A to Z Reflection

May 11, 2016 by Roland Clarke

A-to-Z Reflection [2016]

Eleven days after the great event seems a reasonable period of time for honest reflection on the Blogging From A to Z April (2016) Challenge. It’s also a good moment to respond to a friend nominating me for The Liebster Award, as that poses some A to Z and blogging questions. However, that will be tomorrow’s post so stayed tuned to this channel.

So first my thoughts about this year’s April Challenge.

After my first two years, 2014 and 2015, I wanted to do briefer posts that would be quicker to read. As I said in my Blogging from A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal 2016, I wanted something different, tighter and more cryptic. In that I succeeded, but in my desire to produce something ‘challenging’, I chose to write an episodic mystery that created more work. Each episode consisted of one word for each of the letters of the alphabet, commencing with the letter of the day. Of course, I imposed other rules and then as a bonus, had a ‘horse of the day’, and a ‘daily poison’ – again from A to Z.

I did succeed in writing all but a few posts in March, so succeeded in reaching Z and the end of April. However, I struggled to read a lot of other blogs each day – probably about a dozen or so – in addition to the other posts that I follow.

I loved the variety of A to Z blogs out there, and I intend to explore some more in the months ahead. I’m incredibly impressed at the depth of talent in the blogosphere.

My IWSG blog post last Wednesday expressed my concern at making comments, even during quieter periods. So I’m in awe of those that multi-task successfully throughout the Challenge, and don’t believe in clones.

My Liebster comments tomorrow will highlight those bloggers who impressed me, and I admit that I found many individual posts invaluable as well as informative. Maybe I will learn from them in my approach for the 2017 Challenge.

I won’t be giving up blogging quite yet, as doing the A to Z Challenge holds the MaelStrom MonSter at bay by keeping my brain active and distracted.

As for the A to Z Team, they did an excellent job – as always. So a special thank you to those that worked hard to make it possible, from the co-hosts to their helpers/assistants. Here they all are.

A Brilliant Conspiracy

March 21, 2016 by Roland Clarke

Blogging from A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal 2016

April and the A to Z Challenge is drawing near, so today I’m posting about the Theme I intend to follow for the Month of April on Writing Wings.

The Challenge runs over 26 days – with Sundays off for good behaviour – and each day will be based on the alphabet, from A through to Z.

In previous years, I have chosen themes that were linked to Work In Progress… and I rambled somewhat. So I wanted something different, maybe tighter and more cryptic.

So “A Brilliant Conspiracy” was born.

This is a short saga based around the following ‘Blurb’.

Archibald Brewster claims detective expertise, frustrating genius hospital intern Jamila Knox.

Luckily, muscles never obstruct progress.

Questions remain, silently taunting, until vengeance wakes xenophobia-yapping zealots.

Inspired by this mystery, I will post a brief episode in “A Brilliant Conspiracy” on every day of the challenge, from A through to Z, each one starting with the relevant letter.

Each episode will consist of one word for each of the letters of the alphabet, initially in alphabetical order. As each letter is ticked off, I will then use it anywhere in the following episodes. For instance, Day 3 will start with ‘C’ for ‘Confessions, and somewhere I will use A and B – possibly for ‘Archibald’ and for ‘but’. By the time the mystery reaches Z, all the other letters will be in non-alphabetical order. That means 26 posts, each one of 26 words.

As a bonus, Archibald will pick his ‘horse of the day’, while Jamila will assess a ‘daily poison’ – again from A to Z.

I’m attempting to concoct these cryptic episodes in advance, but it’s proving tough. So if I fail to complete this challenge, then this will be, “Another Baffling Confusion”, especially if there is no Z.

Why not go visit the others on the linky list to find out what sort of posts you can look forward to elsewhere.

You can also visit the A to Z Facebook page where you’ll be able to see what everyone’s posting about. And there are the A to Z pinterest boards, the G+ page, and Twitter where the #atozchallenge tag rules.

See you on April 1^st when Archibald and Jamila embark on their adventure.

TimeStorm – a review

February 9, 2016 by Roland Clarke

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Time for another review – TimeStorm by Steve Harrison, which my critique partner suggested that I read to see the way that the author handles multiple viewpoints.

From a writing perspective, the technique worked well. Each chapter has the POV character’s name as the title, and sometimes this is a one-off, other times it is a recurring character. I will return to those POVs as part of the ‘review proper’.

As I read this enjoyable novel by Steve Harrison, I could feel that he is – as the blurb says – “A great fan of the grand seafaring adventure fiction of CS Forester, Patrick O’Brien and Alexander Kent.” That atmosphere is captured in the telling, without feeling over-researched.

The book was inspired by a replica 18th century sailing ship on Sydney Harbour and a question from Steve’s brother, Tony: “What if that was a real convict ship?”

From that premise came this clever tale of the crew and ‘passengers’ from a convict ship swept by a storm from 1795 to 21st century Sydney. The ‘stranger in a strange land’ scenario is carefully played out, with all the characters reacting convincingly to their dangerous situation, whether ship’s officer, convict leader, or the ‘present day’ characters confronted with something more than unexpected.

The central character of Lieutenant Christopher ‘Kit’ Blaney, is – as the blurb says – “an old-fashioned hero, a man of honour, duty and principle”, but he has human failings that make him believable. For some of the chapters, he is the POV, with chapters carrying his name.

But there are other points of view (POV), with their own chapters, and this multi-POV approach keeps the story flowing, showing different facets – some of which would normally be missed out.

Each POV feeds into the evolving plot, which had me gripped. There are two main characters – Blaney, from the 18^th century, and a 21^st century journalist. But the other POVs with their stories and subplots, are integral to the unfolding plot.

