Writerly Wednesday: Things and Stuff

So! It's the last day of November, which means Anti-Nano ends tonight *sob* But Winter-Write-a-Thon is here to pick up the slack! Like Anti-Nano, WWAT is now housed over at squidathon, and everyone is welcome to join in. We check in on Mondays and Fridays and post writing snippets on Wednesdays. If you're working on something and would like some company over the cold, dark, lonely winter weeks, come and say hello!

My goal for Anti-Nano was to work on Undertow and Halflife. I was half-successful, in that I worked on Undertow. I'd like to have the first draft done by the end of December now, which is perfectly do-able if it works out at the same length as DEMONIZED (about 40k). I have a feeling it might be longer, but I'm planning to try out this technique to see if I can increase my wordage output. I'm not usually a planner when it comes to writing, but I toyed with this a little last week, and although I was a long way off 10k, I was definitely more productive with notes to work from. So we'll see.

I'm also planning to write an Ethan Christmas Special. It'll be one of the Ethan Banning Files - a short, self-published story, but festive! So there's a slim chance something nice might happen to Ethan. Look, it might, that's all. Hopefully I can get to work on that over the weekend (I have a novel to finish editing for Damnation Books, and a house party to avoid going to).

Random Monday: In Lieu of Content

So I can't remember how it came up...Possibly we were watching a promo for the new Silent Hill game and I was all,"Pyramid Head, what's his deal? How does he get through doors?" and stuff, and I decided what the world needs is a comic strip of Pyramid Head in the rat race. You know, dealing with bills, taking his cat to the vet, trying to eat his wife's delicious casserole but being unable to so they have a row about how he doesn't appreciate her and is he trying to say her cooking is horrible or something?

Maybe such a comic strip already exists. I don't know. If not, it should. Of course, this picture does not depict Pyramid Head, but Cthulhu. However, the potential for a cross-over where Cthulhu is Pyramid Head's impossible-to-please boss is highly appealing.

This post was brought to you by two hours' sleep. Don't try to understand it, okay?

Friday Miscellany: An Open Letter to My Cat

Dear Fergus,

I love you a lot. I really love having you live with me now. Your happy purring warms my heart and your endless piles of ginger hair lend an extra "something" to my wardrobe. You are a lovely old cat.

However, there is an issue I feel we must address.

Midnight is not breakfast time.

2am is not breakfast time.

3.30am is not breakfast time.

4am is not breakfast time.

5am is not breakfast time.

5.05am is not breakfast time.

It's not breakfast time if I get up in the night to use the bathroom.

It's not breakfast time if I roll over in bed.

It's not breakfast time if a cat outside starts yowling.

Breakfast time is 6.45am, after my alarm goes off and before I get in the shower.

There is no second breakfast when I get out of the shower.

I appreciate that you can't tell the time but you should learn from experience. No matter how many times you wake me up in the night by sitting on my head and drooling on the pillow, it will not bring breakfast time forward.

Love,
Naomi

Writerly Wednesday: RIP Anne McCaffrey

I always say I don't read sci-fi, but that's not true. It's just that the only sci-fi I read is Anne McCaffrey. My first McCaffrey book was The White Dragon, which I bought second-hand at a school bookfair and paid for entirely in pennies, to the delight of the bookseller I didn't know it was part of a series, or that it was science-fiction, just that it was about dragons and that meant it was probably awesome. I completely fell in love with Jaxom and Ruth, and quickly set about finding the rest of the series.

 

The Dragonriders of Pern quickly become a minor obsession of mine. You don't even know how badly I wanted fire lizards and to live at Igen Weyr (I'm not sure why it was Igen; maybe that was the one by the sea?). My obsession reached a pinnacle with Dragonsdawn, which I still think is one of the best books I've ever read. I can't count the number of times I've re-read it.

I probably wouldn't have tried any of McCaffrey's other books though, which all sounded too "sci-fi-ey" to me, if I hadn't found a cheap omnibus of the Crystal Singer and figured I'd give it a whirl.

