Creative Therapy

Creative Therapy

I learnt something new today. I found out about something called ‘Creative Therapy’. Now I don’t know much about it, only that it is used by people who suffer from various forms of depression and anxiety and I really like the idea.

You are supposed to find a creative outlet, such as music, art or even writing, and then escape into your own world. Apparently doing something creative gets the imaginative juices flowing and we end up in a world if our own. The idea is that, although when mulling around one’s own mind we tend to be a pessimistic lot, being creative is a positive thing. We are making something, and no matter how hard we try, it is very difficult to be negative when doing something as positive as that. Plus when we finish a project and have 'created' something, we have a wonderful feeling of fulfilment. That’s the theory anyway. There are hundreds of ways to be creative, and I imagine it can be hard to try and think of one which is right for you, especially if suffering from severe depression. But I say give it a go. I have my creative past-time, and that’s obviously writing.

 There’s another type of therapy, writing. Not just the ‘being creative’ part that we discussed, but the keeping of a diary. Some people do it publically in a blog like me, but others prefer to keep their details secret. But getting your daily thoughts and emotions down on paper is supposed to help you get your head in order. Maybe I should try it? I do have a blog, obviously, but not a diary type one, not one where I can get my daily thoughts and emotions down. It’s always worth a try. I suppose you don’t even have to write a diary. If you are more artistically inclined, you could draw or paint a picture that displays how you feel that particular day and keep a picture diary. Or instead of writing about the events of the day, if you can play an instrument, write down the song or melody you played that demonstrates how you feel. If you are learning an instrument, then write down your progress and how learning makes you feel. I only touched on the three main types of creative activity but there are many others. Cake decorating, scrap booking and woodwork to name a few.

Have any of you lot discovered creative therapy? Did it work for you? What kind of creative outlets do you have? I know I’ve gone a bit off topic from my usual literary focus, but I really wanted to discuss this issue, as I feel many could benefit from it.

Read, follow, comment and enjoy. M x

Public Profanities

Public Profanities

I’ve touched on the use of language, but how about bad language? I don’t mean badly spoken English, I mean profanities, words that are not used often in polite company, but are sometimes used to give emphasis to an idea or emotion. Until recently, it was considered bad form, and even controversial to put too many swear words into a book, or TV show.

In this day and age though, it is quite normal to have this kind of language prevalent in literature, depending on the audience, of course. You can’t have Roger Red Hat going to see Billy Blue Hat and telling him, “Get your fxxxing hands off Jennifer Yellow Hat, She’s my fxxxing bxxxh!” can you? Some teenage novels have started to use this coarse diction as a way to appeal to their audience. But again most of the time it’s only to emphasise an idea or emotion. If that’s what the teenage novels are doing, then what are the adult novels doing? Is it just gratuitous or is there a point to that much of the vulgar tongue? I admit I have used swear words in my novels on more than one occasion, but that’s usually to embolden a bad temper, or to emphasise a crass character. But are we too comfortable with it now? Is it something we should embrace and allow to grow as an acceptable part of our language, or do we try to stem the tide as it were? As a child, I was smacked for using the mildest of swear words, (and without getting into a debate about how to discipline children) but now I hear kids at ridiculously young ages using words I hadn’t heard of when I was their age. Is this due to adults like us relaxing our attitude towards this language and allowing it to flourish? Or is it because they now have access to much more of it than we did?

What do you think? Were you punished for swearing? Do you swear a lot? Is it now acceptable to use it in day to day conversation? Or is there too much, and we now need to do something about it? Let me know what you think. Read, follow, comment and enjoy. M x

Authors or Artists

Authors or Artists

First of all let me apologise for my absence yesterday. I was baking a cake for my Mother’s birthday and didn’t get a chance to update my blog. While reading the recipe, it stated “Baking is a science, not an art,” and that got me thinking.

Many people would say that writing is their creative outlet, but does that make it a piece of art? Or do the exact ingredients of plot, characters and everything else required, make it a science? Just because baking a cake is a science, doesn’t mean it tastes bad, on the contrary, because of the science of baking, it tastes very good. Does this translate to the literary world? Can we obey all the rules of literature when writing fiction and call it art? Or do we refer to it as a science even if it is a creative endeavour? Different sciences (of the traditional sense) are always trying to create things, a clone in biology, to chemical reactions in chemistry and answers in physics to name but a few. There are some people who look upon the sciences as an art. They see art where the rest of us would see numbers and equations. To use the old cliché ‘Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.’ I guess I mean that some of us may view some books as works of literary art, where as others may see the same books as a combination of verbs, nouns, synonyms and clichés cleverly mashed together to create an enjoyable read.

