowing stories to be broadcast back to back (if I can get enough submissions). <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/TemporalTales" target="_blank">@TemporalTales</a> has been created to do just that.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The channel is intended to be a platform through which new and established writers can show their ingenuity and writing talent in what is effectively a new format (in the same way that flash fiction is a new format) of real-time storytelling. It also allows links to blogs, books and websites to be placed in the credits that can directly promote the writer to a receptive audience. A supporting blog-based website with an archive will provide additional information about the stories and the writers.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Temporal Tales twitter account is already up and ready for new followers and will start delivering tales as a channel in the new year. As a test it will be mirroring the tweets from the <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/HoBloodyHo" target="_blank">@HoBloodyHo</a> story, but with a time delay so that the tweets can go at at Eastern Standard Time. The Temporal Tales website and blog are still being designed at the moment, but will up and running before <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/TemporalTales" target="_blank">@TemporalTales</a> begins tweeting in anger.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In the meantime we are looking for submissions for new and imaginative stories to deliver when broadcasting begins. Please email stories in .doc or .pages format including a brief outline of what it is about to:<br />
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muse (at) simoncornish.com <br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">(I’ve used (at) instead of @ to defeat the bots. I’m sure you can figure out how to reassemble it). </span><br />
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As a guide, stories should be from one day to two weeks in output duration. Please bear in mind the constraints of the medium when submitting stories, <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/BadHairDaze" target="_blank">@BadHairDaze</a> is an existing example of how a real-time story has worked. More details about <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/HoBloodyHo" target="_blank">@HoBloodyHo</a> can be found <a href="http://simoncornish.blogspot.com/2011/11/ho-bloody-ho-christmas-tale.html" target="_blank">here</a>.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-36523410963927330822011-11-27T16:38:00.001+00:002011-11-28T13:34:45.828+00:00Ebooks: Does Size Matter?<br />
In the usual recondite fashion, the answer to this is: ‘It depends’. But when it comes to e-readers, if you haven’t considered this question when publishing your latest e-book you could be in for a tricky ride.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3W5TV2ZvEOjg2qJmdVuDqE3q521S9Z95BRi5RllnpO6ArQEFXvwgUZ5NasLiCTKShflLC_VeS_TL_ihx9vPbcNKLQNAAOUb5xYtnGuOuMrsmr_3_fUZLZ_Rb62N2aT4zGWCqth964NgGZ/s1600/squish-reader.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3W5TV2ZvEOjg2qJmdVuDqE3q521S9Z95BRi5RllnpO6ArQEFXvwgUZ5NasLiCTKShflLC_VeS_TL_ihx9vPbcNKLQNAAOUb5xYtnGuOuMrsmr_3_fUZLZ_Rb62N2aT4zGWCqth964NgGZ/s320/squish-reader.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Part of the problem has arisen from the manufacturers of e-readers making out how adaptable their products can be, how any book can be scaled or made to re-flow to fit the viewing screen, either automatically or at the whim of the reader. This is all very well, but it has lead to the bamboozlement (it’s a real word I looked it up) of an entire industry concerning their products —as well as a certain amount of decapitated chicken behaviour as to how to best go about designing e-books. The simple answer to all this is size, and the guide to this already exists in the distilled wisdom that the publishing industry has managed to accrue over the last few thousand years. Over this period, though some books have been intended to be more or less portable, the common factor has been that they have all been designed to be read by a human being.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Just because Apple, Amazon and a few hundred technology companies in that last couple of years have come up with some electronic gizmos that display words and images, doesn’t mean that people’s fingers have got smaller or their eyes closer together. The reader (ie the meaty thing with a brain) is still for most purposes the same as the guy peering at <a href="http://www.ancientscripts.com/sumerian.html" target="_blank">clay tablets 5000 years ago</a>, and the common issue is display size.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The thing that we call a ‘book’ covers such a variety of printed paper creations that the idea of trying to squash digital versions of every book into every kind of e-reader seems almost laughable, but this is what the manufacturers want you to believe can be done, both as a reader and a publisher.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The platform a book is read on makes a huge difference and it is as well to draw a clear line in the sand when it comes to what you create for them. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_readers" target="_blank">wikipedia chart</a> provides a very helpful view of display sizes for most of the current e-reading devices, and it doesn’t take long to figure out that most fit into just two size ranges: pocket-size, and mid-size. If the industry is planning any large size, flexible screen fold out or roll-up devices they haven’t let on yet, but as things stand you should be aiming at one of those available, not both.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The ubiquitous Kindle (and it’s competitors) is not a multimedia device, or a games platform; it is best suited to being an e-novel platform. Pocket sized, eye-friendly and within the size limitations, perfectly suited for that purpose. It’s screen is 3.6 inches by 4.8, or 600 x 800 pixels. Writers of novels are fine here, text works well and it doesn’t suffer too much from being re-flowed as some formats have a habit of doing (If you’re publishing a novel you will have an easier time of it than creating anything involving pictures). But if a reader tries to view a comic, a magazine or a big picture book on one of these small sized devices, they will see something, but they are going to be missing out on a major part of the experience. If you are publishing a big bumper book of recipes with full spreads of chocolate treats, the kindle is not going to be your platform. Think in terms of size; either don’t publish for this type of device at all, or consider making a tailored, cut-down version that fits the screen and doesn’t have to be re-sized (heck it may even boost sales if people like the small version, there’s a good chance they will buy the big one as well).<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Producing image heavy books for the ipad is another game entirely; the ipad and similar sized interactive tablets are all roughly 7.75 x 5.82 inches, 1024 x 768 pixels, which is larger than the e-novel readers but still designed to be portable. Size should also be considered right at the outset here as well; the reader should be able to comfortably view the page without having to change or drag the image around too much, or they may find it frustrating. Merely converting your existing picture book onto a common format and letting the reader deal with it’s viewing is unlikely to get the sales you might hope for. Taking the whole book apart and re-designing it to fit the magic 7.75 x 5.82 inches may take you some time, but it will be much more reader friendly.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsKOni-LI1remGV0l_fTmDoDfFArQjLGi4JMnvPZnfVZxIy8m5x1pkGACNt6DY3UAMGlsH0Ch6xQX2v1KsnWDcMjcprBaLNVstV6J7uDhKN0D7WFTdzJySqyGpjHG3OrNIIMXZr4xtDkyF/s1600/size+comparison2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsKOni-LI1remGV0l_fTmDoDfFArQjLGi4JMnvPZnfVZxIy8m5x1pkGACNt6DY3UAMGlsH0Ch6xQX2v1KsnWDcMjcprBaLNVstV6J7uDhKN0D7WFTdzJySqyGpjHG3OrNIIMXZr4xtDkyF/s400/size+comparison2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>We are enjoying a honeymoon period at the moment where the technology is new and the audience more receptive, people are forgiving of the quirks and foibles they encounter in the systems and publications they are buying, but they will very quickly tire of having to make too many clicks and gestures that interrupt the flow of the reading experience. Yes, the i-pad and its ilk allow for all sorts of interactive fireworks in your book, a route that leads into the realms of games and multimedia, but making the product the right size for the platform will do you favours in the long run. Think about how people are going to read your book; if you want people to read with their eyes not their fingers, then make sure it is designed so that they can do that easily. At the end of the day, size does matter and you should have that in mind when you set out to publish.<br />
<br />Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-8344067537684469672011-11-18T16:00:00.001+00:002011-12-04T14:07:19.240+00:00Ho Bloody Ho, a Christmas Tale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As the nights grow cold and the days grow short I find my mind turning to more seasonal matters and the creation of little Christmas treats. No, not mince pies or gingerbread stars, but a gift served in 140 character helpings, a new twitter novella for all who care to follow, entitled <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/HoBloodyHo" target="_blank">@HoBloodyHo</a> —it even has flashing lights on the profile pic (when viewed on twitter itself). <br />
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This Yuletide story follows the eventful days and bitter thoughts of a man to whom life has not been kind, struggling to find kindness within himself while working as a shopping centre Santa. <br />
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Don’t worry it’s not slushy or sentimental; Dickens it isn't. <br />
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The tweets will begin being broadcast from Mid December (The exact date has yet to be finalised) and will run right up until Christmas. The story will unfold as a series of tweets by the main character Jim. <br />
After my original experiment with this format for the <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/BadHairDaze" target="_blank">@BadHairDaze</a> story, first broadcast in April 2010, I’ve learnt that, not only does every tweet need to contribute to progressing the story or characters, but they need to be regular –at least 4 a day. To create a story arc that works over the time period along with the usual 140 character limitations of twitter is both a challenge and an accomplishment for me. Once I start broadcasting the story I cannot stop, or take time out until it is finished. With <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/BadHairDaze" target="_blank">@BadHairDaze</a> this was a major commitment and I was tweeting from laybys on car journeys even several days from my laptop at wireless hotspots during the London Book Fair. This time round I’ve learnt the benefits of scheduled tweeting via <a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/" target="_blank">Tweetdeck</a> and I intend to put up each day’s tweets in advance. <br />
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Currently the writing is running a little behind schedule, I’m about a third of the way through the process and more than a little nervous about getting it done and edited before it goes out. However, here is a selection of tweets from the work in progress as a twitter trailer.
