Right, I'd like to know where people think the story is going. Be as brief or as in-depth as you want.
Doing it this way means I wont give away any irritating knowing looks that I find myself incapable of stopping without the aid of a pillow.
This is also a good way of letting me know what you think is important re: character/plot resolutions. If you would like to see something addressed, make a point of it and I'll probably accommodate it somewhere.
Cheers me dears.
Sunday 27 May 2007
Wednesday 23 May 2007
Aliens Have Landed: Part 1
Oh, dear, another post to talk about a story. I'm such an attention whore. Anyway, I do dislike the "Exposed" tag, but I can't think of anything better. Now I see why Doctor Who Confidential and Torchwood Declassified have such crap names - there's no word that means "behind the scenes" and is anything approaching cool.
Anyway, I'd originally started writing far more for Laoren and Trenavass, but then realised that the school actually housed the interesting part of the story. Since Trenavass's revelation is such a standard plot twist that it's barely more than a plot device, there was only so much "I can't believe it!", "soz Loz" dialogue to write before the aliens themselves needed to start marching.
Deleted scenes: There was a line that Jeremy was asleep upstairs. I took it out, because I like to leave characters unmentioned unless they're directly relevant. Rest assured, Jeremy still exists, and will no doubt hear the news soon enough.
I've been interested in the "person close to you is actually royalty" storyline for a long time, possibly because of my own tenuous link to royal blood. I pretty much stole the whole storyline of royal-alien-sheltering-on-Earth-from-other-aliens from everyone's favourite Classic Who writers, Pip and Jane Baker. It was largely the premise of Watt on Earth. And it had a character named Zoe, and I nicked her name too. I'm such a farce.
In retrospect, I think I made a big mistake in the lies he told Laoren. I'd prefer it if he'd merely lied by omission, rather than flatly fibbing. I mean, that's sort-of there - he never said he wasn't a prince, and indeed, he admitted that royalty were one of the most likely types of his species to speak English. But I think I should have made it clearer that he actually wasn't expecting the police to turn up at all, let alone so soon. And he shouldn't have told her he'd be meeting governmental types. Silly alien.
Anyway, I hope I've done Ffion justice in this story. Always hard to build up unseen characters. Incidentally, although I created it mostly so that Stephanie's story would make more sense, the Apathy Dart Gun is my new favourite sci-fi gadget. Imagine it - you get mugged on the street, so you take a shot, and the mugger just becomes absolutely bored and wanders off to watch Any Dream Will Do. Or you see one of those awful "GOD WILL JUDGE AND KILL US ALL" people on a street corner, and he just thinks "bugger it" and treats himself to a McDonald's Happy Meal.
Anyway, I'd originally started writing far more for Laoren and Trenavass, but then realised that the school actually housed the interesting part of the story. Since Trenavass's revelation is such a standard plot twist that it's barely more than a plot device, there was only so much "I can't believe it!", "soz Loz" dialogue to write before the aliens themselves needed to start marching.
Deleted scenes: There was a line that Jeremy was asleep upstairs. I took it out, because I like to leave characters unmentioned unless they're directly relevant. Rest assured, Jeremy still exists, and will no doubt hear the news soon enough.
I've been interested in the "person close to you is actually royalty" storyline for a long time, possibly because of my own tenuous link to royal blood. I pretty much stole the whole storyline of royal-alien-sheltering-on-Earth-from-other-aliens from everyone's favourite Classic Who writers, Pip and Jane Baker. It was largely the premise of Watt on Earth. And it had a character named Zoe, and I nicked her name too. I'm such a farce.
In retrospect, I think I made a big mistake in the lies he told Laoren. I'd prefer it if he'd merely lied by omission, rather than flatly fibbing. I mean, that's sort-of there - he never said he wasn't a prince, and indeed, he admitted that royalty were one of the most likely types of his species to speak English. But I think I should have made it clearer that he actually wasn't expecting the police to turn up at all, let alone so soon. And he shouldn't have told her he'd be meeting governmental types. Silly alien.
