Monday Musing: Doctor Who and the Zygons

Hello,

A bit of a different Musing today. This is not a critical analysis of the Doctor Who special on Saturday 23rd, but explores one element of it in relation to storytelling. There will be spoilers if you’ve not seen the episode.

At the end of the episode whilst talking about it with a friend she asked me what had happened with the Zygon subplot story. Here’s the thing: thematically it’s completely resolved as part of the larger story. Literally it is completely ignored. I’m not sure which side of the fence I am on about it.

Thematically the story of the Zygons attempting to take over Earth and UNIT Lady’s choice to destroy them all to stop that from happening is the mirror of The War Doctor’s choice to sacrifice all of Gallifrey to destroy the Daleks. It’s basic, but effective, storytelling. As a result The Doctor, who is rarely willing to allow such decisions to be made again steps in and forces a situation whereby the problem is averted by making the Humans and Zygons forget if they are one or the other. Jump to all the Doctor’s realising there is another option to save Gallifrey that will make it appear to have been destroyed but totes not really. At this point, we follow the Doctors as they set about saving Gallifrey. The only hint we have of the Human/Zygon situation is when Cute Scarf Glasses (I’m sure she had a character name) and the Zygon work out which is which but keep it a secret. The implication being that peace would be better than destroying themselves. Following the thematic thread you can assume that the Human/Zygon thing was similarly resolved and everyone was happy.

From a story point of view, the story is left hanging. The Zygon story wasn’t just a frame that the main story was set around it was both the launch point of the main story and vital to its resolution. It was also dramatically interesting in of itself with many characters and situations set up, many resolved or explained, the early phone call for instance. Yet suddenly it is completely dropped in favour of the A story and not returned to. We don’t find out what happened to UNIT Lady or Cute Scarf Glasses (I should probably IMDb this), or how that story was resolved. We’re left to assume that it all worked out fine.

So which is the better option? Our stronger emotional investment is with the Doctors and the Zygon B story is a facet of that story, but can we be satisfied if a story is started, taken to a stalemate situation and then abandoned? The economies of time on television are maybe to blame here.

I’ve said before that I’m quite happy with ideas or narratives being taken to a point before leaving it to an audience to decide for themselves elements of the story (how they feel about it/what it meant/etc), but I’m not sure that I like a story or story element having no resolution at all. Yes, it could be something they will return to in the future, but within the construct of the episode it isn’t addressed at all.

I think it’s an interesting story choice, and something I’ve been thinking about over the weekend.

If you saw the episode what are your thoughts?
If you didn’t watch it, I’m sorry for this Doctor Who based blog.

– Andrew

Thursday Thoughts: Back on Track

 

Hello Blog-babes,

Today is a little blog about the state of my novel and a problem that I doubt is unique to me.

I’ve actually been struggling to write recently. My struggle hasn’t been in terms of putting words on metaphorical paper, it has been in an acceptance that the words are the right ones. Or even good ones.

For two weeks I have been writing small sections of prose. Where I had once managed to average about 5,000 words a day I was suddenly having to drag myself to reach 1,000. Each day I would read back over the previous day’s efforts and rip it out and try it again. It was torturous, slow and demoralising. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what I was writing, but I was falling into that trap of writing without saying anything. Actions would come and go with ne’er a purpose between them. It’s frustrating reading your own work and realising that you are not reaching the potential you know is there.

Aside from the story/character exercises I’ve previously blogged about – which did help! – one other invaluable tool to the writer is: discussion. If something is knotted up and you know that no matter how you try you can’t work around it… talk to someone. We have an amazing capacity, when we really need to, of making ourselves understood to other people. By trying to explain the beats and narrative of what you are trying to write to someone else, if they are not understanding it you will find yourself instinctively rephrasing your point for clarity, this continues until the other person understands. You are refining and streamlining your problem to its clearest form so that it makes sense to another, and importantly also to yourself. If you’ve got a good friend who is willing to be talked at, sit them down with a nice cup of tea and have at it.

I did this last week, set out what Evin is going through, what actions I’m writing and thematically what the section is about. And lo, I set about writing again and the words are flowing clearly and the action is moving purposefully forward.

Let your inner editor come out for a while when you both need space to breath, it will help.

I’ve also been exploring options for presenting the short stories I publish on this blog in a form that allows for them to be read on e-book/smart phone/tablet devices as an alternative to you only being able to read them on the blog itself. I had a play with Apple’s iAuthor, but I’m not sure if it’s the tool for me. I’m not sure if I’ll get anything finished before the next story is published, but hopefully soon after. And there’s one other thing that I have planned. But more on that at a later date.

