Intermission: Web Serial

Should I write one?

Not right now though, of course. I was doing the rounds yesterday and came across the Web Serial Writers section on Merrilee Faber’s weblog (incidentally, I saw that my link has a scroll-over with: “Ryan blogs about not very much these days…” Nice, hehe, though I am currently attempting to correct that little slip.) It struck me as interesting because I had considered one of my WIPs as somewhat of an episodic notion, but never delved into turning it into just that. Then I had just forgotten about the idea and begun on ‘Ran Red. Well, in having it presented before me again, I am finding the idea intriguing enough to consider it a possibility after I have finished my book.

I need to look into ‘web serials’ a bit more, read a few of them a bit more and generally, find out a bit more. Wikipedia explains three different versions that seem to be most prominent:

1) Self-contained. This kind of web serial tends towards stories that share the same universe, but otherwise differ in arcs. This allows for ease of introduction for new readers, and the option of character-swapping, but draws away from a larger – continuing – story.

2) Loose Continuity. The stories may be from differing characters, but they ultimately tie into a grander story – maybe even containing small arcs that contain the same characters and span a few chapters before introducing anew. Good for building angles on a greater epic, and introducing new readers, but may jump onto characters you’re not such a fan of and stick with them a while.

3) Tightly Cohesive. This seems to be the most common type of text-based web serial; the kind that centres on specific characters in a specific universe and doesn’t change. It’s basically a novel broken into chapters and served up bit by bit. The upside is a great continuing story with recognisable characters and growing appreciation, the down… well, if you’re new, you need to start at the beginning.

Personally, I like the idea of a tightly cohesive narrative as that’s what I’m used to with novel-writing, but changing it up could obviously factor into the interest and draw. I’ve never really published anything I have worked and worked on for a considerable amount of time; polishing and nurturing, and again, of course there is some sacrifice in that when serialising a story, but I do like the thought of something that can grow – in quality and fan base (one would hope).

If I were to venture into trying my hand at this kind of thing, I would get some ideas together and shoot for starting around the time I am finished with my current project. It could be an efficient way to both show my hand at writing, whilst also keeping the creative juices flowing… just in time to start editing that novel of mine and begin a brand new manuscript.

Snaring Me Time: A Look From The Inside

aka; ‘It’s not you, it’s me’

Quite often I have to take a moment to appreciate how little writing I get done. For someone who boasts of being an aspiring author and categorises it as somewhat of a modus operandi, I find myself living an ironic existence. If a mountain climber never soared to any height but that of his local park’s jungle gym, I doubt he could classify himself as such – or even as an aspiring such. Therefore, I guess I find myself curling the corner of my mouth into some form of a wry smile whenever I think about it happening (the ‘it’ being publication, of course). Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe it can’t happen, or will for that matter never happen. I just wonder how long it’s going to take me. Authors write, and write, and write – it takes them years to get something on a shelf and that comes from not just having issues in getting the damn novel finished, but in just finding a good agent, and someone who wants to publish it. But what about me? How long will it take someone like me who, for want of a better euphemism, is going at a rather unproductive snail’s pace.

Of course there are those who do draft, after draft, after draft and four years down the line, are just about ready to try taking that quad-annum perfectly formed transcript to an agent. It’s going to be perfect (in the author’s mind) but what if that four years has just been spent detailing and re-polishing a book that just doesn’t cut it? One could say, well at least they are doing something and I give kudos to that because, as I mentioned prior, it’s currently more than I can feel accomplished about.

For what it’s worth, I think the previous paragraph is just an example of my lack of commitment to one, single, story. I am writing a book, but I don’t want it to take up to much of my life. Is it supposed too? And I don’t mean in a day-to-day form, I mean in a yearly – decade-y sense. I began writing ‘Ran Red in February 2009 and I want it will be finished by February 2010. Come hell or dangerously high water I will have a finished draft that needs a re-visit and a going through of the editing machine. But after that?

Then I’ll start something new and fresh and different. But of course, before all of that, I still have to actually write, which means time, which means (though I am using time now to write this, grant me that) actually standing up for the importance of pretty much my single goal in life at the moment – writing a book; becoming an author of more than just short stories and sarcastic one-liners on comment threads. I have to take, steal, find, nurture, snare some me (writing) time and for realz. Not just a notion to commit the wheels to motion and get the juices flowin’, but actual locked-in, eyes-focused on the words time.