Anyway, I hope I've done Ffion justice in this story. Always hard to build up unseen characters. Incidentally, although I created it mostly so that Stephanie's story would make more sense, the Apathy Dart Gun is my new favourite sci-fi gadget. Imagine it - you get mugged on the street, so you take a shot, and the mugger just becomes absolutely bored and wanders off to watch Any Dream Will Do. Or you see one of those awful "GOD WILL JUDGE AND KILL US ALL" people on a street corner, and he just thinks "bugger it" and treats himself to a McDonald's Happy Meal.
Connections
Thought I'd talk a bit about the connections between my posts, since they tend to crop up a lot in comments and such.
I find the joining-the-dots method of writing to be incredibly satisfying, which is why the last two stories - Ambition and Therapy - aren't directly connected to any existing characters or storylines. Eventually, they'll no-doubt cross over with some other characters, but for the time being, I like that they're new and fresh.
So, for the record, Trenavass and Laoren and Lunar Mist and Sunset have no set ending - they're largely exploring the world. I have resolutions in mind for all the other stories, although that's not to say that I won't be coming back to those characters again (Arthur and Mr Spencer have already been resolved, but the latter in particular has more to share).
But the big question is - how effective is this method? Is there too much crossing over? Too little? Is it not clear enough that these stories exist in the same universe? Would it matter if certain stories were read out of order?
The Trenavass stories are in a direct series, which is why they have an umbrella title, but should Lunar Mist and Sunset have one too? Since Jom went back to re-label his ASBO-Boy stories, I've been tempted to do something similar.
I find the joining-the-dots method of writing to be incredibly satisfying, which is why the last two stories - Ambition and Therapy - aren't directly connected to any existing characters or storylines. Eventually, they'll no-doubt cross over with some other characters, but for the time being, I like that they're new and fresh.
So, for the record, Trenavass and Laoren and Lunar Mist and Sunset have no set ending - they're largely exploring the world. I have resolutions in mind for all the other stories, although that's not to say that I won't be coming back to those characters again (Arthur and Mr Spencer have already been resolved, but the latter in particular has more to share).
But the big question is - how effective is this method? Is there too much crossing over? Too little? Is it not clear enough that these stories exist in the same universe? Would it matter if certain stories were read out of order?
The Trenavass stories are in a direct series, which is why they have an umbrella title, but should Lunar Mist and Sunset have one too? Since Jom went back to re-label his ASBO-Boy stories, I've been tempted to do something similar.
Tuesday 22 May 2007
Ambition
Note before I start: I've labelled this post with the word "Exposed", which I intend to do for any post of mine where I want to discuss a specific story. It'd be cool if other people did the same, so that writers talking about their individual stories can be easily found. I feel that I want to discuss certain things I write, but know that they're probably not going to raise the necessary questions, so I'll post them here. I assume that this is true of many other people's posts too, and I'd love to know the things I couldn't guess.
But anyway!
"Ambition" is both standalone and the first in a series. It's standalone, because for the time being, I don't intend to further Arthur's story. He's come full circle, which was partly the point of the exercise. It exists in the same universe as everything else I write, and indeed, the first draught had a reference to Mr Spencer. But I decided it was self-indulgent, and Mr Spencer became Dennis Freeman.
In a way, it's an evolution of an earlier idea, which I never wrote, because it was basically just a joke. The idea was, this young child has had an awful early life and, at the age of five, everything goes right for him at the same time. So much good stuff happens to him, that inevitably, the story seems to be leading to his downfall. And then it doesn't - a punchline, and the child gets to live happily ever after.
This takes it a step further - an ominous tone depicting something that is, in theory, nice and lovely. And anonymous organisations are always creepy.
I think this is also the first story I've written here that truly keeps the characters at arm's length. No inner thoughts, only a few clues as to their motivation, that sort of thing.
But anyway!
"Ambition" is both standalone and the first in a series. It's standalone, because for the time being, I don't intend to further Arthur's story. He's come full circle, which was partly the point of the exercise. It exists in the same universe as everything else I write, and indeed, the first draught had a reference to Mr Spencer. But I decided it was self-indulgent, and Mr Spencer became Dennis Freeman.
