A Mixed Bag

As time goes on and I get more reviews I realize what a mixed bag they are (I just spelled realize American so that somebody doesn't go "grammatical error!" on my ass (or arse). It's not even grammar it's spelling but it does seem to vex people. Some people go 'Wow! Brilliant!" and someone else says it's dire. I'm getting more ducklike with the water of criticism.

Someone left a review that went on a bit in a wordy, self regarding snarky sort of manner that said something like .... "There was the bones (sic) of a good haunting... of grammar - there was none, and much missed by it's (sic) absence."  Misused 'it's' for 'its' twice and had a disagreement about number with his verb then he criticizes me for bad grammar. I was so tempted to respond but I didn't.

I have a hangover this morning from being at a wedding last night and I am listening to Rush from way back. Great pleasure with a cup of tea. Bit too windy to go for a mountain walk in case I get blowed off (note my ironical mistake with the participle there).

I plan to trawl through old copies of the Parasychological Review for ideas. I was reading some good blogs about Lester Dent's method of writing short stories as exposited here by +Karen Woodward and then leading onto the Michael Moorcock method of writing adventure books in 3 days. Again herewith set out by +Ghostwoods Books  here - no here. Old Mr Moorcock's article appears elsewhere but this is the prettiest blog version. It even made me start reading the Corum books which is just as fun as it was. (You think I'm giving a plural subject a singular verb? No! 'it' here refers to fun. Haha! Gotcha!). I'm also reading Vogler's Writer's Journey Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers. I'm a long time fan of Jung and Campbell and I have actually read the Mysterium Coniunctionis - like twice - meaning I have known for a long time the secret of existence. I can also read the Latin too, decipher the Hebrew and have a good go at the Greek. So Mr bad review, stick that up your arse and smoke it. You fucking little cocksucking cunt.   Not that I'm bothered as I mentioned before. To me it's like a water/duck/back equation.

Of course I realise (see what I did?) that expositerize is not a real word but I can make words up here. I can do what the f*** I want with words on this blag (deliberate mistake too - very witty too I thought) because no one reads it!!! Haha! I win again!!

Of course I can't bring myself to write fuck  I have to write f*** instead, but that's my choice. And it's valid. That reminds me of a discussion I had with me (ex) wife (note the ex) where she said "Everyone is entitled to an opinion." and I countered. "Not if they're wrong..."

Not that I am. I'm off now to be ill.

Gothic story Vivien - FREE today

FREE TODAY and for the next few days on Amazon!

US link here

Arrogant war hero, Captain William Thorpe crashes his car in the remote Scottish Highlands. He is rescued and taken to the mysterious and secluded Dungarvan Castle. When he recovers consciousness, he looks up at a sea of faces and sees the beautiful woman he is told is his wife. His desire for Vivien is only matched by his horror as he slowly realizes she is the voracious thing that haunts him and that he must defeat.

Set in 1925 in a beautiful Scottish castle troubled by a beautiful dark haired woman, the story is reminiscent of Daphne De Maurier's Rebecca and Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla. This is no horror schlock ghost story filled with pointless gore, instead it aims to entertain and hopefully entrance with its moods and atmospheres and the emotional journey of the main characters.

Check out the FREE sample provided by Amazon. Or go straight to the buy button! It's your choice.

Enjoy!

Sorry about this blatantly promotional post. I promise I will write soon about my experiences with rogue kittens. It's been hell.

New Story - A Gothic Romance

The latest product from the late night sweat and beer factory (sounds nasty when you put it like that)

Arrogant war hero, Captain William Thorpe crashes his car in the remote Scottish Highlands. He is rescued and taken to the mysterious and remote Dungarvan Castle. When he recovers consciousness, he looks up at a sea of faces and sees the beautiful woman he is told is his wife. His desire for Vivien is only matched by his horror as he slowly realizes she is the voracious thing that haunts him and that he must defeat.

Helpful

This week I have been mostly writing and walking up mountains. I read John Yorke's book Into the Woods. Again like Blake Synder, these are not primarily for novels/short stories but what they say about the structure of stories is applicable to all forms of storytelling

You may know that I have been interested in in Carl Jung's ideas for at least twenty years and Yorke references Jung through Joseph Campbell. There are certain things that are common to all cultures at all times and these are language, music and storytelling. We tell stories because we have to - they are like birdsong is to blackbirds, hard wired because they perform some archetypal purpose.

I think I have neglected structure up until now, but pop songs are crafted onto a recognisable structure as is most painting. So it's seems obvious that stories are and that they are more satisfying when they obey the rules of story structures. 

So that's what I'm doing now. Time will tell if people respond positively to the stuff I produce that pays much more attention to structure.

Laters.

The Golem - my latest story.

The weather in Prague was so cold they could hardly bear to be outside. Adam Meyrink, the occultist, and his companion, the psychic Midnight Blue, stood in the Old Town Square watching the Christmas Market. Meyrink's mind was far away but Blue was entranced by the city - the lights, the brightly decorated stalls and the falling snow. The city looked like a magic snow globe and trade was booming on the Carousel and people bustled round the stalls selling Czech mulled wine - svařák. To go with their wine or their beer, the crowds bought sausages with mustard and sauerkraut, tinsel, candles and sparkling lights.

"You know they call Prague the magic capital of Europe - the City of Alchemists," said Meyrink. He would have gone on, but Blue said, "We need to get inside somewhere. I've lost the feeling in my toes."

What's left to say? Click the click.

British English is Wrong for American Readers

Just a short note on my observations. After getting various reviews from American readers that the stuff I'd written was full of "grammatical" and "syntax" errors, I took a close look. Notice they didn't say "spelling" errors. But when I looked, I couldn't find any errors of grammar. I even ran the text through Word's grammar checker and that picks us some weird and wonderful things, but not here.

Kinder reviewers were pointing out that the author was British and that his use of English would differ from what Americans are used to.

I guess that because of movies like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, many Americans are very used to standard British English in its spoken form. And when I've been in the States apart from a very few times, I don't have a problem being understood. When people say "Excuse me?" in the USA they mean "I didn't hear / understand what you said," not "please get out of my way" like it normally means in British English where "I didn't hear/understand what you said," is normally "Pardon?"

Despite their familiarity with spoken British English, I made the mistake of presuming that the average reader (not the New York Anglophile who only reads the work of Evelyn Waugh and his son Auberon) is familiar with British spelling, at least to the extent that they would go "Ah! That's the British spelling." But no, they just think it's wrong.

So now I write color and harbor and realize and sympathize and I smolder rather than smoulder.  British readers readily recognize the American spelling (see what I did there?) so why give American readers grief?

I think to grief means something different in the States too. I certainly know skit does.

Pantsing

I have just finished another story. Let me just get a link in here.

I think it was the hardest story that I've ever written. I had a few scenes in mind and I had the main characters in mind - Adam Meyrink and Midnight Blue - and I had the city in mind - Prague. But, it was the devil's own work to get the thing to come together. I felt like a butcher carving up a carcass and then realising I'd done it wrong. Maybe more like a person making a patchwork quilt, looking the the squares and thinking, 'nope'. But I have finally beaten it into shape, I think.

The shape is helped by Blake Snyder's 15 beat structure and the genre. I have written it like a Whydunnit? However I started pantsing it (as you can tell) and ended up plotting it. I wonder if you can see the stitchwork? Is it as obviously sewn together as Boris Karloff in Frankenstein I wonder?

Take a look and let me know.