What are your thoughts? What is art to you? Can science be art? Can art be scientific? Let me know in the comments. Read, follow, comment and enjoy. M x

Agitating Adjectives

 

Agitating Adjectives

The sun is shining and the air is clear, or is it a dark stormy night? I know they’re clichés but they paint the picture and give the scene atmosphere. The weather is important for all authors as a useful tool to present the right ambience of the book. Setting the mood is difficult without the weather.

As you probably already know, I am setting my current novel inside a high security wing, in prison, where there is no weather. There is however a spooky feel to the institution, cold and drafty corridors etc... So again, describing the feel of the scene is important, but how much detail do you give the atmosphere? I’ve read some books where the author has taken pages upon pages of adjectives and verbs mixed together to ensure we understand what situation the characters are in. Other authors like to give a little description, not much, so as to let our imagination do the rest of the work. It’s not a bad thing either way, it just depends on your style of writing and your target audience. Different people respond in a variety of ways to the descriptions they read. To some, they will read a little, but anymore than that and they’ll put the book down. Others will read the little they are provided with and then complain that they haven’t been given enough to feed their imagination. Also, how much does your story rely on the atmosphere? A ghost story usually relies heavily on adjectives, (You can’t see ghosts, duh) where as a historical battle would rest solely on the action present at the time.

Different genres, writing styles, narration and even audience can determine how many and what type of adjectives and verbs are written into a novel. What are your thoughts on the subject? How much is too much? When is your imagination not fed enough when reading?

Read, follow, comment and enjoy. M x

Sporadic Sleuth

Sporadic Sleuth

I realized today that I am about a quarter of the way through the book I’m writing, and I’ve only just introduced a very important character. Does it matter if a main character is not referred to very often? This character is pivotal to the story so cannot be removed, although he is only in a few chapters throughout the book, it wouldn’t be very much of a tale without him.

Do you know of many stories where a main character, who is necessary to the plotline, is not often seen, and even more rarely referred to? I know it may seem strange but there is a point. This character has a strong personality which is felt throughout the book long after his initial appearance. This strong personality is what keeps him part of the story, but not so involved that he is at every scene. It is necessary that during this murder mystery, our sleuth (who is the character mentioned) is kept in the dark. The narrator is telling the reader everything they need to know, but withholding it from the sleuth so the reader can see the story develop before the detective character gives it all away. The investigator is a mysterious individual who’s brilliant mind works on a level far above my own, and so the reader must be given the chance to try and work out the mystery before the sleuth discloses all at the big reveal at the end.

As such, we are left wondering throughout the novel who’s side the detective is on and what his agenda is. I find this adds tension and intrigues the reader.

But what are your thoughts on this matter? Do you prefer to know everything about a character straight away? Do you prefer to see main characters on a regular basis or does the rarity add intrigue? Let me know your thoughts.

Read, follow, comment and enjoy. M x

Interfering Investigators

Interfering Investigators

As I have mentioned before, I am trying my hand at writing a murder mystery. One of the challenges I have come across is what kind of sleuth. How do you create a character that you hope will make it into more than one of your novels? Do you start with a back story? Appearance? Their personality? And how do they solve these unsolvable crimes? What is their method of deduction? And what exactly connects them to these crimes?

Poirot is a private investigator and is asked by others to take on a case, where as Marple is a doddering old biddy who usually knows someone involved in the affair. Then you have Jack Frost from touch of frost who is a police detective, and Tommy and Tuppence who are a young couple, also private investigators. There are even some novels where the heir to King Henry VIII, Henry Fitzroy, is a vampire who helps a police officer to solve crimes that have a supernatural flare to them.

The literary world is awash with different kinds of Sleuths and creating a unique individual with the necessary traits to solving crime is not easy. Yet we still try. It also depends on the target audience, a children’s mystery would be better suited to having a child sleuth, etc...

So what are your thoughts on the matter? What kind of sleuth do you prefer? Who is your favourite? Do you even like murder mysteries? Let me know in the comments below.

