A Childhood Memory on Writing

Over twenty years ago, I saw a competition in a local newspaper to write
a short story. It had to have the line, "And all that could be heard was
the sound of gently lapping water". There was a prize, although I can't
remember what it was.

These years were pre-teens and I had been hammering at typewriters for
years, finding much amusements in stringing letters together to make
words which in turn made stories (yes, the secret of writing).

I wrote the typical man/werewolf story, and when he was not a werewolf,
he knew what he had done and tried to dilute his guilt, but with every
murder, his guilt increased until he could no longer live with himself.
So, he went up a mountain and jumped into the rocks below on a shallow
tide.

The character was a very likeable fellow. Even today, over twenty years
later, I think about how that man was feeling at the time, how twisted
he must have become knowing he had killed, yet was powerless to stop
himself. In hindsight, it was a Jekyll and Hyde story.

I have no recollection on whether I submitted the story. Many more
followed until my teenage years. All of those stories are sadly lost but
I don't care. I had fun, nerdy as some made me out to be.

Twi-light a match and burn it

I remain unamused about more trashy vampire books being published and made into movies. If you have read Stoker's "Dracula", Matheson's "I am Legend" and Mick Farren's "Darklost", there are notably few other good vampire stories. Graham Masterton is a general exemption because he's a God.

Twilight is bad. The movie worse. I don't understand the attraction other than teen lust. I see posters everywhere. Edward looks like he has chronic fatigue syndrome or a severe hangover. I couldn't even get through the movie, preferring to attempt to sever my arm with my grandmother's false teeth.

And there's a series? At least Harry Potter was fun to read. Twilight is nothing more than attempted suicide. I'm only alive because I threw it down with horror, trembling at the thought of it taking life and running at me screaming, "Finish what you started!"

Am I alone with my opinion? Do I care ... not really. We all have tastes. Obviously, many have very bad tastes. I for one, will have nightmares about Twilight for all the wrong reasons.

The Badman being submitted, and other general stuff

I am a terrible blogger. My excuse is I have time to write the article say, on the train, but no time to upload it. So: I'm switching to e-mail blogging and will edit tags at a later date.

Anyhow. I believe I am up to the time in my life where I've written those millions of words, the apprenticeship is over, and my mind needs to switch to the future. It has been a long time coming ...

So, within the next two weeks, a synopsis and cover letter for my first novel "The Badman" will be shipped to my preferred publisher. I am under no illusions about the publishing world. If it's rejected, I move on. Rejections are more common than acceptances. I don't intend to beat John Creasey's four hundred or so rejections before a first novel is accepted, but it isn't as though I will give up after so many. John didn't, and he wrote more than 500 novels! I don't think I will be that productive, but I expect neither did he when starting out. I know I have the potential to be. I don't know how I can write a full length novel in three weeks while working full time, three kids, playing online games, reading a lot, family commitments and outings, chronic fatigue syndrome (at least college is at an end), and this is all before my other hobbies. I think keep busy makes me busier.

I like dreaming up tag lines for my novels which I am hoping will appear after the deadication (not a typo). The Badman tag appears at the top of my blog, "There is no such thing as life or death; just here and there". For "Aminal", it is "Sometimes, dead isn't dead enough". So if you're wondering why these things are plastered on my site, it's because I simply can't get the quotes out of my head.

I am not frightened of the submission/rejection process. I am wary of time, of getting it right, and a feeling of - no, not excitement, but accomplishment, even though it hasn't been published - for simply knowing I succeeded in finalising a novel. I have always struggled with re-writes, but now, it's more natural and I am finding that I enjoy it. The time issue is covered. I usually work on three or four novels at any given time: The Badman is finalised, The Evil needs an additional re-write, Mr Hat needs somebody to review it, I am doing a first re-write of "A Place Beyond" which I have renamed "Aminal" - a play on a word from one of the hillbilly characters in the story who for the life of him, can't say "Animal" properly but thinks he does, much to his brother's frustration.

So, two weeks to get that damn synopsis right. It's still being re-written. They are difficult to perfect. I have now drafted out my two short sentences for a second novel in my "Chronicles" series which fits the first novel perfectly, and that first novel will be looked at after my "Aminal" re-write, then I move on to the second "Chronicles" book.

I am a terrible blogger. I don't update it much. My web site is the same. I'm too focused on other stuff.

I am amazed at the inner workings of the unconscious and having the muse at work. I have read so many books on writing, so many skills and 'rules', hundreds of tips and articles, yet it is rare that a publication would say that the first rule on writing, is to WRITE. Only by writing can one find that secret inner voice, that engine, the ability to construct, that inner confidence and passion, the ability to unconsciously create, know where paragraphs should end, when to elevate the odds, develop characters. One cannot expect to learn how to swim by reading a book, how to breathe effectively, how to synchronise limbs and breathing. How can one expect to write novels without … you know … writing!

I have no idea why writing is so addictive.

September already?!

After having two weeks off writing, having time out to read and catch up on other stuff, I finally came back to it a few days ago ... and am almost finished my next novel which is great. Nothing much to report ... didn't get the jobs I recently applied for, swimming pool almost finished, house extensions well under way, and I'm thinking about writing a trilogy.