– Andrew

(Also, Blog-babes?! Oh dear, that won’t do. I gotta think up a good collective term for you fine folks)

 

Monday Musing: No Offence Intended

Hello,

I intended to blog about something else today, maybe I’ll come back to that in a later posting, for now I want to talk about something that came up yesterday. I’ve talked about how a small select group of people have read the opening 100-odd pages of my novel They’re Here. The people are all of different temperaments, out-looks and interests, allowing me to get feedback from them on different aspects of the story, find common likes, dislikes, or even something I hadn’t noticed.

I had a lengthy discussion with a friend yesterday about the story and what’s going on, where it’s heading, the political aspect of the world and who Evin is as a character. I also talked in moderate depth about what my plans are for the remainder of the book. One thing came up in this conversation that I hadn’t intended: my friend was offended by a part of the story.

To deliberately offend was not my intention and on a personal level I did not attach the same reaction to the event as my friend, yet when he told me how he had perceived it I felt bad because I hadn’t had the forethought to look at my work through the eyes of someone who sees the world differently to me.

I won’t go into what the thing was because in the scheme of the story my changing it is meaningless. The event itself is meaningless, yet I had created an offensive action to my friend. I have changed the section and added some other elements based on our conversation that I think maintain the essence of the scenes but remove the troubling element.

This got me thinking about the notion of offence as a concept and action. As I say, my intention is not to offend and am pleased to have corrected the issue. I don’t think that my work challenges things, but I think it important for any artist to challenge ways of thinking (again, not my intention with the scene which is why it has changed), to examine the world, particularly the status quo, and say: is this right? Is this the correct way we should look at the world?

I think the problem always arrises when it’s not done with thought to others, or with the deliberate intent to hurt others. No two people think alike, this person is one of my very closest friends and our opinions on many things differ, yet this does not affect our friendship. To set out with the express desire to go against what people think to be confrontational for the sake of upsetting people rings through as false art to me. Yes, challenge, inspire people to question what they perceive to know, believe or understand. It helps people grow. To question our society, our values, our behaviour is important to human growth. But I do not believe in attack for the sake of controversy.

As an example, one of my favourite books (that I’ve longed to make into a movie for over a decade) is a novel by Bo Fowler called Scepticism Inc. it is a particularly difficult book to find now as it is out of print. It is a very challenging book and I understand the elements of it that some many take issue, or even offence to, yet I believe the guiding thought behind the book is to question what you are told and decide for yourself what you believe.

The book is narrated by a shopping trolley that believes in God because he was programmed to do so. He has always believed in God. The trolley’s journey in the book is to discover whether or not be chooses to believe in God. This is set against the story of Edgar Malroy who does not believe in God. Edgar opens a chain of betting shops, metaphysical betting shops to be exact, where religious people come and bet that their God is the one True God. As such a thing is unprovable there is never any payout (Edgar uses the wealth for humanitarian work).

Again, I bring this up because I can see why people could take offence to it, to the book’s exploration of organised religions and the meaning of faith. What I thought was important in the book, and why I don’t think that it is a deliberate attack on religion or God or belief is that Edgar is largely the only voice in the book for atheism, the narrator, Edgar’s love Sophia, and everyone who bets at the metaphysical betting shops has an absolute and un-mocked belief in God. The view of one character in the book is not the whole truth of the story.

The writer states at the end in a note that the theme of the book is: People matter more than The Truth.

We grow up with our beliefs, opinions, actions, all dictated to us by our surroundings. Some people go through life never questioning what others around them tell them they believe to be true. We must all, at some stage in our lives, look at who we are and question whether or not that is genuinely what we think or if it’s the thoughts of others imposed upon us. I don’t think we have the right to make anyone believe what we believe. No one is wrong. How they choose to express that is when there are problems. Look at that story of Prussian Blue for a real world example of this in the mainstream.

I am grateful to my friend for voicing his opinion, and I have changed my novel accordingly to make it not be weighed by something I didn’t intend. I’m not fool enough to think there won’t be people who wouldn’t like my book, but I hope this would be because it’s not a story or style that interests them and not because I thoughtlessly upset them.

Let me know your thoughts in this issue in the comments.

– Andrew

 

Thursday Thoughts: November Disappointment

Hello,

Bit of a disappointing month as there have been no submissions to the interactive short story aspect of the blog. In lieu of this I will write up a short story based on the example I used in the suggestion post on the 1st. Which was:

[character x] and [character y] find a sack full of money and a severed finger. When they return home with the money they receive a phone call telling them that they must double the finances in the sack within a week or face the same fate as the owner of the severed finger.

