Monthly Archives: June 2012

Differences In Writing Styles

29 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by in Writing, Writing Styles

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Do you have the tendency to get your writing styles mixed up? I do.

My work is writing for websites, mainly advertising text which is descriptive. My readers here do not want to know about the inner workings of a character’s mind. These readers want to be told how the character struggled with a problem which the purchase of a particular item can solve (usually written in first person); how the character looks good and feels good in a particular garment; how they managed to find something at a great value price; is in the news again and why; or (for my adult audience), is really enjoying what is going on in a particular video…

In my work text I use exclamation marks galore, change font size regularly and sometimes highlight in eye-catching colours.

I also write the occasional non-fiction article for magazines (and have a book in the makings, hidden among a pile of other projects…). Here again I am descriptive. I am teaching a subject and providing information. I highlight a change of subject within the text in bold and important points with italics. I use bullet points and number indents. The idea here (as with the often garish layout of advertising text) is to guide the reader to the main learning points of the article. All of this is accepted in the layout of non-fiction.

Then there is blog writing. For this I use a much more chatty style. I write as I think and the grammar and punctuation styles I use reflect this. I couldn’t possibly write a blog post if I had to bother about getting my grammar exactly right, or thinking about how many commas, dashes and ellipses I use…. 🙂

Blogging, for me, is a way of clearing my mind. I find it relaxing, therefore I blog in a relaxed style.

Forum posting – for me, that will contain a few ‘lols!’, even more smileys than I use in blog posts, and again a relaxed approach (unless I am on a writing forum and am aware that others may be checking me out!).

Facebook – the less I say on FB the better. 🙂

Twitter – actually helps me get my writing down to the bare bones. Similar to texting I guess, without the text speak (if you see what I mean).

The problem here is, that with all these different writing styles come different writing personalities:

The salesperson overflowing with eagerness to extol the benefits of their product; the adult website writer extolling virtues of a different kind…; the blogger, eager to clear their head whilst getting a point across; the forum poster, eager to join in the conversation and say their bit; and the FB and Twitter poster, sometimes promoting their own stuff, but often using these platforms to post links to others of interest, or funny videos which have caught their eye (at least, that’s mainly what I use FB for 🙂 ).

But this discussion of using different writing styles according to what you are writing and where you are writing it, brings me now to writing Fiction, where you are faced with a whole new writing style:

Show not tell; characterization; point of view; not overusing adverbs or qualifiers; sticking to a defined punctuation formula; making sure you have action points, character interaction, specific speaking styles for different characters; etc, etc,…

I am finding more and more that I have to set aside a particular time to get my head in gear to write fiction. Otherwise I could end up with a chapter where the characters say ‘lol!’ rather than laughing, try to teach the reader something, or chat away to each other in forum and blog style, not to reach a resolution on anything, but just because they can. 🙂

Perhaps it is just me who has a problem with changing my writing style according to context, but there again, I really don’t think so. 🙂

The Problem Of Writing In Notebooks

28 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Writing, Writing Tools

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I have three different ways of writing. Most of the time I type my stories and notes straight onto my PC or netbook. At other times I pick up a ‘real’ notebook and write… and write…. and write!

My manuscripts have their home on my PC, organised in many folders and sub-folders according to type. When I am sitting at my PC I feel quite efficient. I have a small ‘workroom’ off our main living area, with desk, filing cabinets, and all those essential ‘office tools’ and this gives me the sense of actually working and (most of the time…) the attitude to go with it.

However, when I want to be a little more sociable (or it isn’t ‘work hours’), I have my netbook beside me, just in case something prompts me to take a note or two, or if I suddenly get the urge to go online and research something.

Of course, there are times when my ‘quick notes’ on the netbook turn into a full chapter or two, or a new character or plot outline. In this case, everything has to be copied to an external hard drive so that I can transfer it to a file in the right folder on my PC. No problem really, although a little frustrating if I forget to do this.

But sometimes I simply get the urge to write. You know, with a pen and using an actual paper notebook. 🙂

In fact, when I write in my notebooks, I can write for hours. Words come easily, plot outlines make sense, characters leap from the page… That sounds good, right?

