Writer's Blog: Your Writing Coah

I've recently been reading Your Writing Coach by Jurgen Wolff. I'm only 26% of the way through but I can already say that this is a great book for any aspiring author.

I wanted to share with you one piece of advice that Wolff gives. That piece of advice is to ask 'Why.'

The question of why something is happening is very important. Unfortunately that question can often get sidelined or be met with an unhelpful response. We may ask "Why is the villain doing what he's doing?" ... and we are told ... "Because he's mad."  

This may work in some situations, The Wrath of Kharn or The Dark Knight come to mind, but I think it is generally better to get a deeper reason. Wolff suggests asking the question over and over. From asking questions we can get to the bedrock of the story.

Another question that could be asked is: What if... A 'what if' could help form the basis of a story. For instance 'What if George III had granted the thirteen colonies of America parliamentary representation.'

This will form the subject of my next post.

Are You Sure About This?

We've all heard of someone who's sent a stupid or silly message on the Internet. You know the type of thing: sending a messages to a mailing list instead of an individual, complaining about your boss on Facebook when they're a friend on their, or even sending your love letter to the wrong Sam in your address book.

Sometimes the mistake is noticed a slit second after its too late.

The problem is that communication is instantaneous. Imagine if Facebook was a magazine, it wouldn't work but lets just go with it, and you had to post messages via snail mail. You'd have to write the message, find an envelope, find a stamp, and remember to take it with you when you leave the house. Odds are that you will think better of it after a couple of days. When you've forgotten to post the letter for the third time you might realised that the hurtful letter is a bad idea and bin it.

So I propose that computers should have an 'Are you sure about this?' setting. Google already has some features of this nature. If you say 'attachment' in a message but forget to attach the document it'll remind you.

So how about this you write an email and when you click send a message comes up. 'Did you mean to use the word ***', 'Your message, Subject: 'Itchy Bum' is about to be sent to 'Work mailing list' is this what you meant?

On the other hand maybe people should just be a little more careful. This is not a phenomenon that's going to go away. And if you do hate work so much you feel the need to complain online here's my advice.

Make sure your boss won't see it.

If you want to risk it keep it PG. I don't think you could get fired for saying that work is annoying.

And if work is that bad maybe a new job would be a good idea.

Writer's Blog: Day Eight of Nine

What should I write here? I've been trying to figure out something to say. Its raining heavily and I have to leave for work soon. Today is my eighth day in a row.

I've recently set myself the goal of writing something here every week. Some days though the ideas just don't flow. Earlier today I submitted a short story for a competition. I'm not confident that I'll win but you have to enter to have a chance. The competition was free so what do I have to loose?

I'm alternating now between writing a short story and writing for my novel. So its over to the novel for a few thousand words now.

Maybe I'll have a killer idea today.

Happy writing and I hope you all have a great day.

Writer's Blog: Dark Genisis

I haven't talked about what I've been reading in quite a while. Late last year, with a brief interlude to read 'A Christmas Carol', I read the Babylon 5 Psi Corps trilogy.

These books tell of the inception of the Psi Corps and give more information on the history of Alfred Bester.

Bester appeared in twelve episodes of Babylon 5. He always had his own agenda and, while being a villain, he remained a fun character.

'Alfred Bester: If I had my talent working, I could have warned you when he was coming.
Michael Garibaldi: And if I had a baseball bat, we could hang you from the ceiling and play piñata.
Alfred Bester: A piñata, huh? So, you think of me as something bright and cheerful, full of toys and candy for young children? Thank you! That makes me feel much better about our relationship.' (Dust to Dust - Babylon 5)

These books were interesting and give a real incite into the life of Bester. For the continuity geeks, I suppose I'm one, its good to know that the story is also cannon. I'm not sure what non-Babylon 5 fans would get out of it but if you liked the series I'd give these a try.