If anyone has any comments or feedback they’d like to give about the process of the short story submission and how I could improve it to generate some interest in the monthly event I would be grateful to hear it.

Hopefully things will pick up in December. If you’ve enjoyed this blog so far please follow, share, reblog, repost, like and tweet this to your friends.

Have a wonderful day.

– Andrew

 

 

Last Chance For November Submissions

Hello WordPress friends,

Tomorrow is the 14th which means, if so called “calendars” are to be believed, today is the last day to make suggestions for November’s short story.

Your suggestion can be anything: serious, funny, romantic, sad, abstract, whatever you feel like to be honest. Please check https://ardavidsonwrites.wordpress.com/2013/11/01/november-short-story-submission/ for details.

Share this post and help me get some suggestions for my November story. I can’t do this without you.

– Andrew

 

Monday Musing: The Real World

Hello,

Welcome to the accidentally Tuesday Monday Musing.

I’ve been thinking about reality, and the reality of fiction. What makes a world real to a reader? It’s something that I’m constantly thinking about in my writing at the moment, and have been thinking about other works of fiction and the worlds that they created.

I’ve recently finished reading Flashman’s Lady, which like the rest of the series deftly mixes historical fact with fiction. George MacDonald Fraser researched fact and built his fiction around it. It’s a staggering feat to me. I utterly believe the world he is writing. It’s a beautifully believable world. If you’ve not read any of the Flashman Papers I heartily recommend them.

I’m currently reading Storm Front by Jim Butcher because I’m on a bit of an Urban Magic kick at the moment, having recently enjoyed Ben Aaronovitch’s River of London series. Storm Front is set in a modern-day Chicago and layers on levels of fantasy, mythology and magic. Which is what got me thinking about this topic, as I realised I totally bought his world, but can’t pinpoint the moment that I did.

Fictional worlds like Middle Earth, Westeros and The Discworld all feel like real places, brilliantly realised on the page. The Time Traveler’s Wife works around nonsense science that you believe as being a problem Henry suffers from.

In film, the world of Star Wars originally caught imagination because it presented its world as lived in and used, we were seeing the parts of the world that people like us would live in, we were seeing our lives mirrored in this galaxy far, far away. (which is why I think the prequels feel so cold to those of us that grew up with the original trilogy. Suddenly we’re in palaces and government buildings. Nothing is really as relatable to us in those films).

I’ve recently finished playing Bioshock Inifinte and my god there was a world that I believed I was in. From the opening level that allows you to explore the floating world of Columbia at your own pace before all the fighting starts allows you to feel at home and familiar with it. This is expanded later when you are joined by Elizabeth who has never seen the world before, her fascination with the world and it’s citizens is constantly refreshing and continuously brings you into LOOKING at the world, not just pass through it.

I love all these world, and so many more. As I create a version of the world we are familiar with I keep having to ask myself does that make sense? Will a reader understand the technology, am I being too vague, too specific, am I skewing things just enough to get the desired effect?

I believe that the key to this is to set out the rules of the world, that certain things exist or can happen and why, and stick to it. There’s nothing worse than a fiction that presents rules and then bends/breaks them for a quick payoff that feels hollow or undeserved. I’m reminded of a designer of panic rooms discussing David Fincher’s film Panic Room, stating that what he was grateful for was the world of panic rooms was established as being unbreakable, that no one could force their way into the room, and that this was maintained as an absolute in the film.

Rules are not always made to be broken.

I feel that my test-readers have been given a mini quiz when they are done reading. I desperately want my world to feel real, lived in, complete and for it to make sense. I hope it does, so far I nothing seems to have really caused any discomfort to my gallant guinea pigs.

Creating a believable new reality is the power of the fiction writer.

– Andrew

Thursday Thoughts: What My Book Is About…

I’ve been teasing this for a long time, so it’s perhaps overdue that I talk a little more about the novel that I am writing. This is not part of NaNoWrMo (National Novel Writing Month to those that maybe don’t know), though I am considering taking part next year. A recent change in lifestyle has made me examine my creative output and I decided that the best course was to write a book. It’s slow going (I’m marvelling at the NaNoWrMo writers who have surpassed my word count already) but I’ve not felt so creatively liberated in a long time.