Wow. I'm so glad I did. The Crystal Singer trilogy is incredible. It showed me sci-fi was not necessarily what I thought it was, and that a heroine didn't have to be a nice person to be a fascinating character. Killashandra is the character responsible for the kind of heroines (and heroes) I like and write - difficult characters who may not be instantly likeable, but ultimately you can't help but root for. Encouraged by this, I tried more of McCaffrey's non-Pern books. Some were miss, some were hit. I adored the Catteni Sequence, but didn't ever get into the Rowan books. I haven't enjoyed the later, co-authored Pern books, but early this year I got Kyle into the early ones, and we've been listening to them on audiobook. It's been great to share the books I love so much with someone new, and make a new fan of them :)

I was so sad to hear Anne McCaffrey passed away, but judging by all the tweets, blogs, and Facebook statuses I've seen, her work will keep going and delighting new fans for generations to come. If you've never read a McCaffrey book, I encourage you to do so as soon as you can. If you have, I'd love to know what your favourites are.

Random Monday: Aquatic Sloth

So I was reading this news article this morning about prehistoric whale fossils in the Atacama desert (which is cool enough all by itself) and I happened upon this line:

Other unusual creatures found elsewhere in the fossil-rich Atacama Desert include an extinct aquatic sloth.

Guys! An aquatic sloth! You don't even know how much I love that idea. Here are two things you may not know about me:

1. If I were to be an animal, it would probably be a sloth because they are adorable, they sleep for about ten hours a day, and they have an "arboreal browsing lifestyle." You tell me anything that's better than living your life in a tree sleeping and eating. Because I can't think of it.

Adorable!

2. I love the TV show Walking with Beasts. I watch it every time it's on and I especially love the episodes that focus on aquatic prehistoric animals and giant animals. You know, like giant rhinos and giant ponies and giant sloths, say (you may now also understand why I love films where giant things fight other giant things. I just love it when animals are giant).

So, with my established love of sea monsters and sloths, obviously the aquatic sloth is the animal made for me. It's a sloth, it's marine, and it's prehistoric. It's my spirit animal, guys.

 

Look, I know raptors are cool and all, but if we're going to bring back any extinct animals, I think it should be the aquatic sloth. Who's with me?

Friday Miscellany: Link Soup

In lieu of actual contant because I am tired, here's some interesting/fun/self-promo stuff I've found this week.

First up, Bastard Books reviews DEMONISED. I really enjoy Bastard's reviews as they always give me something to think about. But I really, really enjoy this review because he says:

"The book is quite twisted, has plenty of disturbing scenes, some that I'm sure won't sit well with more sensitive readers. Some are just plain gross."

"Just plain gross" may go on my business cards from now on.

Over at seanan_mcguire's livejournal, I found a couple of interesting articles; one on rape culture in YA, looking particularly at Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick, a book I've been toying with buying for some time now. Now I've read the article, I think it would make me pretty furious, so I'm sticking with James Ellroy for now (because all that racism and sexism is much more tolerable coming from a man...Oh wait...)

The other article is about the recent trend of dead girls on YA book covers (or as I'd been thinking of it "girls in inappropriate dresses in the woods," because really? That's what you wear to go hiking?). There's a lot of subtext to unpack here and I'm not up for it right now, but suffice to say, the glamorisation of death is a big topic and you can pull in a lot of Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet for starters), and even classics from the Romantic era (when romance meant "adventure and fantasy" rather than "relationships" in literary terms), like Wuthering Heights and Tess of the D'urbervilles. Incidentally, Kit Whitfield has a great article on how people misremember Wuthering Heights here.

And now something fun (for me,anyway). Despite being a massive AFI fangirl, I had managed to remain ignorant of Davey and Jade's side project, Blaqk Audio. How? Why? I don't know. But now I've discovered them and fallen wildly in love with Davey's voice all over again. So this is my weekend soundtrack. Enjoy!

Writerly Wednesday: Canine Companion

Strictly speaking, I'm not a fan of wacky sidekicks. They're usually intended to be comic relief, but they rarely work that way for me. I loathed the talking dog in The Accidental Demon Slayer and the wise-cracking demon/cat in Redheaded Stepchild. I don't know what it is, but a comedy sidekick character is usually a kiss of death in a book for me.

Which brings me to Ethan's sidekick, Mutt. Yeah, I know! But Mutt isn't a comedy sidekick. He doesn't talk or have supercanine powers. He's just a dog that happens to love Ethan because Ethan gave him a candy bar that one time. I've been very careful not to humanise Mutt. I don't want him to be anything other than a dog. Ethan might treat him as more-than-animal clever, but I don't want to turn Mutt into something he's not. 

Anyway! That aside, Mutt is a big part of the Ethan novellas since he's the closest Ethan has to a friend, and for that reason alone I spent a lot of time today looking at pictures of Labrador mixes online trying to find one that looked like Mutt. And I did!

