Wednesday, February 15, 2006

just 2 and a half weeks to write my novel!

First, need to say (very briefly) that about 2 hours after I posted that last post I had a gout/arthritis attack ... this time in my effing elbow for the first time ... rendering writing rather painful nay impossible for some days. Got to tell you it was extremely annoying because, as you can tell, I was rather bouyed up with ideas and wanted to start writing but physically couldn't. Bastard body of mine. Gonna move on though, can you believe I've actually received complaints from readers of this blog for boring everyone about gout? Who do I write this thing for anyway? Me primarily :) Am just coming to terms with it all hence my obsession I guess, it'll bed down as I begin to know and love the pain and swelling.

Anyhoo ... back to the novel stuff.

Schlepped to university Monday night for another class. Really enjoyed it. we had to do a free write, starting line was something like: "When he/she woke in the morning, the dinosaur was still there ..." and our task is to then write beyond that sentence. I twisted it round a bit and built into it some themes from a short story I've been kicking around my head ... something about future violence and disruption by quasi terrorists. Bit tech, bit low level sci fi. Not too much though because I prefer sci fi that is quite real, slightly in the future believable understandable stuff. They call sci fi something else these days, um, something like 'progressive' or 'pre-emptive' or 'postulative'. It's neither of these but I've forgotten ... suggests that it's about guessing the future though. That's cool. Not "welcome thee to the high flung constellation of zog." type stuff. Eeek. Used to like all sorts of sci fi, now I hate it like I hate Lord of the Rings fantasy stuff ... which I used to love too. I grew up? John Wyndham kicks ass in the sci fi area. He's the father of all that is right in sci fi.

I distracted myself with sf talk, sory, back on track now.

We then looked at perspective. We were asked to think up a situation and then write a few sentence about it. "I'm sitting in front of x and I hate him/her because ..." was the starting point.

WE then had to do it in the third person. Then we had to write it from the perspective of the other person, the one being hated. Then again from the perspective of someone who was trying to read a book but was being distracted by the two people above. About 4 other perspectives too.

I don't know if it sounds rubbish but when you do it, it's actually quite interesting and enriching. What it made me do is to think of the situation - I'd set it in a pub - from a real 360 degree perspective. I think, though, it was more an exercise in where the voice comes from, who can tel the story best, how it fits together, etc.

Other stuff Doing my house up at the moment. decorating, carpeting, new furniture. It has been a bit of a dreary state for quite a long time. I need to either sell it next year or sort out a way of paying back my ex-girlfriend so that I can stay here.

Oh and ... a complete ban on smoking!!!! How flipping fantastic is that? Does that start summer 2006 or 2007? I haven't caught upp with the dates yet cos I got in late from work last night.

2 comments:

BloggingMone said...

Smoking ban: Scotland probably 2006, rest of Britain probably 2007. As a tolerant ex-smoker I would like to add that I think alcohol should be banned as well. The damage it brings to families, especially to children, when mom or dad are alcohol addicts is much worse than the damage caused by smoking.
That novel class seems to be very exciting and the tasks sound useful and quite entertaining as well. I know it is awful when you really feel motivated and have a good idea on what to write and just can't do it, because your arm hurts. Hope you're OK again!

Katie said...

Hi Damon!

I think the smoking bn will beefit non smokers, it's horrible when you go into pubs and breathe horrid smell and come out with it on you as well in your clothes. ! Eww!

The novel class seems to be going well for you Damon, keep up the good work.

Should do something like that myself, am good at writing and making up stories except my blog has been suffering harsh neglect as haven't been thinking hard for good blog entries.

Hope the house gets sorted too, sounds like you have been thinkig about it but sorry to hesar about your bad hands and wrists and having the gout/arthritis attack.

Thing to do is not let pain get you down and not to e deprssed about thingsbut it's good you are having interests like the writing class to stimulate your mind.