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Tuesday 9.00</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Got in this morning, and some joker has messed with the sign overnight; rearranging the letters to say: SATAN’S GROTTO. Like it.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Tuesday 9.30</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Wish we could keep it as Satan: Been bad this year, little Johnny? No presents for you then and your immortal soul’s gonna burn in hell. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Tuesday 15.30</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Keiley does all the wrong things for me. I can’t believe she's only 18 –it's the elf outfit, it shows all her bumps too effectively.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Tuesday 16.15</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I can't bloody believe it, one of the little SOBs just peed on my lap, I don't have spare trousers issued for such eventualities.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Tuesday 16.30</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">A quick rinse under the tap in the gents and a towel on loan from Keiley and I'm back in business. Trousers are still wet. #HoHoNo</span></div>
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<b>Tuesday 19.00</b> </div>
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Got to travel home with damp trousers, I'm not looking forward to it; it's perishing out.</div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><b>Tuesday 20.30</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Called Rita’s to speak to the kids. Robby was out again, but Jin was in –we spoke for about a minute; she wanted to watch some TV programme.</span></div>
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The story will be broadcast from mid-December, start following to catch the first tweets as they come out. <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/HoBloodyHo" target="_blank">@HoBloodyHo</a> a Christmas gift to all of twitterdom. Now that’s got to be better than a mince pie.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-86795806328541472682011-11-03T19:55:00.000+00:002011-11-06T16:28:57.172+00:00The Macro Approach to Fine-Tuning a Novel<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Editing a book on my floor.</span></div>
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If anyone has been following my twitter updates, they’ll be aware I’ve worked my way through two further drafts of my novel: <i>The Different</i> since finishing the first in February. My second draft was intended to tackle the narrative; making sure the slight changes to the story I’d made during the writing process made sense overall. What I ended up doing was pulling the whole thing apart and writing another twenty-thousand words. This wasn’t to bulk up the word count (I’d already hit my target in the first draft), but to create a stronger narrative sense and much needed structural continuity.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Early on I’d chosen to write three distinct story threads: the main protagonist, her father, and first person recounts of her back-story. The way these three elements worked together meant that I had to pull the novel apart to be able to edit them. The third draft has been about getting the narrative to flow as a whole, and in the last two weeks I’ve undertaken a major edit of the chapter order.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>With three story threads the order has been a bugbear for me throughout, and in the end I printed out summaries of each section onto paper and laid them all out on the floor. It was incredibly helpful to see the whole story laid out this way, better than a digital flat-plan. At first I used the order from the first draft, but I quickly saw how I could insert the back-story elements in a more interesting way along with one or two changes to the other sections. By the end of the process there were only a couple of trouble areas where the order of events either conflicted with others or just didn’t hit the beats in the story in quite the way I wanted.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As these were time based, I went back to one of the methods I’d used early in the planning stage; I’d found that creating a calendar based timeline (mine was taken straight from April-July 2010) had helped in organising the order of events and I was amazed that the original timelines were still mostly relevant to the updated story. Using a timeline allowed me to quickly identify which elements I could re-order and still have a story that made sense.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Employing macro editing methods has enabled me to slot my chapters together with confidence in the knowledge they will work over the whole book. I know it is worth planning a book before writing it, but doing this again after the second or third draft has been very useful. Certainly something worth doing with any books I write in the future. Taking a step back (in my case quite literally) to look at the whole book can ensure that it not only works on a logical level, but will allow it to unfold in the best way for reading.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-8985382262044963632011-10-05T20:14:00.000+01:002011-10-07T14:59:10.748+01:00Killing Darlings #2 The Nightmare<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Here lies yet another of my writing darlings I've found necessary to cull in the latest revision of my book. </span><br />
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It did serve a purpose, but the whole section no longer fits the rest of the book. Writing about a character's dreams shouldn't be completely taboo (I've read writer's advice which says otherwise, but anything goes if it works for the book you are writing as far as I'm concerned), but as things stand this little section and its surreal descriptions has to go.<br />
I wrote this surreal nightmare scene fairly early on intending to show the main protagonist's doubt about pressure she was being put under to have some form of corrective surgery. At the time I wrote this there was to be a lot more dream imagery in the book, mostly because the story was being told from a point in the future (where the girl is dying and under the influence of drugs). As the first draft took shape, I pulled back from the idea and much of the dream experiences were transmuted into backstory, leaving this section stuck out on its own. It was also interesting to see that my style has changed a lot since writing this; I was trying a too hard to seem like a sophisticated writer, yet coming across sounding like a pretentious amateur. Over-description, alliteration and an excess of adverbs are some of the obvious issues.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
The Nightmare<br />
The unlit hospital corridors seem oddly familiar, from somewhere outside shafts of sodium street light enter through the infrequent windows casting muddy islands of illumination into the seas of darkness between. Melanie shuffles along hesitantly, one hand feeling for the guiding solidity of the wall. A further step and her uncertain fingers clutch at empty space and she stumbles forward into the hollow opening of an adjoining corridor. Melanie's eyes strain to pierce the menacing blackness, a subtle dread clasping her insides with primitive fear. Sensing, rather than seeing them: spindly, angular and many limbed, attenuated metal insects exuding the ozone scent of stainless steel, dry joints squeaking as they reach for her with bladed claws. Melanie's fear only holds her fast for a heartbeat before giving way to flight. She runs, seeking escape through the maze of corridors, a breath behind, the skittering surgical creatures dance through the shadows on pointed feet. Ahead she sees a light. The bright outline of a doorway. Melanie throws herself through into a space of blinding illumination and in that moment of confusion she finds herself upon an operating table, her heavy limbs refusing to obey her, numbed by anaesthetic. Up above, looking down from a gallery, she can see the faces of people she knows: her Dad, Howard, Sue, Robbie, and Cynthia, their comments floating down into the echoing room.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Yes, it's just a little procedure."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"She'll be a new person afterwards."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"Oh, she'll fit in then; she never did fit in."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>"There's hardly any risk."<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Around her the mechanical insects reach towards her, their pincers, blades and forceps glinting under the light.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> "It's only a paper bag after all."<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It is daytime now; golden sunshine shines down on beds of brightly coloured tulips outside the front of the hospital. A crowd of people stand around the front entrance clapping as Melanie is wheeled out wearing a bag, upon the bag is drawn a big smile. The specialist leans over and plucks off the bag with a flourish. The crowd cheer as the new Melanie is revealed, her face, neck, and head covered in Frankensteinian stitches, the corners of her mouth drawn downwards, like a clown, her eyes expressionless and vacant hollows.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-33530833854729923562011-09-13T22:34:00.001+01:002011-10-07T14:55:39.665+01:00When Did You Last Back Up Your Writing?<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I know how precious my work is to me and I know other writers feel the same. What I don’t understand is how they can go day after day challenging the odds of losing it all.