David Bridger

I won a competition!

2009-11-23T08:46:32Z

Short fiction, too. I've tried to write short a few times before, but this is the first time it worked for me.

It's a Litopia flash fiction competition, and the only stipulations were the title and the 150-word maximum.

Thanks to my fellow full members at Litopia for voting my entry the winner. Here it is:

No Turning Back

Have you found Tsuke yet?

Paul and Karen are rebuilding a cautious friendship since their divorce, but her emails still carry echoes.

Tsuke has been good for him. A human baby stolen from her cradle, she’s grown in courage and wisdom until she commands the respect of her former captors, leads her own band of fae fighters in the Forest War, and has helped Paul to sell eleven successful novels.

And, yes, Karen is correct: in Tsuke, he has created his perfect love.

Which explains why he is failing to meet his deadline for this final book, and why he’s written her into an impossible situation. He can’t let her go.

He answers the urgent midnight rap on his front door and Tsuke stands on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. Behind her, his garden has become The Forest.

"I need you." She is beautiful. "Will you come?"

:)

New Audio Book Publisher

2009-11-21T11:17:44Z

AudioLark launched yesterday: http://www.audiolark.com/

They're inviting submissions of previously published romance shorts, novellas and novels, for which authors have retained audio rights.

Storytelling

2009-11-16T11:44:05Z

Last week a writer on Litopia mentioned an interview in which this year's Booker Prizewinner, Hilary Mantel, said that although writing came easily to her, she wasn't a natural storyteller and had to teach herself that skill, and the Litopian asked if other writers thought storytelling had come to them naturally or if they had learned it.

I was a writer first. When I was thirteen, my English teacher told me I was born to write. I took his comment to heart and kept it with me throughout my years at sea, which is where I learned storytelling.

There's an oral tradition among sailors, even today when everyone is a technician of some sort or other, and it may surprise some to hear that most sailors' stories are not about ships or big waves or bad weather, but about people - and especially about memorable characters. Every group of sailors will normally include at least one good storyteller, and every sailor will remember listening to at least one master storyteller. Anyone can tell a story, but only a gifted storyteller who can give it life will find his listeners asking to hear a story again and again.

When I listened to one such master on my first ship tell the same story in two night watches several months apart, I realised on my second hearing that he wasn't just reciting it. He was living it, and, because he was so skilled, we lived it too. After a sailor has been around for a few years, he'll recognise lesser versions of master storytellers' tales circulating among good storytellers - and he'll hear unsatisfactory versions recited by poor storytellers.

My aim is to marry my natural gift for written communication with the talent for storytelling I learned from listening to masters. And to keep listening and learning, obviously.

How about you?

Saving it for a special occasion...

2009-11-14T10:17:41Z

A lovely story I heard this week:

While at Balmoral the Queen heard that a local woman was about to celebrate her 100th birthday, and, since she was in the area, she decided to visit rather than sending the customary telegram. When conversation flagged a little over tea, the Queen admired a fine china tea set and asked if the old lady ever used it.

"Och, no! I'm saving it for a special occasion."

:)

Adapt or Die

2009-11-11T12:02:07Z

Literary agent Peter Cox makes several interesting points about the publishing industry's failure to engage with consumers in his Litopia Daily podcast here.

The Secret History of Moscow - Ekaterina Sedia

2009-11-09T11:08:57Z

I finished this on Friday. It's engaging, but it comes from an aspect of the Moscow mindset that seems to be unremittingly dour. It starts there and ends there, and even the flashes of humour along the way are of the grim "shared suffering" variety.

Sedia writes well and draws the reader into her world, like a wise and kindly woman offering to share her shawl on a November afternoon, but several times on the journey I paused to wonder why I was still walking with her, and when we reached our destination I was glad to emerge from the bleakness.

So, why am I offering a review here, when it's my LJ policy to review only novels that have impressed the hell out of me?

Well, it's because this book has impressed the hell out of me. Yes, it's downbeat. And, yes, if you're looking for a light, fun, sexy read, I'd suggest you look elsewhere.

But it's a strong story that stayed with me over the weekend and into today. Often, I close one book and open the next on the same day, but not in this case. The Secret History of Moscow is still fermenting in my mind now, three days after I finished reading it.

