The Lunatic Horizon

Close of Business

2009-03-10T19:52:00.002Z

So I'm switching entirely over to Livejournal from now on. I think two blogs are becoming redundant, and I prefer ElJay's friends system. I will still be visiting my Blogger friends (should any of you miss me... *tumbleweed* ...) but all posting will now be at my Livejournal blog.

If you're already over there, friend me! Then in addition to my sparkling insights on novel-writing, fish babies, and radial nerve damage, you get the added bonus content of Naomi's Endless Angst. See you there!

Urban Legends: The Quiz

2009-03-10T10:51:00.002Z

Anyone who knows me well knows I'm obsessed with urban legends. The modern fairytale! The cultural meme! The terrible series of slasher flicks!

And now... The Quiz, as provided by MSN.

For the record, I got 10/10.

Tuesday Teaser - Wonderland

2009-03-04T07:51:00.003Z

Okay, so it's Wednesday. That's beside the point. I keep meaning to cross-post these from my livejournal, but I always forget. And it seems a bit quieter on Blogger compared to LJ at the moment. I've been thinking about switching over to LJ completely, but I'm very attached to my pretty Blogger template. Plus there are a few people I follow here that aren't on LJ. Anyway, here's a snippet from Wonderland. Enjoy!

"Two ruby-red points of light appeared from the gloom. A shadowy form shot from the darkness, another bone-rattling howl echoing through the street. Bronte flinched as the creature launched itself up, landing with a crash on a car parked nearby. As if on cue, a glittering shower of magic sprayed over the beast, illuminating it in sparks of red and gold.

A Black Dog. Bronte gripped the windowsill, paint flaking off under her fingers. The great beast swung it's head to the sky and barked, deep and vicious. It was the size of an Alsation, but heavier, stockier. Great fangs gleamed in the magic light, saliva dripping down its maw. It lowered its muzzle and she stifled a scream when its malevolent red eyes locked on her.

Move! The inner voice screamed and she dropped to her knees, heart in her throat. A Black Dog was a traditional omen of death in English folklore. In these post-War times, it was a piece of folklore everyone took seriously.

She crouched against the wall, shivering as the Black Dog growled and barked, claws shrieking against the metal roof of the car. It had seen her – did that mean she was fated to die? She shoved her fist into her mouth to keep herself from whimpering. No need to be scared, she chanted to herself. The War ended twenty years ago, they can't hurt you, they're not allowed to hurt you...

But she remembered the stories though, remembered the tales of stolen children, mutilated bodies. Remembered seeing photos of adults mauled by magic, disfigured and half dead. Remembered with a gut-wrenching nausea her own dad, stumbling home in the wake of a magic storm, turned into some … thing, twisted and ruined and mad. She could still hear her mum's screams and smell the smoke of the gunpowder after she'd shot him. Don't look, Bronte, don't look...

'Shit.' Bronte forced herself to stand, forced herself to breathe deeply, eyes closed. The thought of locking gazes with that creature again chilled her. It had stared at her like it knew her, could see right into her skull and sniff out her nightmares.

But she had to look, had to prove to herself she wasn't afraid.

Even though she was.

Query-Go-Round

2009-03-02T19:28:00.003Z

I've had another request for a partial of Death for the Born! I only emailed the agent yesterday, so I'm pretty pleased. Just have to put together a submission package now and find a working printer somewhere...

Back to the grind...

2009-02-27T09:07:00.003Z

Three days back at work after a week off, and my arm is killing me and I've wrenched my left shoulder - again. I don't know when I became so fragile. Laura the Physio says I'm too tense, a lot of which I put down to work/money-related unhappiness. So watch this space while Nome moves to New Zealand and becomes a shepherd.

In writing news, I've sent a few queries out for Death for the Born, one of which has turned into a partial request from a great agent, so yay! Night and Chaos is trying to turn into a novel, and Wonderland, which is actually a novel, is threatening to turn into a sprawling epic of staggering proportions. I know this because, even though I'm still writing chapter one, I've already got titles and plots for two sequels.

Of course whether or not I get round to writing them depends entirely on how soon I get out of this job and into the sheep-herding business.

Queer Wolf

2009-02-23T18:17:00.002Z

Details are appearing for the Queer Wolf anthology! I'm inordinately excited!

My word...

2009-02-22T10:47:00.001Z

Did anyone else fall a little bit in love with Robert Webbe last night?

