Nothing Wrong With Genre Fiction

I’ve mentioned the writing paper I did and the issues it created several times before. One of the things drilled into us was that genre fiction (from speculative fiction through to romance and all genres in between) was, very basically, what inept writers write. I stopped dabbling with fantasy and a lot of my work got shelved as I started this new, ‘literary fiction’, trend.

While my SoCNoC attempt was more fantasy-ish, I couldn’t settle into it. I still don’t know what the wall I’ve hit is, but I’ll overcome it in time. It may just be where my head’s at.

I spent some time reading a YA fantasy novel by WritersBlockNZ and gave her a heap of feedback, and that made me think about my old friend, Forbidden Knowledge. I haven’t touched it in forever, or even thought about it really, but I opened it up today and read some of the first chapter.

It needs a lot of work, but it’s not complete rubbish and I feel more comfortable working on this. When I write fantasy I feel like I’m torn between what I want to write and what I should write. It’s taken me this long to face what I’ve really known all along, write what you like.

I’ve always read fantasy. I love it. I love YA fantasy and Sherryl Jordan is on my favourite authors list. Time to stop suppressing this desire to write fantasy, shelve the guilt I feel for doing so, and go back to Forbidden Knowledge to fill in the gaps, and get it to a point where I can say, “I’ve written a novel”. That’s more impressive than, “I’ve been writing some literary fiction”, which is generally responded with “oh, what’s literary fiction?”

Writing

In order to get past my lack of desire to sit at the computer and get typing I decided to do it the old fashioned way. I got some refill and my parker pen and sat down (well, lay down on the bed) and wrote. It felt so good! The words just flowed out and although I often thought “man, this is pretty crap,” I  pushed it aside with, “I can fix it as I type it up,” and just kept going. I am working on my short story for the collection challenge, and have almost finished the first part. The second part is going to be all new so I’m looking forward to getting the first part finished so I can move on. Then when it’s all typed I’ll do a final edit and email it off to my friend Heather who has offered to read it over .

Because I don’t need to write every day it’s easy for me to fall into not writing creatively. The main side effect is that I get quite depressed when I don’t write. Already after writing 5 pages (double spaced) I feel lighter and happier, and maybe even up to getting out of the dressing gown and getting dressed, although it’s 5:30 pm so there’s not much point.

I’ve also spent a lot of time meditating on Forbidden Knowledge today; the world and the events in the novel, why they are relevant and how I can make them smoother. I also drew a picture inspired by some Viking art of a tree endemic to my world. Seemingly random, I know, but it’s an aspect of the world I had to tackle so I feel better now I have.

I’ll try get the first part of the short story finished tonight .

February Already

And I feel as though January was almost wasted. I have done almost no writing beyond essays. I did learn to knit yesterday, so that sneaks into achievements of Jan; I am knitting myself a blue fluffy poncho . Although my trip south took out two weeks of my month and left me way behind in my study I did enjoy myself. I’ve also gotten to spend a bit of time with friends, which was something I missed all last summer. I miss those out of town, especially Abby, but she is going to try come over on Waitangi Day to visit.

I have my first exam on the 10th of Feb, so I will be spending the next 2 weeks studying hard. I am not worried about my marks, so I’ll just see how much I manage to get done. I really do need to pass the Vikings though, I need it for my history minor. I have all my extramural studyguides for next semester, and am enrolled properly now. It looks like it’s going to be a hard semester, but I am doing 2 writing papers so it should be fun. Can’t wait til my exams are over so I can buy my books and be excited about only having 2 more exams ever .

I have to get a bit of writing done this month if I really want to get something in for the writing challenge. Hopefully I can get it done over my week between semesters. I also really need to get some editing done on Forbidden Knowledge or there will be no way I can get it finished by April. I think I will joining NaNoEdMo to give me a good push in the right direction. If I get to 40,000 in Feb then I can use the 50hrs of editing to finish it.

Life plods on. I was hoping to cruise down to the gypsy fair in town but I can’t get hold of Ro and I don’t really feel like going alone so I’ll give it a miss. I’m already sick of Dale working all weekend and this is only the second one!