Sedia is a brave and honest writer. She could have lightened this story up in any number of places, but she stayed true to her world in which people and their gods stand bowed but resolute under the oppression of land and climate and years. And those flashes of gallows humour? They stand out in my memory like bright steady lights shining from a wooded hillside at night. They're real.

There's a terrible beauty in the history of Moscow, but Sedia doesn't describe it. She writes from within it - as the people of her world live within it, and often in spite of it - and so it shines from the core of her story.

Alien Sex

2009-11-05T11:06:50Z

Sex with aliens.

Anything goes. Tentacles allowed. This is a judgement-free zone.

Which alien does it for you? Who would you do?

There's no question as far as I'm concerned: it always has been and always will be Farscape's Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan.

Who's your off-planet pash?

Self-promotion and stuff

2009-11-03T08:41:33Z

jongibbs, who is running an interesting occasional series on self-promotion for writers, asks:

As a writer, how would you advise someone to go about increasing traffic to his/her journal?

Having explored social media quite thoroughly over the past few years, I now know the only way it'll work for me is to do only that which I enjoy doing.

For example, I enjoy LJ. I know that when the time comes for me to woo potential book buyers, lots of them won't find me here on LJ unless I point them here from elsewhere. Several of my novelist friends have started blogging on other platforms in addition to their LJs. But I really enjoy the community here, so I allow anyone to comment, including those who want to remain anonymous, and I'll continue to point visitors here from my website.

Can't bear Facebook. I'm on it because some of my friends have focused their online presence there, but I don't really participate very much. Likewise Twitter: it's okay, but I don't spend a lot of time there nowadays. And, again, the only reason I went there in the first place was because my existing friends from other communities started tweeting.

So that's what it's all about for me. Community. And only community that I enjoy naturally. If I have to force myself, it isn't natural and I won't last in that place. I'm an enthusiastic and active member of three formal online communities - two writing and one non-writing - and this lovely informal one here on LJ. I try other places from time to time. If I'm a good fit there: great. If not: nothing is lost.

I enjoy my online activity a lot. This is my 'presence' and, when my time comes, this is the foundation upon which I'll build reader awareness.

A good day to be alive

2009-10-25T09:14:18Z

Apologies to those who are on my flists both here and at my photoblog. You'll see this pic in both places today.

It's a view across the valley from our front terrace this morning, all clean and shiny after yesterday's heavy rain, and it makes me just so glad to be alive.

Also, I had fun on the Litopia After Dark live broadcast on Friday evening. This morning, the recording is online here.

I'm hugging the world. :)

Autumn memories

2009-10-23T10:18:14Z

I was a 21-year-old sailor the year Justin Hayward's Forever Autumn was in the charts, and I spent a late summer leave in Liverpool with my girlfriend, who was in teacher training there. It was a magical couple of weeks. I remember kicking through deep swathes of fallen leaves together as we walked down wide roads with our arms wrapped round each other, singing this song in mournful tones and giggling.

I don't often miss my youthful innocence, but just now it snuck in and overwhelmed me for a few moments.

Onwards!

2009-10-21T14:27:09Z

The flu, she is gone.
The earache, she is gone.
My submission package, she is winging her way to an editor's inbox!

Happy dance.

All I have to do now is prepare material for my guest panelist appearance on Litopia After Dark this Friday.

I've decided not to NaNo anymore. As attractive as the community madness may be, I've found it takes me longer to fix hell-for-leather 1st drafts than it does to write them well (which entails writing them lovingly) first time. Also, every year I did it, I hurt myself. Memories of swollen painful hands and forearms too sore to type can't even hold a coffee cup ouch! After several years, it's time to face up to the fact that NaNo is counterproductive for my work rate and hazardous to my health.

But to those of you for whom NaNo works: enjoy the rush! :)

Joy unconfined

2009-10-19T19:58:16Z

Reports of my freedom from flu were premature. It dragged me back down into its swamp last night. Either that, or a bunch of ninjas snuck in and kicked hell out of me when I was asleep.

Also: earache, along with the quiet and steady whistle that heralded a pierced eardrum last time I heard it.

I picked a fine week to get back to work. Nonetheless, I just managed two hours on my Angels & Demons submission package for Samhain. The ms is fully formatted and now the synopsis is complete. Only the cover letter to go and I'll be ready to press send.

Moving in the right direction...

2009-10-14T15:55:53Z

We just got Bev home from hospital. She's still sick, but no longer contageous or in danger. It's been scary.