Well… yes and no…

You see, I have cupboards full of notebooks, bursting to the brim with plots, characterizations, writing ideas… You name it, you may well find it in one of my notebooks.
The problem is, that I wouldn’t be able to tell you which one!

When I write in a notebook, ideas flow, but not necessarily in any type of order. I do try to be organised by starting a new page with a new idea, but at the speed I write when in ‘notebook mode’, by the end of a brainstorming session I could have spread those disparate ideas across a number of different books.

Of course, the ideal solution would be for me to take each new note, type it up on my PC and save it into an appropriate, well-defined folder. And occasionally I do this. But most times typing up those thoughts and ideas and actually organising them (and correcting spelling and grammar mistakes, etc…) seems to take away some of their power and originality.

Or it could be simple laziness….

The good thing about my many notebooks is that I always have a source of inspiration for a plot, whatever notebook I pick up. So this strange, mass collection of writing isn’t that bad. But it does seem to be very wasteful of my time and energy which could be better spent getting my work ready for publication.

What would be so much better is if I could find some type of tablet which recognises my scrawl and turns it into print. Then it would simply be the case of transferring all those random scribbles onto my PC. No typing out already-written notes. No fuss.
(And a new tech toy to play with… 😉 ).

There again, there may be a further problem. I’m left-handed and most of these apps appear to have been set up only for right-handed people. So it’ll take a great deal of browsing with my trusty netbook to find any tablets with handwriting recognition apps which truly allow for south paws.

Unless anyone out there has some suggestions?

I promise I’ll take notes. 🙂

My Creepy House Dream

26 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Dreams, Writing

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I was browsing a forum where people were talking about ‘scary dreams’. I have had plenty over the years, but one stays with me long after the others are just a vague memory. It is my own particular version of a ‘House Dream’.

The dream was too long to write about on a forum post, so I’m writing about it here instead. And I have to say, that for anyone who studies the meanings of dreams, or for any students of psychology, you are probably going to have a great time dissecting this. 🙂

My House dream is a recurring dream, by the way. It occurs during times when I am overtired or stressed-out. The House in the dream is never quite the same, but the characters are.
Anyway, here is my dream as I remember it:

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My House Dream

I am looking for a new place to live. I want somewhere large, with lots of rooms for different pursuits and a very large room where I can hold parties.

An estate agent takes me along to look at a house. It already looks creepy on the outside. It’s leaning a bit and some of the bricks are crumbling, but she assures me it’s okay, so, despite my misgivings, I go inside.

She takes me from room to room. There are so many of them, all with strange and different interior designs. It is like a group of mad artists, architects and interior designers have been let loose. I’m already creeped out and I am still only on the ground floor!

I ask the estate agent where is the largest room, as some of the rooms we have seen are very tiny.

She smiles and points to a room leading off of the room we are in, so in I go.
(she doesn’t follow me…).

It’s another strange-looking room, but this one has a door at the end – a low door which you have to bend down to go through. So I crawl inside.

The door opens out onto a huge ballroom. It is so large it is difficult to make out the furniture and pictures at the opposite end. Hundreds of chandeliers hang from the ceiling. They sparkle as if someone has dusted them recently. The ballroom floor glistens with newly-applied polish and the high, wide windows sparkly in the sunlight. I have never seen such a huge room in my life. It is like the house is a Tardis. There is no way this room would fit into the house you can see from the outside.

But the huge room doesn’t feel right… It is clean and sparkling, unlike any other room in the house, but it feels unreal in a way I can’t quite grasp. It is completely silent, apart from my echoing footsteps as I cross the floor. And as I walk, I get the sense that someone is watching me…

I want to run from the ballroom, but I can’t find the door I came in by. The only other way out is through another door on the far side, almost hidden behind a pillar.

I know this will take me even deeper into the house, but I feel I have no choice but to enter.

As I go through the door, I am faced with a long corridor with many doors leading off. I truly do not want to go through any of them!

Then a door half way along the corridor creeps open… and a girl slowly appears.

She is sepia-coloured, like an old photograph. She beckons me to come and meet her, but I know that something terrible will happen if I do.

