I received an interesting email the other day from a producer at Radio Slovenia. While searching for radio plays they had happened upon “Bumper to Bumper” and they are looking to produce it. I always wanted to hear this play produced and I’m looking forward to that happening. Even though it will be in Slovene (a language I don’t have any knowledge of) it will be an experience to hear, so this is an exciting opportunity.

I’ll keep you posted on developments, and if anyone who reads this blog is from Slovenia/speaks Slovene, please let me know!

We drove over the mountains to the Okanagan and stayed in Summerland and then drove all around taking in the sights. I’ve never been to desert before and I was glad it was winter – it looked like summer would be roastingly hot. The countryside was beautiful and full of promise for the coming spring. We had a great couple of days and covered nearly 1000 km.

Driving can be very therapuetic

As hubby drove we chatted and soaked up new scenery. I also did some serious writing while we were away –  I stared without thinking, enjoying the unfolding land while my subconscious had free reign. Some of my best writing is done this way – the shower is another favourite place and I know I’m not alone in that. And by that I mean lots of people are inspired in the shower, not that…well…anyway – WRITING! Yes. Because there is writing and then there is the thinking about writing. Both are necessary for success. But what I haven’t been doing enough of is NOT thinking about writing.

Huh?

If you write and have a job (or are looking for one, which takes up about the same amount of time) and have a family, pets, friends…there are so many demands on your time. I often spend time in front of my Mac thinking about writing but not seeing a word appear on the page. I might surf a bit, stare into space and – wow! Lots of time gone and nothing to show for it. Then I’ll shut everything else down, settle in for some writing and – the phone rings. Or the kids come home from school. Or the dog throws up.

Views like these deserve some attention, yo!

Taking a break

No matter that I’m doing, in the background is a constant chatter of characters, the rearranging of formats and ideas for the non-fiction things, and it sometimes feels like I’m never off duty even when I’ve not written a word. So…I need to change that. Even though I know surfing and thinking and idling are all important parts of writing I’m staking steps to do things that are completely unconnected. So when I’m walking the dog I’m looking at the amazing scenery that surrounds me and not getting my protagonist out out his latest scrape. When I’m making the dinner I’m stirring the sauce and not making a new set of bullet points.

The summer is here and my days will soon be filled with kids and lakes and “Mum, I’m bored…”. And I’m determined to have a good summer. I’ll still be writing, but I’ll be making time to be consciously not not-writing, too.

How do you keep it all balanced?

Please share you thoughts!

So, our first Internet Play is complete and posted. Looking back, I’m very proud of what we did. I was going to write a long post all about what Goodnight Princess is about and the writing process we went through to get it from idea to finished product. Instead, though, I’d like to write about the reactions people have had (I am going to write about the process, but I’ll post that next week). Firstly, though, please take the time to watch all three acts (together they last less than 10 minutes):

UPDATE: I’ve added a new page to the site for Goodnight Princess where I’ll keep you up to date with developments.

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

It’s bittersweet, this life.

The Verve have two songs that often bring me to tears. I can’t listen to “The Drugs Don’t Work” without having a Kleenex to hand and a few minutes to spare so I can swallow down the lump in my throat and compose myself. The lyrics get me EVERY SINGLE TIME and yet I still want to experience it. It brings me back to a time when grief was raw and ragged and consuming. When I’m done with the drugs, “Bittersweet Symphony” is the palate cleanser. Still a mournful song but one that does leave me with hope. [I was just writing this when I saw the first hummingbird of the year!]

When we posted Act 1, I was careful to say it was an ‘Internet Drama’, and different to what I normally do. I love the humour, it’s the part of me that I express the most. On my other blog, I slant most things to the lighter side because that’s the way I see things. “Goodnight Princess” is a counterpoint to that, but is not without intentional (and possibly unintentional) humour. I was nervous about what people might think. Maybe no one would be interested, or they might think it was crap – and I didn’t want anyone to think I was tricking them into watching something they would rather not have seen.

A New Hope

I am immensely thankful to all the people who have watched so far. Many are people I’ve known for a long time on the interwebs through the various communities, message boards and social media sites I’m a part of. Some are new people who stumbled on the videos and stayed to watch. Comments have been really positive, but it’s clear people are interpreting events in different ways – AND THAT IS JUST FINE!

