Meet My Desk: Lucy

Tuesdays are still “Meet My Desk” days, even if I very almost forgot until around 2pm and had to wait for the sun to come out so I could take a photo.  The sunlight is very important for photos, mostly because my camera loves to make everything very faintly blurred unless the sun is out.  It’ll want a blood sacrifice next, mark my words.

This time round we’re meeting my Kindle, Lucy.

I can’t remember off the top of my head how old she is, but she’s definitely younger than Sixteen.  This amuses me for many reasons, along with her name--both her name and Sixteen’s are a massive in-joke for me that takes an explanation that always makes me sound like an idiot.

In short, they’re both named after characters from the Assassin’s Creed series, and Lucy is so named because she connects to Sixteen and he can share memories (or at least eBooks) with her.  I also happen to like the pairing of Sixteen and Lucy (which puts me in the minority in the fandom I suspect)...  And I did say it made me sound like an idiot, didn’t I?

Lucy is a quiet, steady presence in my life, and she’s responsible for two things: my introduction to indie/self-publishing and ebooks, and the existence of Lydia (who you’ll meet at some point).  Right now I can’t quite work out which one is more expensive.  She’s my trusted carrier of entertainment (and the occasional spot of heartbreak) in her exquisite coat of Tesco Kindle cover with comfortingly fuzzy lining.  I talk about buying her a shiny, more book-ish cover sometimes, but honestly I think purple suits her.

She travels to Nottingham with me too, usually so I can make ridiculous and enthusiastic noises about whatever I’m reading to my friends (who by now probably want to beat me to death with her) and on our most recent trip we made a horrific discovery together:-

New Kindles, at least in Waterstones, are black, not grey.

This has a strange, slimming effect on the overall design that wasn’t lost on me (or Lucy).  I held her up to the display model, end to end and side to side, and although I know they’re both the same size the black one remained resolutely smaller-looking.

I spent five minutes clutching her to my chest and muttering “it’s okay, you’re not fat” while my friends made sympathetic noises and did their best to reassure her.  (Remember what I said about my fellow writers being odd?)  I think she feels better now--and I really do think that the grey is a much nicer colour, personally--but I won’t be letting her anywhere near this post in case she remembers and becomes depressed.

I agonised for months before I bought her and spent ages wondering if her existence would impact my buying of traditional books (unfortunately for my bookcases, no) or if I’d simply never use her (she’s always by my side), but in the end I wouldn’t be without her.

Next time: I still have no idea who I’ll be writing about. Sorry.

Friday Status Update and Music Musings

I'm now three days behind.  This isn't entirely a surprise to me--what really is a surprise is that it's only three days.  I'm currently rocking a grand total of 35,191 words spread over 16 chapters, so I'm probably doing a little better than I thought I would, even if I am still disappointed in myself for those three days.

Hopefully by the end of today it'll resume being two days.

When I write, I tend to have specific 'soundtracks'--collections of songs that remind me of certain stories.  Radial has one, Unravel has one (which in fact proved awkward when trying to narrow it down to average CD length for a challenge).  Even stories I've not mentioned here such as Arkadian and Chime have them: they both share The Killers' Day & Age between them, along with tracks by Muse and Fair To Midland.

This Alternate Universe doesn't have one.  A lot of the ones I associate with Alex and Milos are too contemporary to move across, and after I removed those I found I had very little left on the playlist.  So I added in music from Sonata Arctica (somewhat a mistake: I associate a few of those with another story too), Orgy and Our Lady Peace in the hope some of those would stick.

Nope.

I'm enjoying the music, don't get me wrong, but there's nothing that's firing off random ideas.  Sixteen is having the occasional Mood over which songs he does and doesn't want to play--there's a few that if I didn't see them on the playlist I'd think I'd forgotten to put in--and I can't find anything in my folders that is giving me the right 'feeling' for a fantasy story about an arse of a knight and his long-suffering slave (although it's odd how much does work for an arse of a government agent and his long-suffering genetically-modified subordinate).