It's not arm cancer

2009-02-18T17:59:00.003Z

I just got back from my second physiotherapy appointment. I'm in less pain that last time, probably because I haven't been at work all day. Laura the physio thinks it was so bad last week because my arm was already aggravated from general use at work.

Anyway, she did some more tests, studied my posture and decided that it's probably my radial nerve which is causing the problem. As you can see in my scientific diagram, the radial nerve affects the whole arm. Super. She also noted that I carry a lot of tension in my shoulders and neck, and set me up with a heat pack for ten minutes, which was amazing. I need of those for at home.

She gave me a few stretches to do and packed me off. Back next Monday. I think a big step forward in combating my problems would be having a desk. I mean, I do have a desk, but there's a fish tank on it. I think if I didn't do all my writing sitting on my bed or the sofa, my back would probably be less stiff and there'd be less tension all over. I'm not sure if there's room for another desk in my bedroom though, and definitely not room in the living room. This needs careful consideration.

Not every story has explosions and car chases. That's why they have nudity and espionage.*

2009-02-16T20:08:00.004Z

* Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum. This post has nothing to do with explosions, car chases, nudity or espionage. Sorry.

Anyway, I've been thinking for ages I need to write this post on how books are like boyfriends but then I signed up to Facebook and Twitter and the world disappeared... But now I'm sort of overwhelmed by Facebook and Twitter and have stepped back to write the post. So:

Books are like boyfriends (or girlfriends if that's how you roll). Writing a book is like being in a relationship, each one having a different affect on you. I take my own work as examples:

Fire and Moonlight: My first love, the novel I will forever see through rose-tinted glasses despite it's many faults. The one I measure all other ideas, characters, plots, and novels against, despite it's flaws. This is the novel I loved first, and after this I just loved love. Or novels. Or something. Whatever. It's inevitable that I will return to this and we'll kiss in the rain, or I'll write it in the rain or something.

Wild: This is the bastard boyfriend/novel who made your life miserable but you loved him/it anyway and you keep daydreaming about getting back with him/it even though he/it took drugs and probably cheated on you with other women/novels. I'm convinced I can make this book work. It just needs a year of rehab and some anger management.

Death for the Born: This is the current relationship, and whilst everything seems to be going well now and we're having fun and he/it makes me laugh, I have a sneaking suspicion it will all be over soon. Because, you know, I'll finish the redraft and have to send it out to agents. And it's like that whole "if you love something, set it free" and you sit at home and chew your fingernails and wonder what your life would be like if you'd stuck with that drug-taking bastard/novel from before.

Night and Chaos: Now, this is destined to be a short relationship because it's only a novella, and it's like that guy I dated at university where I knew we'd break up when I graduated but I didn't really care. It's fun, it's sweet, but it's not serious and it's never going to take the place of the first love. Or even the drug-taking bastard/novel.

Okay, I'm probably not making much sense. I did put a lot of Baileys in my hot chocolate tonight. But I think I have a valid point in here somewhere. You develop relationships with your WIPs. After all, they're in your life for quite some time and they take up a lot of your energy. And you're always holding out for The One that will be perfect and ~~take you away to Paris for the weekend~~ win you that elusive publishing contract. So here's to promiscuity of the writing kind!

Oh, and this is the first picture that came up when I Googled "nudity and espionage." So, you know ... enjoy ...

Nome: the Interview

2009-02-14T14:34:00.002Z

Kate Johnson has interviewed me, and when an awarding-winning author interviews you, recurring arm pain takes a back seat.

1. If you had a choice between appearing naked in public or eating a fried insect, which one would you choose?

Really I think I'd eat the insect. I think it would be over a lot quicker and leave fewer psychological scars.

2. What age would you most like to be, and why?

I think I was happiest at age 19 - 20, so I'll split the odds and say 19 years and 6 months. That was the time before university took all my money away forever.

3. If you could go on a date with anyone from history or fiction, who would it be?

Ha, I'm going to be totally generic and say Lord Byron. I couldn't possibly sleep with him on account of the syphilis, but I'd love to gaze rapturously as him while he recited poetry at me.

4. Would you rather be a lesbian or a gay man?

Hmm. I guess it would depend. If I could be a lesbian with Megan Fox, I'd be a lesbian. If I could be a gay man with Christian Bale, gay man. No, okay, I'd be a gay man with Christian Bale. I'd hit that anyway I could.

5. If your TV could only play one channel, which one would you have?

Dave. No contest. 24-hour-a-day Dragons Den and QI and whatever other weird crap Dave shows.