Back to School

Remember in English Literature classes, when you had to write an essay about what the author meant in the poem/play/book you were reading? And how disappointing it was when your teacher told you, in front of the whole class, that you were completely wrong and how stupid you were for thinking that a sunset might be, you know, a sunset? This graphic demonstrates the phenomenon exactly.

My Dad used to quote T S Eliot to me: “Great poetry communicates before it is understood.” I think that’s right, and doesn’t just apply to poetry (great or otherwise). I love imagery, word play and subtlety. Songs, films, pictures, TV shows, webseries – all can have meanings beyond what is placed in front of us. Sometimes an avatar is just an avatar. And sometimes it is something very different.

I am not T S Eliot

I don’t think “Goodnight Princess” is all that (radculture reference), but we did write it to have meaning beyond the words spoken. What that meaning might be is clear to us, but we left it open enough for people to bring their own experiences and interpretations to it. This was a labour of love, and a gamble. Shortform online drama is not any sort of recognised genre for webseries and though I have looked for other examples, I’ve yet to find them. The fact that people have watched all the episodes and cared enough to comment about it means a great deal. It has moved people, maybe even made them think a bit. Job done.

Thank you.

Over to you

So, what do you think? Were you confused by Goodnight Princess? Do you like to know what things are about from the writer/creator, or are you happy to keep your own interpretations?

Happy Mother’s Day!

Had a great day with the kids today. Walked in the park, had ice creams, didn’t cook and watched “Up” together. It was a lovely family day. I spoke to my  Mum, too. It’s not Mother’s Day in England, but it was good to talk. I would have rung her anyway, but especially since today marks eighteen years since my Dad died.

Eighteen years is a long time.

Grief is a howling beast, a whimpering cur and a familiar blanket. Seven weeks after my Dad had walked me down the aisle I followed his coffin down the same aisle. A packed church filled with current and ex-pupils, staff, friends and our family, all mourning his passing. The sunny graveyard, the moist earth and tears swallowed down hard, all remembered in snapshots.

But his shadow is longer.

Eighteen years later and I still know his face and hands, his comforting smell and his last breath. I miss you Dad, everyday, but you are in everything I do and think and feel and know. Rest in peace.

Can Short Form Drama work on the Internet?

As I said in my last post, I’ve been following the fortunes of various webseries for over two years now. I decided to create my second webseries two weeks ago after a conversation with hubby, who had had a great idea. We transformed the original idea into “Goodnight Princess” and produced this three act Internet Play. Act 1 was posted on Monday:

Working with what you have

When we launched I posted on ‘the last geek bus home‘, my everyday geek blog, about the process and rational behind the series. Partly because I wanted people to know about the series and partly to indicate that this was departure from what I’m more known for – the lighter side of life. Comedy is often more accessible to viewers than drama. Even if you are not sure you will find something funny you are more likely give it a try because comedy is seen as ‘quick entertainment’ that requires little effort on behalf of the person watching it (that isn’t to say that comedy is easy to produce – far from it).

Why an “Internet Play”?

We were looking at ways to describe Goodnight Princess. We talked about it a great deal because it is important to be able to give people an idea about what it is you are doing. Years ago, when we were in a band, we angsted for days about how to describe our music. With hindsight we should have just said “Indie-rock” and had done with it because at least it would have given people some kind of handle, however inaccurate. “Internet Play” seemed like a good way to describe this webseries because of the way it is written and filmed.

So far the feedback has been amazingly positive with comments on YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr and Direct Messages. Act 2 will be out on Monday 10th May. I hope you take the time (3 mins per Act!) to watch them and tell me what you think. This is only the beginning.

Where will your writing take you?

I wrote my first webseries in 2008. The Evil League of Evil Applications Processing Office sprang forth after I saw Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and was my homage to the multitude of office people that must prop up Bad Horse’s Evil Empire. The series was well received and won a “Horrible Award”, something I am very proud of.

My interest in webseries had started earlier in 2008 when I was involved in the Dr Horrible Official Fan site and stumbled across Felicia Day and her webseries, The Guild. There is much to be written about that, but for now I simply recommend you watch The Guild with the knowledge that it is written, produced and stars the multi-talented Ms Day (you can also read my reviews of The Guild Season 3 on PinkRaygun.com).