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So here’s the scenario: your masterpiece has taken months, years even. You’ve collated volumes of research, made your fingers ache from typing, poured your soul into those passages; but just as the end is in sight, or the deadline looming, you sit down one morning, switch on your trusty computer, and it makes an odd noise. The screen remains blank – or worse, it displays some terrifying error message. Concerned, you try turning it off and on again. This time it makes the sort of mechanical grinding noise that you’d expect if you stuck a pencil into a hairdryer and the true realisation hits; whatever unfortunate mechanical failure your (no longer so trusty) computer has just suffered, it is of almost insignificant concern compared to what you’ve potentially lost on its hard drive – months of work excised from existence at the whim of whatever hairy ape passes for a god of all things digital. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Exactly this scenario happened to a friend recently; she lost all the work for her master’s project and goodness knows what else. Hopefully a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_Recovery">data recovery</a> service may be able to retrieve the data, but it all costs money and takes time. While I commiserate with her (I really do feel for you Kelly), it’s time and money that shouldn’t have been lost. But any writer could just as easily lose the whole lot by leaving a laptop on a train or having it stolen from a car.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Ask yourself: just how precious is my work, how much of it can I afford to lose? A few sentences, a page, ten thousand words? Now be honest here: when did I last back everything up? If you do back up regularly, well done – have a high five and a warm, slightly smug moment. If not, it’s a habit that I guarantee will save your digital bacon at some stage.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It comes down to this. If you are writing, or aspire to write professionally, you need to think of your equipment, and the files you create with it, in a professional way. It’s okay, you can still arrange fluffy toys along the top of your monitor, or cover your laptop in Zombie Boy™ stickers; but you need to get into the habit of backing up your work and making archives periodically. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The road to hell, as the saying goes, is paved with good intentions; most people have them about making backups, but remembering, or figuring out what they should back up and how, can often mean that when disaster strikes they haven’t actually got round to it. However, some simple options are available that can be set up to provide automatic backups, as well as some very handy online solutions which should ensure that when the inevitable crunch happens, you’ll be breathing a sigh of relief, rather than a whimper of despair.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If you are intending to preserve your whole computer system, including all those family snapshots, video tutorials (or in my case huge chunks of uncompressed digital film), you will need to buy an external hard drive that has the same memory capacity as the one inside your computer. Yes, it will cost actual money, but think about what you are protecting here, and these days big USB external drives are fairly cheap – less than 50 quid, or 75 bucks down at the local supermarket.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>If you own a Mac, this external drive can be set to be the <i>Time Machine</i> drive via the <i><a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427">Time Machine</a> settings</i> in the <i>System Preferences</i>. This will not only make an hourly backup of any changes on your computer, but can also be used to hunt back in time and restore previous versions of files you may have saved days, or even weeks, before – so no more worries about accidentally overwriting a file.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>On a PC running Windows, a similar automatic system can be set up by opening the <i>Control Panel</i>, and then clicking the <i><a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows7/products/features/backup-and-restore">Backup and Restore</a></i> option. This allows you to schedule the external drive to back up daily, or whenever you click Backup Now. It may also be set to schedule a backup for a single folder or file, which can come in handy if you are working from a laptop away from your desk, as a small USB pen drive can be used instead of an external hard drive.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Other interesting methods of ensuring your precious work (and arse) is protected from disaster utilise some of the new cloud computing solutions that are available. Many ISPs already offer a storage service as part of their broadband package, but there are numerous free online backup services available such as those from <a href="http://Mozy.co.uk/">Mozy.co.uk</a> or <a href="http://IDrive.com/">IDrive.com</a>. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>However, the best solutions for writers are those that offer synchronisation, like <a href="http://Sugarsync.com/">Sugarsync</a> or <a href="http://Dropbox.com/">Dropbox</a>. Both of these services work with most operating systems and devices including tablets and phones. </span>Each works in a similar way, allowing you to set folders on your computer to be automatically backed up online. If you make any updates to the files in those folders, it will be backed up as soon as you do so. Even better, you can set other machines like your laptop, or ipad to synchronise with the same folders, so your work is not only updated on all your devices, it is backed up at the same time. The free offering from Dropbox gives 2GB of space and Sugarsync 5GB, but if you use their pay service you could easily backup your entire drive. It is even possible to share selected folders with family or clients.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Provided you can access the internet, this ability to rove and get at your files from anywhere makes it very easy to ensure your current project is always backed up – hopefully before you manage to douse your keyboard in skinny frappelatto.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I’ve mentioned just a few ways to protect your work, although there are numerous other easy to use solutions out there, so there isn’t any excuse not to be covered (I’m always interested to hear about more, so please let me know). Whether you are a novelist, journalist, non-fiction writer, poet, scriptwriter, editor or just enjoy getting your thoughts down on digital paper, if it means something to you, for goodness sake, make sure you look after it! Back it up and make an archive of your work. Do it today, and thank me tomorrow.</span><br />
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<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;"><b>Backup Trivia</b>: the accepted forms are <u><b>backup</b></u> as a single compound word for the noun, and two separate words <u><b>back up</b></u> when used as a verb.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Further Useful Links:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.adrive.com/">http://www.adrive.com</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.dropbox.com/">http://www.dropbox.com</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.crashplan.com/">http://www.crashplan.com</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.idrive.com/">http://www.idrive.com</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://mozy.co.uk/">http://mozy.co.uk</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.spideroak.com/">http://www.spideroak.com</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.sugarsync.com/">http://www.sugarsync.com</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.wuala.com/">http://www.wuala.com</a></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.zumodrive.com/">http://www.zumodrive.com</a></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Illustration©Simon Cornish 2010</span><br />
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<br />Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-13578585839326392011-07-15T15:25:00.002+01:002011-07-15T17:17:05.284+01:00Killing DarlingsThe '<i>Kill Your Darlings'</i> advice attributed to both William Faulkner and Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch is generally interpreted as telling writers to be objective about their editing. It recognises that writers need to be particularly brutal with those passages that they have fallen in love with in the first draft; chances are those will be the passages they will indulge far beyond their usefulness to the story.<br />
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I've been doing this a lot recently. Heck, I may even be turning into a serial killer. The fact that, whilst I'm slicing bits of text off salami fashion from one end of this draft, I'm sneakily scribbling new scenes elsewhere, is neither here nor there. I'll wait for the third draft before I start hacking those down to size.<br />
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But in the meantime, I thought it might be good to share some of these lost souls of novelistic fancy. Summon them up from digital purgatory and allow them a few brief moments of freedom before they fade from existence.<br />
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This one is simply called The Duck Dream, I'll give it no further qualification that that.<br />
