Month: October 2013

Oh Dear. There’s blank spaces at the end of my calender.

· 2 Comments ·

Hello

After a week of barely reading I managed to make up for it by finishing 1984!

All in all it was a brilliant read. Initially I thought it might be a struggle as its not lay out in chapters as such but in three different parts each with several different sections broken up with a roman numeral. These would come in the middle of the page so, as is my way of reading, I would have to read until the end of a sentence at the start of a page. I don’t like to stop half way through a page but sometimes, only due to the tram getting to my stop, would I be forced to do so. But anyway…

Once I started I realised that it wasn’t going to be a problem. It is not too easy to read but not to difficult either. The balance is spot on and everything from the descriptions, dialogue and how the story pans out is well paced and planned out. I may read it again. I was also struck by relevant reading this book was to my NaNoWriMo challenge attempt.

The story I’m going to write is about a non to distant future which has a government ruling over it with an iron fist. It’s not as brutal and astonishing as Big Brother, nor is it the main focus of story, but it does play a big part in how the story will progress. The main character in my story was a creation of the government. The government in my story does allow the people its runs to live relatively normal lives. They only intervene when they think anything close to them, mainly their policies and ‘weekly and monthly reports’, are questioned. Which will turn out to be a fair amount as the story goes on and their creation starts to find out more about them. I’ll stop there as I’m in danger of giving to much of it away.

Ok. So, I checked my calendar yesterday I there were two blanks squares at the end of it. Which belong to the next month. Which is November. Which is NaNoWriMo. Oh dear.

I’m not that scared really. But, I know I’ve got something planned on Friday and Saturday but I make sure I start NaNoWriMo off well and keep it going. And I hope everyone else who is taking part who has given this little blog of mine a glance, does the same.

Laters

Advertisement

Does it have to be a novel?

· 8 Comments ·

Hello

I took part in nanowrimo last year and successfully wrote 50,000 words of a novel I ended up finishing the following May.

I remember reading last time round that 50,000 words of a novel is good enough and it doesn’t have to be a the total word count for it.

So, should I aim to finish my novel in November or try and get as close as I can?

Cheers

Now for the preperation.

· Leave a comment ·

Hello again

 

Following on from my post on 15th October, I had a bit of a patchy reading week. I’m still reading 1984 and will hopefully finish it in, at the most, seven days’ time. If not before. I put this patchiness down to being nominated for my first blog award. See https://johnrsermon.com/2013/10/18/ive-been-nominated-for-my-first-blog-award/

Now, I am very happy to have been nominated for this award but it didn’t half take a while, and a fair amount of reading minutes, out of my week. Though, I don’t regret any of those minutes. I accepted the award, did what I was required, and nominated a few blogs as well. All in all a 100% successful use of time.

But, it wasn’t reading.

I managed to get some reading done before bed on a few nights and to and from my girlfriends flat. I did have an awesome weekend in Leeds with my mates as well. I took my book with me with every intention of reading it but alas it was not to be. Standing up on the train to Leeds and then starting on the beer pretty much straight away meant it wasn’t going to happen. And the resulting two day hangover didn’t help either.

But, another lovely writing thing is drawing ever closer and I ask myself…

What about my preparation for NaNoWriMo?

I already know which story I’m going to write and I’ve made enough notes to keep me going. And I reckon I’ll make notes along the way or even plan out each days writing. I remember when I did NaNoWriMo last year and how I made a few pages of notes on each of the main characters, and some notes to cover the plot, and just got to it. I found this to be easier and I rarely stumbled or found myself stuck for something to write. I just hope I don’t worry too much about it and ruin my chances of completing it.

Well, that’s me for now and I’ll leave you with a question.

If you’re taking part, how are you preparing for NaNoWriMo?

Bye

 

I’ve been nominated for my first blog award!

· Leave a comment ·

Hello

Following on from Tuesday’s post, the bewildered 20-something writer (http://thebewildered20somethingwriter.wordpress.com/), has nominated me for the Liebster Award! I’d like to thank her (again) for the nomination. She herself has a wonderful blog which I think you should have a good look at. Her mix of blog posts about all kinds of things from Miscellaneous Monday Mornings, Epic Quote of the day, Inspiration, Writing and much much more as she ventures into the real world following graduation, are always a good read.

                       

After doing some research and finding a page showing me exactly what the award was (see below), I’m proud to have been nominated for it and glad to accept it. In short, it is a blog award for smaller blogs with 3000 followers or less and is designed to help get said blogs out to a wider audience. The word ‘Liebster’, which is German, has several definitions which include dearest, sweetest, kindest, nicest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, welcome and sweetheart.

I would also like to thank Lorraine Marie Reguly who took the time to create the page with the full this, that and the other of the Liebster Award ((http://lorrainemariereguly.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/the-liebster-award-the-official-rules-my-first-blog-award-and-a-few-personal-secrets-revealed/) and take this opportunity to ask you to visit her new blog, http://poetryperfected.wordpress.com/, which is another new addition to her blogging world.