And now for something completely different...

Last week hubby had an idea for new webseries that was so simple, it was hilarious. We discussed it and I wrote the first draft that night. It was all going well until I thought of a twist that would change it entirely. And so Goodnight Princess was conceived. Goodnight Princess is a mini-series – an Internet Play in three acts which explores love, loss and silly voices. All in under ten minutes in total. It is low key but hopefully delivers a powerful punch. It’ll be going up on YouTube on Monday and I’ll link it here when it’s live.

Niche is King

In an interesting interview published today, new media/web entertainment veteran Kim Evey talked to Liz Shannon Miller on NewTeeVee.com about her take on new media. Ms Evey has been behind (and in front) of some of the big successes in web entertainment over the last few years. She wrote and starred in the hilariously wacky Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show which ran for two seasons:

She is also producer of The Guild, which is currently in pre-production for Season 4:

In the interview Kim identified some differences between traditional and new media:

“For web series in particular I would like to see people stop thinking in terms of old media models for driving viewership. Old media would have tried to change the pilot episode of The Guild to increase the show’s marketing appeal to whatever demographic it deemed the most likely for success (probably 18-34 year old male gamers). New media is the opposite — it’s niche marketing that allows instant access to people who build their own communities based on common interests, often regardless of demographics rather than because of them.

It’s hard to find a television show that is enjoyed by 13-year-old boys and 40-year-old women alike, but new media lets us cultivate a fan base with the wackiest demographic spread imaginable. Old media would probably have scoffed at the individual numbers each of these groups pull in. The web on the other hand sees these smaller groups as part of a bigger picture….”

It’s clear that there is a great deal of interest in new media and web entertainment. The second dedicated Awards event, The Streamys, was held a few weeks ago. Funding is trickling into this area from big players like Sony and Microsoft and sponsorship deals are gaining ground. Writing for the web is set to become a much bigger outlet in the future.

Goodnight Princess – being reflective on the Web

The niche we are trying to serve with the new mini-series is those people looking for something slightly less frenetic and little more cerebral. The story is there but you have to think about it a little. Things are not as they seem. I hope you enjoy it.

We used to love hearing her stories and often asked about what it was like “…in the olden days”. She used to laugh and tell us about her life growing up in and around Manchester, England, and what my Dad was like when he was a boy.

One of the things that I remember was how her days were ordered around the things she wanted – or needed – to do. Mass on Sundays, Holy Days and lots of other days, too. Bridge nights, tennis and every Monday was wash day. Doing the laundry in post-war Britain with six kids was no mean feat. She boiled water in a copper, soaked and pounded the clothes, then put them through the wringer carefully to minimise creases. Then everything went on the clothes line and the hanging rack in the kitchen. And if it rained….then there was lots of soggy clothes around the house.

When I was little my Gran moved out of her house to live in a modern flat since her knees were bad. We moved into her house, the house my Dad had grown up in. In the cellar the old copper sat and we used to look at it and imagine this backward time when there wasn’t even black and white telly…

Happy Monday

As I walked home from dropping my daughter from school this morning I was counting all the things I needed to do today. The last few days have been full of work and new ventures and my ‘To Do’ list is becoming more of a play in five acts. Plus encores. I need to prioritise and deal with some of the multitude of things I should, need and want to do.

Help is only a Day away

I follow many people on Twitter and Friendfeed (under my other name, worldofhiglet). I’m trying to cut down the time I spend there because I need to Get Things Done. But Felicia Day shared an article about protecting your work that really struck a chord. Jennifer Crusie sets out clearly why prioritising is important for writers and how to do it. My Gran used to divide her time between all the things she needed and wanted to do without the help of lifehacker or anything more than a pencil and paper. So. To quote Mal from my favourite film, Serenity: “So here is us, on the raggedy edge. Don’t push me, and I won’t push you….”

Keep Pushing

Except I need a push. I need to keep moving forward. I have some really exciting projects going on at the moment and everything is poised. Things have not finally fallen into place and when that grinds on day after day, week after week, it takes its toll. But I have an agent waiting for a book proposal – a proposal she asked me to do. Has that been a priortity? Yes. And no. In trying to make the proposal better I’ve sacrificed finishing it, and time is dragging on. So this week that proposal is going to be finished, no excuses.