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<blockquote>Is this part of it? No, I think it's now; I'm sitting on a bench in a trim English park with ornamental trees, the sun is warm and I can smell the grass. In front of me is a path that circles a big ornamental pond. On the pond are ducks, lots of ducks. At the other end of the bench sits an old lady, feeding the ducks bread from a big brown paper bag. One of the ducks, a large ugly looking black and white brute, with wrinkles of puffy red flesh about its eyes and beak, peers up at me with that hopeful look that animals have when they think someone might feed them. I look back at it.</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>'Sorry,' I say, 'I don't have any bread, go to the lady at the end, she'll feed you.'</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The duck carries on looking at me for a bit, then opens its beak </blockquote><blockquote> 'you have a bag, is there nothing in there?' it says.</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>'No that's to cover me, I'm different.'</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>'Seems like a waste of a good bag to me. Why are you trying to do what everyone expects you to, why don't you accept what you are?'</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>'What do you mean?'</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>'Look, you wear a bag because everyone else expects you to, they have assigned a place to you in society, you conform to that because you want to fit in and be accepted.'</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>'Well, yes, I guess so.'</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>'So, you are effectively letting your own kind down by trying to fit in to the society of the normals, trying to behave like one of them.'</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>'What? You hardly seem qualified, you've got to be the ugliest duck on this pond and you are behaving just like the others. Apart from the talking bit.'</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A passing pug being walked on a long extendible leash trots up some meters ahead of its owner scattering the ducks in all directions.</blockquote><blockquote><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>'Ignore the duck, he's got it all wrong,' the pug says, looking at me with divergent eyes; 'if you want to get anywhere in this world you've got to integrate, be like them, fit into their expectations, if you can't be normal, behave the way they expect you to as a diff. Show them gratitude if they offer help even if you don't need it, laugh at their ignorant jokes, respond to their awkward questions, and pretend you're stupid, there's no point in fighting it.'</blockquote>Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-70077253393394642242011-06-30T16:49:00.002+01:002011-06-30T17:12:56.001+01:00Second DraftNow I’ve begun the second draft stage of writing my book, I’m finding it as much of a challenge as the freeform creativity of the initial draft. I’m much more aware of the pitfalls in the writing, the structure of my scenes, what they are contributing to the narrative, and how they flow within themselves. I’ve also had to write tailor made scenes, to fit the specific needs of the overall plot –something I’ve found quite difficult to do whilst still trying to maintain a natural flow to the writing.<br />
<br />
In this draft I’m also aware of some of the format constraints I’ve created for myself. The book, as I have written it, has a form of framing set up by the opening chapter, with the character speaking in first person –this has now lead to me writing all the flashback scenes in first person. The trouble with this currently, is the tense, I keep flipping between wanting to write all the flashbacks in present tense –which sounds better– or wanting to write them in past tense –which makes more sense in terms of reported experience. Present or past, flip-flip? I’m aware of the need for consistency, but at some point I will need to draw a line under it and stop re-writing.<br />
<br />
This is a tiny flashback scene that appears very early in the book, which I have just updated to past tense, but as I write the subsequent flashbacks – concerning Melanie’s experiences at school– I’m beginning to wonder if it would be better as present tense after all.<br />
<br />
Sugary Treatments<br />
“Outside the big sash windows the wind shook red and yellow leaves from the trees, toying with its prizes as they fell, inside within the white painted room, with it's lofty ceiling and chipped edged desk, everything had a clean look to it, not sparkling-clean like the kitchens in adverts, but the worn-clean of things that get scrubbed almost daily. A hint of antiseptic tantalised my nostrils. I’d been here, or somewhere like it before, but those recollections were less clear. It probably wasn’t long after my third birthday.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Other than the desk and the wooden chairs the only other items in the room were a wheeled stainless steel cabinet against one wall and a high examination table-bed. The sort I’d often been lifted onto as the different doctors made clicking noises with their tongues or breathed loudly through their noses, checking me over –<i>just a little test, it might feel a tiny touch cold, this won’t hurt a bit</i>.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Maman would tell me ‘I’m a very patient patient’, which always made me giggle. Sometimes, if I’d been extra good, one of the doctors gave me a sweet in a wrapper or a lollypop, sometimes.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The room was on the second floor of a grand old Edwardian building that must, at some point in it’s long history, have been turned over from luxury mansion to austere health service clinic; with its high ceilings and wide halls that made ghosts of every footstep on our way up via a once grand staircase, lost beneath stratified gloss paint and linoleum.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>I dandled my legs beneath the adult sized chair, attempting to pay attention. My parents either side, a comforting mass of texture and warmth. Daddy holding my hand, giving it an absentminded squeeze now and then. Maman elegant and straight backed. They were talking about me; grown-ups did that a lot. They listened with serious expressions, nodding occasionally at the specialist's turgid medical parlance. In my imagination each word became a long hairy caterpillar crawling about the neat desktop. He talked about some sugary treatments from America, I wondered where he kept them, perhaps the desk drawer, or in the metal cabinet.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Maman leant forward, her mascara painted eyelashes looking dramatically long from my low viewpoint, and interrupted him. Her tone suggesting she'd had enough of his caterpillar words. She wants me to be happy, she says. Then asks if it can’t wait until I’m older, old enough to understand what could happen, old enough to make my own choices.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The doctor tells them, that the choice is theirs, I’m bright and otherwise healthy, my quality of life shouldn’t decline. He stood and walked over to the shiny metal cabinet. I craned my neck to see as he opened the doors and pulled a folded paper object from a stack on one of the shelves, shaking it open with a flick as he brought it over to me. I glimpsed a pair of holes cut into the front as he lifted it and, not ungently, slid it over my head, using a word unfamiliar to my three year old hearing, a word I understood as something like ‘prophecy’, though the actual word was most likely <i>prosthetic</i>, or even <i>prophylactic</i>; neither of which is technically correct, but ‘prophecy’ was what I remember hearing as my head was enveloped by that first bag.”<br />
<div><br />
</div>Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-37116943278579311102011-05-05T22:16:00.004+01:002011-05-09T16:07:44.649+01:00Time to Draw<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5V-DVqHuoxXoqiPFysDOXDxMdr37wEY2US4KmLmIJdBr0V2b3WsJKF3V6uB0JYlISD4KXRuJqkMbc4okexmQZdAI8ZLNCBb9gW5leJsMEGaBk_sswA5J_me8xebFwpQZe3FLPvb3x_XzY/s1600/old_face.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5V-DVqHuoxXoqiPFysDOXDxMdr37wEY2US4KmLmIJdBr0V2b3WsJKF3V6uB0JYlISD4KXRuJqkMbc4okexmQZdAI8ZLNCBb9gW5leJsMEGaBk_sswA5J_me8xebFwpQZe3FLPvb3x_XzY/s400/old_face.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Is being self-employed ruining my creative potential?<br />
<br />
I just drew the image above. It took me about ninety minutes. No reason, no mulling it over, I just picked up the stylus and let my hand put down what it wanted. It's been a while.<br />
<br />
Sometimes I need to remind myself it's all still there, ready to be used. The reason why I don't do this kind of thing very often is simply that I don't allow myself to. Somewhere along the line I was programmed to see anything that was ultimately not going to pay the gas bill, or the shopping, or the astronomical cost of running the car, as bad, a waste of time that could be better spent on promoting myself or writing 'the book'. My self employed dream has become a bit of a nightmare. If I can't take the time and the pleasure to draw nice little concept doodles, how can I afford the time to do the same with my writing. This is something I need to address before it's too late.<br />
<br />
I hate to admit it, but I think, that whilst self employment has offered a great many freedoms and benefits over the years I think the security of a salary in this current climate would be a good idea, though it would need to be a job that allows me enough spare time to sit down and appreciate the simple pleasure of being creative. Is that too much to ask for?Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-48873011612945362712011-04-20T21:43:00.000+01:002011-04-20T21:43:16.546+01:00Today The Unforgiving Muse is playing host to the Immortal Blog Tour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhonWy0tAIwXfqzhr3UU1lVDWb_CpMOHgZrt1xzj1iyN6kWb6vk_ccwEgazj4lQVhFc0quWx5Ip7thZZgBicSOoLO1YDpjmC2InjvcW7s03_sFA4OqnuD5dRXt2IcDbYexdOJBOffLfomWg/s1600/immortal_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhonWy0tAIwXfqzhr3UU1lVDWb_CpMOHgZrt1xzj1iyN6kWb6vk_ccwEgazj4lQVhFc0quWx5Ip7thZZgBicSOoLO1YDpjmC2InjvcW7s03_sFA4OqnuD5dRXt2IcDbYexdOJBOffLfomWg/s320/immortal_cover.jpg" width="196" /></a></div><br />
<br />
I’m a big fan of novel approaches to any genre. Any author who looks at the accepted conventions and promptly marches sideways will catch my interest if they do it well. Gene Doucette has managed this with the fantasy genre in his novel Immortal.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The premise itself is interesting enough; Adam, the main protagonist happens to be something in the region of sixty-thousand years old, his memories stretch so far back through human history that even he has trouble recalling his origins, but in the twenty-first century, with its obsessive need to keep track of everyone, his immortality can prove more tricky to conceal. The casual sarcasm and grounded pragmatism make for an accessible character, even when he’s recounting events from centuries before, but as the story progresses we begin to learn a lot more about human history and the strange creatures from which our myths originated. <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Gene has been promoting the novel largely through social networking, both as himself, <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/genedoucette">@genedoucette</a> and as the main character Adam, <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/adamtheimmortal">@adamtheimmortal</a> on twitter and through his <a href="http://genedoucette.me/">website</a>. This is increasingly becoming an attractive method for indie authors to promote their work, but it takes a lot of hard work, especially if you choose to write as your main character as well as yourself. This blog slot has allowed me to put a few questions to Gene about Immortal and his writing.<br />