So... if anyone has any suggestions, I'd be incredibly happy to hear them!  And if not... well, I'll be over here staring mournfully at Sixteen's screen and wondering why I can no longer string together a coherent sentence.  And with this post, I think I've proved that...!

Meet My Desk: Sixteen

In an effort to try to blog to a regular(ish) schedule, I decided the other day that Tuesdays are going to be “Meet My Desk” days.  Mostly because a bunch of things on my desk have had names and/or personalities assigned to them (you can’t not name technology) and partially because no one objected when I mentioned it on Twitter.

Really, Twitter people, you only have yourself to blame.

I tidied my desk the other day, I even have evidence of this! (Yes, this is tidy.)  There’s no ‘before’ shot because it was just buried under a vast stack of magazines, sketchbooks and assorted crap, but it’s all better now.  (Note: the paperwork in the background isn’t mine.  Mine’s all over a desk upstairs.)

Today, we’re meeting my trusty two-year-old laptop, Sixteen.

Well, I say trusty.  Sulky might be more accurate (sorry Sixteen).  It has been suggested that naming him after a paranoid, possibly insane character from a video game was a bad idea but aside from him having a strange personality and responding well to being stroked (this has been externally verified, sadly by my writing group who are easily as odd as me) he’s been pretty well behaved.

He has his own taste in music that doesn’t always match mine and he’s been known to insist on playing certain songs far more than is reasonable.  He went through a big Florence + The Machine obsession a few months ago and he’s quite keen on BT too.  Since my playlist is always set to random, he’s very talented at picking the right song for whatever I’m writing and has been known to guilt-trip me by bunching together songs that remind me of one certain character or another so I end up writing.

People have complained in the past that the cycling of his fan makes it sound like he’s breathing.  It is apparently, and I quote, “creepy”.

I have been known to talk to him, and there are people out there who are fairly sure that you can get a sensible answer from him by asking questions and seeing what song comes on next.  I’m not so sure, myself.  Also, it should be said I talk to everything, not just him.  I’m one of those irritating people who just mutters to themselves...

Mood swings aside, he’s been surprisingly reliable since I got him, he’s put up with being dragged everywhere (although he weighs enough that he’s stopped coming to Nottingham with me) and so far--touch wood--he’s behaved far more reasonably than my old laptop ever did.  I’ve become very fond of him!

It may have something to do with the fact that between work and hobbies I spend most of my day in front of him, of course...

Next time: another random personified thing! No, I haven't decided which yet. Consider it a surprise.

Status Update, And My Ever-Growing "To-Read" Pile

I am one of those irritating bloggers who write entire posts in their head and forget every single part of it when it comes to sitting down in front of a keyboard.  Although I’ll admit that I’m only irritating myself when it comes to that.

I’m almost on target with my Ridiculous Writing Challenge, although I’m not quite sure how it’s happened.  It’s taken a lot of pointed musical hints from my laptop, who is possessed but can be helpful when he wants to be, but as of the 12th April I’ve written a grand(ish) total of 19,329 words and I’m a day behind for reasons I won’t go into.

Even considering I’m one day off target and that I’ve yet to write anything today, I wish I’d had an output like this during National Novel Writing Month.

The only thing is, when someone slow like me decides to do a stupid challenge like this, everything else tends to go by the wayside and as a result, I turned my back for a few minutes and my to read pile has stacked up like crazy.

Okay, yes, I’ll admit I may have had a hand in it since I am the one who bought it all, but it’s not my fault!  I can’t be expected to walk into a bookstore and walk away empty-handed, can I?  (And yes, that is the sequel to The Left Hand Of God at the bottom of the stack, because I do want to know what happens, but this book doesn’t smell as nice as the first one did by a long shot--I tested this on my friends in the store and they agree--so to the bottom of the pile it goes.)

Also, special mention to Bioshock: Infinite propping up Lydia Nexus there, because that’s what I’ll be playing the minute this challenge is up.  Or possibly before, depending on how long I can hold out...

