Notebooks

First of all, let me wish you all a happy Christmas if you celebrate it and a happy new year if you are celebrating that. If not, I simply wish you happiness. I have had some wonderful opportunities to do some writing of late and you will be please to know that I have not squandered them. However if anyone sees my pen, I'd be grateful. Currently I'm being forced to write with an ordinary bic and quite frankly I loathe them. I do have some extremely wonderful pens but I only write with them on holiday. The risk of losing them on public transport is too great. Anyhow, I suppose I should go and buy myself a new pen. No great task, I know. The reason I haven't is because I have been organising various notes into a more organised system. It is my great weakness. I have great ideas, write them down and then forget to integrate them. Anyone wishing to be a personal assistant and willing to work for free, please get in touch.

So note organising has been the order of the day. Again, no great task you would think. Well here below I give you a sample of some of the things that I have in my notes.



Run Moz - Run Moz is one of five systems in the Dumru controlled Num conglomeration in the Foraku Sector. It has five planets, the fourth of which has three inhabited moons. The planets are: Mozdin, No'uxdar, Aheldin, Farduhak and Nom'far. The moons of Farduhak are: Lukud, Or'ork and Han'amark.

Mozdin translates as 'fire hook', probably due to it's close proximity to it's star. A small outpost beneath the surface is the only civilization to be found. TH Class
No'uxdar tanslates as 'black earth', it has a particularly carbon rich atmosphere with almost zero visibility on the surface. OS Class
Aheldin translates as 'warm world', it is highly populated and is the principle planet in Run Moz. MK Class
Farduhak translates as 'big mental give', the origins of this name are lost but the story of the three moons are not. Farduhak is a gas giant and has no habitation. CO Class

Lukud is not a translation but is the name of one of three brother who apparently discovered the Run Moz system. The three moons of Farduhak are named after them
Or'ork is not a translation but is the name of one of three brother who apparently discovered the Run Moz system. The three moons of Farduhak are named after them
Han'amark is not a translation but is the name of one of three brother who apparently discovered the Run Moz system. The three moons of Farduhak are named after them

All three moons have scientific outposts used to observe Farduhak but otherwise are largely uninhabited. They are rocky with no atmosphere. ZL Class

Nom'far translates as 'grow', like Farduhak the reasons behind this names can be speculated on but not given conclusively. It is planet with a large amount of ice covering a rocky core. BS Class


I think I'll go and buy a pen.

Happiness one and all.

DR

BlogPress

I have been so remiss in blogging as I have had so much to do. So I have installed BlogPress on my iPhone to see if that lets me blog more effectively.

I have been writing sporadically due to a lack of travelling time. I am still writing Dravis and Malakan's story. It will involve Nulfaga and Yan Yee but for the time being it is the two of them, contacted occasionally by a very interesting character by the name of Kiro'iana. Exciting.

I have written about one fifth of the book. It might not sound like a huge amount but it is. I have done all the notes and preparation for the rest.

Now I just have to write it.

DR


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Three Fingers.

Well hello everybody.

I haven't been updating my blog as you may have noticed but that is because I have been unable to type for the last four weeks. At least not able to type enough for a blog. For those who are interested, I dislocated my knuckles on the middle and ring finger of my left hand. I also dislocated the first joint and the knuckle of my forefinger on my left hand. They are now free again to wiggle in all their glory.

However this only explains my delays in updating you with what is going on. This is not to say I haven't been writing. I have, of course. I have been flittering between two characters, namely Dravis and Malakan, and I have finished enough chapters for me to have to start to refer to my notes again.

I find that in the process of writing the characters take on a life of their own. For example Malakan started out as a well meaning character, a little cold perhaps but a good chap. Certainly a man you'd let your daughter date. Dravis was not his antithesis but a man for whom his morals were clear cut. Dravis makes ruthless decisions based on his own particular way of thinking. Nice enough to talk to in a bar but never someone you would call a friend.

However cold Malakan was at the start, he's definitely colder now. Bordering on frigid. Dravis on the other hand is starting to look like more rounded, a generous type with a taste for good cooking. Of the two characters, Dravis seems the much friendlier at the moment.

I wonder if subconsciously I have written it like this as a juxtaposition to their actions. To place the genial character of Dravis against his actions will maybe make them all the more chilling.

I hope so but as the soft spot continues to grow, somehow, I hope not too.