Janette's awaiting her next bout of surgery.

Thanks for all your kind thoughts.

Horrible week

2009-10-11T08:04:57Z

This will be a brief post because I can't shift this flu and swooning while I sit upright isn't my idea of fun.

Janette is back in the system. Last Monday, the consultant booked her in for more detailed tests and scans. He marked the request 'urgent' and her appointment is for tomorrow, Monday. More surgery on the cards, but we expected that.

Bev, our youngest daughter, has been in hospital since Thursday evening. In an isolation ward. She's been hit by an aggressive virus and has multiple painful and poleaxing symptoms, including a deep chest infection.

Feels as if we're being hit repeatedly.

Flu

2009-10-05T05:45:36Z

Now I know why I felt so crap all last week. It hit me full force Saturday afternoon.

So, no work done since then, but before it hit I wiped out some surplus secondary characters from Quarter Square. Merged three into one and deleted two others completely. Sorry, fellas. You and I, we thought in the beginning that you would be so much more, but it didn't work out. It wasn't you. It was me. I have to think of the book. Sorry.

Janette has to be at the hospital for 8.45 this morning. It's X-rays & consultation time again. 6.30 now. I'll get the kettle on.

Here is my new desktop for the winter:

A memory of summer.

I have the flu. Send nice things.

Quarter Square: getting there

2009-10-01T07:48:11Z

Our whole family has been upveaved this week by someone's illness. Not Janette's. She just gets on with it same as always. (Her next consultation is scheduled for 5th Oct, btw, with more treatment to follow.) Someone else. Not immediate family. I won't give details here, because they aren't mine to give, but we've had a week of long difficult days and longer disturbed nights and we're all exhausted/on edge/upset/pissed off/varying combinations of the preceding.

Not the best way for me to commence work on editing and polishing Quarter Square to its final glory, but that's life. My study door will be closed a lot during the next few weeks.

Worked late last night:

This morning: all my respected crits & edit-notes are in one place; the new document is formatted; I know exactly what I'm doing and what needs to be done; and we're ready to rock.

Back

2009-09-28T06:35:35Z

Hello. I'm back from my week off. Didn't go away, but I enjoyed a healthy break from the internet.

I achieved the aim of the week and finished 2nd-drafting Quarter Square. Yay! :)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: that's the last time I'll write a fast 1st-draft. It took more hard work to fix the thing in this draft than it would have taken to write it well first time! Everyone to their own, of course, but for me this is an important lesson learned.

Now onto editing it!

holiday

2009-09-20T07:01:37Z

Dark Host - Kim Knox

2009-09-18T11:26:30Z

I enjoyed Kim Knox's Lost Gods a lot, and this one looks good too!

13 places I'd like to re-visit

2009-09-17T09:55:02Z

1. Kola Peninsula. Of the three years I spent working in the Arctic Circle, I can honestly say the only things I enjoyed were the Aurora Borealis and my leave periods at home. That was such a miserable time! I'd like to go back to enjoy the place as a tourist, rather than the enemy I was then.

2. St John's, Newfoundland. A wonderfully friendly place! Can't remember the name of the bar I found, but it became my home from home for a few weeks one winter.

3. New York. I visited several times during my time in the navy, but it was always for work and never for long enough to enjoy the place. I saw, heard, felt and smelled enough for it to get into my blood, though, and I intend to go back there some day. Oh, yes.

4. Savannah. I was only there for a long weekend, but I loved the atmosphere and the friendly people.

5. Bermuda. Spent a lot of time here over the years and it has a place in my heart. One time, we broke down and pulled into Bermuda to await replacement parts from the UK. I was at a loose end until we got back to sea, so I took advantage of the lull and got in some running & swimming. I found a beautiful little bay a few miles from our berth, and I'd run down there every morning and evening to swim for an hour. One morning a cruise liner arrived and, while I was swimming in "my" place, two middle-aged American women wandered onto "my" beach and plonked themselves down just above my towel and clothes. I was swimming naked. When it became obvious they weren't going to move, I called up to them and explained the problem. They chuckled. They knew. So I walked out of the water and up the sand, dried myself off and dressed, all the while conducting this polite conversation about the loveliness of Bermuda. Once I'd dressed, I wished them a good time on their visit. One of them said they'd already had it and the other thanked me, and we all laughed as I jogged away. That's the feeling of joyous freedom I'll always associate with what might just be my favourite place in the world.