Well, I’m ten chapters into this AU challenge now, I had to rewrite one half-written chapter to change the POV and the plot is still coming to me as I write (both useful--at least it’s turning up, albeit slowly--and incredibly irritating--I’d like to know what’s happening more than two days in advance) but as planning seems to involve me staring blankly at empty sheets of paper lately, I’ll have to stick to jotting notes and seeing what comes up when I do, although maybe knowing what towns are called beforehand would be a place to start.  As always, if you’re curious (or bloody-minded), the link’s at the top of the page.  I even managed to write a little smut--unfortunately for Milos--and there’s more to come (uh, no pun, even mildly, intended...).

Wish me luck!  Because believe me, I’ll need it...

Alternate Universe Month, now also known as Pax's Stupidity Month

Over at my favourite writing community, Runaway Tales, it’s Alternate Universe month.  Considering my ‘main canon’, the world I predominantly write in, is contemporary sci-fantasy (the nice--and much shorter--way of saying my main character, Milos, is a genetically modified elf who’s been forced to work for the government), this promptly gave me a headache.

I mean, when you’re already writing about elves, what do you do?  I thought about sci-fi, but most of my previous worlds are in that genre and I didn’t really want to rehash it for a sixth time (also, oddly, I’ve never been all that big on Elves In Space and I didn’t want to give Alex, Milos’s human superior--or so he’d refer to himself--an excuse to be a bigger dick than normal).  I even considered the comedy-drama of an anime/manga style gakuen, or school, setting, something I did for two of my sci-fi characters a couple of years ago, but although the idea of Milos and Alex in school uniforms was appealing I just didn’t feel inclined to go that way again.  I considered steampunk, but I’ve got another idea percolating on that (it takes a while for my brain to get its act together) and this would have just stepped on its toes.

Which somehow only left me with high fantasy, and another headache.

I’ve not written high fantasy in years and when I did, the worlds were devoid of elves or magic, although they did have a liberal helping of nosy gods and reanimated priestesses.  I’ve never been one for castles, although I love exploring them in real life, and my favourite eras of history aren’t ones involving chivalry (or the lack thereof) and knights.

I’ve got no idea, in fact, what possessed me.  But here we are: I’ve written two stories already and I’ve challenged myself to write and post something every day for April.

I think I’ll regret this decision.  I think I’m already regretting it, as I’m staring at my third ‘chapter’ and failing to get words to fall into coherent lines and wondering just when Alex sprouted a family his real-world incarnation most definitely doesn’t have.  I don’t even have the excuse of doing Camp NaNo.  I’ve just randomly decided to be stupid and set myself challenges I don’t think I can keep.

But even if I crash and burn in five days time--or even tomorrow--I’ll have written more in these three days than I did in the whole of the last month.

So maybe even random bursts of stupidity serve their purpose...

We’ll see if I’m still saying that next week!

(If you’re curious, it’s the tab at the top handily labelled as Unravel AU - Index and it should be updated every day. Should. But I’d be more than happy to take suggestions on a new name.  The entire damn thing needs a new name to be fair, but mostly because I can’t stop seeing the ‘Alternate Universe’ abbreviation as ‘Australia’...)

No-Nonsense Reviews: The Left Hand Of God by Paul Hoffman

Thomas Cale is an acolyte at the Sanctuary of the Redeemers, a horrific place where students are instructed in both religion and warfare under the worst conditions imaginable.  Cale suffers more than most in the hands of the Redeemers and when he without thinking commits a crime to save a life, he also seizes the chance to escape, taking along two of his fellow students and a terrified young woman.  Except the world outside the massive walls is more difficult and complicated than he’d expected...