Look at that face! He's not quite the right colour (Mutt is more grey-black) but expression-wise, this is how I always picture Mutt looking at Ethan. Like, "you're the bestest human I know and I'm sorry there's bird poop on the carpet! Let's do something fun!" And Ethan's all, "here's a chewy bone, you adorable bastard."

So as I'm working on Undertow now, having finished the gothic romance short story, Mutt and Ethan have plenty of adventures ahead. I think Ethan needs a happy dog to help balance out the angry demon. And Mutt is like the happiest dog because his daddy takes him on adventures all the time. Like this one:

Me and Mutt wandered down the quiet halls, passing lecture rooms full of boringly attentive students. Walters' office was on the second floor and I got lost a couple of times finding my way there. The bonus was that we passed a vending machine and somebody had left a bunch of change in there, so I treated me and Mutt to a candy bar each. Mutt pretty much inhaled his. I was still eating mine when I stumbled upon Walters' office.

Random Monday: What Are You Reading?

I fancied a break from urban fantasy so I picked up a traditional fantasy called Lord of the Changing Winds, which I was really excited about because it's all about gryphons, and I'm still hung up on gryphons from my Mercedes Lackey days.

Unfortunately I couldn't get past chapter two. The prose was far too flowery for my tastes, and everyone had unpronouncable names, which meant I just mentally called everyone Hank to save time. After I got halfway through chapter two and realised I'd read two entire pages without having a clue what was going on, I gave up. One for the charity shop.

So then I picked up my phone (and its Kindle App) and tried Jenny Pox.

It...I don't know what's going on with this girl's arms, but it really bothers me. Anyway, it seems okay. A little meandering to start, but I like the concept. The obvious love interest looks like he's going to be dull as hell, but I could be wrong. And because I like to mix up ebooks and paperbacks, I also started White Jazz this morning.

 

This has really gripped me, although it takes a few pages for the narrative style to make sense. I can't help hearing Rorschach's voice as I read. It's that kind of stilted, stream of consciousness speaking. Probably good reading whilst I'm working on an Ethan book. And secretly I would love to write this kind of gritty, nasty noir stuff, but I just don't think I could.

Anyway, that's me. Anyone else reading anything good at the moment?

Friday Miscellany - Sex and the Paranormal Girl

One thing all the adult paranormal romance novels I've ever read have had in common is sex. Whether the heroine is a virgin or experienced, young or old, short or tall or whatever, somewhere over the course of the book, she'll have sex. It's a romance after all, and sex is the culmination of the romantic journey the heroine and hero go on throughout the novel. It's natural, it's expected, it's fun.

And it doesn't happen in THE NECROMANCER'S APPRENTICE. Evanthe and Morrow never have sex.

Oh, they did in the first draft. But it felt misplaced and a little seedy. Evanthe had just fought off a zombie. She'd been badly bitten. She needed stitches and medical attention. And yet I decided in the first draft this would be the perfect time for her and Morrow to get hot and heavy. *shudders* Nothing says "romance" like a zombie attack.

The other problem with that original sex scene is the characters themselves. Evanthe is young (twenty). Morrow is...not. He's pretty resistant to the idea of them entering a relationship for that reason alone (although when you read the novella you'll see there are other reasons). For him to suddenly decide that right then and there was the moment he went from mentor to lover felt...skeevy. When I read back on the sex scene, it felt inappropriate for these characters. Yes, Evanthe wants to be with Morrow, but she's young, inexperienced, and vulnerable. And yes, Morrow wants to be with Evanthe, but he knows she's young, inexperienced and vulnerable and he knows he's...not. On a second take, the scene felt dirty in the wrong way.

So I cut it out. I wanted to show two characters discovering and admitting their true feelings in the NECROMANCER'S APPRENTICE, but I wanted that discovery to be natural and unhurried. And frankly, amidst everything else going on - forbidden spells, rogue zombies, idiot demonologists with horrible cars - a sex scene would have been ridiculous. In a novella there isn't the time for anything that doesn't move the plot along, and Evanthe and Morrow stopping to have sex wouldn't have contributed to the plot.

That's not to see I don't think this is a romantic book with a romantic journey. But I feel I owe it to the characters and the readers to let events unfold naturally and with the sweetness and...well...old-fashioned sensibility I feel Evanthe and Morrow have at their hearts. Morrow doesn't want to rush things. He wants to court Evanthe. And Evanthe is just happy Morrow's finally admitted his feelings for her.