I’ve spoken around the subject since I started this blog, revealing the main character’s name (Evin) and I published the first paragraph a while back. So here, finally, is what it is about…

They’re Here tells the story of Evin van Wijk in her own words. Written in the months after she wakes up to find that her parents are missing. Not only are they missing, but their belongings have vanished and they have been erased from any photographer or drawing that featured them. A letter on her doorstep tells Evin that her parents have been taken and that she should never speak of them again.
With the disappearances occurring world-wide, Evin must survive on her own and look for somewhere safe to live. But is the fear of being taken worse than the reality of what is left of the world?

There you have it. I’ve nut-shelled my story for you. I’m having a lot of fun writing this book. Some of it has gone to places that I hadn’t anticipated when I started. I’m looking forward to getting to the end (please see: https://ardavidsonwrites.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/monday-musings-the-end/ for more details on that).

Let me know what you think.

Just a reminder that you can get involved with this blog in other ways. facebook.com/ardavidsonwrites and ardavidsonwrites.tumblr.com

AND there is one week left to add your short story suggestions here: https://ardavidsonwrites.wordpress.com/2013/11/01/november-short-story-submission/ I want you to challenge me.

– Andrew

 

Monday Musing: What’s In A Name?

I have a terrible time naming characters. I always have. I was reminded of this the other day when I decided to play Mass Effect 3 again using my second character. I played through the previous two games twice, once trying to do it properly, the second time just being the galaxy’s biggest dickbag. If someone asks nicely for something, I tell ’em where to stick it! If I have the choice of saving someone or letting them die, it’s adios unnecessary baggage. If I’m trying to extract information from someone, they are gonna get a broken face. Throughout the second game in the series I worked hard to maintain the deep red scarring that was representative of being a total dickbag. As the first name of Commander Shephard is never said in the game it’s irrelevant what you call the character, my second character is called Girl’s Name Shephard (the other version was called Fucknut).

This naming fiasco is as a result of putting no thought into it at all, and not representative of my usual naming process. The problem is that my usual naming process is part of the reason why it takes me so long to write anything. To me, the name of a character is defined by who the character is, not the other way round. I don’t write for a while and think, “Well, she feels like she’s a Trish.” It gets to the point that I can’t write anything for the character until I have named them.

Admittedly I will name ancillary characters after friends and family, and whenever I made a short film with the actor Darren McAree (from Autumn Heart onwards) his character’s name always started with a J. I wish I could tell you there was some great story behind that, but there isn’t.

I struggle every time, and I hate it. I hate that I have to trawl through name books every time I start writing because I can’t do anything until the character can identify themself. Yet, and this is what’s important to me, once I have named the character it is easy to write for them, I feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction having named them. The process is hard and seldom instantaneous, but it is worth it.

I don’t think that a reader should notice or think much at all about what the character is named. I don’t believe that I’ve ever felt that a character in a book I’ve read, a movie or television show I’ve watched, has had the wrong name. I’ve never spoken to other writers about this so I can only speak for myself, but the name of a character to me defines who they are, what they represent in the story, and only when their name fits them like a thing that is really well-fitting, can I begin to let them live.

There is power in a name. As long as that isn’t “Girl’s Name”.

– Andrew

(oh, just leaving this here… http://www.kabalarians.com/m/andrew.htm)

November Short Story Submission

Welcome to November’s Interactive Short Story submission post.

I hope you enjoyed October’s story, but it’s time for a new story and I need your short story ideas!

What I Need From You

• Character(s) – Protagonist, Antagonist, love interest, etc. Anyone you feel is important. (names optional)
• Setting – Where does the story take place?
• What happens – eg. [character x] and [character y] find a sack full of money and a severed finger.
• Inciting incident – what changes? eg. When they return home with the money they receive a phone call telling them that they must double the finances in the sack within a week or face the same fate as the owner of the severed finger.
• A small detail – something you want me to work in to the story. (optional)

You don’t have to include all of those details, though the more detail the better. If there’s something you want to add that you feel is important please do.

Try and put your idea into a short sentence or two, remembering that these submissions will go to vote, keep it snappy.

Submissions will go to reader vote on November 14th 2013 and will be open until midday on November 21st 2013.

I will write your idea as a short story for publishing on this blog.

Thank you for submitting an idea. Without you this blog won’t work.
I look forward to reading your ideas.

– Andrew

Rules

• Please do not use existing works in your submission.
• Only submissions made in the comment section of this post will be counted, submissions made anywhere else will not be included.
• I have final say on which 5 story ideas go to the vote, apologies if yours is not chosen.
• Submissions made after 10.00pm GTM on Wednesday 13th November will not be eligible for voting.
• By submitting a short story suggestion you waive all rights to that story. The copyright to the completed short story will be mine exclusively. By submitting a suggestion you are agreeing to this.