Unspoken Words

The content of my short guide, How To Survive Online Writing Forums, has been added to the blog and has its own page.  It’s still available on the Critters Bar writing forum, and a pdf version is also available for download from the blog page. All comments welcome.

My short piece, a 250-worder titled Broken Waters, is up today at Every Day Fiction. Feel free to read and comment.

http://www.everydayfiction.com/broken-waters-by-bob-jacobs/

What’s the best writing how-to book you’ve ever read?

What’s that? You don’t believe in them? Move along please. Thank you.

I’ve read a leaning tower of them since I began writing almost six years ago. Some I’ve found really useful, some less so, but all of them have had something to offer.

If you like how-to books, you’ll no doubt have your favourites, as do I. Without doubt this year my favourite has been Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time, by Jordan E. Rosenfeld. Once in a while a book comes along that really makes a difference, and this – for me – is one such book.

Rosenfeld breaks the book up into four major sections:

• Architecture of a Scene
• The Core Elements and the Scene
• Scene Types
• Other Scene Considerations

Right from the first chapter I knew I was holding in my hands a book that was going to help me to prepare for writing my novel, and I haven’t been disappointed. It has affected not only my writing, but my reading, too.

More details available here:

http://www.amazon.com/Make-Scene-Crafting-Powerful-Story/dp/1582974799

If you’re like me and you’re making the change from writing short stories to writing a novel, add this to your list of wants for Christmas.

And feel free to share your own recommendations.

Sounds as though Borders (UK) is in serious trouble, according to the BBC web site. More details here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8376394.stm

Metaphors and similes. They’re like windy days: some days they blow you away completely, some days they just make your eyes water. (Sorry). We’ve all seen some good ones, and some not so good ones. Here’s one I just came across that stopped me in my tracks, from the novel Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds. This is science fiction, no less:

In the distance, a billion pebbles sighed orgasmically under the assault of another sea wave.

Remind anyone of their honeymoon? Here it is again in context, in case that makes a difference:

The silver sun burned overhead, a blank coin shining through a caul of grey sea fog. Skade settled into a flesh-and-blood body, as she had before. She was standing on a flat-topped rock; the air was cold to the bone and prickled with ozone and the briny stench of rotting seaweed. In the distance, a billion pebbles sighed orgasmically under the assault of another sea wave.

So, have you got any good ones? Or bad ones? Got any real stinkers? Let’s have them.

The Novel

Yes, yes, yes, I know I said I’d start writing it in June.

No, no, no, I haven’t started yet.

What’s it to you, Big Nose?

I’m still reading as much contemporary science fiction as I can, and mostly enjoying it. I’m also reading up on science fact – latest theories on time travel, black holes, worm holes, parallel universes and that kind of thing. There’s some really interesting stuff out there (no, really, there is). Anyway, I consider this to be an essential part of my preparation for writing the novel and won’t begin writing until I feel that I’m ready. Right now, I’d expect that to be just after Christmas. Maybe even January 1st. But if I’m not ready then, it’ll be when I am.

However, I still intend to have the novel written and revised by the end of 2010. That has always been the case and that’s still the case, so, even though the start has slipped by months, I plan to have it ready on time. How? Well, simply put, the original plan was really lazy and assumed a typing speed of around 30 words a fortnight with time off for good behaviour, or something equally as silly. I know I can write it faster than originally planned, comfortably in fact, so that’s what I’ll do. Okay?

Critters Bar

I love that place. But I haven’t been there in over a month. What? Well, Ian Rochford has kindly taken over the admin role (thanks Ian), and I’m taking time out not only from Critters Bar but from all such writing forums and online gathering places for a while so that I can concentrate on the novel. It’s hard. I do miss the interaction. But it’s got to be done. The last 12 months I’ve managed to set myself free from all kinds of things in order to free up time for the novel, and pulling out of Critters Bar for a while was the last step. I will be back, I’m just not sure when right now.

Goldfish Bowl

Still meeting up with other writers locally every couple of weeks, and last night we had a workshop on ‘the opening’, the second such workshop as we had one on characterisation a couple of meetings ago. Anyhow, it seemed to go down pretty well and though we were relatively light on numbers the discussion was very worthwhile and we ended up over-running.

Writing

The last stuff I wrote was during the July Blast story-a-day initiative in Critters Bar, and I think I managed about 16 or 17 pieces during the month, something like that. Not quite one a day, but still. Anyway, Dogzplot Flash Fiction took one of the pieces (Chrono-something) from the July Blast recently:

http://dogzplot.blogspot.com/2009/10/chromo-something-bob-jacobs.html

and the good folks over at The Pygmy Giant recently took one (Imperfectly Formed):

http://thepygmygiant.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/imperfectly-formed/

and Every Day Fiction are due to put one up (Broken Waters) on November 26th:

http://www.everydayfiction.com/

Yes, yes, yes, I know they’re very short. Yes, yes, yes, I know they’re very simple. If you want something longer and more meaningful you’ll have to wait for the novel, which is thirteen-point-something months away from being completed (let alone published). But it’ll be worth the wait. Honest.

And those places are all worth a visit if you’re looking for some short fiction to read.

Okay. That’s all for now, folks.