6. Martinique. Utter beauty and wonderful food!

7. Rio de Janeiro. I used a night picture for Rio because the entire five weeks I was there I existed only for the nightlife. I was young and carefree and, God, was that an exciting place! Scary, but exciting! I know I missed a lot, so I'd like to go back and see it in daylight.

8. Gibraltar. We lived there for three years. See those low red-roofed buildings on the waterfront at the bottom right of that picture? That's where our house used to be. We were a young naval family and we worked very hard the whole time we were there. So much has changed about the Rock since we were there and I'd like us to go back for a relaxed holiday.

9. Majorca. This was our first family holiday abroad when I was a boy, and I'll never forget the thrill of that first foreign night. The huge midnight blue sky full of stars, and the loud insect chorus, and the smell! That hot earth smell. I've smelled similar nights in other hot countries, but never recaptured the thrill of that first time.

10. Atlas Mountains. I sat somewhere in these mountains one day, and looked over a scene something like this one, and experienced a peace that was so powerful the memory of it has stayed with me all my life.

11. Rome. I'm an amateur archaeologist and I love this city. Wouldn't want to live there, but love to visit.

12. Florence. History. Art. Beauty. Nuff said.

13. Harrison Drive beach. This is on the Wirral Peninsula, where I was born and grew up. I played in these dunes as a child, sailed my boat from the beach as a youth, and left forever when I went to sea as a young man. My memories are strong and I can still smell the sand at ebb tide.

My plans for this week

2009-09-14T08:52:19Z

Quarter Square is two chapters from completion. Two biggies, mind. If I can finish the final battle chapter by Friday, I'll be happy. If I can finish that and the resolution chapter by Friday, I'll be very happy.

Janette isn't feeling too good at all, and obviously her nursing needs are my first priority, but what writing time I get will focus on QS.

Once that's done, there's Medium Rare's synopsis to tackle. I have a good 8-pager. Need to convert that into a 2-pager for the submission I want to make.

I'm expecting to receive some chapters to crit. :)

And my bedtime reading is SL Viehl's Beyond Varallan (StarDoc II).

What are your plans for this week?

Thirteen ways in which editing a story is like grooming a new beard

2009-09-10T10:14:48Z

Original pic on my photoblog earlier this week. Before I... ahem... edited it. Click the pic for greater detail to illustrate my points below, and click again if you want to see it full size. Not that I can imagine anyone wanting to do that.

1. See the goatee shape? The strongest growth in the middle of the new beard? That's the remains of the old beard I mostly shaved away in early summer. It's the original idea of the story and the backbone of the structure.

2. My task is to grow and groom the whole beard until it all looks like that old strong part, and to prevent the strong part from growing out of control while the other parts catch up with it. To shape it into a seamless story so the joints don't show.

3. It will happen. Beards grow at their own pace. (Note to teenaged boys: No use in straining. That'll only produce broken veins or hemorrhoids or something.) Just write the thing and continue writing the thing and write the damn thing until it's finished. Then there'll be something to work with.

4. Salt and pepper is one thing, but patches of white amid the dark hair is another thing altogether. I always had a white streak in my chin. My first youthful beard earned me the nickname badger, but fortunately only for the duration of my time on that particular ship. When a beard displays lumps of different colours, it can make shaping the thing a bit more complicated. Should the scissors follow that colour? Or stick with the contour? A balance between the two? Like with action and internal dialogue, you know? Description and movement. Pace and depth. Finding the right balance is good.

5. Talking of colour, you see those strongest black hairs? Some of them have a different texture to their brothers. I look forward to wearing an all-white ancient mariner's beard one day, but until then I need to keep an eye out and stop those dominant suckers from growing out proud of the desired shape. Yes, certain secondary characters, I'm looking at you.

6. Nose hairs. Necessary for air filtration but insightly, and bloody hell do they tickle if you let them grow out of your nostrils into your moustache! Just when you're dropping off to sleep. Watery eyed sneezes r us. Gah! No one needs to see them. Remove. Info dumps, anyone?