<br />
A great deal of the story is a first-hand account of the past. Did you have to do a lot of research?<br />
<br />
<i>Not terribly much. I’ve read my share of history books, so for details I just had to go to my own bookshelf and flip through a book or two to get the information I needed. For example, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Distant-Mirror-Calamitous-14th-Century/dp/0345349571/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303331452&sr=1-1">Barbara Tuchman</a> is almost entirely responsible for the plague-era France story. And when I needed an extra bit of information, there was always Google. It’s also useful having the story told in first-person; I only need to provide the details Adam feels like imparting. </i><br />
<br />
How similar are you and Adam? Is he “you”?<br />
<br />
<i>You mean is he a “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue">Mary Sue</a>” for me? I don’t think he is. On the one hand I have coworkers who insist Adam is me, but they only get my sarcasm, dark humor, and the occasional bitter email, and that’s pretty much the same place Adam comes from. On the other hand my wife doesn’t like Adam, so if he’s me we have a problem.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<i>Adam is fully capable of murder if he thinks it’s necessary; he’s mildly chauvinistic; and he’s an alcoholic. I hardly drink, I don’t think I’m a chauvinist (but who does?) and according to the first appellate court, it wasn’t murder. (Joke! Laugh now!) We share a sense of humor because while it’s possible to create a character that is smarter than you are, it’s not possible to create one that’s funnier than you are. And we’re both <a href="http://www.personalitypage.com/INTJ.html">INTJ</a> personalities. So I’d say we’re similar, but not the same person; we keep separate Twitter feeds, and you can tell us apart.</i><br />
<br />
Is novel writing all you do?<br />
<br />
<i>It’s just what I’m doing currently. I have at one time or another been a playwright, a humor columnist, an op-ed writer, a satirist, a blogger, and a screenwriter. And for a short period of time, a standup comic. I mostly concentrate on screenwriting, blogging and novel writing nowadays. And I don’t even think of blogging as writing; it’s more like what I do when I’m not writing a screenplay or a novel.</i><br />
<br />
When did screenwriting come into the picture?<br />
<br />
<i>Immortal had a long dark journey to publication, and there was a point—my agent had just dropped me after not being able to find a place for it, and had passed on my next novel Fixer—when I decided I needed to try something different. A friend of mine who had known me first as a humor writer but was aware of my playwriting background dragged me to a meeting of the Rhode Island Film Collaborative. I left that meeting thinking screenwriting might be fun. A few months later I had turned an old novel of mine (Charlatan, which came before Immortal) into a feature script. I’ve since gotten involved in a number of short film projects and Charlatan has won a few awards. It hasn’t been optioned, but that might be because I don’t live in Los Angeles, frankly.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Immortal offers a flavour of a new form of urbanised fantasy that eschews any direct references to magic while toying with the standard perceptions of the genre. If you aren’t normally a big fantasy follower, but want something written with imagination, or you do like the genre but just fancy a refreshing change from the usual fare, then Immortal is worth checking out.<br />
It’s available from a number of online distributors in <a href="http://genedoucette.me/immortal/">ebook</a> format, but paper copies can only be obtained from the US Amazon site.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-81448589544112520992011-04-01T14:23:00.004+01:002013-05-15T21:23:00.221+01:00Ebook Virus Warning<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url= http://simoncornish.com/Blog/2011/04/01/ebook-virus-warning/" />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAQ_T3DwqCz-C4jO4XDqUFyjTMOZrOfQwTqDqRcXEoleBdcZUKp_sIw0wpOHR9M1ddLDJJM9sW9jFfdkwUuxsYg-oJ72FzMvti3JCqCqjJYTysleAfmdQvFJQpQTww51QdojGcF9owMp27/s1600/kindle_hemmingway.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAQ_T3DwqCz-C4jO4XDqUFyjTMOZrOfQwTqDqRcXEoleBdcZUKp_sIw0wpOHR9M1ddLDJJM9sW9jFfdkwUuxsYg-oJ72FzMvti3JCqCqjJYTysleAfmdQvFJQpQTww51QdojGcF9owMp27/s320/kindle_hemmingway.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br />
<br />
A new virus-form has been detected, infecting ebooks available for download onto the Kindle or reader-apps on Android based devices. The virus, dubbed the <i>Hemmingway Virus</i> after the Nobel prizewinning author <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway">Ernest Hemmingway</a>, has already found its way undetected onto numerous devices after being unwittingly downloaded from Amazon and other sites distributing ebooks.<br />
<br />
A spokesman for Amazon stated ‘Last night we were made aware that a number of ebooks had become infected with the Hemmingway strand. We are currently taking steps to identify which have been affected and deal with them as we find them.’<br />
No reports of any Hemmingway affected books have been made yet for Apple’s ipad, but it is believed to be only a matter of time. In a statement Apple have said that they ‘are monitoring the situation’. Waterstones have also said that they are concerned that the Hemmingway strand may have already found its way into printed material, though so far they are playing down any rumours that Hemmingway books may have made it onto the shelves.<br />
<br />
The Hemmingway virus exploits a feature in ebooks using the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg_theory">Iceberg theory</a> as well as the <i>economy of style</i> loophole. Though no antivirus software is made for the Kindle, Amazon are working on a patch for the system that will provide additional verbosity in any infected titles. In the meantime it is believed that they have a large number of writers working round the clock to address the problem. If you are concerned that you may have inadvertently downloaded an ebook affected by Hemmingway, literary experts have advised that it may be identified by the following method:<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Open the ebook and read the first page, then jump to page 100 (or a page near the middle of the book), and read that page also.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Check the meaning of the text, is there any evidence of understatement?<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>3.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Now check the way the sentences are constructed on each, do the sentences show signs of succinct editing, the removal of redundant clauses, overused phrases or adverbs?<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>4.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Is the style compelling, does it make you want to read on?<br />
<br />
If the answers are all yes, then you most likely have an ebook that has been affected by Hemmingway. So far, the only method proven to deal with a book that has been affected by Hemingway, is to read it through from beginning to end and then put up a post advising friends and colleagues to do the same.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-47141663000554083012011-03-16T21:29:00.000+00:002011-03-16T21:29:14.392+00:00Boost Your Blog -Start an Argument.How can being wrong drive more people to your blog?<br />
<br />
I read lots of blogs and articles that tell me how to drive up my blog hits and followers. Most talk about regular blogging, insightful and well structured posts, and slowly building a following that trusts your opinion. Needless to say, writing blogs about how to get more hits on your blog seems like a good way to achieve this –though I don’t expect a huge groundswell as a result of this little offering.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>But something happened earlier this week that made me realise that there can be another way of rapidly upping blog hits. I posted on a relatively new blog I’d established at the end of last year, I'd written a short entry that was to be the first of several about the subject of the website it was linked to. It was simply intended to be a quick introduction, with more meaty and informative posts to follow. I was surprised then, at how quickly I got a number of comments, and how quickly the number of hits shot up. I assumed this was partly due to the fact that the first person to comment was well known and respected in the subject about which I was blogging. Another thing I noticed was that his comment strongly refuted the subject of my blog, and so did all the others. I knew I’d written something a little provocative, but I didn’t think I was so wrong that absolutely no-one was prepared to agree with me. Believing the argument was too one-sided I spent a couple of hours writing a good argument to defend my position. As a check I re-read my original blog and it was only then that I noticed I had made a mistake.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> I had intended the piece to be a little provocative, to pique people’s interest, but when I re-read it, I realised that what I had actually written was an order of magnitude more provocative than what I had intended. This explained the comments. I felt a terrible embarrassment; how could I have published something so stupid in front of the very readers I was attempting to impress? Then it dawned on me; far from putting people off, it had drawn people in, and the hit count had risen far beyond my expectations.