Pros+ Likeable main character+ Easy, enjoyable writing style+ Occasional bursts of laugh-out-loud humour

Cons- More writing than story--could easily have been shorter- Repetition of information and phrases- Middle section drags with parts that don’t seem to add to the story- Occasionally things happen that don’t appear to have a point (although they might be important in a later book)- Ends very abruptly

To be honest I finished this book a while ago, but I’ve been putting off finishing this review because the book itself left me feeling so conflicted.  The three main boys are likeable, including Cale himself who, no matter what he did everyone seemed to end up hating him, as is the sole main female, Reba, but I did have issue with how very perfect she was. Despite that she’s raised to be so, she’s more beautiful and curvier than all around her, much nicer to talk to, all the men she meets love her to the intense frustration of the women around her, and she can get away with saying what she wants no matter the situation.  She should be irritating to high heaven, but I found myself liking her.

There was far too much middle for me (the paperback is 500 pages long) and introduced characters that were either pointless or appeared superfluous who, I assume, will become important in another book.  The large-scale battle felt sterile and full of people I didn’t much care about, although the more close-combat scenes with Cale had a far greater sense of immediacy, as well as a better sense that not everything would go according to plan.

I have absolutely no idea what to make of the religious angle, although to a certain degree it seems the staple “Christianity is evil” trope, but I think I’d need to read the next book to see if it comes to make more sense in light of the ending.

The writing style is easy and pleasant (not that I’d call it simple at all), a little too wordy in places but with a great sense of humour, which is part of my disappointment.  The ending came like an unexpected blow to the back of the head and I’ll probably buy the next book at some point (it’s not high on my list of priorities, admittedly), but I do hope the next one is more tightly plotted and contains more relevant characters and scenes... or at least explains some of the ones in this.

• The Left Hand of God at Goodreads

City Photos & The Spaces In Your Head

I have a secret (okay, not-so-secret now) love of those little places in cities that look... not like cities.  That aren’t easily recognisable as the cities they belong to.  That could belong anywhere, or nowhere, or only in the spaces in your head.  (I have a lot of those.)

It’s the non-recognisable spaces that are my focus here.  These pictures are all of Nottingham, but excepting the ones taken in obvious places--three on the Market Square, one at the top of Maid Marian Way--I don’t think you can tell.  My friends who live in the city couldn’t recognise some of the places and I, who don’t live in the city, completely failed to explain where I was when I took them.  (“It was, uh, well, over there,” pointing vaguely at the pub wall, “and then I went up there and round there and... why are you looking at me like that?”)

What I wanted was a reference board of images, a reminder of all those little places that could be anywhere, for when I’m writing.  It’ll take a while to build it up--I’m only in Nottingham once a month--and the next time I’m there I’ll head off in a different direction, see where my feet take me and explore more of the city I’ve been visiting for over ten years and spent a couple of months living in but know nothing about.

And then not only will I have photos for my ‘project’, I’ll have had some of the exercise I’m lacking in too!  Maybe I should get into the city more often...

Why do I want anonymous city photos anyway?  The world I write is an alternate reality where elves are real and came out of the forests a few hundred years ago and many still live there.  As a result, forests are much broader in that world, far less likely to be chopped down to make way for more and more new houses as senior elves work on planning committees.  And so cities aren’t going to be the same either.  I’ve only mentioned two by name: London and Bristol; London for obvious reasons, but Bristol because apparently the only place where it’s illegal to have sex in proximity to a car is under it. (I also learned about obscure road laws regarding parking on country lanes.  Not something that I needed for my theory test, but then I don’t think they intend to teach you about parking up for impromptu sex...)

Therefore, a glorified reference sheet of just how anonymous cities can look is ideal for me.  And what better than to use than a city I see all the time without really seeing?  These are the ones I've got already, and I’m looking forward to getting out and about to find more of these little (and not-so-little) places...

Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com

No-Nonsense Reviews: Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding

Darian Frey is the feckless captain of the Ketty Jay, living day-to-day unburdened by such little things as morals, skittering from one failed enterprise to another--an existence no longer viable when his life goes belly-up and he becomes the most wanted man in the civilised world, dragging his loose crew of desperate individuals and the occasional fugitive with him...