DR

Broken

Hello,

I have been writing but not editing nor blogging as I have damaged my hand and typing is difficult.

I will reblog in a couple of weeks with a genuine update.

DR

A chapter and a bit

Well I promised you a blog so here it is.

I have restarted writing and I think that the break has done me a power of good. Sadly, I don't have many long train journeys this week so in fact I will not write as much as I like. I don't write whilst at home, I find it too distracting. Last Friday, I wrote an entire chapter and started the next. It is getting to the point where the back story of the characters is very important.

I remember thinking that I had a lot to blog about but it seems I don't. Well, if anything happens, I'll be sure to let you know.

DR

Guess who's back?

Well hello everyone.

I'm back.

I have been away on holiday and the temperature has been hotter I have not been writing but September has come round again and I am back writing.

I paused whilst working on the character of Dravis and he will be once again the subject mater of my writing. I have not, however, been idle. I have been working a large amount on his back story and motivations and why he is doing what he is doing. It involves a character I may have mentioned before, Kiro'iana. I have also been putting a large number of my notes in a semblance of order, something that is an enormous task and that requires much checking and cross referencing. This is to ensure that the internal mechanics of the book remain consistent and to try and iron out fundamental errors before they creep into the book. It is the problem of every author, (or wannabe author in my case), that inconsistency in the book can ruin all the things that you have tried to construct. Simple things need not be explained thoroughly but they still have to work. If a character needs to go from A to B he has to do it and most importantly, there must be a reason for the character to do it. It is often a consistency lacking in many books.

So for now the plan is to continue thinking and working on Dravis' back story with a view to starting writing on Friday. Hopefully I will blog at some point over the weekend to let you all know how I got on.

DR

No blogging, no writing.

I am taking a break from writing and from blogging. What with holidays, guests and whatnot, I have not been able to write. When I start writing regularly again, I will start blogging again.

I will try and add notifications onto my Twitter feed.

Any questions will still be replied to either here or on Twitter.

I'm not dead, I'm just waiting.

DR

Hot hot heat.

The truth is, I haven't been writing.

I am a writer who finds many things a grand distraction. Overly hot, especially on the metro is one of those things. I had hoped that it would cool down but it has not. Nor is it likely to do so for several days. I did actually managed to get a few words down this morning but nothing like the number I should have done.

It doesn't help that I am on a little bit of a comedown. The last chapter I completed was one of the most important chapters in my book, Malakan makes some big decisions. Refinding the pace of the book is proving elusive.

These things combined leads me down the road of empty pages.

Let's hope it rains soon.

DR

What I have written.

I have a new notebook.

If you have been following my twitter feed you will have seen exclusive photos of my new book complete with some of the writing I have been doing in it.

One of the few discernible words on the text is 'Malakan' who is one of the principle characters. Some of his chapters, most notably the first three, were written some time ago but will need heavy editing. My style of writing is not what it was. What I have written now starts off badly and gets progressively better before plummeting again. In the chapter that I have finished Malakan is talking to another character, Dravis. (I will tell you more about Dravis when I write his part of the story) When I was writing it, I had in my mind the scene from the film 'Heat' by Michael Mann, in which the two principal characters sit and share a coffee. I doubt I will convey that sort of power in my text but I hope that my readers will enjoy that scene and recognize it's importance.

DR

Haramakion's House

This is a low quality map highlighting some of the more important features of the country of Prathin on the planet Humanisan.

Haramakion is the king of Prathin.

DR

*edit (12.06.13) For some reason the image in this blog post failed so I have put it back in again.

The story so far.

My book is made up of many interacting characters. Each chapter is about one character in particular but we are now getting to the point where these characters are beginning to interact.

It creates new problems for me as a writer. When I write, I write about one character and try to maintain a certain amount of flow and continuity between disparate chapters. Here I have to make sure that I write in order for things to maintain their rhythm, I have to make sure that things go in the right order. If not I will get continuity errors.

Here is my problem. I have three principle characters whose webs we now discover to be tangled together, these are Ronin, Haramakion and Malakan. I have got to a point where Ronin and Haramakion are interacting but now I need to get Malakan to the same point. This should pose no difficulties until they begin to interact.

At that point I have to maintain overall plot continuity and also individual character continuity. I imagine that I will get to this point in about six weeks. Watch this space.