My pain is too vague

2009-02-13T07:43:00.001Z

So I went to the physiotherapist yesterday and spent 45 minutes answering seemingly random questions. It's like, I went there because my arm hurts ALL THE FREAKING TIME, and she was asking me if I'd ever had cancer. Stuff like that just freaks me out. I'm too neurotic for it. I'm all like, "no, why? Is it arm cancer?"

Then she did a load of stretching exercises with me to try and pinpoint exactly what the problem is. Sort of moving my arm around and saying "does this hurt? Does it hurt now? How about now? More? Better? Worse?" And me going, "yes. Yes. Yes! YES! YES THAT HURTS MORE!"

She came to the conclusion that the problem crossed all my joints and it wasn't clear where the source of my pain was. Really, if she'd listened to my "it hurts everywhere" mantra, we would have saved a lot of time. I have to go back next week for more tests. Until then she's suggested I try to avoid using my wrist brace because it might lead to loss of movement in my wrist. So now I'm paranoid about getting carpal tunnel syndrome. And all the stretching we did yesterday just makes my arm ache like hell today.

Is it wrong...

2009-02-11T09:46:00.001Z

... That I want to rewrite an entire chapter in Death for the Born just so I can have my PI say "I'm a complicated man" and make a joke about pistol whipping?

Keri Arthur - Beneath a Rising Moon

2009-02-08T19:02:00.003Z

A rather expletive-heavy review here at the Garou Loop.

It's all fun and games until someone (like me) gets hurt...

2009-02-07T15:47:00.002Z

Look at the snow. Pretty, pretty snow. Pure, innocent snow.

Well that snow knocked me right on my arse yesterday. Damn the snow! I slipped in some ice, landed on my bad arm and I am one massive ache from my ankle to my shoulder. As you may imagine, my repetitive strain injury was somewhat aggravated by this little incident. *cries*

Luckily I have my first physio appointment next Thursday. I may as well get as much out of it as I can.

Charlie! Charlie! Chaaaaaaaarlieeeeeeee!

2009-02-04T09:28:00.002Z

Living with Skelly has opened my eyes to a whole new world of online insanity.

Okay, so the query letter for Death for the Born continues to kick my ass. What is my story's hook? Does it even have one? Why didn't I write a generic paranormal romance instead of this crazy mess of dead people and private eyes and Bloody Marys?

I also got to a chapter last night that needs a big rewrite and I'm not sure how to do it yet. Will no doubt spend the day at work battering my head against the desk in my desperate fury to get the hell out of there, come home, and start ripping my book to pieces.

Snow Day!

2009-02-02T15:03:00.004Z

Guess who got sent home from work because of the snow?

Me!

Cue photos!

Procrastination - Nome Style

2009-02-01T16:21:00.002Z

You Are a Romantic Date

Your dating philosophy?

"Date to fall in love"

You prefer your dates to lead you down a romantic path

If there's no soulmate connection, you're just wasting your time

Guys to look for:

Guys serious about love, who say they're ready for marriage

Search for guys looking to "settle down" or "meet my match"

Because if a guy's just playing the field, he won't give you the romance you crave

What Kind of Dating Diva Are You?

You Are a Playwright

You are a highly literate wordsmith. You love both reading and writing.

You are also a natural storyteller. You can turn a mediocre anecdote into a riveting tale.

You find people and all aspects of life fascinating. No topic is off limits for you.

In modern times, you would make a good filmmaker or novelist.

What's Your Medieval Profession?

Your Superpower Should Be Manipulating Electricity

You're highly reactive, energetic, and super charged.

If the occasion calls for it, you can go from 0 to 60 in a split second.

But you don't harness your energy unless you truly need to.

And because of this, people are often surprised by what you are capable of.

Why you would be a good superhero: You have the stamina to fight enemies for days

Your biggest problem as a superhero: As with your normal life, people would continue to underestimate you

What Should Your Superpower Be?

Your Power Element is Metal

Your power colors: white, gold, and silver

Your energy: contracting

Your season: fall

You are persistent (and maybe even a little bit stubborn).

If you see something you want, you go for it.

You have a lot of strength, and it's difficult to get you down.

Very logical, you tend to analyze everything going on in your life.

What's Your Power Element?

Obviously the best way to truly understand yourself is via online quizzes.

For the record, I have also revised another three chapters of Death for the Born and made nachos today.