My heart is beating so fast it seems it will jump out of my chest. I want to move, but I’m stuck to the spot.

The girl is slowly walking towards me….

Then I wake up! 🙂

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I know that the ‘House Dream’ is one of the all-time dream classics. Some dream interpreters say that the house represents the body, others that it represents the mind, others would say that it represents changes in our lives and decisions were are being forced to make.

As this dream occurs with me at times when I am faced with turmoil and indecision, or simply tiredness from burning out at work, I tend to go for the latter theory. I would also say that the size of the house represents my aspirations, which have always been larger than life and which themselves can put me under stress. 🙂

But that doesn’t explain the sepia-coloured girl.
Or does it…..?

What Are The Meanings Behind Tales Of The Future?

26 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Films, Writing

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When I was doing some part time teaching at Uni, I had to organise a seminar to discuss ‘tales of the future’. As this was a seminar for Modern History students, I remember thinking that everyone would be talking about HG Wells and George Orwell. Well, most of them did choose to discuss these two authors, but others delved much deeper.

They came up with little-known books from the 19th and early 20th Centuries covering subjects like the Channel Tunnel (and the threat of invasion from France), the First Man On the Moon (being an Englishman :)), the discovery of aliens in ‘Darkest Africa’, and a number of apocalyptic events caused by germs attacking the population of Britain, carried in via ships, strange flying devices, or (again) the Channel Tunnel.

What all of these books had in common was actually a fear of what could happen in the future. Just like Orwell’s 1984, the novels dwelt upon current events and discussions and transferred these to a near-future with catastrophic consequences.

I searched alongside the students and could not find a single book which celebrated new technology or new social structures, or even the explorations of the World or Universe, without providing at least a sense of threat. Even the Englishman who landed on the Moon was forced to make a hasty retreat, before his craft was taken over by ‘moon men’ prepared to invade Earth.

What we were doing in the seminar was matching up novels that were published with events taking place at the same time. So, for example, the aliens discovered in Africa (I can’t remember the exact word used to describe them, but they were what we today would call ‘aliens’) were written about at the time when the ‘Scramble For Africa’ was taking place. It was as if the author was warning us that it was better not to go there at all, because we would discover beings and situations that we really did not wish to find. The student who presented this novel argued that the author was picking up on the message provided in Conrad’s ‘Heart Of Darkness‘ and taking it one step further, but others saw this as a speculation of events to follow on from the Scramble for Africa, culminating in the First World War.

Hindsight is a great thing I guess, but either way, the idea of ‘discovering something we do not wish to find’ when we undertake a new adventure, or partake in the discovery of new technology, scientific breakthrough, or new ways of ordering society, was a theme throughout these novels.

And looking at later novels and now films as well, there always appears to be an element of threat in a ‘future tale’.

Often the future appears to be a dreadful place to live. Perhaps it is the result of a technological error in the present which profoundly affects the future (Terminator), a future wasteland, raised to the ground by nuclear war (Mad Max and many other movies), a future where robots take over the world or, the complete nightmare, where humans are barely-living beings, plumbed into a giant Matrix and existing only in a virtual reality World. And those in charge of this future world are always shady beings who exert complete control over the rest of us.

And of course, it is always our fault for letting this happen. We should have seen that taking strides with technology or exploration of any kind was a bad thing…

Okay, at certain points in time, you do find novels and films being produced where the heroes beat back the ‘outsiders’, often with the use of technology, and the World lives to fight another day. But there is still a warning here – the future is a scary place. We really should be afraid of it. And in any case, bookshops and cinemas will soon be filled again with the ‘don’t mess with science/technology/the social structure as we know it’ … scenarios.

Interestingly a future novel with an optimistic ending – Jack Finney’s 1954 book ‘Body Snatchers‘ (linked variously to perceptions of McCarthyism, Soviet Russia or the Cold War), had its ending changed to something much darker when turned into a movie. In the original novel, things get tough for the residents of a small village, but ingenuity (and the short lifespan of the aliens) helps humankind survive. However, in the original movie, just before the final scene the main character can be found screaming, “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next!” Later film versions have been even less optimistic.