Also I have finished my notebook. I started it on Friday March the 13th and finished it today. That means I have written in excess of forty-five thousand words in ninety-five days. That is less than 95 working days and even less if I take into account the fact that I have been on holiday and their are many days when for whatever reason, it is not possible to write.

I will try and update this blog more often.

Sorry.

DR

Secrets

From a comment by 'Sylvain'.

Do you keep "secrets" that we will discover reading your book ?

Yes, definitely and vice versa. Their are things that are on this blog that are not in the book. Some of the information on Prathin in my previous post for example. There are many many things in the book that will not be posted on the blog.

This blog is to give you a taster and to let you know how the book is being constructed as well as to provide some of the re-imagined physics and philosophy that underpin it.

Pictures, ideas, edits, character information can be found here.

For the plot, see my publisher. *lol*

DR

Update.

This is an update, hence the title; 'Update'.

I have been writing inconsistently most notable due to problems in the Parisien public transport system but I am getting along quite well. I have been playing sillies with the chapter construction too, cutting some out that I thought erroneous and blending others. As yet I haven't added any new chapters into the plan but I'm fairly sure that I will put one in later on in the story of Haramakion.

As noted I am writing about Haramakion at the moment. He is a human and a King, the King of the country of Prathin on the planet of Humanisan. Humanisan is one of the older human worlds and the original settlers wanted to show that this was a human only system and a safe haven from other problems. Humanisan was settled not long after the destruction of the human colonies of San Hedrin. The name shows this. Humanisan is literally 'Human system' as San Hedrin is the system of Hedrin. Humanisan is however only the name of the planet. The system in which it resides is called San Lhaw and is very cosmopolitan.

Haramakion is I think the oldest of all the major characters but by how much and why, I'm never sure. I imagine that he would be played but someone like Derek Jacobi.

DR

The Wonder of Net

Well well well...

Now here's a thing. Let me tell you a little story. I was on the train this morning and I was about to start a new character, Haramakion, in the place of Ronin. Mostly because the two of them have started to interact so I need to get Haramakion to the same point. It was a last minute decision, (as seen in my boo if you follow me on Twitter), and I realised that I had no idea when, how or where I had left him last time.

So I tweeted and booed to that effect before logging on to my Google docs to see if I had put anything on there. Indeed I had and although I didn't have all my typed up documents, I did have a plotlist. So I downloaded it onto my iphone and read it through and preceded to start doing some writing. It was in fact a slight rewrite but there you have it.

I am beginning to understand what people mean about Cloud computing. As a tool to help me write my book, I also use Evernote. During the day, if I have any notes, I write them in my iphone and they automatically update when I get home. This then syncs with my laptop so I have everything I need, when and where I need it.

Tonight I have downloaded and started to use DocList Uploader and I will put everything on Google Docs as a back up.

It's amazing how much data I can have flowing through the ether. I hope that I won't be disappointed by it all.

DR

Still 'Ronin' on.

I am still writing about Ronin, I'm keeping going and see where my mind takes me. I did well this morning, writing a lot on the train, almost missing my stop in fact, but less on the way home.

So now you know. What I wanted to tell you all was that I wander, I have very definite ideas of what I want a chapter to be about and ideas of how to get there but it never quite works out like that. For example, I need Ronin to discuss freedom and the complications therein but instead he ended up discussing predator/prey relationships and the future of the Harlequin race. I like what I wrote, don't get me wrong but it's just not what I wanted to write. I know that the author of a text is on a journey of discovery and things will happen in the books that were not foreseen but even so.

Oh well, I have more travelling to do later so I will try and writ his freedom later today.

DR

Started again.

If you have been following my twitter feed, you will know that things have been going very a-pickle over the last week or so.

However...

I am delighted to note that today I did writing, quite a bit and it wasn't so bad. I was writing a conversation between Ronin, I know, I said I would change but I may not, and Bast his chief intelligence officer. They are discussing possible futures for the ships under Ronin's command.

With interesting results.

It took me in a direction that I din't anticipate, but the other stuff will have to go in soon anyway.

I won't be writing tomorrow or Thursday but I'm definitely good for Friday. This just shows you the power of headphones. (See Twitter)

This post is bitty but I wanted you to be the first to know.

As ever, comments are welcome.

DR

I feel obliged to apologise for my complete failure to write today. Just so you know, we mow have public holidays in France so no work, no travel and thus no writing for the next few days.