Read, follow, comment and enjoy. M x

Novel Narrating

Novel Narrating

When writing your story, how do you narrate it? Do you write in the third person, talking like a voice-over pushing the tale forward? Or do you write in the first person, as one of your characters?

I have spoken to many people on the subject and although it all boils down to preference, it also depends on how the story is being told. I find authors rarely stick to one type of narrative, and they tend to experiment with one way or another. Even in a certain series of books. For example, Agatha Christie changed her narrative all the time. Her series of Poirot novels rarely had the same style of narration let alone the same narrator and the language reflected that. It never became stale or repetitive.

When writing in the third person, one’s own voice is usually used so to not distract the reader from the story, but the first person’s voice must be carefully considered, as must their background. The language used by someone from Wales, for example, would be very different than from Scotland. Very different phrases are used, different points of reference that accumulate from experiences from different regions. And then you go into the history of the character.

If writing in the first person, many things if not all things must be considered about the narrator’s own persona. Their own little back story must be worked out so that when the audience reads the voice of the individual, it is believable. Not only that, but when trying to type in the accent, do you actually try and reference the accent with the dialogue, or do you simply mention that there is an accent there? Maybe you use a mixture of both? Either way I would love to know what your thoughts are on the subject.

Read, follow, comment and enjoy. M x

Living Characters

Living Characters

When planning your characters, how do you go about it? Where do you get your inspiration from? Tv, Books, friends and family are all great places to get character ideas, but how do you know which characters are most suitable for your story?

I talked before about a novel having a life of its own and how it grows with little or no help from anything else, and I’ve also described that scenario happening when writing a character synopsis, but has anyone found that a character can take on a completely unplanned life of its own? I did today, and it was weird. The character’s role remained the same, but the way I wanted to present the character changed. This big burly angry Scotsman who was supposed to be quick to temper now has a sensitive side to him. He’s no-longer shouting all the time, and actually has developed a jolly round face. I didn’t intend this, and hope it doesn’t change the story too much, he is a small character after all, but one change like that can have a ripple effect; changing the way characters around him react, therefore changing the way they behave within the story. The story remains the same but does it have the intended atmosphere? If the atmosphere of the story does change, do you go back and edit so it remains to plan? Or do you let it run its course and see what you end up with?

In the past I have let the story develop by itself and discovered a gem at the end, but I am not naive enough to think that will happen every time. So when do I let the novel cultivate and when do I remain true to the plan I had created? I guess it all comes down to how you feel about the direction you are going in. I enjoy letting the yarn unravel by itself, but in some cases I must be disciplined enough to not let my imagination run away with itself.

What are your thoughts? Have you ever had characters and stories create themselves in this way? Or do you remain true to the original idea?

Read, follow, comment and enjoy. M x

Bad Day

My character decided today that she was going to get pissed off with men. I don’t know why, it just happened. Maybe she had a bad weekend or something, who knows? But fact is, every time she had any dialogue with a male character, she just wanted to slap him. Didn’t matter who it was, she'd just had enough.

Fair enough really if you consider she’s had a rough couple of days, I mean trying to convince an entire prison that she is some big shot reporter when in fact she is only covering her first story. Then to find a member of the mob in her living room when she gets home threatening her, then to discover the next morning that the person her story was solely dependent on, had just been murdered, well I think we can sympathise, can’t we? And whilst all this is going on, she has an irate editor screaming down the phone at her and all the prison guards trying to come on to her. No wonder she’s pulling her hair out.

Even characters have bad days, but how much fun is it writing them?

I know I enjoy them, taking some sadistic pleasure in throwing whatever crap enters my mind to piss off my main character.

Does writing a bad day get you down? Or do you find it amusing? Do you take inspiration from your own bad days or just go mad, wondering what else life can throw at the poor literary creation?

Read, follow, comment and enjoy. M x

A Working Day Off

I do my writing Monday to Friday 9am-6pm. I like to keep my weekends free for the usual socialising and general slouching in front of the telly duties that it falls to each man to perform. It also allows me to prioritise my time and keep a schedule for everything else that needs to be done. This has lasted me well for some time but now and again, quite rarely, I get a few chores that pop up and over time, they accumulate to a point where I have to take a day off during the week in order to perform these dull yet necessary tasks. You know the ‘See a doctor about that ever increasing back pain’ and ‘Post that latest manuscript’ sort of jobs that you have to leave the house for.

