Unnecessary romance

As I read my Work In Progress for the millionth (fifth) time and managed not to gouge my own eyes out, I began thinking about romance in fiction.

I often have this thought when writing; why do I feel the need to put romance in every single thing I create?

Do you remember that ickle Hobbit fan fiction what I wrote?  That was an introduction to a new character that I wanted to insert into the Hobbit plotline and, guess what, she was going to fall in love!

I can’t actually think of an idea, short story, novella or novel, that I have which doesn’t involve a romance.

This annoys me about myself.  Love is important, yes, but there are so many more interesting and exciting aspects to life other than falling in love.  Tolkien managed it, in fact men seem to be very good at this, which is irritating.

The Pixar film Brave is an excellent example of how you do not need romance to make a story enjoyable.  Romance in adult fiction is also a tricky one.  In young adult fiction romance is clear cut.  Boy and girl meet, fall in love, overcome some obstacles/get turned into vampires/save the world, live happily ever after.  They don’t have sex and, if they do, they certainly don’t out of wedlock.

Adult fiction has more, dare I say it, shades of grey.  Adults are allowed to engage in consensual sex without any emotion involved which can make a story or character very interesting.  Yet I still feel the need to include love in my fiction.  Why?  I’m very happily in love so it’s not like I need to create this feeling in other parts of my life.  Maybe, deep down, I just want my characters to be as happy as me?   Here, have a sick bag.

Thankfully sometimes characters have other ideas.  As other writers will know and agree with, we actually have very little control over our characters.  Like parents, we create them and name them.  We put them in a location or in a situation and then...they completely take over.

In my current WIP I have a main character who was supposed to become romantically involved with another character.  As I wrote the first draft he was enamoured with her but she just wasn’t interested.  I struggled to bring them together but by the end of the story they hadn’t even kissed.

On my first read through I realised why.  God, he was boring!  My poor main character, of course she wasn’t interested.  So I deleted him.  Well, I changed him.  And replaced him with a woman, supposedly a kindred spirit for my main character; a younger version of her, perhaps, ripe for moulding.  I wrote her in and sat back to read.

There is now a spark between my main character and this new woman.  Nothing happens other than shared glances in silence and secret smiles but the potential is all there.  So I began to wonder, is my main character gay?

Well, why not?  I’ve never knowingly written a gay character and this is the first character who has rebelled against a romantic opportunity that I have placed in front of her.  She doesn’t seem romantically interested in any of the men in the novel.  But this new woman is something different.

I’m actually quite excited about this.  Is that bad? To be honest, I've always had a fascination with humans in society and during my final year at university I developed an interest in gender and sexuality.  I studied a module about gender in archaeology which explored the sexuality and gender perceptions of people in ancient society.  For example, what does it mean if a man is buried with a lot of jewellery?  Does it mean he was gay?  Transsexual?  Maybe he was a jeweller?  Or perhaps this type of jewellery was fashionable for men at this time, or he was showing off his wealth?  Got to love archaeology - like writing, it's all so subjective!

Thing is, I started trying to think of gay characters in fantasy fiction and the only one that sprung to mind was Renly Baratheon and his lover in Game of Thrones... So suddenly my main character potentially has a whole new depth to her.  Something I've personally never explored and I can't wait to write the next piece that she features in to learn more about her (if I ever get this novel finished).

 

For a bit more on gay characters, check out this article on Fantasy Faction.

Why so series-us?

What do Stephanie Meyer, J K Rowling, Terry Pratchett and Paul Magrs all have in common?

They’ve all written a series!

When I was researching, believing myself ready to submit a fantasy novel to publishers and agents, I came across one thing, over and over.  Publishers love their fantasy in threes.  The general notion seemed to be that if you can make your story into a trilogy, it is more likely to sell.

As a reader, I disagree with this.  I would rather read one stand alone book then a trilogy.  I thoroughly enjoyed Northern Lights of the His Dark Materials trilogy (Phillip Pullman), for example, but The Amber Spyglass actually annoyed me and was a battle to finish.  I adore The Blade Itself of the The First Law trilogy (Joe Abercrombie) but couldn’t for the life of me tell you what happened in The Last Argument of Kings.  I couldn’t even remember off hand the titles of these third books!

On the other hand, I am an ardent fan of the Discworld series (Terry Pratchett), the Brenda and Effie series (Paul Magrs) and Joe Abercrombie in general who’s novels all feature the same world and reoccurring characters (I read with longing that Logan Ninefingers and/or Glokta will reappear).

Yes, I dislike trilogies but love a good series.  What’s the difference?