Sorry.

DR

Well hello everybody.

I'm back from my sojourn in the big apple and i'm disappointed to report that in terms of writing, i have done precisely zero. I'm very sorry.

For those of you who also following my twitter feed you may also be aware that i left my headphones at home. It is the reason that i am blogging now as opposed to later. I will try to write but generally find myself distracted when i can't block everything out. I'm sending this from my phone instead of writing. It's something about coming back off holiday too. I often find, as has been previously noted, that holidays tend to knock me out of my rhythm. All part and parcel of being in France, where endless holidays are enshrined in law. I know one person who gets, wait for it, 57 days holiday a year. A little over eleven weeks. I do have other holidays coming up too although running counter to that is the knowledge that i have quite a bit of work over the next few weeks too. Generally i write on the train and lots of work means loys of train travel. Still, i imagine that alot of writers struggle for rhythm at times.

What will happen will happen.

DR

Well hello...

Hello everybody,

And a particularly warm welcome to Teresa who has left me a message. Her previous attempts had been thwarted by updates and problems. I am yet to go to work today so I am yet to do any writing.

I will blog again later, hopefully having written something.

DR

Well the exciting news is that i finished another chapter today. I have decided that i will change character on my return from New York. The next problem is my subject matter. I need to think about it more before i commit it to paper. Ronin is being introspective without getting to the heart of the problem. I hope that my readers will notice that he is trying to resolve an emotional issue but is treating it as a mental challenge. He cannot resolve it because he doesn't understand it.

My apologies that this blog is short but i'm sending from my phone.

DR

Twitter Feed

I have been doing lots of exciting things with my Twitter feed, something I wholeheartedly encourage you to follow. Not only you you get updates whenever I blog here but you will also get audio blogs and hopefully video blogs in the not too distant future. Pictures are also coming on the twitter feed but I intend to put those on the blog as well for future reference. I have had a busy week, with my cousin's daughter here in Paris and organising things for my holiday. Yes folks, another holiday is winging it's way towards me, I will not be blogging from 9th to 17th May inclusive as I will be in New York.

Nor will I be using the new found powers of my twitter feed. On the plus side, I hope to have written some more of my book to discuss on my return.

I, as I hope you are aware, have been writing about Ronin. He is currently having an in depth conversation with one of the other characters. I might leave it there for the time being and then come back to him. I might do the following chapter too, I don't know. I will then move to a different character for a while though I don't know who. I have a feeling it might be the Dumru; Thorbardin.

We shall see. Still, just as I depart on holiday again, my writing seems to have returned. I will try and get as much as I can done before I go.

I shall try to address the current intermittence on this blog too.

Get in touch, I would love to hear any comments.

DR

The state of play.

Hello everybody.

I haven't written anything recently. Here's why; Normally I write on the train and I haven't been working as much as normally over the last few days. Secondly, the creative juices seemed to have clogged shut. I'm not sure what it is that makes it come and go. If I did know, I would bottle it and be a millionaire by the end of the week. I have heard many people say that external stimulus can inspire it, I will go to New York and see what I make of that. On the other hand, that is an external stimulus and I am trying to stimulate myself internally. Surely I need internal stimulus. To that end, this blog may go a long way off topic in the next few weeks. Invariably, to stimulate myself internally I read, last time it was The Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant. Currently my bedtime book, which I'm rather enjoying, is The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith. But that is my bedtime book. I think that this time I might pick up Nietzsche or Descartes and see what they have to say for themselves.

Reading texts such as these allows me to think about me more and as such, my book is just an extension of this. They are my ideas after all.

DR

I haven't been blogging because I haven't been writing. My cousin's daughter Rachael came to visit us and so my time has been otherwise invested.

DR

Hors de stilo

This weekend and to a lesser extent today, I have been hors de stilo. (Without pen) This is in fact a lie. I have been with pen but without fizzly brain. It gets this way sometimes. I think that I am a writer of habit. I have been on holiday and it seems to have clammed up my creative glands. To make it worse I'm about to go on holiday again. It may be some months before the creative juices really start to build up again. Probably around the end of August, just about when I'm due off in fact.

Ho hum.

I have also found out who my first mystery follower was, I'll leave that 'til next time though.

DR

I did, but not enough and not to a high standard.