I’m Back!

Although I’m not quite settled back into it yet. We got home last night, but it really didn’t feel right. Something was missing. It didn’t take long to click: the cat was still at the cattery. No, we hadn’t forgotten about her, I could never do that, we had organised to pick her up today.

So this morning grandma arrived and we drove out to pick up the poor thing. She is not happy with me for ditching her for so long, but it had to be done. And now she has the sneezes. The cattery lady claims it’s hayfever, but I’m concerned as she never has before. She is a very healthy cat normally. I’ll keep an eye on her, and we may take her to the vet .

As for the holiday, it was good. It was nice to relax, and see family. Richard turning 18 makes me feel really old! He is working for iLike Computing for a year, and hopefully next year he’ll find his way out to uni somewhere. Sarah was stoked to see me. I let her read the first 2 chapters of Forbidden Knowledge which she said was “above average”. That’s exciting coming from someone who reads ALOT! but it is a rather biased opinion. I have left the two chapters with my father who is going to do my cover art.

I have also picked up a writing job. I am so excited! Not because of the job itself, it’s a commentary of sorts for a documentary/advertising thing for Hokitika, but simply because I will be able to do something that involves using my degree (and I haven’t even finished it yet ). If the initial DVD is successful it will be an ongoing job, yay!

I don’t know how I’m going to find time to do all my projects. I have two assignements to get done, and I need Forbidden Knowledge finished by the end of March. That’s 30k a month but Jan is almost over and I haven’t written anything on it. I also want to get this recipe book done for Ro, but it’s her birthday on Thursday, so I don’t know how I’m going to get that done. Looks like the holiday is over.

Full Time ’08

Ok, so I was planning to write this one up at some point yesterday, but didn’t really have a chance. Better late than never.

’08 was a full on year. I did 9 papers at Massey; had to kick out our flat mate; travelled down south for Easter; lost over 2 months to depression; wrote 17 essays (plus exams), 1 children’s story, 1 epic poem (that wasn’t very epic), 3 short stories, 2 novels and several poems. I also started a YA novel.

I think for writing ’08 has been the most successful year for me. http://kiwiwriters.org/ is a great site which helps to keep me focused on my writing. I also participated in NaNoWriMo in November for my second year. This time I was much more successful, and my draft was good enough to warrent having a second draft written (now titled Forbidden Knowledge).

2009 is going to be awesome! We are heading down south in 2 days, very excited about that now. Having Amber here is awesome, although today was lost as I lay in bed most of the day feeling sorry foor myself (stupid alcohol). I’ve invited a couple of friends around tomorrow night and we’re going to have a movie night.

At some point in the year (we’re looking at July) we are going to finally move out of Palmy! I think we’ll be going to ChCh. It’s going to be a huge move, and we’ll have to hire people to move everything because we’ve acquired so much stuff since we moved here. Most of it’s just junk, I will admit, but I’m a hoarder and just can’t help myself. You never know when you’re going to need something, and if you throw it away you are bound to need it.

’09 is going to be the year of finishing for me. I will finish my degree (yay), and I am determined to work through a lot of my writing and actually get some projects finished. Starting with the second draft of my novel.

Kiwi Writers has some great challenges for ’09. There is a full year one called ‘submit a book’ which I am thinking about joining. It will encourage me to get Forbidden Knowledge to a point where I will actually let others read it. I printed the first 2 chapters today, and when Dale started reading it I stopped him. I thought I’d be alright with it, but clearly I’m not. There is also the ‘collection challenge’. This sounds awesome, and I am hoping I will be able to find something to submit. I have until the end of Feb to find something. But first up is the ‘new year novella challenge’ which I have decided I will not join. I have heaps of work to do this month, and I’m away for almost 2 weeks, so it’s just not possible. If you do feel like writing a novella this month sign up at Kiwi Writers and get writing!

The end really is nigh now.