In a way, it's an evolution of an earlier idea, which I never wrote, because it was basically just a joke. The idea was, this young child has had an awful early life and, at the age of five, everything goes right for him at the same time. So much good stuff happens to him, that inevitably, the story seems to be leading to his downfall. And then it doesn't - a punchline, and the child gets to live happily ever after.
This takes it a step further - an ominous tone depicting something that is, in theory, nice and lovely. And anonymous organisations are always creepy.
I think this is also the first story I've written here that truly keeps the characters at arm's length. No inner thoughts, only a few clues as to their motivation, that sort of thing.
Thursday 17 May 2007
Reordering posts
Right, labelling now means we can look up single stories without everyone else's getting in the way, which is very useful and we're all very pleased with it; but is there a way to reorder the posts? So that you can read them oldest first? As it stands, it's just a bit tricky to read posts when you have to keep going up and down the page. Techno wizards, please don your wizards' hats here! Any ideas?
First Ever Post
Ooh... my first post- and it isn't even a story. Well, I'm working on something, but until my final exam is over tomorrow I doubt I'll do much in the way of actual writing.
I will also then have time to read and make more comments- which I like to do. I can put on my literary criticism spectacles and grammar pick too- but I'll only really do so if the author asks me too.
I would like to read more of everyone's writing- although, to repeat a comment I made on an individual post: Iceduck- whatever happened to the man who loved the woman in Orange? Is he coming back? I'd like to know what happens to him now that the Running man story has been completed.
That's all for now, folks.
I will also then have time to read and make more comments- which I like to do. I can put on my literary criticism spectacles and grammar pick too- but I'll only really do so if the author asks me too.
I would like to read more of everyone's writing- although, to repeat a comment I made on an individual post: Iceduck- whatever happened to the man who loved the woman in Orange? Is he coming back? I'd like to know what happens to him now that the Running man story has been completed.
That's all for now, folks.
Boasting!
Woohoo, first new post! Take that, Jester, Miss I-Write-In Everything-New-First!
I don't really have anything else to say, other than I realise I'm abusing the system by doing this. Um... Hi, Mam!
I don't really have anything else to say, other than I realise I'm abusing the system by doing this. Um... Hi, Mam!
Explanation
Hi all.
This blog serves as a behind-the-scenes companion to Scribble Pit. The idea is, we post questions, suggestions, requests, or anything else that we might want to discuss here.
The main things I think this'll be useful for are:
1) Proper discussion of stories. Plenty of people leave notes on other people's stories, but they're not likely to return to the page later to see if the original author has replied. So from now on, if an author writes "what did you mean by this bit?", there's a proper place for a response.
2) Critiques and requests. With some stories, authors want proper critiques. With others, writers are perfectly happy to leave a story as is, with no interest in persuing it further. Here, authors can explicitly ask for critiques on specific stories.
3) Discussion. Things like the layout, labels, general admin stuff. And ideas for new projects, maybe - like, if two writers choose to experiment with taking it in turns to write installments, discussion of it can go here.
Also, because of the notes situation, short replies should be posted as comments, but detailed responses should be posted as new posts, for all the world to see. As a rule, remind yourself that not everyone will necessarily read a note, but everyone will see new post.
This blog serves as a behind-the-scenes companion to Scribble Pit. The idea is, we post questions, suggestions, requests, or anything else that we might want to discuss here.
The main things I think this'll be useful for are:
1) Proper discussion of stories. Plenty of people leave notes on other people's stories, but they're not likely to return to the page later to see if the original author has replied. So from now on, if an author writes "what did you mean by this bit?", there's a proper place for a response.
2) Critiques and requests. With some stories, authors want proper critiques. With others, writers are perfectly happy to leave a story as is, with no interest in persuing it further. Here, authors can explicitly ask for critiques on specific stories.
3) Discussion. Things like the layout, labels, general admin stuff. And ideas for new projects, maybe - like, if two writers choose to experiment with taking it in turns to write installments, discussion of it can go here.
Also, because of the notes situation, short replies should be posted as comments, but detailed responses should be posted as new posts, for all the world to see. As a rule, remind yourself that not everyone will necessarily read a note, but everyone will see new post.
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