I did write today but I don't like what I wrote. I also seem to have woken up dyslexic this morning. Words, letters and sentences have absolutely been a closed book to me today, bit of a handicap for an English teacher.

Today I was writing about some of the motivations of Ronin as we continue into his character. Suffice to say that I have introduced the character of Mémé who has a discussion with Ronin on possible responses to discrete prostitutes operating on board the Harlequin fleet. On the way to work I had a fizzly mind and it all went sparklingly, on my return, it was all a little flat. A disappointing day.

I fancy beer, anyone up for a night out on the streets of Paris?

DR

The words of Leo.

I was in a bar last night talking to my esteemed friend Leo and he asked me a very good question. He had been reading my blog, although is yet to leave a comment I note, and struck upon a thing.

"Who is Ronin?"

It's a good question. I don't want to reveal too much of course but Ronin is one of the principle characters of my book. He is a commander in the Harlequin fleet. I don't really know what else you want me to tell you. He is, naturally, a Harlequin and he is quite young. He is in an interesting position in his life and it has rather warped him. I like him as a character but I don't like him as a person. He would not be someone I consider a friend.

Ronin that is, not Leo.

Leo is lovely.

Today I have done some writing and prepared some groundwork for a tying together of several seemingly disparate statements. I started this yesterday but I didn't blog, I didn't feel that I had anything that I wanted to commit to screen. Tomorrow I have a long journey ahead of me, both there and back so I should have some more things to report. Maybe not of course...

DR

Shame on me.

I did very little today. I started again with Ronin on a new chapter which describes the Harlequin society in a little greater depth. I did a hundred words, two hundred maximum. But I'm quite happy with what I have written. it comes and goes I find. Some days I find I write two thousand words or more of complete and utter dross. On other days I write one tenth of that but I rate its quality.

Still, we're starting go get into the meat of Ronin as a character. He is, in fact, a bit of a cunt but we are starting to see some of the reasons for this. His upbringing and unique situation in the Harlequin fleet has made him overly ruthless I suppose. He is capable of making the right decision for all the right reasons when we, as readers, know he should make the wrong decision. He can be so charming and kind to one person and two breaths later have the very same person executed.

This is not to say that he is without emotion, but I think that all emotion can be displaced or at any moment be disregarded for those things he considers greater.

I'll leave you to make you own mind up as to his moral standpoints.

DR

Somethings and yet not others.

Today I have done no writing and only a little editing. I hope you will all forgive me. I have however done some thinking and have got further through various problems that I had. I still have other problems to resolve which will involve rewriting but each thing in it's own time.

I will try putting pen to paper again tomorrow.

On the plus side, I have discovered Tweetdeck.

I have got rid of Chirpr, for the time being.

DR

When things start to come apart at the seams.

Oh well.

Another day thinking things through having found more holes in my plot than a balloon in a pin shop. Missing planets, Ok, I can deal with that. Extra things, Ok, unforeseen but workroundable. (Perfectly cromulent that word) Missing character when you are hundreds of thousands of words in...

...A different sort of problem.

Still nothing that floods of tears and tantrums won't clear away.

Yes, I have edited out a vital character in the course of defattening, (leaning?), my plot. I have been going over things in my head and I think that I have found a way back in but we will see. Still a long way to go.

You know that fish thing I mentioned a few posts back. Wedll it turns out that it's more like a plague of frogs. Maybe like London Buses.

I am not a happy bunny.

DR

Comments

Hello Everyone.

Some people have had problems leaving comments and viewing my profile.

If you try again now, that should be working. They had foreseen an update but it ran over on time which is why it was out when it shouldn't have been.

Try again if you wish.

DR

Sometimes you just have to blog it.

I was idling my time away, I am on holiday after all when I discovered something that could not sum up my book in any better way. My book sits between the lord of the rings and star wars so to see this headline was something of a coup.

The Perfect Headline.

DR

Twitter & Stuff

I haven't updated the twitter feed because I am not at home, I must get round to it.

I will post more pictures the moment someone leaves me a comment.

DR

Timeframe.

I didn't. (See previous blog)

I'm sorry but whilst I have thought about timeframe I haven't actually done anything about it. Neither have I done any writing but I have eaten a considerable quantity of duck. I have also typed up one of the major chapters involving the plotters circle. I will do more as the week progresses. I'm not at all sure exactly how many words I have written but on reflection more than I think. Or thought anyway. I do not have them typed up so I don't know. When I have, I shall pass on the message.