A trilogy tells the same story over the course of three books.  While I have repeatedly read that all trilogy books should be able to stand alone, this simply isn’t true and if you want any closure for your new favourite characters, you must read all three.  Three books are not many, but have you noticed that many trilogies grow in size as they go on?  The final book is always the thickest and suddenly gaining that closure becomes a marathon.

A series tells the story or stories of a set of characters in the same location.  This can be as varied as the writer wants and can make work.  It may be that a series stretches across a whole world (Pratchett’s Discworld), a country or two (George R. R. Martin’s Westoros and across the Narrow Sea) or a town (Whitby in Magrs’ Brenda and Effie series).  It could focus on a small set of characters (Brenda, Effie and friends) or a whole cast full (Rincewind, Vimes, Vetinari, The Librarian, Susan, Death, Colon, Nobby Nobbs, Carrot, Tiffany, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg to name a few and that is not counting the one off characters through the whole series).

A series is something special, it is something that readers become loyal to.  It is the equivalent of joining a group of friends on a new adventure.  You live and breathe there with them and look forward to when you can return to them.

A series is also a sure fire way to make a publisher a lot of money.  Once one book has a readership, the whole series has a readership and the longevity of the books relies on the number of books in the series.  Not to mention that someone may discover a book fairly late and then catch up through the backlog, resulting in more sales and an ever increasing customer base.

Whatever the series you hope to create, there are some constants which must remain throughout;

• Locations must remain familiar.  Feel free to introduce new locations, of course, but make sure they are repeated throughout the series.
• Have a cast of reoccurring protagonists.
• How about some reoccurring antagonists?  This will differ depending on the series.  Crime stories will require different protagonists throughout, but how about that serial killer that got away?

While a series should have constants, it is also very important that each book work as a stand alone story.  This is where it becomes tricky!  A series can/should have a main issue or story that is worked on throughout (the game of thrones in A Song of Fire and Ice, Brenda’s fight for a normal life in the Brenda and Effies books) but each book must have its own story with a beginning, middle and ending giving the reader closure.

You also want to ensure that anyone can dip into the middle of your series and still be immediately hooked without wondering what the hell is going on and being forced to find the first book.

How about a sub series?  Within the Discworld series there are the City Watch series, the Witch series, the Wizard series…if you have a large cast of characters this might be one way of dividing stories.  It also gives way to marketing opportunities – which is your favourite Discworld sub series?

Why not experiment?  Both of my current novels are the beginnings of series’.  One will rely on three main characters with some minor reoccurring characters.  The other will rely on a world, with reoccurring characters but a new story and point of view each time.  I’m actually very excited to see where both will lead me.

As with all writing, there are exceptions to all of these rules.  When it comes down to it, write what you love but make sure it works.




Fancy a bit more?  Check these links out -
www.bestsellerlabs.com/the-hottest-tip-no-fiction-writer-can-afford-to-ignore
http://www.joeabercrombie.com
http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/ 
http://lifeonmagrs.blogspot.co.uk/


 
 

Top 10 Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror Books

In response to Zed’s comment to my last post about Science Fiction, here are my top 10 Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror books.  I tried to put them in some sort of order but that proved too difficult, so in no particular order;

      1.       The Body – Stephen King

Sentimentally speaking, The Body is my favourite story.  The Body is one novella of four in the book Different Seasons by Stephen King.  Four boys lie to their parents and follow the train tracks to find the dead body of a kid their age.

I first saw the film based in this story, Stand By Me, when I was 12 and I fell in love with it.  I found the book when I was 18 and it sits proudly on my shelf, yellowing and bent from the number of times it’s been read.

The book is beautifully written and dark.  As much as I love Stand By Me, the book spoke to me so much more.  This is a story from my childhood and adolescence, this story got me through teenage depression, GCSEs, exams and my first year of University when I felt down or homesick.

2.       The Blade Itself: The First Law Book One – Joe Abercrombie

This book, and the subsequent sequels, have some incredibly vibrant characters written on its pages.  Beware, there are a lot of characters but a couple really stand out and even now, years after reading this book, I still remember Logan Ninefingers and Glokta vividly.

The Blade Itself is gritty, violent and full of action.  I never doubted buying it after reading the blurb in the bookshop and I accidently read the first sentence when I got home. I had to put whatever I was reading at the time on hold until I had finished this fantastic book. 

A summary/blurb can be found on Joe Abercombie’s website.

3.       Guards Guards – Terry Pratchett

I love all of the Discworld novels to a certain degree.  Guards Guards is one of my favourites for two reasons; Sam Vimes and dragons.