Something I’ve always had an issue with is taking time for me and not feeling like I am shirking my responsibilities, being selfish and/or acting anti-socially towards my family. When aligned with the fact that my family does understand, I have to imagine it’s more than just a temporal thing, but moreover – perhaps – an issue I have always had; family or no. When I confront myself with this fact: that I am trying to be something which, by its nature, requires isolation at times, and yet I have issues with freeing myself of not having to be there at all times, I have to find that wry smile. Because it’s ridiculous, I am my own worst enemy.

I guess that’s it in a nutshell. It’s not finding the time; it’s not forcing myself to create a pocket where I can vanish with it being (O)ll (K)orrect, it’s just me and my own, unfounded, guilt complex. Does that mean that ultimately I am a writer aimed for disaster, or a flawed individual who just happens to have a specific issue that doesn’t help such an isolated career path? Well, we’re all fucked up in one way or another, but at least with it being an emotional… no, that’s not right. With it being a trait, or even an infected-algorithm, I can try and change things. I’m an adaptive individual, and I’m perceptive – at least with others, though perhaps with my own self not so much as I might have thought.

To better take on this battle of ‘me time’ and by extension, any time I wish to write, or perhaps do anything for me and me alone, I need to fine-tune my strategy and look more at it more from the inside. Creating something as pliable as the opportunity to sit down and create, I need to exclude all exterior influences and not think of it as pressure from without not to go do it, but the pressure from within that I can go do it. It is fathomable that I can teach myself to do this without feeling like its not allowed, that by nature it’s selfish and ignorant of those around me.

Pursuing an accomplishment such as writing is something a lot of people don’t understand. It’s less impacting to those around you and the world at large, but it’s one every artist suffers with. It’s somewhat of a selfish ideal to aim for, but a noble one. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do something you are drawn towards, and it helps to have those around you who understand. My family understands this in me, and my need to do it. “It’s OK!” They say… I just think in the end, I was the only one who didn’t know it.

Into The Wilderness

I went on a brief vacation this last week (Sun – Wed), and of the camping persuasion. It was… interesting, though not the first time the family has been. Last year we went to the same location: Lake Quinalt in the Pacific Northwest – my local stomping ground. It was an adventure of sorts, though one that tested my mental strength at times. Children – especially mine – are a fragile sort when out of their element, that do things and act in certain ways that push you and pull you, make you smile and then torture you in the same hour.

My daughter is two. The first time we went, she was barely past one and she did not cope well with the great outdoors. We figured, she was young, and proceeded to try it again. Where last time she basically had to be held the entire time (and it rained) we imagined this time she would love the warm(er) weather this time of year and run free. Well… that wasn’t quite what happened.

The first day was rough – warm, but rough. We were all tired, all hungry and all bewildered by the opportunities before us. My wife and I had to set-up camp, and the children had to entertain themselves. They did this well and got wet and got happy and got everything in-between. Unfortunately, and unbeknown to us, my daughter was slowly falling apart inside and balancing on a thin-line between; “I’m having fun!” and “SLEEP! Where art thou!?”

A lot of crying ensued, but she napped eventually. My son and I ran into Lake Quinalt as quickly as we could and enjoyed the weather. My daughter woke up, we ate and yadda yadda. The rest of Day 1 was history. Day 2 was better, we visited the Largest Spruce In The World, as per my wife’s request and again we enjoyed the warm weather, the lake and a fire made my myself from nothing more than a flint and the natural resources of the rain forest we resided in. I felt very Man.

Day 3 started with washing bodies and clothes. That lasted some time and we wanted to go on a trail hike later in the day, but the weather (and attitudes) were fleeting and not intent on working to make it happen. We relaxed as best we could, burnt more wood on the fire and finished the day.

We began Day 4 with a half notion to stay, but more commitment to leaving earlier than the former. We ate a great breakfast born from a fire-top stove and packed up. The trip back was long (we’re talking 4+ hrs with two kids) but both were exceptional… parhaps the reward of being home was enough to keep smiles on faces and attitudes positive.

A couch never seemed so inviting.

We returned yesterday, and although I question any intention to re-visit camping whilst the children are still young, I did enjoy getting out there and the memories of the adventure will stay with me, I just wish my daughter could have been… happier.

So now… I have been alone for an hour or two today and my mind has wondered to Ran Red once again. I was talking about the definition of an entrepreneur on the drive home and my mind wandered to writing – being a writer, or having written a single thing: the constant vs. the one-off. ‘Which am I?’ I wondered and still do today. I need to finish Ran Red before I start to resent myself.

I am trying to think of what it was that had me writing every day and I think NPI showed me that I need a target, a daily target. It’s no good trying to write per week because I seem to fall over the fringe of the horizon and keep pushing and adding the numbers to make up ‘on the weekend’. Which is never my good writing time.

