Archive for January, 2009
Everything your mother ever told you about writing, but you didn’t want to know…
Posted on Friday, January 23rd, 2009 in Writing | No Comments
So! Last week I ended up through a bizarre set of circumstances attending a talk by Phillipa Boyen, one of the three minds behind the adaptation of Lord of the Rings to film. And, perhaps a little less gloriously, King Kong. Naturally, I can’t really be a fantasy geek without loving Lord of the Rings, although there are quibbles. The books are the granddads of fantasy literature As We Know It, and from them have sprung many generations of magic artefacts, snotty orcs, pointy-eared elves and the kind of statement that goes, ‘Aaaaah, my child, you must open the gates of Mozz’ock-bal to stop the sweeping darkness from consuming the Rage of Z’uxiwok.’ And means it. And that’s kinda a problem I have with the book, really, but that’s just me and as previously established, uber-respect for the granddad of fantasy.
As for the films…
Love them, own them, press ‘next’ on the DVD whenever Frodo starts looking too tormented. And let’s face it… I’m not the only person who does this. Which is a pity, because Frodo and Gollum tend to be in the same scenes for most of the film, and Gollum rocks.
Anyway, this is not really about Lord of the Rings.
What this really is about is writing in general. Because Phillipa Boyen’s talk was largely about writing – not just why she writes what she writes, but how she writes, which is something that I believe there are no real rule on. My entire family are writers, through various bizarre accidents, and none of us could come even close to mimicking the others’ style or techniques. And none of us would ever try. But, listening to this talk, I was reminded of what I suppose we could loosely define as ‘rules’ of writing. And, for fear of undermining my potential as a rambling lecturer in creative writing, I thought I might as well replicate them here for universal delight and delectation, as my Mum passed them onto me and so on and so forth unto the nth generation.
1. Slaughter your darlings.
I had no idea what Mum meant when she first said this, but with the wisdom of retrospect, she had a point. If there is a line, a joke, an idea, an event, something, anything, that you are desperately trying to get into your writing, that you are twisting an entire narrative towards even when the narrative really doesn’t want to bend, that is the definition of a darling. And it should be killed. Because at the end of the day, you don’t want to twist an entire narrative towards introducing a single punch line at the end of the paragraph, largely because of point 2…..
2. Put the story first.
Or in other words, if you’re desperate to write a novel about nose picking in the 17th century and are trying to force every aspect of your work towards discussion of this topic, you probably shouldn’t. Partially because this means your story is going to be horribly messy, but mostly because if you really, really care about nose picking in the 17th century that much, then odds are it’ll come up whether you try or not.
3. Show, don’t tell.
To put it another way…
If terrorists are nuking Los Angeles (as they do every other day, if you believe 24), far, far better to have someone see the blast up close and personal, rather than have someone else run in waving their hands desperately and saying, ‘you know what, guys, someone’s just nuked LA!’
And I guess an unofficial 4th rule would be…
4. Your editor may have a point.
Anyway, that’s the distilled wisdom of my Mum.
Everything else is entirely up to you….
Urban Magic
Posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 in Writing | No Comments
So, there’s gonna be some stuff on this site about Urban Magic. With a capital ‘U’ and a capital ‘M’. And it seems kinda sensible to take this moment to explain why….
Covent Garden Market
One day, much like any other day, I was sitting in bed reading a fantasy book when I should have been studying, the thought struck me that most magic I read about these days, is ancient magic. In Lord of the Rings and its magic-sword-based derivatives, crumbling scrolls are poured over by old men. Mystic rings lost for a thousand years are unearthed; magic circles with pagan symbols are drawn; wizards chant in old Latin or long-forgotten scripts. Even in young adult fiction, strange old mysteries are imparted to questing teenage boys, who must then seek an old, dead power to defeat an old, not-quite dead foe, who with any luck wears black just to let you know he’s a baddie.