Grouch of the Day: I thought I had got lucky this year, and that I was not going to get preached at or have my beliefs questioned this ‘holiday season’. I even avoided my grandma’s cousin at the Brown Christmas get together to encourage her to leave me alone. But no, I can’t have that little gift can I? *sigh* The thing that really bugs me is that this year the attack (for lack of a better word) came from my father. Just back off, please! (Thank you all those people who did not leave comments attacking my beliefs).

Right, with that grouch out of the way, today is going to be a full day. I have started writing the essay (yay). For all those that haven’t studied, the writing of the essay is the quick part; it’s the research that takes forever. I still need to do a heap of editing on Forbidden Knowledge which will take about 3hrs, so I’m not sure when I’m going to squeeze that in because I still have a bit of work to do on the spare room to make it inhabitable for when Amber arrives tomorrow morning. I’ve also got a movie to watch before I return it this afternoon. It’s V for Vendetta; I haven’t seen it. Is it worth it??

So onwards and upwards into my busy day.

Yay, Chapter 2 done

And now I feel my novel is going to really work. The world seems much more real to me now at their language and culture is coming through in the writing. And having a culture and language to intergrate gives the world some real depth. Once I buy some more paper I am going to print the first two chapters. Then I’ll really feel I have achieved something. (I might even let Dale read it, but I am s**t scared of criticism when it’s only a draft still).

I’ve also managed to start the assignment that I really need to finish tomorrow. I just keep looking at the paper thinking it’s no big deal, it’s only 100 level, and it’s Greek Mythology which I know reasonably well as I have had an interest in mythologies since I was about 12. I can sit and do it in a few hours. But I know once I start it I will go off on tangents, and the essay itself will take quite a while to get written and edited. Mythology, I’ve realised, is the reason why I cannot be Christain. So much of what was collected and put down in the Bible was taken from other more ancient mythologies. Even the word Bible is from the greek word biblos, which meant papyrus.

Anyway, Dale is going to make some of his infamous fudge later on (YUM!!) while I continue to slog through this essay and add to my novel.

Progress

I’ve managed to edit 15k of Forbidden Knowledge. Another 5k before the end of December and I win the December Editing challenge. It was looking impossible before Christmas, but now I know I can do it. What’s 5k in three days?

I just watched Elizabeth: The Golden Age. It was more enjoyable than the first movie, although neither are historically accurate. I tried to forget it was meant to be a true story, then it didn’t bug me so much. Other movies I have watched lately that I enjoyed are Wanted, ‘though I’m not a big fan of Angelina Jolie, but the story made up for her. It was quite violent, but the story line was interesting and it had some nice plot twists in it. And Kung Fu Panda is awesome. I recommend that to all adults that like an easy going movie that will make you chuckle. Oh, and we watched Shawshank Redemption on tv last night. It’s a classic, and if you haven’t seen it do so, or even better, read the novella: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King. You can find it in his collection Different Seasons.

I’ve also made a start on that recipie book, although I don’t plan to get that finished until after our vacation. I still haven’t started on that stupid assignment. Where is my self discipline? Oh well, I will start it today otherwise I’ll be cramming it in on Tues, and I’m sure I will have other things to do then (like cramming in the last 5k of editing ).

I can’t believe it’s almost ’09. Amber arrives on Weds, I’m so excited!! Except I’m pretty nervous too. I haven’t seen her since before we moved to Palmy (over 3yrs ago). I know I’ve changed a lot since then, and I’m sure she has too. Hopefully it will be like no time has passed and we’ll be just as good mates as we were back in the day. Well, I guess I’ll find out in a few days.

Chapter 1 completed

Yay! I have finished the re-write of my first chapter of Forbidden Knowledge. A huge milestone for me, and for the novel; it’s 8680 words! It became easier when I stopped deviating from the original version. Then I could do some quick copying and pasting . I found it much easier to work through what I had already written and make it work with the new version than trying to write new scenes that were somehow supposed to fit and not stray from the story. I had a few O.o moments, but nothing like giving a character a sleeping potion to stop him in his tracks .

Was able to get out and enjoy the sun today too, which was nice. Bought some new clothes for summer because one pair of shorts just won’t cut it (if only I could have stopped once I found some shorts lol).

Maybe tomorrow I’ll get into that assignment…