So, as part of accepting the Liebster Award, I’m required to answer some questions put to me by Alex (http://thebewildered20somethingwriter.wordpress.com/). So, here we go…

What inspired you to start writing/blogging?

I wanted to write ever since I took a Film Studies course at college in 2001. One assignment in particular required me to create a character and give him or her a back story. I did this with gusto which surprised me as I was doing it. I received some good feedback from my teacher and from there I wanted to write. I stopped writing regularly after a while but then picked up the pace around four years ago.

I saw setting up a blog as an extension of my writing and a way to talk to other writers and to get their feedback and anything else that could help me with my writing. I also want to help others in any way I can.

If you could shrink any animal–real or mythical–so that it was pocket sized, what animal would you shrink and keep as a pet?

A Tyrannosaurus Rex. I would carry it around in my pocket and if anyone annoyed me, I’d let Rex have a go at them.

Name three guilty pleasure books and/or movies that you’re sorry you’re not sorry you like (say that three times fast).

I’ve got two films, Legally Blonde and Clueless, and a TV series Gilmore Girls that are my guilty pleasures. But no books I’m afraid.

If you could change your name to anything, what would you change it to?

Agamemnon Metallica Austin Hitman Eastwood.

What inspires you creatively, i.e., what gets your creative juices pumping again when you’re in a bit of a slump?

If I find myself in a slump I always like to either go for a walk, watch my favourite film (The Good, The Bad and the Ugly) or listen to Metallica. I usually see or hear something which gets me going again.

If you knew you only had one hour before the zombie apocalypse, what would you do?

I’d make sure my nearest and dearest were all prepared then get a big stick, attached a knife to the end of it, and let them come!

Name the weirdest/funniest/coolest/most memorable/etc. dream you’ve had?

I can’t remember any dreams fully but I do remember part of one that was a murder mystery/horror story which was all in someone else’s dream. They woke up from it, and then I woke up from it in the exact same way.

What advice would you give your six-year-old self?

Don’t worry about it. Just keep doing what you’re doing, and you’ll be fine. Oh, and when you fancy a girl for the first time, play it calm and collected.

What are the five things that make you the happiest?

My Family. My Friends. My Girlfriend. My Writing. Any travels I go on may they be big or small.

Star Wars or Star Trek?

Star Trek. Only because the new movies are brilliant.

Another part of the award is to list some random facts about myself. Here we go…

I can’t click with my fingers on my left hand.

I’ve never had a kebab.

I finished 3rd in a width swimming race in primary school.

I haven’t completely shaved my beard off since 03/08/2012.

I love pizza.

I like to listen to Britney Spears every so often.

I hope to get married and have children one day and be like my parents are now, still very much in love, when I’m their age.

I have an older sister. Along with a brother in law and an awesome nephew.

There is an option to not carry on this award and ignore the part about nominating other blogs. I however, believe this is a great thing to be doing for each of us with smaller blogs trying to build an audience and enjoy the whole experience of blogging. I’ve chosen to nominate three blogs that I currently follow that fall into the Liebster award category. I have enjoyed following each of these blogs and hope I can help them to grow.

http://thoughtsandrainstorms.wordpress.com/

http://adifferentdaylight.wordpress.com/

http://charlottecarrendar.com/

And, these are the questions I would like each of my nominees, if they choose to accept the award of course, to answer.

1. What are the last three books you have read and why did you decide to read them?

2. If you could be any cartoon character, which one would you be and what would be the first thing you would do?

3. Godzilla has just attacked your home town, what do you do?

4. What is your favourite thing that you own and why?

5. When did writing become so important to you?

6. The world is about to end in 30 minutes, what do you do?

7. What is your favourite film and what is your favourite scene from that film?

8. Who or What inspires you?

9. Stick or Twist?

10. What are the most important things in life to you?

Ok. Well, that’s this post done and dusted. If you know of any blogs you think deserve this award, get nominating ASAP.

Cheers

Oh, sorry one last thing, here are the rules for accepting the Liebster Award.

The Official Rules Of The Liebster Award 

If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award AND YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT, write a blog post about the Liebster award in which you:

1. thank the person who nominated you, and post a link to their blog on your blog.

2. display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.)

3. answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you.

4. provide 11 random facts about yourself.

5. nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award, who have a less than 1000 followers. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)

6. create a new list of questions for the blogger to answer.

7. list these rules in your post. (You can copy and paste them from here.)

Once you have written your post, and published it, you then have to:

8. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!)

It begins!!!!…..again!!!!

· 6 Comments ·

Hello

Following on from last time, I tried to get more writing done to make up for a week of doing barely any. I succeeded, slightly by writing one character profile and two fully formed ideas for short to possibly long stories,   but I now have a clear idea of what to with my next writing week.

Read.