Pros
+ Likeable characters
+ Enjoyable, engaging plot
+ Incredibly difficult to put down
+ Nice 'extras' at the end of the book

YMMV
+/- Pitches you in at the deep end (this depends on whether or not you like this kind of thing)

Cons
- Occasionally prone to repetition
- One moment of something that felt a lot like a deus ex machina, even though it technically wasn’t (confusing, I know)

In short, I couldn’t put the book down.  The chapters are short enough to be snaffled in quiet moments and usually end on enough of a cliffhanger that not reading the next one is difficult.  I did have to check if there were any books before it as I did feel like I was missing something, but over a very short space of time the feeling ceased and I was just as desperate to find out what happened to the people as I was to discover the plot.  I became very attached to the characters, even Frey who I’d have been happy to slap now and again--something I’m sure was intended and his development into a genuinely likeable man was enjoyable--and even for the one whose awful past was revealed, I felt nothing but genuine sorrow for him.

In fact, the only major downside I can see is that I didn’t realise it was the first in a series when I bought it and now I’m forced to buy the next one.  Forced, I say.  I was bereft when I finished this.

• Retribution Falls at Goodreads

What I'm Reading, or, Why Can't I Put This Damn Book Down?

I’m reading Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding right now.  I picked it up on Saturday on the basis of the cover art, the interesting font used for the title, the blurb on the back and, most importantly, because on standing in the middle of the Science Fiction and Fantasy section and reading the first page, the writing style and I got along just fine.

It’s also very difficult to put down, with bite-size chapters just perfect for reading in spare quiet moments and intriguing characters I want to find out more about.

And honestly, that’s the aspect of the novel I’m finding the most interesting.  A lot of advice given to authors, particularly in Wired For Story: The Writer’s Guide To Using Brain Science (there is more title, I'm just not using all of it; I'm sure you can find it from that), focuses on how the author should be upfront with information about the characters.  The theory is that if you, the reader, know everything about them from the beginning, then you’re rooting for whatever the problem is to be solved.

Retribution Falls apparently didn’t get this memo, but I’m loving it all the more for it.  Right now I don’t know why Frey is so irritated by the youthful picture of him on his wanted posters, or quite what’s wrong with Jez, or what Crake is running from.  There are nudges and hints, little prods, but there’s no clear picture spread out for me.  If Wooding was following the previous advice about laying out everything on a plate, would I be so interested in continuing reading?  Possibly, because it’s written with a very nice style.  But would I have this intense, burning curiosity, this need to find out what happened to the characters just as much as I want to find out why Frey’s job went so wrong?  Probably not.  If I’m honest, it wouldn’t have such a hold over me as it does if I knew all these things already.  As it is I’m just as desperate to find out more about these people I’ve been thrown in the deep end alongside as I am to follow the plot.

It’s an interesting reminder that for all that the advice might seem good, maybe sometimes it’s also a good idea to kick it out and write what feels right instead, what lures a reader in and then inescapably hooks them until being separated from your half-finished story makes them feel empty and impatient.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a book I need to get back to.

Not Just A Blank Mind, A Blank Blog

I have a confession to make.

I have no idea what to blog about.

I’ve read that blogging for fiction writers is supposedly a lot tougher than it is for non-fiction writers, because those lucky non-fiction writers can share scientific studies, related articles and so on, whereas we less-than-fortunate fiction writers are a little doomed in that regard.  I mean, as a contemporary fantasy writer, what can I share with you?  How to make elven alcohol?  (Okay, in that one aspect I probably can.  We make our own alcohol in this house.)  The difference in height and ageing between ljusalfa and dokkalfa?  Or just how offensive it is to call a dokkalfa ‘svartalfa’?

If I’m not careful I could easily start talking--okay, possibly ranting--about PC and Xbox games instead, since I spend a chunk of my life hammering the buttons on my Xbox controller and swearing abuse at whichever character is proving hard to deal with.  I’m not a particularly unbiased reviewer though (and I’m starting to suspect few are), so I don’t think I have a career in that ahead of me.

I could talk about what I’m reading.  That I could manage, even if, much like the games I play, I’m not exactly unbiased.

So I’m spoiled for choice and finding my options narrowing at the same time.  Any suggestions?