12.04.11
Posted in Writing at 1:58 pm by Natalie
There is nothing that compares to being lost in a good book. I am currently reading ‘A Game of Thrones’ by George R. R. Martin and am thoroughly loving it (thanks Leif for the recommendation). I have nearly missed my bus stop because I’ve been so engrossed, and in less interesting meetings my mind will wander to speculating what might happen next (note to boss or colleagues; my meetings with you guys are always interesting).
Clearly I am under the spell of this book.
Whenever I am like this I think about the power the author has over me. What they can teach me, what they can make me passionate about, or hate, and what I, as an author, would love to arouse in my readers if I were to be able to cast that spell of an un-put-downable book.
There is a league of tweens, teens and women old enough to know better who are in love with pasty boys after the magic of one particular series. Many kids know what basilisks and all manner of ancient magics are thanks to another (wonderful) series.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to marry a fantastic novel with a great message without sounding preachy? Imagine if young Harry made a point of always putting his used cans in the recycling bin, or Edward boasted of how his raw-food diet and great night vision helped to lower his carbon footprint. Okay, fell into preachy straight away, but I’d love to see it done well.
Better yet, I’d love to do it! Time to get writing…
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11.29.11
Posted in Photos at 12:19 pm by Natalie
Can you believe, even as I’m loading these pictures up now, a koala is in a tree outside my window. We are so lucky in the Adelaide hills.
That's not a gum tree!
It's a hard life doing nothing all day
Koala ball -it was a bit cold on this day
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11.27.11
Posted in Writing at 8:39 pm by Natalie
I’ve just finished reading Kelvin Cruickshank’s autobiography Walking in Light, which (being a big fan of Sensing Murder) I found fascinating. The strange thing is, I cannot shake the feeling that I’ve gotten to know Kelvin by reading it. I feel like I should say hi if we were to bump into each other on the street –which seems to me to be just a little bit crazy.
That’s when I realised the real difference between an autobiography and a biography. When someone else is telling the story the belief systems and/or prejudices of the author (which will always come through) have no real bearing on your feelings toward the subject.
Yet when you read an autobiography everything said, even the phrases used to say things are all from the subject (Kelvin regularly uses the word ‘choice’ which took me straight back to my youth in the 80’s and always made me smile). It is more like sitting down for coffee with someone who just opens up and lets it all flow out.
To be honest it feels a little bit strange.
It reminds me of how I felt when talking to an author at World Con last year and I made a comment about the beautiful view near her house. Now yes on first pass it sounds like I’m a stalker, but the fact is I enjoy reading her books, so I started reading her blog and she keeps posting pictures of these amazing views from her house. But the creeped out look she gave me made me wonder who she was actually writing these blog entries for?
Which obviously begs the next big question; who am I writing this blog for? Perhaps a post for another day…
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11.20.11
Posted in Writing at 8:48 pm by Natalie
I am a great lover of magic. You will never hear me beg a magician to tell me how they did their trick; I want to believe they actually did it. I would rather consider the possibility that their years of practice had brought them to an enlightened power over the physical world, rather than a power over every muscle in their body so they can shift, sort and switch things without me seeing.
That’s why I wrote ‘The Amazing Salvador’.
I know a lot of people won’t like this story; a lot of people who beg the magician to tell them ‘how they did it’ and who Google the explanation behind David Copperfield’s amazing walk through the Great Wall of China or Criss Angel’s superb disappearing Lamborghini stunt (so good I’m going to insert it rather than reference it).
So thank you Title Goes Here for seeing the magic in my story, and not telling me magic is ‘so yesterday that it is in the same category as vampire stories’ – I hope you all enjoy it.
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11.13.11
Posted in Writing at 5:13 pm by Natalie
Okay, I’m going to get a bit existential here, but do you ever wonder why we want so much stuff? Every day we get catalogues pimping lost of shiny, colourful new stuff, and we bring bags of it into our houses, bought both on-line and in person. Our houses are overflowing with stuff, but we still need more.