Ho Hum, still a long way to go.

DR

To break.

Hello everybody,

I am on holiday on the French coast so in terms of both writing and updating this blog I may be a little wayward. Also some of you have noted that the red on black was too harsh, garish, difficult to read etc. I have changed it to pale blue but I am open to suggestions.

Yesterday I finished a section and I am going to start the next one but first I need to organise a bit of timeframe.

I might do that now in fact...

DR

Aha!

I both wrote and yet did not write today. I finished the last chapter of that particular section and then stopped to do some thinking. I need to make sure that I get my time frames right otherwise things will be happening at the wrong moment.

Anyhoo, I hope that you are all aware of the television series of Red Dwarf. I have read the books which are not as funny but a damn sight nastier. I think the TV series has less bite but there you have it. In the books, when the crew are still alive Rimmer takes his officers exam. Building up to it, he spends hours and hours and hours carefully designing and painting a revision schedule, a work of design beauty. The day before his exam, at a point where he has not done any of the revision planned, he discovers that in his timetable he has added September twice. Panicked he decides to cheat by writing the answers all over his body but being so nervous begins to sweat and all the answers are blurred. He responds to this problem by repeatedly rewriting the words 'I am a fish' on his officers exam going so far as requesting extra paper so he can carry on writing it.

I have had such a September moment.

I have had to very carefully construct a certain section of the book in terms of what happens and why it happens. It was specifically designed to built over six chapters.

I discovered the other day that I have written seven.

Watch this fis... ...space.

DR

The day that is today.

I finished another chapter today and have smashed straight into the next one. I'm pootling along at quite a lick. I have been writing for about 90 minutes today and I expect I will do another 90 shortly. I find that I write at about two thousand words an hour which means I hope that I will have written about six thousand words today. I will not have done. I will have only written about five thousand because various scribblings, musing and off-the-cuff ideas will also be put down. I wish I could write on computer that fast. I have stopped typing up recently but started again yesterday. Still I'm happy with the amount that I'm writing. When the pen is going full bore I find my days less wasted.

I'm gibbering today and for that I apologise. I should have thought harder about what I was going to write on my blog. I hope you can forgive me.

DR

Finding Me!

I wonder if I show up in a Google search.

DR

I have a follower.

I finally have a follower. In fact I've had them for some time but I have no idea who it is. I wish I did know then I would be able to write them follower love poetry. Saying that, now I have confessed, they are probably less likely to write me a response. Ho hum.

I have been neglecting my blog and for this I am sorry, but I have not been neglecting my book. In fact I think that I am probably about twenty thousand words ahead of where I thought I was and I guess I wrote another two thousand words today. That is I am writing not redrafting and editing and typing up. Just writing. I have been writing the opening chapters that introduce the character of Ronin. His first chapter is difficult. I always find it difficult to introduce a major character, his first chapter will need much redrafting. However his second chapter is rattling along and I'm enjoying writing it, or would be if; 1 I wasn't writing this blog and 2 I hadn't nearly finished it. Nevertheless where chapter two goes, chapter three must surely follow. Then four and five I hope. I would like to have finished Ronin's part of the story by the end of August but I know what I am like.

Here's to hoping.

DR

Restarting.

I have finished the section that I had started on so will start another one. Well I say start another one, in fact I have already started it. It is in fact the section that contains the five previous chapters. I rarely work in chronological order. Still you will be pleased to know that I have started. I was describing a war but it has become a bit of an albatross so I have put it to one side. I will edit it when this bit is done.

DR

I have nothing to say.

The Nature of Creation.

You may or may not have noticed that this blog has not been updated over the last few days and I am very sorry. Sometimes writing is my creative outlet but sometimes I get pulled into something else. This has happened recently. If it is something creative I don't really mind, I still feel a little guilty because I am not writing but nevertheless. I have been drawing, or more precisely, designing. I wanted some way of representing spaceships as they are featuring heavily in my writing at the moment and I have discovered Google Sketchup. It's excellent and my days have been filled with pushing and puling. I am still writing, I don't use the computer outside, but not as much as I should have been.

I apologise.

DR

A second picture

Harlequin Mayabadaw.