Let’s clean this place up

And this blog – not been updated for a month. That’s bad. I know it’s bad. I fret about it nearly every day and yet there are seven unfinished posts waiting to be discarded or completed on this site alone. So, from now on, Monday will be the day I update here. It’s not as if I haven’t got anything to say, or that I’m not saying things elsewhere.

More next week

So I’ll be back here next week with tales of lists tamed, a proposal submitted and priorities…prioritised. How do you keep yourself on track?

In a shock move today, Louis has addressed the issue head on and called for anyone who considers the universe to pretty much cover everything to “…shut up…” As Jandy has pointed out, Louis is busy at SXSW at the moment so we’ll just see how long it takes. Shhhhhh…..we’re hunting wabbits….

Prize comes home to roost

You might remember that I recently entered and won a competition run by author and podcaster, Seth Harwood. As my prize I choose to have a chapter reviewed by Seth. I know I have work to do on my novel “Turning Left at Albuquerque” and who better to set me on the right path than someone who is already published and runs (with author/podcaster Scott Sigler) “Author Boot camps“?

Editing in the land of crazy

I was nervous, excited and downright scared. I mashed my very short first 5 chapters into one longer chapter and proceeded to edit the crap out of that first chapter. I put a pivotal point from near the end of the book right at the beginning to show that Jason (the protagonist) had a long way to go. I chopped out over 1000 words of descriptions and non-relevant sidelines. All the words I thought I had needed fell away and I was cutting like a thing possessed. I read and re-read and cajoled opinions out of my loved ones and eventually I took the plunge and sent it to Seth. And then I tried to forget about it.

Seth emailed the next day to say he had received it and I would hear back in about a week. I turned my attention to other matters like my non-fiction book proposal and awaited the verdict.

Helpful, inspiring and so much work to be done.

I checked with Seth and he said it was fine to share his comments here, because I think what he says will be helpful to other writers, too. He didn’t amend much of the except to remove unneeded  words like “had”, “coming”, and “going”.

“Wow! That’s some puke! [Please Note: In the comments, below, Seth confirms he is talking about the action in the chapter and not my writing!]

I like Jason, despite myself and despite the fact that he’s really in a bad place here and doing nothing about it.

From what I understand of these sections, you’re starting out on new years, a while after Jason’s life has left him. He really wants her back but can’t do anything about it because he’s paralyzed by inability to act. Let’s be honest here—this kind of character is a really hard one to start out the beginning of a first chapter with. A reader will really want to tell him to get off his ass and ACT! Sorry, it’s just that way. When people work hard all day and drop into a book, they want a character they can relate to/escape in, not something they want to scream at.

From the New Years’ morning, we jump back 5 months to Jason getting fired. It seemed odd to me that the first section mentioned him going to work as a part of his life, no interruption mentioned there. So I was confused for a moment, just. I was also surprised in this section that he was so rude/dismissive of Trixie when she called. Has he had a big change of heart in these 5 months? I guess so. But doesn’t he have some idea here that he misses her? (Who’s Andy?)

Guess this seems so far like I’ve got a lot of questions. When you get Jason up to bed and then back downstairs, you’re really starting to create a fine scene that I’m picturing and imagining in my head as I read. That’s really successful writing—you’re taking me beyond words on the page into a co-creation of a movie in my head, a visual narrative starring Jason. Dynamite. Sure there’s a lot of puke in it and imagining that is a bit of a downer, to say the least, but you’ve got me! I’m here with you in his house.

Plot/action wise, let’s look at what happened here in this chapter: in a highly boiled down version, guy sits on New Years’ morning. Flash. Guy gets fired and punches bathroom stall, wakes next day very sick. Pukes. Back to bed. Cleans up puke. Drinks tea. Goes and gets groceries. Comes home. Cleans.

This might be worth re-considering. Are there ways you can get more action in here? Is there a later chapter that’d be better to start the action with? Think about it. A very compelling beginning is essential.