Don’t you wonder if maybe, just maybe, what we actually have is an emotional gap that needs filling? And because we are so time poor or so stressed we try to plug that gap with stuff instead of substance.
I wonder if I spent more time writing and less time trawling websites to get the right price for that vital stuff that I need, then perhaps I wouldn’t actually need so much stuff?
After all, the stuff of today is generally the landfill-clogging waste of tomorrow, but I know my words will be cherished, even if only by me.
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11.06.11
Posted in Writing at 8:27 pm by Natalie
This is not the blog post I was going to write. To write that one I needed to read a story I have had published previously, and as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
That got me thinking about why I didn’t want to re-read it. It is a bit of a no-brainer; as the author you will always find something you want to change, and once it is published it is too late to do so.
But the explanation is not that simple, because I don’t like to re-read my story when it comes back to me before it is published as a proof. That is the time when it can be changed, indeed you need to find the errors, so you are forced to read it. So with gritted teeth I always look through it, trying to put as much distance between me and the work, after all, by the time the story has got to proof status it is very annoying for the publisher to change it, so semantics are not well tolerated.
I also hate re-reading my stories before I send them out for consideration. Again, this is another must. You need to make sure that if there is anything a reader might stumble over, you identify it and fix it before you send it out. So again with the gritted teeth (and often out loud) the re-read begrudgingly occurs.
Post final-edit is also a pain for me. I’ve already read it what feels like a million times (and some paragraphs surely do come close to that), so once I get to the end I don’t want to look at a word of it again. But you have to. Gritted teeth…
Pretty much the only time I’m happy to do the re-read is after the first draft is completed and you write those magic words ‘The End’. Probably because at the end of every first draft I’m convinced I’ve just finished the best piece I’ve ever written.
The first re-read usually cures me of that misconception.
Maybe that’s why I don’t like re-reads?
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10.30.11
Posted in Journal at 6:25 pm by Natalie
I am always looking for signs, especially when it comes to my writing. A few years ago I asked the I Ching which story would be the first to really ‘break out’ for me, and after flipping the coins I was directed to a three lined verse which included “Cloud Dragons” –a story I was working on at the time (which has thus far never found a home).
I was wondering if I should release Paragon as an eBook and a van went past at exactly that moment with ‘Omega’ boldly printed on the side –one of the primary characters from Paragon. It was a sign.
So naturally when faced with another big decision I put it out to the universe that I was in need of a sign. Either I’ve been too blind to see it, or the universe thinks I’m getting a bit greedy with my sign requests.
I thought I’d make it easy for the universe, so when watching Escape to the country I gave the universe the sign list; if they say ‘bespoke kitchen’ I should go with option A, if they say ‘oh look, an Aga’ (with excess glee) then it is option B, and if they say ‘bags of character’ (which they say all the time and therefore indicated my true preference) then I was to go with option C.
They didn’t say any of it. Not even close.
Perhaps the universe is trying to tell me it is important that I not rely on signs? Let’s face it, as convincing as the first two were at the time, neither have really sent me in the right direction. Or maybe (it hurts to even type this) the universe isn’t really sending signs and I am just bumping into very peculiar coincidences?
Or maybe, just maybe, there is an option D out there that I haven’t yet considered?
Escape to the country is on again tonight, if they mention a ‘butler sink’, then I know the answer is option D.
Just wish I knew what option D was…
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10.23.11
Posted in Writing at 11:57 am by Natalie
That’s how long it just took for one of my stories to be rejected. I had actually assumed it was rejected three months ago when I had not heard from them within their rough guide of when they would be making their decision, so it was not with disappointment that I received this email, but surprise.