Harlequin - Mark 1 - Mayabadaw Class

Engines & Person

Today I should have been writing but after a bad nights sleep and a large number of words written, I decided I needed something else. Something completely different. As some of you may have guessed, I am writing about the Harlequins at the moment. They are very militaristic and can be a little heavy to read. Whilst the style of my writing overall is quite light I think that different ideas of peoples should be adjusted slightly. Thus the Harlequins are formal and structured. However, as the Harlequins are militaristic and as I am writing about them, (don't harass me, I finished another chapter today) I decided to design a piece of Harlequin hardware.

I have only done the engines, but it was still fun.

DR

Environment.

I'm not about to go all green on you.

When I talk about environment what I mean is the situation in which you find yourself when you write. Today I guess I wrote two hundred words of utter dross. As usual I was writing on the train, it is my usual little speeding world full of random mp3's. I was really tired; I dreamt I was trying to buy a house in Moscow. This house was vital so I could bring my date to my girlfriends sister's wedding. I have no idea where my girlfriend was. Pondering the imponderables therein kept me in a semi-conscious state for hours. I have no energy to write so it didn't happen today.

I will try again tomorrow.

DR

Excerpt - Chapter 83

Epee was still running. Her previous sprints had been short, from house to house or more commonly from body to body. At first the Harlequin aircraft had just flown straight over the city of Raggle. Again and again various craft would skim overhead, some lower and slower than others. Suddenly, about ten minutes ago, they had stopped. People had come out of their houses and looked to the sky in sudden hope. Cruelly, this meant that more people were outside than should have been when they finally did open fire. A whole wing of aircraft of had passed over shooting everyone still on the street and any buildings that looked like they could be used as a rally point. On the second flypast they had decided that the grain mill had been one of those possible rally points. They had punctured it with so many holes that flour poured out onto the street below. The last ship to go over had dropped an incendiary bomb to finish the job.  As the mill exploded Epee had had just enough time to weave herself a protecting fibril to before she was struck by the expanding mess of fire, dust and broken bricks. She had run towards a slightly more residential area after that, only slowing down as she came across many more bodies. Her first fibril identified those people still alive; three, although one of her markers vanished as the half-buried lump passed from person to body. The first person she got to was conscious but in shock; two broken legs. She removed the pain with her second fibril, repaired his legs with her third and used the fourth to remove all the other shrapnel wounds. Her fifth removed the shock and as she briefly explained what she had done, she wove a sixth to give the man good luck. Epee moved swiftly towards the remaining survivor. His injuries were a lot more serious, surprising to see that he had survived. It took her several minutes of steady going to undo the damage wrought on his body and to leave him ready to go again. She swiftly wove another fibril to find the next nearest person who needed help, only jogging towards them as the constant running and weaving took their toll. This was a young woman was trapped under the remnants of a partially collapsed house. Epee dug her out with her hands; using warp only to move a bean she couldn’t lift, remove her minor contusions and to pass on some good luck. As she moved away the young woman pulled on her arm, begging her to rescue her baby also trapped beneath the rubble. She screamed and pleaded but Epee knew that there was no life remaining in the broken building. She shook her head sadly and pulled the woman into her arms.

 

            “I’m so sorry,” were, by her own admission, the only futile words that she could find.

 

            Epee sat the woman down in the shadows of where she had once lived and moved on again. She didn’t want to reflect on whether her efforts were really worthwhile. She stooped to remove the damage from an old man’s body but no longer had the energy to replace his arm. Weaving was exhausting work; still he would survive. At the end of the street, two people lay huddled in a doorway. One was protecting the other with his body without realising she was already dead. Using her last reserves of energy she calmly healed the wounds on the man’s legs. At that point the Harlequin aircraft passed over for a third time and as Epee was smashed sideways into the doorway across the street she realised that she didn’t have the energy to weave a fibril for herself.

 

            She would wake a week later on a slaver ship heading towards the Harlequin fleet.

DR

Translations into Harl.

In my book you have a semi alien race called the Harlequins; Harl is their language. Below are some of the words that you will come across in my book. These are specialist types of harvesting equipment, each one used for harvesting a very particular crop.

I give you the names below and will leave you to speculate on the nature of what they harvest.

Reaz'idaon

Esh'idaon

Chelaz'idaon

Ch'aedaon

Ranaz'idaon

Mont'idaon

The Harlequins are famously secretive, except for these.

Ana'a irkhe'a hass.