I’ve been receiving emails from NaNoWriMo (http://nanowrimo.org/) regarding preparation for the glorious event. I already know what story I’m going to write, well, continue to write as I’ve already written five chapters of it, and I hope I’ll be able to finish it or at least get within touching distance of its end by the close of November. And I already know how I’m going to prepare for it. About a week before hand I’m going to start on the character profiles for the story. It’s the same thing I did last year but in a lot more detail.

But then I read a few posts from another blogger, whose website seems to be down, about how she was preparing for November by reading a daft amount of books. I’ve always said to myself that I would like to have a reading week where I try to make a dent in my ever increasing pile of books I have to read, but I’ve never quite gotten round to it.

So this week is officially….My Reading Week.

I started by finishing ‘The Curious Incident of the dog in the night-time’ by Mark Haddon, which I completely recommend as it was a great read throughout, last night and will now move onto finishing 1984 by George Orwell. Then, if I finish 1984 by this time next week, I’ll go onto ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep’ by Philip K. Dick. I’ve been looking forward to reading a Philip K. Dick book for years after seeing many great to awful adaptations of his stories.

So, there you have it. To prepare for November I’m going to read and then write. But I leave you with one very important question….

Do I watch Blade Runner before or after reading the story that was based on?

Cheers

 

Oh NaNoWriMo, hurry up and get here will you!

· Leave a comment ·

Hello

 

This post is shorter than usual for one reason and one reason only. I haven’t really done that much in the last or so to do with my writing. I’m not sure how it happened but I reckon if I break it down I can probably figure it out. Here we go…

Wednesday 02/10/2013.

After work, went for a run. Got home to find my mate had come round to watch the football (soccer). Watched the game, was tired by the end of it, it turned out to be a very dull game, and went to bed. That explains Wednesday.

Thursday 03/10/2013.

After work, went to my girlfriend’s house. That explains Thursday.

Friday 04/10/2013 – Saturday 05/10/2013

After work, went to see my parents and stayed over for the Friday night. Spent part of Saturday with them as well. Went home, had some food, and went out again to meet my mates to go watch some rugby. Rugby finished, went to get some food and then out to a rock/metal night. That explains Friday and Saturday.

Sunday 06/10/2013

Spent the day hung over and watching wrestling, football (soccer), a film and playing on my xbox. That explains Sunday.

Monday 07/10/2013

After work, had some food. Had a nap. Made my dinner for the next day in work.

But then…

BOOM!!!! Edited two of my short stories. There we go. At least I did something.

How did this happen? I did read a lot of 1984 which I’m getting ever closer to end of but I didn’t really write that much at all. I didn’t notice the week get away from me. After a week like that, NaNoWriMo can’t come soon enough. I’ve made sure I’m signed up for it and already know what story I’m going to write.

If you want to get involved, have a look using the following link http://nanowrimo.org/.

Well, I’m going to make sure this week involves a slight case of Character Profile fever. Along with finding the writing bug that didn’t bite me last week and letting it have a field day.

Good Pie

A quick thank you.

· Leave a comment ·

Hello again, 

Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has helped me to reach 50 total likes for my blog posts.

I hope you’ll help me, and I’ll gladly help you of course, get another 50.

Thanks again

Character profile fever.

· 2 Comments ·

Hello

So, one week later and I’ve still got character profile fever. Yes that’s right. It now has a name. Character profile fever causes you to improve the back story of your stories and characters and potentially create new plots points along with adding and improving to your story as a whole through character building.

I first thought I had character profile fever when I started getting the shakes 24 hours after completing the character profile for the chief villain for The Searchers Want. I didn’t really know what was going on. At first, I thought I was hungry so I had some food. That didn’t get rid of them. Then, I thought that thirst was what was causing it so I drank but to no avail. Then I thought I needed to exercise. Nope that didn’t work. After all this I decided to pick up my note pad and pen and write another profile.

The shakes suddenly disappeared and were replaced by calm followed by excitement. I completed two profiles, for the hero’s sister, a drug addict who caused the deaths of their parents and knows about his job, and a news reporter who works with the searchers and wants to sleep with the hero but he isn’t having any of it so instead she sleeps with another searcher to get to him. These were both great to write and opened up more story things and stuff for the edit.

I’m close now to finishing all the main character profiles. I’ve currently got at least two more big ones to complete and possibly numerous smaller ones to do for characters than are only in it for the battle scene at the end of the story.  Not decided whether I will give them big profiles (every point thoroughly completed) or smaller ones (just one or two things for each point). Best get the next two big ones finished though before I decide, a?

I also managed to fit in an edit for two of my short stories. Although, I was watching a football (soccer) game at the same time so I know I’ll have to go over them again. And again, And again. And so on…

So, to conclude, the only way to get over a case of character profile fever is by doing more profiles. I’ll let you know what to do when all the profiles that are required for any story are completed. But the question is…

Do you suffer, or have ever suffered, from any (entirely fake) fevers as a result of writing a story or poem?

Bye Bye