Photo by Caroline Bond
Reading fantasy, you could be quite easily forgiven for thinking that the fictional magical community hasn’t been able to come up with a decent spell since the days of King Arthur, but are just constantly reliant on that old cantrip passed down by their dead master. There’s a lot of magic in realms of giant forests, swords, demons and castles; or, if magic has even made it to the modern age, it was still a magic of old words and ancient powers, of chanting Latin words and pentagram symbols. Make no mistake; it’s wonderful, and I will spend many, many more years enjoying the stories of men who say ‘verily’ and mean it, but it is by very definition, not my world, not real.
To me, the city has always been magical, a place full of life and adventure, and if magic is more than just a thing we do not understand, then it is about miracles and wonder, and for me, that’s always been in London.
And I got thinking…
… if I were a wizard in the twenty first century, I’d be a bit pissed off that every spell I had to learn was written in a two thousand year old language known only to an old man and his goat. For a start, surely this limits the use of magic only to university graduates in obscure linguistics? Or if I were a troll, I would, if nothing else to avoid trouble with the police, probably have to shift my diet from human bones to hamburgers as the times moved on. If I was a witch, I would find a pet pigeon far more useful than a pet owl. Why should Tinkerbell wear a garment of leaves when she could have a polyester fleece? Why seek a unicorn horn when the chemist will do you a calcium-based equivalent free on the NHS? Why bind demons and monsters with ancient laws, when there are so many laws extant today? Get an ASBO for your irritating draconic neighbour, not a crossbow toting bounty hunter, go to the dentist with your vampire fangs – remember – a build-up of plaque causes gum infection, and what gum infections a vampire must get!
Or in other words…
… welcome to the twenty first century, Urban Magic.
Photo by Caroline Bond
Welcome!
Posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 in Writing | 1 Comment
Greetings! And welcome to the first entry of my new blog….
I guess the first thing to say is that I’ve never kept a blog before, and this will be an interesting experience, not least as several internet providers in the last few days have informed me that my flat has fallen through a hole in space and time, and finding it will make the quest for the Higgs boson look like an easter egg hunt in a playground. But, domestic crises permitting, I will try to write regularly about the things that interest me, and hopefully you too; the Urban Magic series, writing, fantasy and science fiction in general, London.
I should probably also tell you a few things about me, since you’ve wandered into my blog and might be on the verge of wandering back out in confusion.
I am a fantasy writer, and have been for an unlikely percentage of my life. For the truly curious, I was born the day after a nuclear disaster, which is the only clue I’m going to give to narrow down my age. I started writing as a teenager and through a bizarre series of circumstances, my first novel was published when I was fourteen under the name of Catherine Webb. I’ve lived in London my whole life; I went to university at the London School of Economics where I developed a bit of a thing for the Ottoman Empire (totally rocks) and the politics of the early Cold War (which went down hill, I personally think, around 1965). Having spent three years studying history, the next logical step in my non-literary career was to move to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where I currently study technical theatre.
The first and hopefully last technical theatre joke of the blog:
Q: What is a pirate’s favourite finish?
A: Artex.
It took me seven and a half weeks to find out why that was funny. You may just have to take my word on this; in its own way, it’s hilarious.
Moving swiftly on…
My tastes, I’m told, are eclectic, but I think its probably fairer to say I have no taste at all, and as a consequence like practically everything, except perhaps mushrooms and the 341 bus. Many, many days of my life have been spent watching the new series (and quite a few of the old) of Dr Who, or ploughing through the complete West Wing. If asked to name my heroes, I’d have to start with Grommit (of Wallace and Grommit fame), move onto Terry Pratchett and round it off with a hefty dose of Raymond Chandler.
But, perhaps I will leave discussion of my various science fiction/fantasy gods to a later date…
So this, basically, is me.
If you have found me by google-esque chance, then greetings and welcome!
If you have wandered to this site because you are interested in the Urban Magic series, then doubly greetings and please stick around; there will be plenty more posts on this and other subjects, and in the mean time, feel free to post comments and have a nose around the site!
Until next time….