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K is for Killing

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I remember my horror when I heard that JK had considered killing Harry Potter in the Deathly Hallows.  It felt like she was threatening to kill her son… more than that, it felt like she was threatening to kill mine.   There was a public outcry when Conan Doyle killed Sherlock Holmes, so big that he had to bring him back to life.  As writers, how much do we owe our readers?   They’re our stories to tell,  but when we’ve crafted a character and made everyone fall in love with them, are we allowed to kill them?  Doesn’t it seem like some gross act of betrayal?HOLMES040

As a writer, I tend to get emotionally attached to my characters and the thought of killing them fills me with dread.  Yet I know that a story full of danger and darkness will have its casualties.  I can’t write a story like that in which nobody is killed, because in a story like that, someone is bound to get killed. When I was writing Runners, my editor friend said straight away: ‘Right, which character is going to die?’  To her, it’s a given that you need to kill someone, and that it should be someone significant.  If I was writing crime, of course, it would be much easier.  I’d just get the murder out of the way on the first page.  But I don’t write crime, I write stories for young adults, and emotional ones at that (at least I think they are when I cry at the laptop).   As much as I love my characters, though, I know that I have to subject them, in some part, to the risks that people in the real world face.  Unless I make them immortal, then they can be hurt and killed, just like the rest of us.  They feel like my kids, though, and I want to protect them like I do my own kids.

So, did I kill anyone in Runners?  Maybe…

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J is for Juxtaposition

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Juxtaposition: the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect. (Oxford Dictionary)

steampunkDon’t ask me why, but I love this word.  At uni, it became a personal challenge to get it into every essay.  It rolls from the tongue in the most beautiful way.  It sounds more intellectual than it is. I could say it all day.

I love what it represents too, the possibilities for weirdness.  You can juxtapose reality with magic and get magical realism, science with antiquity to give you steampunk,  paranormal and romance to give you…  well, let’s not go there.

I’m not entirely sure where I’m going with this post again. I just had to use this word.  And, let’s face it, the only other possiblity, for me, was Jacob.  Admit it, the people who know me were expecting Jacob, weren’t you?  See, so juxtaposition means you haven’t had to listen to me talk about my books again.  Luckily, I couldn’t think of a Merlin reference beginning with J either.  As you were…

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I is for Introspection

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I’ve been kinda flippant during most of this challenge, but a couple of days ago I had confidence crisis. I pulled out a pen and notebook to do this post, and this is what I wrote, word for word, my thoughts and feelings undiluted and uncensored:

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You had a lucky escape. I soooo wanted to stick a photo of Merlin crying here – the cheekbones were mesmerising! This is pretty mesmerising, though.

Even I have days where I feel like I can’t make this writing thing work. My ultimate goal, like so many of my fellow writers, is to scrape a living doing something I love. I don’t need much. I don’t need fame or theme parks built in honour of my characters (though a girl can dream). I just want to write. Mostly I stay optimistic and focused but sometimes I look at the handful of sales I’ve made for a trilogy that took me six years to complete and I wonder whether it’s worth it. I’m not bleating, just being honest. I know that when it comes down to it, they’re just books. No one dies if they don’t sell. I have my family and friends and health. I have a decent job and hope for the future of a different kind. Even so, some days, it feels like the sky is falling in.

That was what I wrote down. But then I remembered this blog post and it reminded me of the reasons why I write. I write because I have to or my head would explode and there would be mixed up stories splat all over the wall and they wouldn’t make any sense to anyone, least of all me.

Today, I’m back to my annoying, flippant self again. I may delete this post, who knows? It feels like a weakness I shouldn’t be admitting. Or maybe it’s weaker not to admit it that sometimes I get down too.

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H is for Hybrid

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I was recently made aware of the term ‘hybrid author’.  I’d never come across this description before, but after reading this article, I realised that it actually referred to people like me.  As someone who has self-published and is also awaiting publication of my first traditionally published book, I had always considered that the way I work, in terms of publishing, was a bit clumsy and indecisive.  I was slightly afraid that the self-publishing I do may endanger any chances I have in the future of getting further traditional deals.

This article gives everything a fresh perspective.  It seems that self-publishing has well and truly moved from out of the shadows.  Where it used to be considered a last resort, it’s now a valid career choice.  It’s like having your Toblerone and eating it.  If this way of working is being understood and accepted within the industry as a whole, it seems the second wave of the publishing revolution is about to begin.  What an exciting prospect!