Well today was one of those days, and now I feel knackered. I usually feel wiped out after a day of writing and it takes a while to get my head out of writer’s mode. But with a day that is spent walking everywhere, from the doctors, to the high street, to the next high street, to the launderette, back home, back to the launderette then to the shops to buy dinner, it knackers you out. But after an hour, you feel fine again. I exaggerated a bit there as I don’t have to go to the launderette, I have a utility room instead, but you get the idea.

Does anyone else know what I’m talking about, the weird random days where you’re not writing but it’s not actually a day off either? Is there any way around these annoying chore days, besides hiring an assistant? And what do most of you have to do during these working days off?

Read, follow, comment and enjoy.

Mx



Blocking Writer's Block

Have you experienced writer's block?

I have come across a well known phenomenon in the writing world. It is something that has not happened to me before today, but it is something that I read about frequently. It is a difficulty writing a particular chapter or scene. A small version of writers block, I imagine. But today, while writing an important but not difficult scene, where my sleuth is looking over the crime scene for clues, I found it difficult to write. I couldn’t find the right words to describe the scenario, the dialogue was clunky and every sentence was a slow trudging quagmire of literary labour. I had to leave the computer for a couple of hours and then found that when I returned, I could continue typing the story with the same enthusiastic vigour I had for the earlier chapters.

Is this something that many people experience often? If so, what do you do to combat it? I love writing stories, it is my passion, and the thought that this mental wall could prevent me from doing just that, frustrates me. I admit, when I had to leave the keyboard and come back to it, I was frustrated. That cliché of the author pulling out their hair out and shouting at the computer screen was not just a cliché today; it had taken life in the form of me screaming at a few pages of my manuscript.

I’m sure you would be glad to know that the episode didn’t last long, and once I had a coffee and some lunch, I was right as rain. Is food the answer, or caffeine, or just the break from tapping away? If anybody does have the answer, or maybe even some helpful suggestions, please let me know.

Read, follow, comment and enjoy.

Mx

Writing Exertion

Typing Exertion

While I was typing away this morning, as I do most mornings, I was writing a particularly tense scene for my main character when I found my hands flying across the keyboard tapping the keys faster than I thought possible. After I had finished I found that my heart was beating faster and my breathing was quite heavy, similar to that of someone who has just had a brisk walk.

Has anybody else found this while they are writing? I am unsure as to whether it was an emotional response to the content, or the extended physical exertion of typing. Not that I have ever found typing to be that physically demanding but it makes sense since you are moving your hands and fingers rapidly in order to put your ideas to paper.

Also, how do you get yourself into ‘writing mode’? I found I like walking for about an hour at a local park. It gets my imagination going and allows me some exercise before sitting down to a day’s typing. I find the fresh air invigorating, and living within a stone’s throw of Heathrow Airport, all the more essential. During the walk, I’m trying to imagine the scenario I’m about to start writing. Playing it out in my head before I put it to paper to see where the imagination takes it. Being outside and listening to music on the iPhone helps to get the creative juices flowing, allowing the old grey matter to fully develop these literary ideas.

So what do you do? Do you prefer being outside when trying to imagine a story, or do you have a special place? What’s your inspiration, your muse, for the literary creativity?

 

Read, follow, comment and enjoy J

Planning A Murder

How Would You Plan A Murder?

Planning the plot to a crime novel is just like planning a murder for an author. We have to know exactly where we are going to do it, who is going to be our victim, who is going to be our murderer and all that stuff. It’s not always easy, because amongst that we have a cornucopia of suspects all with 1 or 2 of the major 3,

1.      Means

2.      Motive

3.      Opportunity

While simultaneously ensuring that the main character has all 3, but only appears to have 1 or 2 of them. But then, what if more than one person commits the murder, or at least is an accessory to it? And things start to become a little complicated. Then how do we ensure the reader doesn’t guess what is going on until the last chapter? How do we keep the reader interested until that final moment?

Planning!

Yes of course, good story telling and use of language are excellent ways to ensure the reader is kept entertained, but if you don’t plan the murder down to every last detail, then it’s all going to fall apart. Unless...

I have recently heard about someone, not sure who, that writes murder mysteries without knowing who the murderer is until the story is almost finished. Then a murderer is picked at random and all the evidence explained around the conclusion. And what evidence doesn’t make sense is explained away as a red herring.

This style of writing may work, but I couldn’t do it. I’m the kind of person who has to plan everything way in advance so I know what is going to happen. Some people call me a control freak, I call it well prepared.