From the first chapter, I was intrigued by one other character, wondering how he would fit in, but sensing he might return. Read TimeStorm to discover how, but I won’t spoil the crafty twist in the tail.

For those that logged on for my post last week – Why read? – there was a second lesson in this novel: How to bookend your novel, by linking the opening and ending. But explaining more would be a spoiler.

Moving goalposts

December 15, 2015 by Roland Clarke

The Rugby World Cup comes to London. The novelty goalposts are immediately declared “tragically kitsch”.

My mind was set on writing about budgeting, but then the goalposts got moved. So blame someone else for this strange post… I just write them. Whether there is any point to them, depends on reader reactions.

Staying with budgeting and money, our personal situation hasn’t changed much since last week when I wrote A Day Late and Dollars Short. My ‘generous’ brother is still remaining silent, no doubt plotting the next excuse for being unable to lend me my own money for our US move.

I call that moving the goalposts, if not changing the rules of the game, maybe even the type of game.

His financial evasion also means that we are having to modify our house requirements, but without really knowing how much we really have to spend. But we do know that the prices of wheelchair homes are rising.

As for the budgeting, I try to manage ours with room for the unexpected. I’ve learnt over the decades that a contingency of a reasonable size is invaluable… or should I say crucial. That is a lesson that too many people learn too late in life. So please, friends, and family, learn how to budget now – and make sure that there is sufficient to cover emergencies. We can’t bail everybody out forever.

I have to admit that I am responsible for moving some goalposts though. Writing ones. Having created a new victim in my WIP, I was forced to change the deadline for when my draft would be completed. This time I blame the devious antics of my antagonist, who manages to charm everyone into seeing only innocence – or at best creates circumstantial evidence that won’t ensure conviction.

[That was impressive – I wrote that without giving any clue to her or his sex. Not bad.]

However, the ending is proving an exciting challenge, and the first version is changing in interesting and unexpected ways.

But none of the above were the goalposts that triggered this post. That was… let’s say somewhat unexpected, or maybe inconsequential in the scheme of world affairs.

Unless those affairs include Middle Earth.

However, I’m a gamer for my sins, and always will be – even if my characters get killed at periodic intervals. Lately, I seem to have had some issues loading games; first Rift and then SWTOR, which I had been playing without any issue. Anyway, I finally logged on okay, intending to collect my daily rewards from each game… and then it happened.

One game, Defiance had a festival for the holiday season. One that I was looking forward to, as I needed some of the items that the game dropped. Of course, the game developers had introduced yet another synergy – not the one that I needed. So that means abandoning the old weapons, and forging new ones with the new synergy. But that’s typical of all game, I fear.

Goalposts indeed. At least they don’t move them for the World Cup, or the Superbowl – just the pitch for cricket.

Or did I hear a rumour that the media had changed another sport?

A Day Late and Dollars Short

December 9, 2015 by Roland Clarke

This should have been posted yesterday, but I forgot what day it was. In fact, on Sunday I still thought it was Saturday. So, I lost a day somewhere.

If you find that missing day, please let me have it back. I’m missing it terribly. 😉

As for the mislaid dollars, well my brother did give me some money. However, his version of money is limited – by some camel with a needle aversion. I can’t really complain as I got enough to cover Christmas, or whatever holiday we choose to celebrate in wet and windy Wales.

As I warned my not-so-wise sibling, the price of everything is going up, and January will probably bring bigger price-hikes. Meridian, the place we are trying to move to, just got voted the Best Place to Live in America, by 24/7 Wall St., an online financial news corporation. Already, suitable wheelchair-accessible houses are selling within 48 hours of going on the market. And the price will have a knock-on effect in the Treasure Valley area.

His excuses for not advancing the money to buy, are getting lamer every time we talk. The property to finance this has sold, for a considerable amount – millions – and my share covers my requests, and more. But he can always justify dragging his knuckles.

Maybe, after Christmas, there might be real news – or NOT.

There are also things missing on the writing front. Not exactly days – although the timeline of the story is a challenge – nor dollars, or pounds; could do with the Royalties though. Instead, having been a 2015 NaNoWriMo winner, the wheels are spinning.

I was working to an outline, but then I killed off a second character. Now, my detectives are all over the place, searching for evidence and scenes. Which means that the outline has to be re-thought before the Chief Constable closes down the investigation, and I’m left with a cold case. Or should that be a cold novel?

So great is my stressed-out confusion, that I’ve even re-installed Scrivener, believing that I missed a trick or two by abandoning it. Well, it did lose another novel – but I had an RTF backup for that.

Rant over. Off to plot another brutal murder – MUAHAHAHAHA.

http://epicpix.com/brutus-is-at-it-again/

A New Library In Town: One Stop For Writers

October 9, 2015 by Roland Clarke

If there’s one thing all writers agree on, it’s that writing is TOUGH. The road to publication twists and dips as we learn the craft, hone our abilities, create stories we’re passionate about, fight discouragement, educate ourselves about the industry…and then start the process all over again as we realize there’s room to improve. But you know what? If you are like me, you wouldn’t have it any other way.

Yet, sometimes it’s nice to get a helping hand.

Finding a good writing book, a helpful blog, a mentor or critique partner to share the journey with…these things are gems along the writing path.

And guess what? Maybe there’s another resource waiting just up the road called One Stop For Writers.

One Stop For Writers is not writing software, but rather a powerful online library that contains tools, unique description collections, helpful tutorials and much more, brought to you by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, the authors of The Emotion Thesaurus and Lee Powell, the creator of Scrivener for Windows.

Could One Stop For Writers be the writing partner you’ve been searching for? Visit Writers Helping Writers this week (October 7th-14th) and see, where Angela, Lee and Becca are celebrating their venture with prizes and some pay-it-forward fun.