The Long and Short of It

2009-01-30T08:03:00.002Z

Stacia Kane has a really interesting post up on her blog about the novel as a three act structure. Definitely of use to me, since I'm crap at planning my novels in advance, my structure is generally more of a gelatinous blob then anything else. Death for the Born, for example, can be roughly divided into two halves: the first half where I knew what I was doing, and the second half where I had no idea and basically wrote whatever came into my head without worrying if it matched the first half.

Yeah, this is why the revision process is going so slowly.

But I don't have this problem when I write short pieces. Wolf Strap clocked in at just under 10k and needed very little in the way of revision. The plot was straightforward and the writing was pretty tight as a whole. There were a few consistency errors, but that's why you need a good editor, I've decided.

I wrote nothing but short stories for two years at university, so I've got the structure down pretty well. No wasted words, no meandering. Just BANG! Straight in there, in with the action. I'd like to learn to apply that principle to novel-writing, but obviously writing an 80-90k book is a completely different prospect to writing a 10k short. You have subplots and secondary characters and red herrings and (in my case anyway) drug addicts and alcoholics and drag queens (not all in the same novel).

I'm thinking there must be a way to combine Stacia's three act structure with the basic principles of short story writing in order to create a neat novel writing formula. It's too late for DftB, that's doomed to be revised old school style. But when I move onto the next project, we shall see...

I've met the man I'm going to marry...

2009-01-27T16:54:00.000Z

The author of this letter. He's the one for me. There's no doubting it.

Starting Over

2009-01-26T16:01:00.003Z

Okay, so it wasn't really a crisis. But I have cognitive reaction difficulties, which is a fancy way of saying I overreact.

Anyway.

After a lot of thinking and angsting, I've decided to leave my current literary agent. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but one I think had become necessary. I took a lot of advice from some wonderful people and realised that this is the way forward for me.

It's hard to think of it as a step forward, rather than backwards, but it really is. What it means immediately is that I'm going to be back at square one, querying agents, getting rejected, and repeating the process until I wish I was dead. But long term, I'm sure this is the right thing for my writing career.

So I'm going to polish Death for the Born until it gleams and start harrassing literary agents until someone gives in and sign me up. Watch this space...

Warning: Changes Ahead

2009-01-22T15:02:00.001Z

There are going to be some significant changes around here soon, based on a couple of tough decisions I made this week. The blog is getting a total overhaul to bring it in line with my livejournal. There's probably also going to be some severe angsting in the near future, so anyone who's already heard me angst enough should probably look away now.

Scenes from the Maths Institute

2009-01-19T12:51:00.001Z

So you expect physicians and mathematicians to be able to entertain themselves, pretty much. I certainly do. We had a new participant arrive this morning, and I did all the usual intro stuff, here's your office key, here's your computer account... etc. Then I asked him to come back at 2.30 for a tour of the building.

"Right," he said. "What should I do until then?"

And I'm all like, "I don't know... maths?"

And we stared at each other awkwardly and I'm sure he was thinking "What a sarky little bitch," and I was definitely thinking "My God! You're a grown man! Go check your emails or solve a theorem or whatever mathematicians do when they've got nothing else on."

Seriously. The mind, it boggles.

Smackdown, bitches!

2009-01-18T20:27:00.002Z

73,606 / 73,606
(100.0%)

The first draft of Death for the Born is done! A little shorter than I'd like, but longer than I expected. Now to let it stew for a few days before giving it a quick going-over and sending it to Ricia. I'm off to celebrate by having a cup of hot chocolate with caramel Baileys and going to bed early. Because that's how I roll, yo.

Edits! Yay!

2009-01-14T09:27:00.000Z

I got my edits for Wolf Strap today, along with a lovely email from the editor of the anthology, James, saying mine was one of the easiest stories to say "yes" to, and therefore edits are pretty minimal. Huzzahs! I could get used to this. I was supposed to be going to a production of Hamlet featuring a water tank and a 50ft puppet ghost tonight, but I've struck down by the plague, so will head straight home to edit instead.

I also have to come up with a brief blurb for the story, which I'm really struggling with. All I can think of so far is something along the lines of "werewolf returns home to find cousin murdered. Chaos ensues. Also, a drag queen." Doesn't really seem right to me.

WIN!

2009-01-13T21:31:00.002Z

I have WINNERS! Drawn from the mystic depths of my top hat, the winner of the Top 5 of 2008 is heroineforhire! Email me at violet_shadows at hotmail dot com and I'll get the books sent to you asap :)

And runner-up winner of The Hunger Games is Tez Miller! Email me, and it'll soon be winging it's way Down Under.