In the ten years since I last used this blog much has changed about the format of a blog. Not so much has changed about me, in that I'm still writing -mostly memoir and haiku- and still sketching. Hoping to be able to use this blog again once I learn how a blog fits into everything else these days. 

C

Pics of Nano drawings, failed cartoons, dog class biro sketches etc

On train home, trying to sketch people with the A4 book under the table.

I once lived here

She didn't much like being drawn and kept changing position, even when she lay down

Sleeping through early fireworks

I overworked the upper one, but the lower one I liked. 

I used this page to get my hand moving (like not knowing what to write)

A street entertainer by the Thames

St James' Park Tube Station

I

New iron, and train people

Some cartoons that didn't get published

I always sketch at dog-class for practice

Inspired by Nano graphic artists I started to note ideas for short strip cartoons

I was trying out pens and a water wash-brush in the back of the Nano book

Almost a technical drawing, this one.

Not sure how successful this will be but I've taken some pics of my assorted Nano drawings, some cartoons that I didn't manage to sell, and my A6 dog-class sketch book, just to give a flavour of the sort of stuff I like to draw and sketch.

Nanowrimo or Nano-draw-mo

(Oops! Have to do something useful with this blog. It's been asleep over a year.)

I've decided I'll be drawing my way through November 2011, which should be fun. A few years ago on an a painting module, they made us all draw with ink and a twig, on large sheets of sugar-paper fixed to almost vertical easles, then we had to wash over our drawings with water and work back into them once they had begun to dry. I loved it, and have been a fan of ink drawing ever since. No tentative pencil sketching, rubbing out, etc. You had to risk it and go for it.

Not that I'll be able to work on that scale or make that much mess in November, but I have various ink pens from Rapidographs to cut bamboo for working A3 and A4, which is as big as I can carry around, and for pocket sized work: Pentel V5s and Bic biros so I'm looking forward to it. :)

A change from handwriting everything

For the past year I've been handwriting everything but there is still a need for typed-up copy so today I bought an Alphasmart Neo from Ebay.

I have a Dana, which is a delight to type on, as the keyboard is positive yet light but the Dana only last about 24 hours per re-charge so I've been keeping an eye out for a Neo for some time.

If the keyboard has the same light 'action' as the Dana I'll be very happy.

( PS It does, and I am, but handwriting is still my preference. )

Clunky bolted-on subplots.

I've recently finished two crime novels by different authors. Reading one after the other highlighted a big difference in how the subplots were handled.

In the first, the story dealt with one main crisis and all subplots seemed to arise out of that. The readers got a flavour of the other aspects of the MC's life but these subplots remained integrated with the main story.

In the second there were five distinct story-layers:
the main story crisis
the MC's love live
the MC's family life
the MC's work situation
the MC's dealings with other agencies / government departments.

In this one the flow of the main-story seemed to be interrupted by large chunks from these other four layers being 'bolted on'. Not a good experience for the readers.

Oh Xmas Tree, Oh Xmas Tree...

Writing the first-draft of a novel has some parallels with decorating a Xmas tree.

We know what a finished tree should look like but at first all we have is the dark mass of the tree, some boxes of tinsel and baubles, and a string of coloured lights.

The aim is to create a pleasing whole, with glow and glitter in all the dark corners, but no one teaches you how to do that.

We just have to plonk it all on there somehow, stand back and view the effect, then re-arrange bits.

After hours of effort and pine-needle scratches, the family barely glance at it. After all it's only a Xmas-tree, and anyone can decorate one, can't they?

Second time around

Yesterday, listening to Natalie Goldberg's 'Bones', she described another technique which could be used to improve a weak scene.

Rather than ajusting what's already there, write the whole scene afresh:

• re-envision the key points of the scene -start-point, end-point, key events
• set a timer for say 30 mins
• write a fresh version
• incorporate the best parts into the original
• repeat as necessary.

(As in word-wars, the timer stops you dithering. )

I like this approach. It helps me drop down into the subconscious for new material.

Winter sun and sustenance

Last week here in southern England we had a couple of icy days followed by a sunny day. The snow was still around but the fox discovered s/he could catch a few warming rays from the top of my garden tool-box. S/he lay there snoozing for an hour, woke, stretched, yawned -diplaying fearsome teeth- then curled around the other way and slept for another hour until midday.



















Then on the way through the park yesterday I noticed what looked like a red squirrel ( or maybe just a grey squirrel with red hair? ) sitting in the crook of a branch. It would jump down, forage for a buried nut and hop back up to its perch to nibble it. Glad I had my camera to capture it.

The Fantastic Mr...

Having a nap under a bush in the back garden.