Did you know I cut the first chapter of JWU before podcasting or publishing it? I did. Turned out nothing had happened. This is a common occurrence among writers. It’s like stretching before a long run. Just takes a little while to get warmed up.

In any case, your writing here shows great promise. I like your sentences, your sense of movement and character and what’s most important is you’re doing it! Keep this going, keep working at it and find Jason’s story for yourself. That’s what’s important!”

Eep! There’s a lot of information there.

By which I kick my ego into touch

“Who the heck does Seth Harwood think he is, all judgementy on my fine piece of writing? Doesn’t he know genius when he reads it?”

Of course these were not the first thoughts I had when I read what Seth had to say because I want to learn and be a better writer. The only way I can do that is to actually read and listen and understand what people are telling me about my writing. Imagine if Seth had replied: “Hey, Mary, that was great. Keep up the good work and best of luck.” On the face of it that would have been great but how useful would it have been?

Seth also referred me to his videos – a fantastic resource for anyone looking to improve their writing. This one in particular was very useful to me because here Seth talks about internal dialogue.

Week 6 – Double Duty and More — Thought Italics! from Seth Harwood on Vimeo

In my next post I’ll talk about where I go from here and Seth’s advice about the podcast of “Turning Left at Albuquerque”. Until then let me thank Seth once again for his time and expertise. Don’t forget you can find out all about Seth, his writing, Author Boot Camps and his books on his website, SethHarwood.com.

I’m in the process of editing my novel “Turning Left at Albuquerque” at the moment, which is a job I have long put off. I did some initial editing last year and pared it down from over 142,000 to just about 110, 000 (I know!). I then started to podcast it on turningleft.podbean.com with some very positive feedback.

As I learned more about publishing, though, it became apparent I needed to edit more and focus on the main conflict (Jason and Trixie) to get the word count down. The Masterclass by Donald Maas I attended at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference gave me the impetus to actually sit down and edit.

I’m a winner!

Then, last month, I took part on one of the great competitions that Seth Harwood (author of “Jack Wakes Up” and “A Long Way from Disney“) runs on his website and twitter. Seth is passionate about writing and podcasting, and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. The prize I won was critique of a chapter by Seth himself – what an opportunity! I’ve reworked Chapter 1 and sent it to him this week and I’m really looking forward to hearing his feedback.

I had put off the editing for so long, but why? Do you find editing easy?

Writing is so easy

Truly it is. The words flow, the ideas pour onto the page and before you know it you’ve written a masterly-crafted tome. Easy. The moment you finish your book you know – just know – that it is single-handedly the most brilliant piece of fiction ever created. EVA! Just wait until the public get a load of your prose.

Taking the time

And then the rush to submit to agents, publishers, friends, your friend’s dog on Facebook is heady. Everyone needs to read this story. And fast. Okay, so it might be a little on the long side, but more words are better, right?

Oh wait!

After the initial thrill has worn off (and possibly after the first few rejection letters have been received), your mind might (be) turn(ed) towards the idea that perhaps you could afford to trim your story a little. Not much, of course! But a little snippage here and there. Eventually it dawns on you that, in fact, you need to go into major editing mode. Fear not! This is not as bad as it seems to be.

I put off the inevitable. Guess what? Because it was inevitable, I had to do it anyway.

Editing can be a horrible, endless, grinding task. All those precious words! How can you simply delete them? After snipping at the edges, coming to terms with the fact that you actually need to take whole chunks of text out of your work can be a traumatic idea. But take heart. Your manuscript with actually be SO MUCH BETTER when you’ve finished. The simplest way to approach editing is to keep asking yourself: “Does this passage/scene/chapter/ progress the story or heighten or resolve a conflict? If the answer is “No.” then it’s gone. Suddenly all those wonderfully descriptive passages drop away leaving a lean story behind.

Is it that simple?

Yes. And no. Of course there is more to it than that. There are whole books devoted to helping you edit – and professional editors make their living because it is very hard to do. A good editor is worth their weight in gold because they know how to balance structure, form and pace of a book. Querytracker.net has a great post about editing which really helps to break down the process into doable parts.

Your favourite editing tricks

Do you have a method for editing that works for you, or links to other good articles that helped you set about editing? If so please share them here. It’s always good to hear how other people go about their work.