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G is for Gratitude

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I had a lovely post drafted for G. With photos of cake and everything. But life had other ideas and as I sit here with nothing but a temperamental phone, surrounded by 5 kids on a last minute emergency babysitting mission, I realise that I can’t actually get at that post to publish it. It’s likely to be a long day before I get to that post…

So I’m trying to remember everything I said in the right order. Here goes…

G is for gratitude. To everyone who has ever helped me on the writing journey. To those who have bought my books, taken the time to beta read or review or simply read for fun and sent me a kind word. To those who helped me with advice or encouragement. To those who picked me up when I was down. To those who took the time to chat and listen, either in life or online. To those who reminded me that a thing called real life actually still exists. To those who took chances on me. To those who gave me the opportunities to prove my worth. To those who were simply beautiful and inspiring. You all know who you are.

Thank you. Batman says thank you too!

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F is for Friendship

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Biggles couldn’t have survived the Congo without Ginger and Algy, Harry wouldn’t have defeated Voldermort without Ron and Hermione (what do you mean, spoilers?  Where have you been?) and Jacob wouldn’t have made it to Astrae without Luca and Ellen (what do you mean, you’ve never heard of the last three? Where have you been?).   The best stories have amazing friendships at the heart of them.  I could totally mention Merlin and Arthur here, but see how I resist the urge?

Nope, it’s no good, there’s a photo coming up…

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Ok, so that boil’s lanced.  Pretty, though…

Why are these friendships so epic?  What makes these people risk everything for each other?  Why am I writing this post as it’s quite clearly running away from me?  It might have something to do with the fact that I really wanted to use F to swear, but, you know, it’s not allowed.  As I pondered this I asked my daughters why they thought friendship was important in stories.  My oldest suggested that there would be no interaction for the protagnoist without friends.

‘But,’ I pointed out, ‘what about his enemies?  He’d interact with them.’

‘Sure,’ my little one agreed, ‘but he/ she needs friends to help him do whatever he needs to do.’

Maybe it goes back to the bravery thing.  Who cares about a hero that’s so invincible he doesn’t need anyone else?  There’s no admission of fear or weakness, no call for help to prove his vulnerability.  That’s boring.  Every hero needs a helping hand once in a while, and he’s more interesting for it.

So F is for friendship.  My favourite thing in all the world.

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E is for Elijah

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That’s Elijah Thackeray. Hero (of sorts, some might say anti-hero) of my upcoming novel Runners. Awww, come on, you didn’t think I was going to go through all this A-Z challenge without squeezing in one or two posts about my own books, did you?

This is a little known fact (and one I’ll probably regret divulging) but the muse for the character of Elijah is actually his Hollywood namesake, Elijah Wood. I wrote Runners in 2007 and at the time was in the throes of a Lord of the Rings obsession. Before you run off screaming ‘fan fiction’, just wait! I say muse, not reproduction. I liked the way he looked, the name seemed perfect for my character and it was easy to visualise him when writing him. This makes me a thieving, tricksy little hobbit, right? But I’m fairly certain that the Hollywood Elijah is nowhere near as big a pain in the ass as my Elijah is! Elijah Thackeray is someone you find yourself wanting to slap at the start of Runners. Probably for a good way through the book too. Will he grow into the kind of person who saves the world? Maybe. right-time-elijah-wood

I told my friend and editor all this, and now she says she can’t read it without seeing a teen Elijah Wood in her head. I’m not entirely sure if this is a good thing. But I don’t mind if you’d want to indulge in a little Elijah love. He is rather awesome. Here, knock yourself out!

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D is for Dystopia

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The Oxford dictionary says that dystopia is:  an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. The opposite of Utopia.

That sounds like a perfect place to set a novel.  And it seems lots of other people agree too.  I’ve been reading blog posts and reports for a couple of years now about how agents and publishers are sick of getting dystopian novels landing on their desks.  Since The Hunger Games, we’ve gone dystopia crazy.

I hate to burst that bubble, guys, but we’ve been dystopia crazy for years.  Think The Time Machine (it’s in there, honest), think  Nineteen Eighty-Four, think Oryx and Crake and The Handmaid’s Tale.1984

We’ve always loved dysptopia.  And from what people tell me whenever I mention that I’ve written a dystopian novel, we’re still hungry for more.   Of all the upcoming books I’ve publicised, Runners is the one that has caused the most excitement.  Yet the niggling doubt is still there that nobody will be interested when the book comes out.  What if the blogs and reports are right?  What if we’ve all moved on to magical flying monkeys or vampiric were-donkeys?  Then I guess I’ll just climb back into my box and spend my days reading it to myself.  I can at least pretend that I made it to the party, right?

Like Harry Hill says (it’s an English thing, stick with me) there’s only one way to find out…