Two good 'how-to' books on crime writing

Two 'how-to' books:
For an overview and intro to crime fiction, and all its sub-genres, Lesley Grant-Adamson's book in the Teach Yourself series "Writing Crime Fiction" is good. It has a pic on the front cover of some bald guy peering around a shower curtain. Despite this it's still a good helpful overview book, which includes a reading list for each chapter and website links at the end. It also has one 12-page chapter on writing short stories.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Teach-Yourself-Writing-Fiction-McGraw-Hill/dp/0071421300/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254937355&sr=1-5

But for the best ( in my view anyway) crime / mystery how-to book get "Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery" by Robert J Ray & Jack Remick. It is THE complete step-by-step approach which starts with creating a victim, then a killer, and thinking about how those two are connected, then it brings in creating the sleuth, the catalyst character etc, and just keeps on getting better and better. It really is a blueprint for the entire process from backstory through to third draft.
Every step in the process is illustrated with examples from other novels and also by using a "write-along" mystery story. Some people may find this helpful, for me it was too much. I wanted to see the process steps, and maybe one example, so I actually cut a fair few pages of examples out of my copy as I got fed up wading through them to find the next piece of process. Never-the-less, this book is one of the very best and the wealth of writing guidance in it can be applied equally well to other genres.
For crime, it is especially helpful and includes some useful charts, timeline suggestions and all you need to write a crime novel. I know I'm going on a bit here, but credit where it's due, this book is exceptional.
I have since also read James N Frey's "How to Write a Damn Good Mystery" which was also very good and covered some of the same ground and I'd score it maybe eight out of ten, whereas for it's thorough step-by-step method the "Weekend Novelist" scores ten out of ten, examples or not.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Weekend-Novelist-Writes-Mystery-step/dp/0440506581/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254937124&sr=1-1

Review of 'The Pools' a novel by Bethan Roberts

I enjoyed reading this. It's a very good 'people-story' which explores families and their deep undercurrents. It reminded me of some of Elizabeth Berg's books. There is no high action plot, but she takes you inside the characters in a satisfying way.

Families are pressure-cookers and these characters seemed to be based on real people from real families: the beautiful Kathryn damaged by the loss of her first love, Howard the serious-and-sensible with his passion for orderly gardens, and their son Robert growing from child to the popular teenager 'Rob'.

It threw me some when, after a hundred pages, we jumped VP character and jumped families but I was willing to follow Joanna's narrative, and the introduction of the menacing Shane character pulled me along.

The story touches on a number of aspects to be found in real-life families:
~ a young woman's choice of a 'safe' or 'dangerous' partner
~ a mother who cannot accept her son's wife as good enough for him
~ adjusting to year after year of daily life with a partner who is programmed in a different way from yourself
~ a family breakup and the arrival of a new 'partner' in the house
~ teenagers becoming sexually aware
~ social 'norms', and the pressures if your child happens to be different
~ how an 'abnormal' or 'damaged' teenager is treated by strangers / school pupils / those close to him
~ communication failures
~ tragedy happens to anyone

The story was skillfully told using different viewpoints. Howard's VP is in past tense but Joanna's is in present tense.
I also liked the structure of opening with the aftermath of a tragedy then dropping back to the beginning of the journey that led to it. This gives it a feeling of suspense.

The background presence of those power-station cooling-towers added to the feeling of unease and also served as a reminder that regardless of family dramas, the humdrum of daily life goes on in the background.

Interesting to read that the author wrote it 'one sentence at a time' with no planned plot.

Despite the mixed reviews of Bethan Roberts' second book, 'The Good Plain Cook', I enjoyed the sample first chapter and will be reading it as well.

Daily devotion

At work today a retirement collection came round for a man who has worked for 40 years as an audio-typist. He and his guide-dog Pasha have been a familiar part of life here.

More so than other retirement collections this one makes me sad. It seems to be ‘the end or an era’ in more ways than one. In today's world ‘the typist’ has become almost extinct. Sadly the caring nature of the world has also changed.

It's true that many people will still go out of their way to accommodate a blind person but today these vulnerable people are also more likely to be ridiculed or robbed. But that’s not the thing that makes me feel sad, it’s the total devotion of his dog Pasha, to her master. A guide-dog gives everything.

I recently walked to the far end of the building. Around the corner came Pasha lolloping towards me, tail wagging, happy to be able to roam and ‘play’ while her master was safely settled working, and that’s what makes me sad.

When he has retired we will no longer see that living example -the total devotion of dog to man.

Community reading

I came across a newly re-printed copy of Helene Hanff's "84 Charing Cross Road" which I enjoyed re-reading.

Googling her I found an obituary in the Independent of 14 April 97 by James Roose-Evans. In it he mentions that Helene told him about a community of Benedictine Nuns in Worcester, England, who placed their single borrowed copy of '84 Charing Cross Road' under a glass case and gave an American nun the honour of turning over one page every day, so that the whole community could read it at the same time.

This made me smile!

I wonder if that community of nuns is still there today, reading their way through the Harry Potter books one page per day?

Imagination feeds imagination...

On a writing-board you can respond to posts other people write, and imagination feeds imagination.

