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?”

Meant to be Writing

I have been writing. My 750 words have been written for the day (sixth day running, I’m impressed with myself), and I’ve done a few hundred on my HalfNoC novel which really needs a working name. I’ll work on that.

It took several days of cogitation but finally I found the character that is going to carry this story, so after writing 1k yesterday I signed up for HalfNoC. My story is about a women who is betrayed by her sister then is forced to accept that everything she was raised to believe is morally wrong and she must find the courage to betray her country in the hope that she can initiate change. (I read somewhere it’s good to write a sentence encapsulating what your work is about so you have something to refer back to when you lose your way. This is my very rusty sentence I just wrote and it’s subject to change as I get to know my characters and their world. If you know where I read this can you let me know where it was?)

I did the math, and I have to write 1k a day to win. That’s not really all that much. I know I can do it. It’s maybe an hours work if the words are flowing (like yesterday), several hours work if I don’t really know what direction it’s going in (like today).

I need to find some tactics for finding my direction so when I sit down to write the words are right there. It’s much nicer to write that way, more calming and yet also more exciting, somehow. I don’t like writing when my only motivation is that I have to produce ‘X amount of words’ by the end of the day. The time drags, and the words feel awkward as I force them onto the page, almost as if they’ve become stickers that have lost most of their stick so each word has to be pressed hard and if it refuses to stick completely an alternative has to be found. It’s tiring, and for me that’s not what writing is meant to be like. There’s also the ‘giving up’ part of writing like that too, or, mid-work procrastination, like what I’m doing now. It’s not good for the writing.

Now to non-writing related topics for a moment. We got Jake’s cot yesterday (we tried to on Fri but it wouldn’t fit in my brother’s car) and so he’s now sleeping in that. He settled himself in half an hour the first sleep he had in it and we thought ‘awesome, this will be easy’. Then he was put to bed for his night sleep and he refused to settle. He was upset for about an hour and a half, until finally I opted to give him another bottle to settle him and he fell asleep on me so I put him in his cot and he slept for about six hours (yay!). After his night feed he settle quickly because he was mostly asleep when he was put in there, and the same story for this morning. I’m hoping that if I put him in there wide awake he’ll be able to settle himself now.

He’s just woken up so off to be a mum .

Over it

I no longer care about the Vikings and their achievments or how to spell words like Íslendingabók or Landnámabók or other words that use letters my computer can’t even produce.

But, on the other hand I am stressing about this exam. I know my English Viking Age almost inside out, but that is only one essay, and I have to write three. So in short I am pretty screwed, which sucks cos I need this paper to get my history minor. But, on the other hand, I should pass, as I know enough to get by, and I got good(ish) marks for my essays. I am being torn asunder by the part of me that insists that I will be ok and the part that claims I don’t know enough and don’t have a chance to by tomorrow. Arrghh!!

So I took a break and worked through the new version of the dittoGUI help file. It’s coming along, and I think it won’t take much to get it near perfect. It sounds like a great little programme, and I wish it ran on ‘my’ computer, but alas, she is too old to upgrade to 10.5 (and she’s not even mine, I am borrowing her off iLike). Check it out, it should be available in a few days and is so cheap I think every Mac should have a copy.

But now I think I should return to the Vikings, as much as I now dispise them. I should work through religious conversion one last time *sigh*.

Waitangi Day

For all those that don’t know, Waitangi Day commemorates the day the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed in 1840.

Today the Waitangi Weekend Word Wace begins, and I know I decided I wasn’t going to partake because of exams next week, I’ve changed my mind. I’m writing the prequel to Forbidden Knowledge and I’ve already gotten 1044 words out; 6456 to go .

I’ve been studying a lot (I’m so over the Vikings), and not much else. I also did housework this morning! I should take photos of the clean house just to prove it does happen sometime . My poncho is also coming along. It’s nice to have something to do while we watch tv in the evenings so I don’t feel like I’m just wasting time.

We watched the second Hellboy movie last night. I enjoyed it, which is saying something cos I’m not such a fan of comic movies. The storyline was a little predictable at times, but it worked.

Well, Abby should be here soon, so I’ll sign off. Keep smiling all

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!

Trying to get back into it.

But it’s so hard. Every time I look at my project list I cringe, wonder what to do first, and then don’t manage to get anything done anyway. So, I’m going to make a cuppa, put on some good music, clear my desk of all distractions and start my second Vikings assignment; it still has a chance of being finished on time.

Everything else on my project list will just have to wait, even though their are more deadlines looming that I know are going to come on way too fast, and at least one thing that has missed its deadline *sigh*.

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!

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.

And on to the next project.

So I haven’t actually finished most of my current ones, but that is how I work. This is why I never finish anything. But I get these ideas and I just have to get into it straight away otherwise the enthusiasm wanes and I end up not even starting.

It’s my auntie Ro’s birthday next month. We are good friends. Andrew (one of mum’s little brothers) married her exactly a month before Dale & I got married, and they were the only extended family that made it to our wedding. Since then we’ve spent heaps of time together, and she will be one of the few people I will miss when I leave Palmy.

Anyway, she was the one that told me I had to make my potato salad for the Brown Christmas, because it is, “the best potato salad I have ever tasted” (she said that not me, but it is pretty awesome). She also loves my choc brownies (she even admitted they might be as good as hers). I think everything I have made she has loved, from pumpkin soup to choc muffins. But because we will be moving next year she will be deprived of all my awesome cooking. So I have decided to make a collection of my recipes for her.

It’s going to be fun, and it will be a good excuse to make some good food because I can’t just write ‘a touch’ of that and ‘a dollop’ of that. That’s how I cook most meals. It’s only when I’m baking that I pull out ye olde measurers.

Hmm, I’ll have to buy her some measuring cups too. When I was visiting last week we made ginger bread and she has no measuring cups!!

I’ll also have to convince Dale to let me give her his great Russian Fudge recipe. Not that I could see her making it, it takes two solid hours to make. But it is so worth it!