Dear Someone

I’ve just discovered WordPress’s spell checker. That’s useful.

Except for some odd reason it doesn’t recognise the word ‘with’. Weird.

Although I often write with music playing, I don’t edit with songs playing.

Friday night I broke the rule and started copy-editing my latest story while listening to David Gilmour live in Gdansk.

I was doing ok until I had to sing along to Wish You Were Here. Then playing air guitar to Comfortably Numb completely finished me off. It’s impossible to read something accurately if you don’t have your full attention on it, and if you’re not reading something accurately then you’re not editing it properly.

Last night I finished the editing to Vaughn Williams’s 9th Symphony. This isn’t quite as bad, as there are no words to sing along to, but it’s still not good. If music is any good, it has to be listened to. Putting it on as ‘background’ is pointless. So with a complex symphony I still have part of my attention following the music and I’m not reading properly.

The only real way to edit is in silence. Or with background noise that you don’t need (or want) to listen to. I’m thinking that doing it on the beach, listening to waves and seagulls, might be the best approach. Unfortunately it’s going to be months before we get good enough weather to try it out.

(This post was brought to you with the accompaniment of Ravel, Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2.)

I firmly believe there is no such thing as writer’s block. There is only writer’s laziness.

So all summer I’ve been promising to resume writing my Heroes serial after a short break. And the break has dragged on longer and longer…

Not because I don’t know what to write. I’ve had the entire issue plotted and large chunks of it in my head. I’m just too lazy to sit down and type it. I kept thinking I had something more important to do (I didn’t), or that I didn’t have a big enough block of time to write it in one go (I did), or that it was the wrong time of the month (er…).

Anyway I took today off work and vowed to get it finished or die trying. I wasted the morning watching TV, I went out for lunch and ate too many donuts, I went for a long walk down the beach… and the hours slowly vanished…

So the next time somebody tells you they have writer’s block, you’ll know what they really have…

P.S. I finished the issue. It will go on line this weekend.

When I write a comic script, I always try to break a scene at the bottom of a page.

When I read other people’s comics, I don’t see the same thing. Sometimes it happens, but not always. Scenes break all over the place, in the middle of pages.

End-of-page scene breaks seem to be my own personal quirk. Not a deliberately-adopted quirk, just something I started doing because it felt right at the time.

Sometimes it’s awkward to get the pacing to fit around it. But I don’t see anything bad about it from a story-telling point of view, so I’ll probably keep doing it.

Yes, this post does mean that I’ve started writing Heroes again after my long summer break.

I was walking down the sea front this morning, with a huge storm out to sea, sky and water both grey, with waves breaking right over the lighthouse at the end of the pier. I was listening to Arnold’s Concerto for Viola & Chamber Orchestra, which has a wild and angry first movement that perfectly matched the weather.

And I looked at all this, and thought it ought to inspire me to write something.

But it didnt. No ideas came to mind at all.

So I started composing a blog post while I walked. I thought, “I will write that I looked at all this and thought it ought to inspire me to write something. But it didnt. No ideas came to mind at all.” And while I was thinking that, I had an idea for a character I could introduce in the afternoon’s game, somebody with weather control powers. And by the time I was home I had all his abilities, background and personality worked out, as well as those of his two team mates, and their relationships. I knew exactly how and why to introduce them into the game’s plot.

So I did have an idea.

But the idea wasn’t triggered by the storm. Not really. The idea came from me thinking about writing. Or possibly not even that. It was just an idea.

Writers are supposed to get inspiration from things. They are supposed to be able to answer questions about where their ideas come from. Well I like Neil Gaiman’s answer to that question: “I make them up.” That’s what happens. Everything you see and hear, and have seen and heard your entire life, adds to your collected store of knowledge, and you need that knowledge inside you or you’ll never get anywhere. But when you need an idea for a character or plot or setting, the idea doesn’t come from anywhere. You just think hard and make something up.

I’m going to change the quote on the home page every time I make a site update. I.e. now. (Don’t bother looking for what I’ve updated… it’s so minor you’ll never find it.)

The quotes aren’t relevant to anything in particular. They are just things I have gathered over the years. But they all hold some meaning for me.

For reference, the old quote was:

“The Spirit that guides you, follow it through.
To the Spirit inside you, always be true.”
–Tony Clarkin, The Spirit.

From one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite song writers.

The party has been interesting. It’s been running for (I think) 34 hours (midnight in New Zealand) and will still run for another 14 hours (midnight in Samoa). Obviously I haven’t been on line for the whole thing…

But apart from the three dozen people taking active part, I’ve seen several lurkers on and off throughout the day. I suspect several more will pop up while I’m asleep, as more of America comes on line. Every extra person is another potential sale, though how many will be real sales remains to be seen…

I just had a comment on one of my posts that consisted of nothing but a link back to another blog. Obviously spam, but I was curious enough to follow the link and see what was there…

Bad idea! Before the page even loaded my virus scanner was throwing up multiple alerts.

The good news is that I have a good virus scanner (Avira, highly recommended). The other good news is that I have comment moderation on, so none of my readers can see anything until I allow it through.

But still, that was my first experience of evil comment spam. I can’t really see the point, but I suppose it amuses some people of small intellect. A bit like smashing bus shelters.

The book’s publisher is holding a launch party… but as the authors are scattered over five continents, it’s going to be an on-line party.  The party will be on 1st September and will last all day (!). Everyone is welcome to drop in at any time and “interact” with the authors.

I have no idea how well it will work, but it sounds like a cool idea anyway. I’ll spend as much time as I can on line on the day (work permitting).

For details, visit the Speculative Realms web site.

Speculative Realms now seems to be available on Amazon. I’ve added a link but… seriously, use Lulu instead. Amazon’s price is about 50% higher. Good grief.