<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So from an embarrassing mistake, my blog provoked discussion and interest. No news is bad news, as Hollywood agents are wont to say. It won’t work for everyone, and it shouldn’t be overused, but posting a blog entry that people disagree with can be a quick way to boost your exposure. So go on, start an argument; you might make new friends.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-37188372432213996522011-03-07T15:32:00.006+00:002011-03-09T16:59:22.457+00:00A UK Comic-book Revival<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8mPK7jFw33LeHPnlb9HYLJy36tBXpwaLpkHARo4s4X6kBX29hxQc6RgloSvHi1ftPgMHonYd8OWlepzMzIS_3F4i-epSspUYLc1jhFF9pc2VZnaaWd34mCsYSDcRkZqz5-ejzlyOQdEpa/s1600/dfc-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8mPK7jFw33LeHPnlb9HYLJy36tBXpwaLpkHARo4s4X6kBX29hxQc6RgloSvHi1ftPgMHonYd8OWlepzMzIS_3F4i-epSspUYLc1jhFF9pc2VZnaaWd34mCsYSDcRkZqz5-ejzlyOQdEpa/s320/dfc-cover.jpg" width="223" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="font: 9.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: center;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Cover from the first DFC issue</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to a select gathering marking the office-opening party of what could be the start of an exciting ground-shift in British children's literature. The gathering represented a rarified set of artists and writers with an unusual skill set (for the UK at least).<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Technically it could be regarded as a resurrection of what was formerly the <i>DFC</i> comic, but the new publication will be a more robust indie, not beholden to the vagaries, whims, and interference of a large publishing house. The DFC was first published in May 2008, available only through subscription. It was pulled less than a year later after Random House withdrew funding in a round of belt tightening measures. For those that were lucky enough to have read the DFC, my daughter included, the decision seemed almost incomprehensible; not to have given the publication the full two and a half years to work it’s way into the marketplace seemed a huge waste on every level. The 8-12 age range that the comic was aimed at is pretty much uncontended in the UK, and there was little or no competition with a format of producing well written, beautifully illustrated, often serial based story-lines from luminaries such as Philip Pullman. What I find so appealing about this new revived publication is that the ethic behind it is, refreshingly, not about money, or markets, but about telling good stories.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>So why does the UK have this missing market sector? Other countries, France, Spain, the US and Japan have a strong tradition of comic literature, where every possible niche is filled: from pre-school bedside stories to romance for pensioners. Certainly, the UK once had a tradition of story led comic-books that have come and gone over the years: with the likes of <i>Eagle</i>, <i>Wizard</i>, <i>Valiant,</i> and <i>Tiger</i> to name a few. <i>2000AD</i> is now one of the last surviving weekly episodic comic books, though its story-lines, and sci-fi orientation are aimed at slightly older boys. So why has this gap happened, why have two generations of girls and boys grown up in this country with nothing more sustaining than a bunch of brand-led promotional publications, like the <i>Simpsons</i> Comic and gag-led material like the <i>Beano</i> and <i>Dandy</i>? The answer is probably more complex than anyone really knows, certainly the market for graphic novels, aimed at a more mature audience, is healthy enough. I’d like to put the answer down to a form of British snobbery, but I’m no expert. In other countries, comic books are seen as a legitimate literary form, even for eight-year-olds. In the UK, such books are dismissed by many adults as ‘cartoon comics’ lumped in with the likes of <i>Beano</i> (sorry guys, but it just isn’t literary).<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>What is even more interesting is that, since the demise of the story-comic, there has been a concurrent decline of literacy standards amongst British children. I’m no academic, but simple logic says that if a kid is struggling with reading, give them a story with pictures and words; something that, rather than putting them off stories and leaving them behind as they get older, makes them want to read more, to engage with the characters, to figure out what is being said in those speech bubbles, to want to know what happens as the story develops in the next issue. Even if a kid only reads one comic book a week, that is an hour or two of reading each week, not an hour of TV or playstation, and it’s reading they genuinely want to continue doing.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>There will be more information filtering out over the coming months about this new project. The comic book itself will not hit the shelves until early next year, but this time it will hit shelves; people will be able to buy it in shops, they will also be able to buy it purely in a digital form. The stories will all be new, built on the already great experience of the original DFC team. And the name, appropriately, will be <i><a href="http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/">The Phoenix</a></i>.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-25186606055856473632011-02-17T10:35:00.005+00:002011-02-17T19:36:21.599+00:00Writing Professional or Writing Junkie?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEh0D3BJIAggjpB4WBQ6AEiW-lu_BOoVyLG7YOB7hZghyphenhyphenSU5VNL5A3HB8wovEjA7O7Q3SFY2TwqCYIlWacF5eyUTO0OycBh4nflo-7vbCTUsdKOLwFU67yWOZRs0w_SYeunKl77QI50uiL/s1600/snowballinhell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEh0D3BJIAggjpB4WBQ6AEiW-lu_BOoVyLG7YOB7hZghyphenhyphenSU5VNL5A3HB8wovEjA7O7Q3SFY2TwqCYIlWacF5eyUTO0OycBh4nflo-7vbCTUsdKOLwFU67yWOZRs0w_SYeunKl77QI50uiL/s320/snowballinhell.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>I’m either a clever person who’s being idiotic, or a idiot who’s learnt to show a veneer of cleverness.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Let me qualify that. Here I am, having just finished a Master’s degree in professional writing, I have several irons in the fire: a draft novel, a graphic novel in production, and a whole series of non-fiction role-play books being edited. It all sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? That’s the clever bit, here’s the stupid element: somewhere in my psyche I’ve managed to delude myself that it’s a worthwhile thing to pursue a career as a writer –laughable isn’t it?<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>An objective individual, with any knowledge of the publishing industry, will immediately understand why it is stupid; statistically I don’t have the proverbial snowball-in-hell’s chance of making anything at all from my writing, let alone turning it into a career. But that is just it, the only way any writer can get anywhere is to delude themselves that it is possible, that the thankless hours spent writing, editing, blogging, promoting, sending out work, and being rejected, are all to some purpose. While it would be wrong to directly compare writing to the appalling, life-wrecking effects of drug and alcohol addiction, the parallels are a little disturbing.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It starts out, often as a teenager, as a recreational thing; it is fun and rewarding, something to fit in with, and be congratulated for doing, by those that appreciate it, and something to be kept a secret from those that do not. Later, it becomes a subtly more obsessive thing; you may be holding down a normal job to earn an income, but you can’t wait to get home and indulge your passion. Soon you find yourself doing it in the morning as well, then you begin to find ways to organise your life around your addiction: flexible hours, self employment, the writing becomes justified as a potential money-spinner to work on between paid projects. Then you move onto more hard-core avenues to pursue the writing dragon: courses and retreats all cost money, and not forgetting the endless supply of books. It all starts to eat into the budget. Eventually the recreational hobby takes over and your income and savings are consumed to write that first novel, the second or third. Relationships become strained as those around you turn from being proudly indulgent to cynically disgusted. You don’t eat properly, your health begins to suffer and your sleep is plagued by flashes of insight; all to serve this writing monster.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And here’s the rub: you convince yourself it is toward some end, that sooner or later it will be worth all the effort, it will take-off and people other than those around you (in drug terminology, they are called enablers) will want to read your work, paying to do so. Surely a form denial every bit is blind as any addict.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Now, where this is all leading I can’t actually say. For habitual substance abusers, the future either leads to spiralling decline, physically, morally and socially, until their wasted shell expires in some ignominious fashion, or through self-will and the intervention of others they get detoxified and undergo a recovery, with the implicit lifetime of abstinence. This perhaps, is where writing differs; it could never be said that it is as toxic or chemically addictive. A writer could walk away from their pen and paper at any time, but my point is that most choose not to; the self-delusion is sufficient to keep them coming back for the next hit. And for the writer, the only self-help groups are there to enable their addiction, not recover from it. It is easy enough to dabble in the gateways of writing: tweeting, blogging, and wall posting, but for some the hardcore craft will beguile them, enslaving them to a passion that convinces fools that they are scholars and turns scholars into fools. Perhaps such things should bear a warning.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-68414910729365134522011-01-31T17:03:00.005+00:002011-02-01T13:35:49.396+00:00I'm a Writer, but is that Enough?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCB28PFVQfnOobWowkJnen3-J8F3hod9bokgabi8P5lc3V-bLeA-XGTNhwD2K8mv2qScryc5sWGsun-Iz87FtrGlTLl6hohEuw7-OZpW2DW43CqUbQlmvUz8XZthNhYsh-1DIxBiPBlQNW/s1600/roy-tweep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCB28PFVQfnOobWowkJnen3-J8F3hod9bokgabi8P5lc3V-bLeA-XGTNhwD2K8mv2qScryc5sWGsun-Iz87FtrGlTLl6hohEuw7-OZpW2DW43CqUbQlmvUz8XZthNhYsh-1DIxBiPBlQNW/s320/roy-tweep.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div>Now I’ve finished my MA, I’ve spent a few calm days reflecting on all I’ve learnt and all I’ve achieved in the last two years. Somewhere on that journey, I became a writer. I can’t put my finger on the exact day, but it was around the same time I stopped being self-conscious about my abilities and just got on with it.<br />