It was a form letter rejection, so I’m not sure if my story got close to being picked or if it was just lost in the back-log for all that time. The thing that did really surprise me was the invitation to submit again next year. Forgive me if I sound bitter, and I do appreciate that in the scheme of things in the writing world I am at the bottom of the food chain (and I’m okay with that), but waiting nearly eight months to reject a piece of flash fiction, in a flash fiction anthology where most of the stories submitted are around 1,000 words is just too long!
The disappointing thing is that I know a lot of the people who put these anthologies together are writers themselves, so surely they know the disappointment you feel when you have had a story locked up for nearly a year while someone makes a decision about it. Even if they sent a generic update email at the four-month mark I’d not be quite so miffed.
It makes it very hard to write a ‘cutting-edge’ piece of science fiction, because if the first person you sub it to doesn’t take it, then it is old hat by the time it gets sent to the second potential publishing opportunity.
I know there is no solution. This is just how it is. It really is no wonder that people are turning more and more to self-publishing as a first option for their work. I’m not there yet, but I do not hold it against those who do choose that path.
Yes, I guess it turns out I am a bit bitter 
and I must concede that it could be something about that particular story, because the last place held onto it for over a year before they rejected it.
Why do we do this to ourselves? Ugh.
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10.16.11
Posted in Writing at 7:54 pm by Natalie
I’m growing some garlic at the moment. What I didn’t realise when I put it in the ground nearly four months ago is that it can take up to nine months to get to maturity. This means the plot sits there for a long time not doing anything. A little bit like most of my manuscripts.
Today I decided to tackle the most recent weed infestation and it got me thinking about how much weeding is like editing. You have the ‘good’ bits, which you know are good, and you know you need to pull out the ‘bad’ bits to give the good bits the best chance they can get, but it is not as easy as it sounds.
For starters the bad bits have big root systems, and they can rip out the good bits if you pull them out without enough consideration and care. Also, especially when you start from seed, sometimes it is not easy to recognise which are the desired ‘plants’ and which are the ‘weeds’ when they first burst through the soil. You might think you are giving love and sunlight to your garlic, but it actually turns out to be onion weed.
Finally, when you have no idea, and you are doing all this for the first time, you don’t know exactly when you should harvest your plants. Too early and they will be tasteless and mediocre, too late and they will be woody and overburdened with pulp.
I guess that is why it is so important to make sure you seek advice from a gardener who has been there before, someone who has made all those same planting mistakes before you. It is always wise to seek some guidance and can save you from a ruined crop.
I really miss my writers group 
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10.09.11
Posted in Writing at 5:38 pm by Natalie
A friend of mine is a big Biggles fan and recently lent me a couple of books to read. The language is wonderful, and I love the way the author paints a picture, but there are some things about the writing style that really date the books.
The first thing that struck me was how long the sentences were. I was forgetting what we were talking about by the time we got to the end of them in some instances. This just shows how lazy I’ve become with my reading, so I was glad to get some practice in.
The next thing that struck me was how politically incorrect the books were, on more levels than I want to get into here. So we’ll just leave that alone.
The third thing to strike me, and strangely enough not until I was some time into the book, was how rarely the word ‘said’ was used. In the first three pages people chipped, returned, added, answered, stated, inquired, whispered, queried, ejaculated, muttered and even averred (I had to look that one up), but no one ‘said’ anything until page 12. Page 12!!!!
One of the early ‘rules’ of writing that I learned was you should try to use ‘said’ as much as possible because all the other options just get in the way of otherwise good prose, and the eye easily slips over the word ‘said’. I diligently went through all my stories and axed my answered’s and quelled my queries, replacing all with a nice soft ‘said’.
So did it irritate me when I was reading Biggles? Yes, a bit, but not as much as when I’m reading a modern story and someone does exactly the same thing. I guess it was just the style of the day to replace ‘said’ whenever possible and I was being more understanding, but when did that style change? More importantly –why?
Why was it determined that said was bad once and good later? Who decides on all of these rule?
‘It makes me want to break the rules,’ declared Natalie.
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