This is the first Discworld novel for Vimes, we are introduced to an alcoholic guard and his men.  You instantly find yourself drawn to Vimes, you empathise with him and trust in him which is what makes him one of most anticipated and heart warming characters in the Discworld.

I love this book so much that I have an artists impression of Errol on the wall of my living room.

4.       Small Gods – Terry Pratchett

Another Discworld novel.  This novel explores the perception of belief and that is why I love it.  I admit that I have a fascination with mythology and belief and I found this book a joy to read with fascinating concepts.

Small Gods follows Brutha, a novice priest who lacks what is necessary in the thinking department and yet he is the one that the great god Om, in the form of a tortoise, appears before.

5.       Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Yes, another Terry Pratchett, but this time co-written with Neil Gaiman.   I told you that I have a fascination with belief and gods and you probably know by now that the Armageddon holds some interest to me too.  This book is about just that and a mix up with the coming of the Antichrist.

I picked up this book because of the angels and Terry Pratchett’s name on the front and was introduced me to the world of Neil Gaiman.

6.        The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman

This is supposedly a children’s book but that shouldn’t put adults off.  A toddler house is broken into and his parents murdered.  The ghosts living in the graveyard across the road take him in and raise him.

This book is dark, humorous and beautiful written with a story that has never left me.

7.       Wee Free Men – Terry Pratchett

Yes, yes, I know.  Another Terry Pratchett book.  But come on, the Wee Free Men!  How could this not be on the list?  Again, another supposed children’s book.  Wee Free Men is the first in the Tiffany Aching series.  Tiffany is unlike other girls, she has a fantastic way of thinking, taking after Granny Aching.  She is a cheese maker and a witch.  On her family’s land live the Wee Free Men; small, blue little people who speak the most wonderful Scottish. 

This book is a must read introduction to the Wee Free Men and the lovely Tiffany.  I cannot actually put into words how amazing the Wee Free Men are, which is a frustrating thing for a writer.  They are so much fun to read and they quickly became some of my favourite all-time characters.

8.       World War Z – Max Brooks

Now, I haven’t actually quite finished reading this yet.  I bought it in preparation for the film which is due out in this country at the beginning of 2013.

This book is a collection of interviews with all different types of people around the world, telling the story of World War Z, the war with zombies.

Despite not having finished it yet, this book has already made the list purely based on the dedication and research that has obviously gone into it.  It is very well written and basically every interview is a short story, reading them gives you the full story of the war from every angle possible; economic, political, military and civilian, from so many different countries across the world.  It is an awe-inspiring novel just for this but the story is also painfully real, violent and wonderful all at the same time.

9.       The Midwich Cuckoos – John Wyndham

This is possibly the only Science Fiction novel on my list.  Is this Science Fiction?  The classic story of an English village.  One night every occupant blacks out, when they come round they soon realise that every woman of child bearing age is pregnant.

This book is fascinating, fast paced and I found it very difficult to put it down.

10.   The Shawshank Redemption – Stephen King

A true classic.  The Shawshank Redemption is another novel hidden inside Different Seasons by Stephen King.  As with all books-turned-into-films, the book is a lot better than the film and surely you know how good the film is?  The book is more personable and heartfelt, it is dark with a twisted human beauty that seems to be Stephen King’s forte (I haven’t read much Stephen King-yet).

Watch the film; read the book.

A small selection of books on my to-read pile are;

•  Everything Neil Gaiman (he is a new discovery of mine – Neverwhere and Stardust)
• The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
• Retribution Falls: Tales of the Ketty Jay – Chris Wooding
• Heroes – Joe Abercrombie
• Snuff – Terry Pratchett

What does this tell you about me?  That I’m not too keen on Science Fiction but I am a big Terry Pratchett fan. 

So come on then, share.  What are your ten favourite Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror books?

Science Fiction: A Definition

Is anyone else having a really bad month?  I know people are because my friends and family are telling me about their awful Januarys.  It seems every week brings with it more bad news.  To add to that, for some reason, work is also very busy.  This means that I haven’t been writing as much as I should have been this month.  In fact, I’m very behind.  I’ve rewritten my plan for my current novel three times since the New Year and while I’ve printed out and started editing Chapter One of Silver, I haven’t got very far.

I’ve also been thinking hard about what to write about here on this blog.   What with stressful, long days at work, no writing and throbbing headaches, stories were not very forthcoming.  Until last night when we watched the first episode of the new series of Room 101.