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</div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>To put this in context, I was an indifferent student of both English language and literature at school; which were taught in such a way that I was left with no desire to read more classics and I perceived grammar as a form of slow torture. That my early creative instincts in writing were not encouraged, was entirely down to the tired and listless attitude of my secondary school teachers. Even after escaping from a career path of science for one in animation, it wasn’t until I began to write scripts, (both animation and live-action) that I wrote anything creative. These scripts were not to sell, but to satisfy my own urges to write narratives. At the same time I had also been steadily collating my chaotic notes for the fantasy role-playing system I had created, which, by the time I began my MA, had been distilled into two good sized, non-fiction books. And even then I didn’t think of myself as a writer.</span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The very reason I applied to do the <a href="http://www.falmouth.ac.uk/201/courses-7/postgraduate-courses-43/professional-writing-ma-ft-and-pt-81.html"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Professional Writing MA at Falmouth</span></a> was to earn that badge, to gain the confidence, skills, and understanding, of the written medium.</span>Now I’m here at the point of completion, there is a temptation to think of it as some sort of big deal; certainly it’s a personal achievement, having got this far, but though I can now say I am a writer, there is more to aspire to. That I can string some words together to good effect is all very well, but the internet is full of writers: posters, bloggers, commentators, reviewers, critics, and tweeters who claim to do that. </div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Even saying that I’m a writer, brings some negative baggage –’Is he actually earning a living at it, or is he just being pretentious?’ ‘It’s not really a proper job.’ ‘Anyone can be a writer these days with the aid of technology.’– Perhaps my aim should be something that implies a much greater mastery of the craft than merely being able tweet; I want to become an author. By definition the title of ‘author’ implies the creator of a piece work, it implies an omnipotence over the project that is more than simple technical fluency of the words that make it up, it cuts away all the baggage, it says I am established, successful, and published; it says I have ‘authority’ in my field.</span><br />
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</span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When someone asks me what I do, and I am able to reply with simple conviction that ‘I’m an author’, is when I know I have achieved my objective.</span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><br />
</span></div>Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-10469037598731764522010-11-18T13:22:00.000+00:002010-11-18T13:22:19.705+00:00The Inner workings of a writer's mind<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28_Nb8bFajwrR9_6UL8U1gRtosfsCEpn6UNBDEq2WDSbLz9f6qPSII3iydC-sdBQBYovmNbQu8kFWc2Ffr1HdqvXhyphenhyphend0Z5AoBNMqp8V1xmq8flM6prwjfwaqVSYopHj9GXdpaHxwNzwBS/s1600/writers_brain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi28_Nb8bFajwrR9_6UL8U1gRtosfsCEpn6UNBDEq2WDSbLz9f6qPSII3iydC-sdBQBYovmNbQu8kFWc2Ffr1HdqvXhyphenhyphend0Z5AoBNMqp8V1xmq8flM6prwjfwaqVSYopHj9GXdpaHxwNzwBS/s320/writers_brain.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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I'm researching for a piece on writers' own experiences of how they use different parts of their minds for different writing tasks, and if they are aware of this process. From what I know already, there are several viewpoints on what might actually be going on in there. Freud saw it as levels of consciousness: <i>subconsciou</i>s, <i>ego</i> and <i>superego</i>, working almost like separate entities. Some neuroscientists claim that the brain is like a number of parallel processing units all functioning at once, sending the task back and forth until it pops onto the screen of awareness. Psychologists talk about lateralisation, in which the two halves of the brain take dominance for different functions, and many books have been written about right-brain creativity, and how to harness it.<br />
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For my own part, I could almost be two different writers; if I let myself write purely creatively, the words and story flow onto the page, but I can't spell, punctuate, or write prose. If I consciously analyse my writing, my prose is great and so is my grammar, but I get mired down with detail, losing any creative flow. I regard these two aspects as my internal artist, and internal editor.<br />
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I'm interested to know how other writers find their inner workings. Given that it is <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">National Novel Writing Month</a>, it would seem to be the ideal time to give writers an excuse to procrastinate for a few minutes, have a look inside themselves, and let me know what they find.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-36471486406948356762010-11-09T20:26:00.002+00:002010-11-09T20:30:44.708+00:00The Bridge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5SP0QqTyf1H5d3dGtlUNe7R4thfvHvr-JjgIAMJPLpuFMmvNNW30BHWlbqfSry8FICLSanoJmNAr17CgJesHWdEkHo0_EhDSI1lc6rV_JvZekND7biXeeqvFZtp1NwbomJIwq0cACRuJ/s1600/Thorverton-Bridge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD5SP0QqTyf1H5d3dGtlUNe7R4thfvHvr-JjgIAMJPLpuFMmvNNW30BHWlbqfSry8FICLSanoJmNAr17CgJesHWdEkHo0_EhDSI1lc6rV_JvZekND7biXeeqvFZtp1NwbomJIwq0cACRuJ/s320/Thorverton-Bridge.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Photograph ©</span><a href="http://www.johnspiveyphotography.co.uk/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">John Spivey</span></a></div><br />
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I've been hard at work writing my novel, with a set daily routine of writing in the morning, leaving the afternoons to continue my illustration work. It's easy to forget, in this head down cycle of industriousness, how important it can be to get out and watch people, or soak up the atmosphere of a place. To be somewhere and write what comes into my head, not worrying about work, or other pressures, but just taking pleasure in the expression of my immediate thoughts and ideas.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The following two paragraphs were written a couple of months ago, during a reflective walk down to the river near the place I had called home for the previous two years, and was shortly set to leave. I came across them, jotted down in my notebook, while searching for some notes I'd made. It doesn't sum up the village, but my first view of the place was across that bridge, and it will always be lodged in my memory.<br />
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>It could be on almost any worthy river in continental Europe, but it is not, this is England, and it languishes in lazy arcs between Devon's red and green hills. The bridge leaps across the somnolent waters in a single, elegant span, yet is wide enough for two trucks to pass between the low, cream tinted walls that run between the ball topped decorative pillars at either end. It has a feeling of solidity. The first bridge to be built from concrete, or so I'm told. A plaque on one of the pillars reads 1908 in cast metal relief.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Traffic continues to cross with intermittent regularity, not pausing to notice the clear deep waters flowing beneath. Further downstream a gull paddles along the lip of a weir, dabbling for morsels of food, seeming to walk on the water's smooth mirror, that carries the inverted view of tall poplars that march in jaunty procession along the left bank. On the upstream side, on either bank, stand twin buttresses of broken stone, the slightest curve at the very top of each, a hint of their former purpose: a ghost from before 1908, the remnants of the old bridge, demolished a hundred years ago, a victim of progress. A dead tree now lies submerged in the waters between, it's sunken branches caught on the tumbled stone that remains on the bed beneath the loosely swirling surface.<br />
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I must remember to take the time, to give myself permission, to sit, relax, observe, and write. It is from this calm state that the best ideas will germinate.<br />