DR

JK Rowling or Terry Pratchett

It is well known that when JK Rowling writes she writes longhand, which is then redrafted onto a computer before editing. I believe Terry Pratchett writes directly onto computer, I'm not sure what he does in terms of redrafting.

It's not that I follow the Rowling system religiously and I can write straight onto computer but generally I write longhand. The problem for me is the second step. I find writing extremely stimulating. Expecially when my pen is going full bore. (I've been known to miss my stop on the train.) I just find sitting down tapping and thinking another way around a problem so time consuling and effortlessly unthrilling. (I know, I know, I'm writing a blog.) Sadly I know of no way round it. My redraft onto the computer always improves my original effort and I enjoy writing on paper so much better than writing on computer. I just enjoy the one side of the creative process I suppose.

I'm rambling.

DR

No writing

Today I have done no writing. I was on the train when I discovered that I had put my writing book in my coat. I was not wearing my coat due to fine weather. Thus I have nothing to report, other than the fact I shouldn't be so damn stupid.

Hmm. DR

What to write in times of war.

Violence is a tricky thing to write. Especially large scale violence. The massed intricacies of battle are stifling to write and no fun to read. The small scale combat that takes place between infantry for example can be interesting to read but can only be used in small doses or it quickly dulls the mind to the horror of it. Personal combat gives no scale either. The whole, ' One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic', is particularly relevant to writers. Irrelevant if they get it badly wrong. I think that the increase of death by range is what draws people to read much more deeply into the realm of personal combat. I know many people who are fascinated by either unarmed combat or the chivalric world of personal comabat. Maybe because it is more personal. I think the finest account of a war is almost certainly Homer's Illiad. It has the touch of personal and the carnage of war, somehow without being repetitive. I remember being struck by the deaths of Xanthus and Thoon, (That is Thoon with an accent, an accent that I have no idea how to recreate on this keyboard), Homer introduces them through the story of the father, Phaenops I think, who is elderly and who will never welcome them home again. The passage itself is full of the glory of war but the last line sweeps your feet from under you with the callous nature therein.

"Relatives divided up the estate."

DR

English

Sometimes I find the flexibilty of the English language both wonderfully simple and overwhelmingly complex. The hunt for that one little word that has all the minor implications that you want in any given situation can be fruitless. You know, the one with those nuances we haven't discussed. In technical english it's easy, you have no nuances, a spatio-temporal disturbance is a spatio-temporal disturbance. In descriptive English, you can use that to describe a faint mist being whispered past a hibernating hedgehog. I love/loathe it.

DR

Notebooks.

Today, I completed a notebook. I'm not sure how many chapters are in it. quite a few I would imagine. I found it immensly satisfying to have finished it. On my return from work, I discovered that the enthusiasm seemed to have leached onto that final page. I couldn't start to write a new chapter in the new book. Perhaps because I feel so comfortable with the security of my notes. Anyhow it's done now and I'll just have to push myself.

DR

Chen the Priest

I am writing a chapter at the moment which contains a character named Chen who, as the title of this entry suggests, is a Priest. I quite like him as a character. He seems to be more humble than some of my other characters. I suppose that in many ways all characters are extensions of the authors psyche, either what they are or what they want to be. Chen doesn't feel like that to me. He has a more complete personality. I get the impression that he is aware of his flaws but accepts them for what they are. Maybe this is too deep. Either way, I like him. 

DR

A chapter

I have just written the second draft of a chapter in which I describe the physical form of a character called the Matriarch. I think that people will find it unrealistic, most notably the reaction of Nulfaga. That's fine. I wanted to give just a hint that Nulfaga is being manipulated through the entanglement. I was thinking of adding something about the Matriarchs breath but that makes it too obvious. I don't want to dumb down to you all. You're better than that.

Facebook folly

I think that I am going to give up on facebook.

If people want me, they can find me here.

DR

Digg & Stumbleupon

I am now on Digg and stumbleupon, just facebook to do.

Facebook Issues

One of the problems with facebook is that it often doesn't do what I want it to do. I tried setting myself up so that people can become fans but it creates me as a person. Grrr.

Facebook.

I am now also set up on facebook too, you can find me there if you want.

Setting up.

Ok, so this should work now. I should get a twitter update when I post and an RSS feed to me. Good.

Twitter

I've set this up to appear on my twitter page.

And so...

...today we continue.

And so...

...it begins.