 

Which do you prefer? What’s the first thing you would do if planning a murder? What kind of murder would it be?

Read, follow, comment and enjoy. See you later :-)

Musical Murder

Who Shall I kill?

 The author of a murder mystery novel must have at least one victim. Without a victim, there can be no murder to be mysterious. So who shall I kill? The idea of a murder victim inside a prison gives mind to 3 types of people:

1.      Inmates/Prisoners

2.      Staff (Guards, admin etc...)

3.      Visitors (Officials, Relatives etc...)

Out of those three types, I found myself being drawn to the inmate. The idea of a prisoner being murdered inside their cell is more interesting and has more potential, plot-wise. At least it has to me. But, before I could do anymore to this tale, I must plan the plot. Decide on the story and what characters are going to be needed to help the story develop. Several ideas presented themselves and I decided to write a brief synopsis for each of these to see which one develops more freely.

While typing I discovered that I work well with music playing in the background. It has to be something instrumental, or orchestral. I cannot work with any songs containing lyrics. I find the lyrics interfere with my train of thought and I end up typing things out like,

‘He stood over her quivering corpse with a knife in one hand and I’m sexy and I know it.’ Amusing as it is, it doesn’t help to further the plotline. The only other problem I have with listening to music while working, is that when the music has finished, (but I am too engrossed in my own little literary world to notice) that I end up whistling the last tune I heard. Whistling isn’t a bad thing, but my whistling is. Many people have commented on my whistling being the worst in the world, the most monotonous even compared to a boiling kettle. I murder every tune I attempt.

So what do you do to help concentrate while writing? Do you listen to music? If so, then do lyrics distract you or can you continue oblivious to the words emanating from the speakers? Is it the same when you’re reading a book?

Read, Follow, Comment. See you later J

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Murder in Middlesex

Where shall I kill my victim? The location for a novel is as important as the plot and characters. They say to write around your own experiences. Whoever “They” are is still unknown to me, but I have taken their advice and will be basing my story around the area I grew up. Mainly Middlesex, West London-ish.

In my last post, which was also my first, I had decided to write a murder mystery and proceeded to think about where the murder should be committed. Wherever the murder had to take place, it had to be difficult. So where would be the best place to make a murder-:

1.      Impossible to do?

2.      With plenty of people/suspects?

3.      Inaccessible to all except the most innocent people?

4.      Interesting to read about?

5.      Within the area I am basing this story?

If you know the area of which I speak, then you’ll know that there is only one choice. It was an obvious choice; but one that I didn’t realise until only a couple of hours ago. For those of you, who are not familiar with Middlesex, allow me to enlighten you. There is an institution just 5 minutes walk from where I grew up. It used to be a prison, but is now a Young Offender’s Institute. There are rumours that it will be converted back into a regular prison, but that is neither here nor there.

So a prison, a lock-up, a place of confinement where all movements are monitored and nothing is done without the consent of whoever is in charge. A murder would be impossible to commit inside a prison. The idea intrigued me so much that I have already made up my mind to write it.

But what are your thoughts on this? Do you think this is a good idea? If you were going to commit a murder, where would you do it?

Novel Mistakes

"I want to write a book." I answered anyone stupid enough to ask an 8 year old "What do you want to do when you grow up?". Its not a bad thing, but what kind of book? When you realise you want to write fiction, then you cease to call it writing and start to refer to it as creating. But you can't create a book. Not unless you are the publisher. So you create a story. A work of fiction. A novel!

I want to create a story, so I shall use this blog to record my experiences while writing my first commercial novel. I shall probably make a lot of mistakes along the way, and would be grateful to anyone willing to point them out.
I am sitting at my computer with its modest 18”x 18” monitor ready to type up the notes I have made. Just everyday perceptions scribbled down on odd receipts and empty envelopes, that I think will help me compose this story. I have got an idea about what kind of novel I’m going to write. I want to write a murder mystery. This is going to be a challenge in itself, trying to come up with a murder that hasn’t been written yet, then trying to make it almost impossible to have been committed, then prove how it was committed. On top of that, create believable characters that help the story become as entertaining as I can manage. Then the cherry will be the weaving of all these facets together into a credible and enjoyable tale. Not an easy task by anyone’s standards, so wish me luck.

Now where would be the hardest place to murder somebody and get away with it?