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For any further images of this place, It's all <a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ie=UTF8&t=h&layer=c&cbll=50.804441,-3.511316&panoid=hs0ZvOlErC7oGykVu-DNJw&cbp=11,143.2556859999999,,0,0&ll=50.804441,-3.511316&spn=0.000264,0.001187&z=20&photoid=po-24560822">here</a> on Google Maps.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-32964013966799663352010-07-26T19:03:00.004+01:002010-07-26T19:20:08.122+01:00UK Film Council to be ClosedThere has been a surprise <a href="http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/news_stories/7280.aspx">announcement</a> that the UK Film Council is to be shut down as part of the government's austerity measures. In an article detailing the move on the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-10761225">BBC website</a> the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has proposed that the UKFC be abolished and the establishment of "a direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute; this would support front-line services while ensuring greater value for money". The statement adds that "Government and Lottery support for film will continue". The <a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/">BFI</a> currently works to promote UK film and television, how that role might change in the wake of this announcement is anybody's guess. However, the Department for Culture Media and Sport has indicated that the £26m funding for film that the UKFC currently handles will, in future, be distributed through other bodies. Although, in a <a href="http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/news">response</a> by Tim Bevan CBE, Chairman of the UKFC, he indicates that this is not yet certain and that the Film Council's "Immediate priority now is to press the Government to confirm that the funding levels and core functions that are needed to underpin British film are locked-in".<br />
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As a former award recipient, I'm in two minds about the wisdom of this move. Yes, it has the possibility of stripping away a centralised layer of bureaucracy, and will undoubtedly get rid of a few of the closed-minded individuals that have blocked some of the more dynamic talent from receiving funding, in preference to established 'art' based filmmaking,–that is simply the way the establishment works, it resists change, hence the term establishment–but what will it be replaced by?<br />
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One of the great, and yet largely uncelebrated, remits of the UKFC is its emphasis on training. This was to try and make the up-and coming filmmakers who came through its doors have some awareness of the practical, business, and legal side of film production, as well as providing a huge emphasis on good script-writing practice. This side of things was always included in any film production awards that they offered, and sometimes the value of the training exceeded that of the production funding.<br />
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In the scramble by regional institutes for the Film Council funds, and the medium term confusion over who is going to support what, the losers will almost inevitably be the filmmakers, and as ever, animation will be remembered in all this as an afterthought.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-91506451807450065552010-05-20T21:50:00.002+01:002010-05-21T09:55:39.811+01:00The Author as a Performer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc-YIchL9_e7_1OfHfIERwsBOy2GJ45lot8ImcckR-jnm5cJ4yCyean0AOBD0yk2jDmd_-716rjg3y57JHDKUaxKo3k7fEuU6Gj2QV9FZmpXQmsaVhyphenhyphen4rdlYkJ0dnGphJfqGgYnPCTb51m/s1600/write+_for_clothes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc-YIchL9_e7_1OfHfIERwsBOy2GJ45lot8ImcckR-jnm5cJ4yCyean0AOBD0yk2jDmd_-716rjg3y57JHDKUaxKo3k7fEuU6Gj2QV9FZmpXQmsaVhyphenhyphen4rdlYkJ0dnGphJfqGgYnPCTb51m/s320/write+_for_clothes.jpg" /></a></div>Do writers need to learn to sell themselves as much as their work?<br />
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As part of my MA course I have recently been engaged in creating a video pitch for my book proposal. Initially I felt it was a fun, if inconvenient diversion from the process of research and writing, but after agonising over scripts, market research and which section of my book to read out, I began to wonder why I was putting so much effort into it; surely a quick off-the-cuff 'Buy my book cos' it's going to be great!' slogan, along with half a chapter's reading, ought to hook anyone. The answer that occurred to me, as I went over the script once more, was a revelation; publishers aren't just looking for the next saleable novel, they are also looking for the next saleable author. <br />
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Look in the bookstores and you will see a pattern repeated over and again, the first book by an author shows the title in big letters, whilst the author's name appears in a more modest size. On subsequent books by that author their name is more likely to appear larger than the title, sometimes larger than anything else on the cover. Dan Brown, Iain Banks. Danielle Steel, Stephen King, it is the author that sells the books. That's what publishers want: to sell the writer as much as their work. It is not just about hiding behind a laptop and churning out masterpieces; it is also about interviews and readings, events and appearances. Of course, a publisher or agent should help in arranging these things, but in the end it is the author who must be the figure-head and the driving force behind their own marque. And they need to be convincing; people can spot a poor delivery a mile off. It is something a writer might find difficult to accept, but the actual words mean less, in these circumstances, than the way they are said. And it is never truer that nine tenths of communication is through body language than when you are in front of a camera.<br />
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Which is why I need to work on my presentation skills, learn to sound and look comfortable before an audience, and gain a politician's ease in chatting to people; it is not simply the skill of selling my thoughts I must develop, but the art of encouraging people to buy into the image of me as an author.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7938757289016621132.post-84031154365761842932010-04-16T13:47:00.000+01:002013-05-15T21:09:02.241+01:00The Twitter Short Story -delivery in progress<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url= http://simoncornish.com/Blog/" />
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This is my second blog about twitter, it's getting to be a habit. If anyone has been following my twitter feed, they will be aware that I'm in the process of delivering a story, <a href="http://twitter.com/BadHairDaze">Bad Hair Daze</a>, via twitter. Yes, I'm doing it to promote my work, come on, I'm not that innocent, but I'm also doing it because I enjoy playing with new formats and exploring how they can be used. (It's how I got into writing software reviews for magazines like Video Age). The question is, could twitter be a viable delivery tool for short, or episodic storylines, or will it remain the preserve of Haiku's and links to news items?<br />
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I'm now into my second day as a twitter novelist (Okay, short fiction writer), so far it could best be described as a learning experience. <a href="http://twitter.com/BadHairDaze">Bad Hair Daze</a> is a romantic comedy, following the day to day life of Zel, a 24 year old features writer on Hair Magic Magazine. The story is written in a form of diary style, with Zel updating the reader about the events in her day in real-time, as a series of tweets. As a writer this has thrown up a number of challenges, the most obvious being twitter's 140 character limit for each tweet. Frustratingly, this also includes spaces, so lots of short words can be just as bad as long ones. The art I needed to learn was to make each tweet: stand alone –without the need to run onto a second–, still have meaning in itself, and still be able to drive the story forward. The second issue I needed to look at was time. Each tweet must be sent at a particular time, to coincide with Zel's day and the events that are apparently unfolding in real-time. For me, apart from that fact that it plays havoc with my concentration, it has meant getting creative with the means of sending tweets. Normally I can use the computer to send tweets, but to tweet when not at home has necessitated the use of my phone to send them through SMS text messaging. There have been one or two technical difficulties to overcome with this; including switching provider, because my original one didn't work with twitter. I'm also the first to admit I'm useless at tapping out text messages on the phone keypad. To get round this, I send the tweets as text messages using Skype, from my computer to my phone, in advance; it is then a simple matter of forwarding each message to twitter at the scheduled time.<br />
All this should have been fine; it worked during my testing, but yesterday's experience highlighted a couple of issues with the use of my phone. The first being that, for no reason a could tell, it split one of my tweets. I sent it as one text, but it appeared in twitter as two consecutive tweets. The second issue (and lesson learnt) is that, the final tweet of the day lost the last word, appearing in twitter as: <br />
<i>'Evelyn stood right next to me in the lift, touched my hair, and said she liked it in this colour, but it would suit me better shorter. C …'</i>. The last word should have appeared as <i>'Creepy'</i>. What I had failed to take into account was that mobile phones can deliver more than 140 characters, and my tweet was actually 142; an oversight I should have checked before it was sent to my phone. By the time I realised, parked in a lay-by on the A35, there was really nothing I could do. <br />
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I hope that I can work around any future glitches, as I will be relying increasingly on my phone during the London Book Fair next week. Just to be on the safe side, though, I think it will be wise to seek out as many wireless hotspots, for my laptop, as I can. <br />
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Aside from any technical problems, I hope that the flow of the story will start to come through as the tweets progress and any idiosyncrasies of the medium will be forgiven as merely a kind of realism to the delivery of the story. I still intend to see the story through to it's conclusion on the 30th April, and hope that those who follow it, find it an interesting and engaging way to experience a narrative. It remains to be seen if it will be worth repeating the experiment, although I do have a longer, and more gritty, story which I may deliver towards Christmas. I may even consider writing another episode to <a href="http://twitter.com/BadHairDaze">Bad Hair Daze</a>, if this one isn't a complete disaster.Simon Cornishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08477584059465067516noreply@blogger.com0