7. Getting close up to a convex mirror leaves you with nowhere to hide. Lines of life experience and a prominent nose displaying the open pores of puberty, come on down! Fair enough. It is what it is. Backstory. But hey, in a certain light (and under certain conditions of photo-manipulation) those open pores look like blackheads. Not the desired effect! Have I done everything I can to offer a word picture for my readers that's as near as possible to the picture in my head?

8. No one I know owns one of those soup-filter moustaches. After leaving mine to grow that big a few times, I know it isn't my favourite style. Let people see my smile and hear my voice. Ah, there it is: voice. Edit away whatever muffles my voice, but don't edit out the voice itself. My voice is what makes my work my work.

9. Rogue hairs grow on my upper cheeks and my neck. They're never going to join the beard and they don't belong in the shape. Shave them off. Surplus words.

10. Use good quality, sharp scissors. That's how to avoid those eye-watering unexpected pulls. Learn editing skills. Keep on learning. Never stop learning.

11. The particularly scruffy bit underneath my finger is old scar tissure. It'll always be a small bare patch in the beard. I recognise and accept it. When the beard is fully grown it'll be covered. It's good to recognise and accept my writing weaknesses. Denying them is futile and foolish. Can't turn a blind eye to something and fix it too.

12. While it's growing, I don't need a barber. I can shape it to a good finish. But if I were to find myself up for some literary award, say, about to face bright lights and put my fuzzy face on the TV for all to see, you can bet I'd have a professional do his or her thing. Editors. It's their job. Let them do it. When that time comes, we'd be stupid not to.

13. I always trim my beard before a shower. Dry beard hair, unshampooed and unconditioned, is best for cutting. Yes, of course I shampoo and condition my beard! After which, it goes all soft and fluffy and odd little hairs stick out here and there. Time for a quick re-visit from the shiny scissors. It's never too late to tidy up an oversight.

Myla by Moonlight

2009-09-09T06:14:11Z

Myla by Moonlight is now available from Samhain Publishing

Magic bites... and its name is Myla.

Created at Prince Taric’s birth, Myla is a spell, an enchantment designed to appear and protect him when he needs it most. She has always been content to do her duty…until one night of forbidden passion leaves her longing to experience life—and love—as a mortal woman. Yet the risk is too great. Even if her blood runs as red as his, she can never give him the one thing he needs: a child.

Taric’s blessing—and his curse—is knowing the kingdom’s future depends on his producing an heir to continue the bloodline. His bond with Myla has always been that of protector and protected. When it suddenly becomes something much more, he unwittingly sentences his people to certain death.

An old enemy is plotting to destroy all he holds dear: his lands, his people, his father, and his lover. And this time, even if they fight tooth and blade, their shared magic may not be enough to save them…

Click here or here to read an excerpt.
Click here or on the cover to purchase.

Thank you, Lynn Viehl!

2009-09-08T08:55:12Z

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday afternoon!

My grand prize from Lynn Viehl's 2009 Left Behind & Loving It virtual workshops, a beautiful ASUS Eee PC 1005HA-P 10.1" Seashell Netbook! Yes!

Thank you, Lynn, for this, and for so much more.

For running the superb LB&LI workshops over the past four years, and for your excellent Paperback Writer blog, which I read every day.

For your contributions to the Genreality group blog, which is my most recent shiny find of a bloggish nature.

For your PB Window photoblog, which inspired me start my own photoblog so I'll remember to make time every day for my own hobby.

For being so determined to get this Netbook to me, despite all the international money transfer legislation nonsense we had to go through. And for sending me a signed copy of StarDoc with such a delightful personal message. And for the lovely beaded bookmark, which gives me quiet joy when it catches my eye in moments of mid-chapter reflection.

I read StarDoc last weekend and enjoyed every moment of it. Totally in love with Cherijo!

Every year, in the deepest darkest part of midwinter, I hibernate for a couple of weeks and fill my mind with a series of something wonderful. It isn't an escape: it's a thing of joy that I look forward to for months ahead. For the past three years I've immersed myself in a TV series (Firefly, then Deadwood, then Twin Peaks), so I wanted to read a series this coming winter. StarDoc will be perfect. Thank you! I'm tracking down the other books in the series this week, having ordered the four titles available online in the UK and put the others on my Christmas 3D wishlist.

Thank you, Lynn, for being a splendid author and a lovely person.

Amazing performance sand art!

2009-09-07T08:16:47Z

This is wonderful. Turn on your speakers/put on your headphones before you click:

Isn't that moving?