The current continued interest in a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ could be seen to represent our acceptance that the World is in one hell of a mess right now, politically and most of all financially, and that no one can see a way out. Being European or American will not protect us. In fact, just like the ‘Walking Dead’ idea, that even if we remain unbitten, we will still become zombies on our demise, so it is that, with the current world crisis, no nation on Earth will be able to survive unscathed.

So it appears to me that our current interest in an ‘apocalyptic future’ simply follows on the historical trend that the future is to be feared and that all our efforts to control it (however ‘good’ those efforts may be) are worthless, as we have no real control over our future at all.

Or is it simply that, as thinking beings we prefer to be scared by a book or a film, rather than facing concrete issues in the real World?

Can A Writer Of Short Stories Write A Novel?

24 Sunday Jun 2012

Posted by in Writing, Writing Short Stories

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Up until now, my writing efforts (and publications) have been limited to writing short stories and readers letters.

True – I have also had some academic articles published, but, as these were a prerequisite of obtaining my doctorate and were for a very specific audience, I saw them more as a part of the education process, rather than as writing for publication in the ‘I am an author’ sense. So I’m not considering my academic work in this stream of thought. But anyway… back to the topic in hand. 🙂

I have always found writing short stories relatively easy. That’s not to say I haven’t struggled with the concept of getting a full story across to the reader in a very concise form, but the ‘shortness’ of the exercise seems to suit my frame of mind.

Likewise with writing ‘readers letters’ to magazines. I loved doing this. The ability to invent myself again and again as a different character was very appealing to me and it also meant that the subjects I commented on required only a minimum of research (after all, in readers letters opinions often matter much more than facts…). So, once in the flow of things, I could be several different people on the same day and discuss a whole range of subjects.

Sure, being many different people and writing for a vast number of magazines did require a very large filing cabinet and maintaining a very complex spreadsheet, plus several different email accounts. The writing, re-working and submission of my short stories also required similar organisation. But the process of writing involved did suit my butterfly mind.
(At this point, some may say that writing as many different people also shows signs of a very split personality, but that’s up to them. I’m as sane as the next person, whatever that means…. :))

But now I am in the throes of writing a novel…

At the moment, flitting from one subject to another isn’t a problem. If I get bored writing one scene, I can work on a character or on the finer points of the plot. I can also go off and do some more research.

But I am noticing that my research often takes me to places where I can procrastinate rather than actually research, and this leads me to different forums where I will join in with the conversation… or else something will switch on a light bulb in my head and I’ll feel obliged to tweet about it, or to write a blog post…

And as to working on characters and plot, I am finding that too much re-working is making my characters unable to fit the scenes I have designed for them. And, as I said when I wrote My Novel Is Turning Into From Dusk Till Dawn, the plot of my novel is moving to places I hadn’t envisaged.

So, I am beginning to get that sinking feeling that not only will this novel never reach the submission stage, but, even if I do complete the whole thing, putting all the (very) disparate parts together will be problematical to say the least!

There is also something else to consider…

While I am procrastinating as I write my novel, no short stories are being written (apart from an almost finished horror one…). That equals no (eventually) published works and therefore no payment for all this work I am putting in. I know that many will say that the writing process is not about payment but about writing itself, but I have bills to pay. 🙂

Nevertheless, I would love to be a published author of a novel, a large, ‘keep the reader interested to the bitter end’ type of novel, but I have yet to decide whether this is just about ego rather than about reality. And, as becoming that type of author will require much more self-discipline, I am still wondering whether this would actually hurt my writing style, or improve it (or is that simply my excuse…?).

However, as this has been more of a ‘write down your thoughts and see what turns up’ type of post, rather than a statement of a concrete decision, I am still undecided as to my next move.

Perhaps I’ll do some more research while I think on this… 🙂

Humour Within Horror

23 Saturday Jun 2012

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Although others may disagree, I personally find that humour is important in many writing genres and particularly comes into its own during a horror scene.

I remember when first reading Stephen King, how I was impressed that his main characters tended towards an ironic sense of humour even in times of utter chaos and dire threats to their lives. To me, it seemed such a natural way to think. It is like the survival instinct which kicks in needs something alongside it to make us feel human when a part of us knows that we are acting like animals.