Per day, I need to push myself and re-see my Xbox and Television Stories as rewards and not procrastinations! Sometimes I wonder if my enjoyment of them is equal to the irritation I have of not progressing my book. When one is greater than the other, and the other clouds your focus, how do you see the woods for the trees?

What’s In A Song?

July has been up and down; I’ve tried to write and in a way I’ve succeeded – in others failed. But I don’t want to talk about that this time, I would like to actually write about something more interesting to me than my own narcissism and writing success.

I have always listened to music when I write, as I believe many of us have. The one thing that I find helpful about listening to something is the sense of pace and/or emotion during a particular writing session. I have, in the past, listened to an entire album just because I liked the band, but recently I have noticed I have to pick and choose the specific tune for the moment I am trying to accomplish. Is this me relying on the emotion of a song too much? Not necessarily. I know where I want to go – I feel it – and I just want an exterior influence to bring that out of me a bit more.

The meat of my observation though, is that when you hear a particular song, does it make you think of a specific scene, character or emotion, or a story altogether? I have a few songs logged in my mind that are synonymous with varying degrees of these choices and sometimes, when I hear them randomly it pulls me right into that place.

One of these songs is Map of the Problematique by one of my favourites, Muse. Whenever I hear it it casts me into the climactic scene of some far off space saga… perhaps a war has been lost, perhaps a brother has fallen – you get the drift.

Another song that stirs me is Gortoz A Ran – J’Attends by Danez Prigent & Lisa Gerrard. Wow, this is a tune, melody… emotion personified or something I don’t even know. It’s haunting and deeply introspective (to me). Whenever I hear this favourite, it just makes me think of loss, but also hope.

A new addition to my mental-music library is Better Than Heaven by one of my top five bands, Bloc Party and although I love the band, I only really began listening to this song this last week. There is something about the build up in the chorus that moves me and makes me think of space… I’m not sure how to describe it, but it just feels futuristic; like a build-up and the brink of something new.

These are only a few examples of tunes that move me, or help generate a more creative process when I need it. Music is not the case for everyone, but I wanted to share and get it out there. I suppose I’m wondering if it is the same for anyone else? Or if my attachment to specific pieces of music (modern especially) is something altogether intrinsic to me as a writer.

A Temporary Fade Away

Hey there (to anyone reading…)

…and let us be honest, I vanished for nearly a month so it wouldn’t surprise me if I lost a few frequent readers to the great void that had become my weblog.

What the hell happened, eh? Well not much. After the NPI in May, I was basically warn out. The end of the month had been tough and I’d been left scrambling to push and write, push and write and when June came, I just let the silence be. No writing – at all.

A few things have taken up my time recently, including but not exclusive to two bicycles requiring complete services (I’m talking nuts and bolts and bearings, not a spit and shine), the beginning of summer, Father’s Day and for the past week, my PC crapping out on me leaving me to find alternative ways to use it (Windows… up yours pally).

I have pretty much gotten those, and the many other things, done and dusted to an extent where I can ‘relax’ to a degree and focus on Ran Red once more. It’s been tough, feeling like you are shunning your responsibilities when in all actuality, it’s because of your responsibilities you have to shun it.

I guess that depends on how high a shelf that book goes, in comparison to family and the automatic gear of life. Though in July, Ran Red will be up there – paramount again.

Though I have ignored my own weblog, I have tried to keep up on others’, and I have realised my links have vanished thus causing me to try and remember most of the addresses. I’m not sure what happened, or what WordPress did, but where are my shortcuts?!

Most of you seem to be doing well and continuing on with purpose and for that, I am happy. It would be a major downer to come back from my sudden hiatus to realise everyone had gone on an extended one: no-one likes coming home from their holiday first.

Back to Ran Red, and I did mean to put in what had happened over the last few days of May. I won’t be doing that, there’s little point in looking back a month when I should be focusing on the next one. My book has gotten to a place where I can choose to branch off in one of a few directions with a new chapter, but which will be a choice I have to make when I sit down properly to begin again.

I was thinking it might be a good idea to have someone critique it in some fashion, though obviously I am a little dubious about showing my rough-book to anyone because A) Well, I’m proud of it and although I am no delicate flower, I guess I’m still readying myself for criticism, and B) Simply put, I don’t need anybody stealing it. We’ll see on this one. I know it’s healthy and in the end, will provide good feedback, but still… yeah… maybe I should finish it first?

So anyway. Glad to be back and I’m going to try and post a typical (me) ramble on some nothingness before June is up.

(Oh, I need to update my actual site too!)