But there must be some advantages to a blog. I just haven't realised them yet.

Too long, too short, just right?

How long or short should a good blog post be? Given that our world moves so fast and readers are in a hurry, short would be good. My last post was long, but it was a review.

I'll end on a haiku

five/seven/five form
precise but mechanical
'less is more' they say

Review of 'Old Friend from Far Away' audio CD by Natalie Goldberg

I bought this audio CD set about two years ago and it has proved to be one of the best value CDs ever. I'm glad I decided to go for the audio version rather than the book even if once or twice the book would have been handy for quick reference.

I have enjoyed listening to Natalie talk about writing memoir, reading excerpts from other people's and giving me patient encouragement. I put it on MP3 and have listened and re-listened on the train, or whilst doing some household chore, or just relaxing over a morning coffee.

Like her other writing 'how-to' books this one encourages you to try out different approaches rather than just listing topics, and these approaches can take you deeper into your memories so you start to write not just about the events but about what it felt like to experience them.

The tracks on this double CD set include:

What is memoir
How do we begin
Writing Practice
How to uncover hidden memories
Ways to Begin Writing
'Sprinting' exercises
The importance of detail ( and how to handle it )

Finding the deeper structure of your life
Three rules for a healthy writing practice
How to ground your writing
How to employ your obsessions
Ways to enter your memories
Weather as a backdrop
Lists
Memoir as a long-term project
How to complete it.

Each time I listen to one of these sections I get more out of it, and the excerpts she reads from published memoirs inspire me. It's like having a personal memoir-tutor on hand any time you want to listen. I find it helps keep me 'in the world' of memoir-writing, which can be an otherwise solitary place.

( PS As a UK male listener I find Natalie's US accent easy on the ear, and her delivery is not rushed, but it's worth listening to a sample track to check for yourself.)

Shooting ideas

During my lunchbreak I was at a writing low, completely stuck for ideas. In frustration I started writing a new version of The Three Bears fairytale.

That night it was a very warm and I woke at 1.30am. Being in that half-awake-asleep state, my thoughts started to drift over the day and that's when the idea 'shower' started. Writing ideas flared like shooting stars as fast as I could scribble them down.

Each time I thought I was finished another one flared. When they finally stopped I had scribbled down a couple of pages of fresh ideas.

I just hope I can do them justice when I come to write them up.

entente cordiale

Today it was 31C in London. At lunchtime I found a shady spot sitting on a step and sketched people passing. ( The few benches along the park footpath had been removed for maintenance. )

Paris is a better city for park benches well placed in the shade of trees. All parks large and small have benches every 25 meters or so, and unlike ours, they're quite comfortable to sit on.

Maybe our two countries could organise a knowledge exchange? They could teach us about park-benches, and we could teach them Public Toilets 101?

'True to Form' by Elizabethg Berg - gentle magic

This book got a couple of harsh reviews on Amazon UK. Don't let them put you off. If you liked 'Durable Goods' you’ll love it. This extract from the back-cover sums it up:
“Savvy, wry, and sharply observant… EB’s graceful prose is laced with clear-eyed insight… deft and inspiring.”

You won’t find an exciting hi-octane plot but you’re not meant to. EB says, in her writing ‘how-to’ book “Escaping Into the Open” p105: “I like the small human dramas that get played out in kitchens rather than in exotic locales.”

What you will find is an excellent ‘people story’, a gentle narrative that transports you into Katie’s life - but don’t underestimate it. Someone said that revealing character is the number one purpose of fiction. If you agree with that you’ll enjoy this book.

If you haven’t read it before, read ‘Durable Goods’ first. It introduces Katie, a pre-teenager living in Texas on an Army base recovering from the loss of her mother, being raised by her strict military father. We meet her family and her best-friend Cherylanne.

The second book ‘Joy School’ continues with: Katie settling into a new town, suffering a crush on a young married man, and we meet her new friend Cynthia.

‘True to Form’ is book three and follows Katie as she tries to make sense of the world and navigate a path through the teenage mine-field: changing schools, parents, having to make her own decisions.

The second book held me less than the first but I still wanted to follow the character. The third is even better than the first. ( At a push you could skip the second book and go straight on to the third without losing too much.)

I've learned a lot from studying this book. Her narrative conveys, in fresh and vivid phrasing, the thoughts and emotions as Katie experiences them. Her observations on male/female roles, and religion, will also make you smile.

EB has a powerful understanding of people and their interactions. All through the book are truths most readers will recognise from their own life experience, and that includes me, a man.

( The publisher has added a 'taster' chapter for another book at the end, so when you think you have about thirty pages to go, it ends. I wish they wouldn't do that. )

To sum up, if you enjoyed Durable Goods, don’t miss this one.

( There won't be any more posts on this Blog until around 10th May )

Limerick lack of fun

Meetings -they do so drag on
with discussions that drone over-long
"At the end of the day..."
"To recap then...," they say
Please shut up! We just want to go home.