Fern Britton joined Frank Skinner and told the nation that she wanted to put Science Fiction into Room 101.  I was in shock and so was Robert Webb.  Now, I am well aware that this should not have been taken seriously.  Honestly, though, I felt my blood rush and I instantly started to build a defence for Science Fiction. 

It seemed to me that Fern has only seen or heard of Star Wars, Star Trek and Dr Who so I began to scan through my DVD collection in search of other Science Fiction titles that might stand up in a debate.  This then led to a problem; what is the definition of Science Fiction?

Aliens are the first thing that comes to my mind when Science Fiction is mentioned.  Aliens and space travel, so the obvious picks from my collection are Firefly and Serenity, District 9, Independence Day, Cloverfield and Paul.  Of course futuristic titles also fall under the category; I, Robot, Terminator and its sequels and the Fifth Element. 

Then I became a little stuck – The Walking Dead.  This television series is a perfect example to me of beautiful writing encapsulating the reality, horror and social and individual meltdown that a plague of this scale might cause.  It is about a disease (possibly) infecting the living, killing them and then reanimating their corpses.  It is therefore a futuristic and scientific concept.  These concepts are usually categorised under Horror, but could it also be called Science Fiction?

I have found a number of Science Fiction definitions;

Science Fiction

Noun

a form of fiction that draws imaginatively on scientific knowledge and speculation in its plot, setting, theme, etc.

Well that’s just vague and unhelpful.

How about;

‘Science fiction reflects scientific thought; a fiction of things-to-come based on things-on-hand.’ By Benjamin Appel

or

‘SF is a controlled way to think and dream about the future. An integration of the mood and attitude of science (the objective universe) with the fears and hopes that spring from the unconscious. Anything that turns you and your social context, the social you, inside out. Nightmares and visions, always outlined by the barely possible.’ By Gregory Benford

The argument, really, then is whether Science Fiction is just wholly about the science.  That limits it to space travel and time travel and everything that comes with them.  It still doesn’t answer my question regarding zombies.

In the bookshops, Science Fiction is often shelved with Fantasy and Horror. The lines between these genres are so easily blurred and a novel can easily be classed in more than one of these.  Zombies usually fall under Horror but I find that Horror is another one of those vague, blurred genres.  Anything can be Horror – Literature, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Comedy, Romance.  Ok, perhaps Romance doesn’t often collide with Horror but it is possible.  Does this mean that these three genres that always share the same corner of the bookshop are so interwoven that they cannot be parted?  This would mean that zombies are Science Fiction by default of simply sitting in that corner under Horror.

Of course, that’s not strictly true either.  For avid Horror readers and viewers, Horror is light years away from Science Fiction.  Although in my experience, Horror fans are often Science Fiction and Fantasy fans too. Perhaps this is why these three genres are grouped together, not because of the similarities between genres but because of the shared fan base.

On a similar point, has anyone else noticed that the Horror channels on Sky are regularly showing War of the Worlds (Science Fiction), Firefly (Science Fiction) and Angel (Fantasy)?

If you search online for a definition of Science Fiction, the internet seems just as confused.  To me, Science Fiction will always mean space and time travel and all that those entail but I am glad that the lines are blurred.  Every time I enter a bookshop, I head over to that corner to get my Fantasy/Horror/Science Fiction fix and often find something shiny in a genre I didn’t expect.  My favourite definition of Science Fiction, found by my search engine, was by Damon Knight;

"...[Science Fiction] means what we point to when we say it."

Quotes taken from http://scifi.about.com/od/scififantasy101/a/SCIFI_defs.htm

P.S.  This is the blog of a writer and I have every intention of actually putting some fiction up here.  Promise.

Happy 2012!

Today is the last day of 2011.

2011 was a good year for me.  2011 is the year I finished what I consider to be my first publishable novel; Silver.

After over 20 years of writing, finding my voice, finding my genre, I have finally finished a manuscript that I want to share with the world.

2011 was a happy year and I want 2012 to be just as happy if not more so. Therefore I will start as I mean to carry on and have created this blog.  This is only the first post so I won’t do much but as January continues I will fill it up with goodies, information, thoughts and news.

One of the main obstacles I have come across in 2011 with regards to my writing is obtaining feedback and I hope to use this blog as one method of getting some feedback and sharing my ideas and words with you.

2012 holds a lot of promises;  The Hobbit, The Dark Knight Rises, World War Z, The Avengers, a new series of Game of Thrones and the second half of The Walking Dead Season 2 to name but a few.  That should give you an idea of the kind of person I am.

I will return with features, news, articles and writing in January and more of all of the titbits I have offered in this post.  Until tomorrow, have a wonderful New Year everyone!