So I guess THE NECROMANCER'S APPRENTICE isn't a typical paranormal romance. But it's actually more reflective of me than a lot of my other books. Like Evanthe, I was a late-bloomer when it came to romance. I was shy and awkward, and desperate to demand what I wanted but terrified of being rejected. Like Evanthe, I eventually got what I wanted. Unlike Evanthe, I didn't have to fight off zombies to get it. So this is a story for anyone who loves zombies, grave-robbing, necromancy, and black magic. It's also a story for anyone who ever despaired of getting that first kiss, let alone anything else. And maybe if you think all these paranormal girls just move too damn fast nowadays, well, then this is a story for you too ;)

Random Monday: In the Kitchen with Nome

So Kyle is working stupid late shifts this week (2pm-11pm), meaning A) we won't really see each other except in passing whilst one of us is asleep and B) I'm going to have to cook for myself this week. I know! I've become really spoilt over the past two years. Kyle is an excellent cook, and whilst I'm not awful, I'm nowhere near as competant. And frankly, the idea of getting home and slaving over the oven when I could just get home and start writing doesn't really appeal. I don't like things that interfere with all that glorious writing time, like cooking and cleaning and working.

This is my amazing solution:

I'm going to make the world's biggest batch of chili tonight and live off it for the rest of the week. And since I've been obsessing over Tesco's butternut squash, honey, and sage soup this weekend, I'm going to make a butternut squash chili. I found a pretty straightfoward recipe. I'll need to change it up a bit since I hate onions and refuse to cook with them. They're weird, okay? I think they're weird. And I'm substituting beef broth for stock in order to make the recipe Harcombe-diet friendly. I also don't have a Dutch oven, but I assume cooking it on the hob will achieve the same end result. I'll probably also swap corn for courgettes because I love courgettes more, and it's my chili, dammit.

Anyway. I always get ridiculously excited when I decided I'm going to be all homely and stuff, despite the part of me that's all like "cooking? Are you mad? Have some cheese and get writing!" so I'm quite looking forward to making this. I've never cooked with butternut squash before though, so who knows, it could all go horribly wrong. But finding out will be an adventure!

Friday Miscellany: It's Not Really Friday

As the sharp-eyed amongst you will have already realised. Yesterday was manic at work. Boss is travelling next week and she always goes into panic-mode beforehand, so I spent a lot of the day reassuring her that things had been done/would be done. And then in the evening it was D&D. I'm deeply, deeply disappointed with my menfolk. They can't go anywhere in this fantasy world without inciting a riot, destroying a civilisation, or wiping out a town. And we're the good guys. My God. My druid and her crocodile are thinking of dumping them and running off with the Pirate King. It's complicated. 

Anyway! I'm gearing up for the release of THE NECROMANCER'S APPRENTICE on Monday so in lieu of actual content, here are two pictures which have made me smile this weekend.

This is Fergus watching us play D&D. He was halfway through washing, saw dice rolling, and forgot what he was doing.



And this is something I found on Cambridge market this morning. You're welcome.

Writerly Wednesday: NIGHT AND CHAOS news! Also, Ethan!

I signed and posted the contracts last week, so I can officially announce it now:

NIGHT AND CHAOS will be republished by Damnation Books in June 2012! Huzzahs! I'm very excited and looking forward to seeing some awesome new cover art. My aim is to have part two of the trilogy (currently titled Blood and Bones but probably to be renamed) ready for submission in Spring 2012.

In other news, Anti-Nano is officially go (check out squidathon for details), which means Halflife is back on my to-write list and the new Ethan novella/novel, Undertow is going to be started this very night. In honour of this, I've been putting together an Ethan Banning playlist. It will probably grow as the month continues but at the moment it looks like this:

When the Night Comes Down - Tiger Army
Twenty Flight Rock - Tiger Army
Under Saturn's Shadow - Tiger Army
I Turned Into A Martian - The Misfits
Ain't No Rest for the Wicked - Cage the Elephant
Wolf Like Me - TV On The Radio (who am I kidding, this song goes on all my playlists)
Monster - Skillet (Ethan's official theme song)
Stained Glass Cross - DOWN
The Man That Follows Hell - DOWN
Down With The Sickness - Disturbed
Divide - Disturbed
Shout 2000 - Disturbed
I Love To Say Fuck - The Murderdolls
People Hate Me - The Murderdolls

Hmm. No AFI yet...That must be rectified.