Perhaps it is because I am British by birth and we are known for our sense of irony. We are also known for our often dark way of looking at the World as participants in our fate (the “it was bound to happen to me, so I’ll just make a joke about it” type of thing). But I think that the need to laugh when things are going badly wrong is actually part of all human nature. And I’m not thinking here of hysterical laughter and a complete loss of the ability to reason in the face of horror (although this does, of course, exist), but of actually making a joke to oneself, while focusing very hard on how to prevent what is going to happen next.

I come from a large family where our continued history of accidents and traumas would make a good plot for a soap opera. But we all laugh about these things. It is not that we accept them without feeling sorrow and anger, but it is that we accept them with a sense of inevitability (“It was bound to happen to us…”). I am no psychologist, but it seems to me that humour is the defense mechanism that keeps us sane and allows us to get on with our lives despite these events.

So, when I encounter a main character in a horror story who, on being backed into a corner by a monstrous, axe-wielding maniac, has a humourous ‘thought flash’ as he springs into action to save his life, I can totally empathise with his feelings.

He is, after all, trying to remain human and sane in an inhuman and insane situation. 🙂

My Novel Is Turning Into From Dusk Till Dawn!

22 Friday Jun 2012

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I had fully intended to write a thriller. A woman in danger type thriller, with my character using all means at her disposal to escape and hide from those who want her silenced. And this worked in the planning stage.

I have a strong female main character who is intelligent and street-wise, a range of villains with different reasons to hunt her down and various means to eliminate her. I have well-researched, Europe-wide backgrounds where the chase is situated and a love interest to keep my heroine from going insane with the tension of it all.

But the climax scene – where my lead character is confronted by one of the main villains – has turned into something from a horror tale!

It could be that I have been reading too much horror fiction. It could be that I am working on a horror short story alongside this novel. Or it could simply be that I have no other way of getting my female lead out of the confrontational situation (and carrying the plot to its final, dark conclusion), than to bring in the supernatural.

So, what I am faced with right now is a thriller which suddenly turns into a horror story – just like From Dusk Till Dawn (although not as gory).

IF this sounds far-fetched (and definitely unwise), I must explain that some of the secondary characters where my heroine comes to rest, thinking she is safe, are creepy to say the least. And, as these characters are based upon some real people I have observed, therein lies my dilemma.

I love these secondary characters (although love is probably not the best word…) and know that they are believable, and to take away their creepiness also takes away what fascinated me about them in the first place.

Perhaps I should move my female lead somewhere else with new supporting characters. Or better still, use these creepy characters in a follow-up novel. I certainly do not want to abandon them.

Or perhaps I should simply have my female lead doing a snake dance. That seems to solve a lot of issues in From Dusk Till Dawn 🙂

Writing Horror And Feeling Scared

22 Friday Jun 2012

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I love reading horror fiction.
I love the feeling of something lurking in the darkness and knowing it is going to creep out at any moment.
I love the chill as my fears are fulfilled and I even love that a good horror story will have me leaving the light on when I go to bed!

But reading a horror story, frightening as it can be, is nothing compared to actually writing it!

At the moment, I have a plot for a horror story in my head. It is sitting there niggling away at my sense of calm. I know it would creep anyone out who reads it.

But when I sit down at my keyboard, the fear takes over.

The horror creeping up the stairs is a little too close for comfort when you are describing it in your head. And when you feel the intense need to keep turning behind you, it certainly does slow your productivity!

I wonder how established horror writers cope?

I remember reading (I think it was) Stephen King, saying that letting all those dark thoughts come out onto paper is good. But I find that the process of doing this is like opening up a live, slimy, wriggling can of worms and spilling them onto your keyboard!

And, unlike the horror novel you can read and then discard (preferably in a dark place if it frightens you that much), the horror novel you are writing is there, in your head. After all, you have created it.

Perhaps some others who try to write horror fiction give up at this point. Perhaps I also will do this eventually.

But at the moment I’ll just keep glancing behind me as I clatter away at the keyboard. And hope that the thing creeping up the stairs will disappear once I finish this chapter!