An exciting day, as I launch the Hobson & Choi Podcast! Admittedly, not with full iTunes/RSS bells and whistles, due to technical problems that are dull. Hopefully they’ll be with you soon.
However, I didn’t want to disappoint after promising a Sunday launch, so episode one is up now on Mixcloud.
Hello, everybody. This is the 1000th post on this blog (or at least it was on the old site, ahem), so I thought it would be nice to do a proper entry. So, let’s talk a bit about how things are going, a little about the future, maybe some thinking out-loud too. I’ve got a couple of topics to hit, but I’m allowing myself space to improv around the edges.
My ongoing detective serial Hobson & Choi hit twenty-fifth episodes on Thursday, and it looks like we broke the top twenty best-voted serials for the first time in July too. Exact placing still to be revealed, but thanks to anyone who did vote for us. The best is yet to come – seriously, I’ve read #26 and it’s great fun.
But aside from the broad progress update, how are things really going? I wrote a post a while back about the conflict inherent in me, a slightly awkward British man, having to aggressively plug something, and since then, I’ve played with a few strategies to get things working. I submitted an item to the EpiGuide podcast, I created the Official Hobson & Choi Twitter account, where I can ramble about the serial and play with hashtag promotion without feeling bad about infuriating old Twitter followers.
Surprisingly, we’re over 80 followers on that account, which is better than I expected it to do. People seem to be voting for the story on Jukepop, and not just the ones I force with guilt, so I gotta assume it’s going okay.
Still, there’s always more to do. In mid-August, Jukepop’s six-month exclusivity period on early H&C chapters starts to run out, and that means I’ll probably be slapping the first few episodes around other websites to try and raise awareness. May even play with formats beyond text – want to hear my beautiful authentic nasal-Essex accent reading out some Hobson & Choi? You may not have to wait long.
So in the meantime, you can read the serial on Jukepop, and if you know anywhere good I could post some Hobson & Choi in late August, let me know.
Not as many solid plans about getting more original content on this blog. I’m not a huge fan of declaring “tips” about writing – to be honest, I’m still learning what works for me, so although I’m happy to talk about it when I do hit on a winning strategy, they don’t come along often enough to keep this blog humming. I tried a slightly self-indulgent post about my creative process last week, and that was enjoyable enough.
And of course, there was always the Friday stories, which were fun and did get the hits/comments in, but honestly, the amount of writing time I was spending producing them was not good. Work on my non-H&C projects has sped up enormously since I cut those out.
I have a few other stories out submitted, and hopefully there will be positive news soon, but again not enough to run this blog single-handed. The TV reviews continue, though, and I might be doing some other podcasty work in that region too. Maybe. Hopefully. Anyway, enough thinking out loud for now, I think.
Thanks to everyone who’s been following the blog and/or the Twitter account for a long time, I’m aware there are some out there who read along happily and don’t say much, and your support means a lot too. Now, back to the “real” writing. I got another thousand posts to fill.
Picture the scene, if you will. I was at Latitude festival last weekend – evidence of attendance visible to your right – and arrived early for a talk in the literature tent. The previous speaker was still going. We had been sleeping in a tent and were quite tired (I pray thee cry us a river), so my girlfriend did the only sane thing under the circumstances and lay down on the floor, instantly falling asleep.
However I am a sleep-masochist, so stayed awake on the nice carpeted floor and listened to this man talk. And as I processed his words, something stirred within me. After some soul-searching introspection, I realised it wasn’t exhaustion or my lunch, but an idea. Not just a small idea either, a large one that I could write a fair bit of stuff on. Hell, this might even be another novel idea.
I already have one book I’m writing, another I’m sending out to people, yet another I might write next, and of course my detective serial Hobson & Choi continuing on top of all of that.
So, much as I enjoy a bit of inspiration, there comes a time when it all gets a bit much, and I think we’re nearly there.
Nothing personal, Shiny New Book Idea, you have a lot of potential, but I don’t want to start going off my current projects because I’m two or three items down the line in my mind. I have to keep myself grounded, focused and staying in the present, or I’ll never achieve anything. I’m already not doing that good a job of sending out my finished novel, because it’s just more fun to focus on the exciting creative process of writing new stuff.
Not sure what the solution is to this. Sell my new idea to someone else? Quit my day job, so I might actually have time to write everything I want to write? Work faster and stop typing ponderous blog posts when I could be churning out fiction? Spend less time on Twitter? Stop doing as much lurking on internet comics forums?
Yeah, let’s not get too crazy. But still, I need to lock the brilliant new idea away in its box for now, before it destroys the genuinely productive creative process I’ve built over the last few months. I’ve got nearly a third of the new novel done, I think it isn’t too shit, Hobson & Choi seems to be doing quite well, let’s not rock the boat, or indeed soak the tent with water up and down the walls. And, you know, there are worse things in life than having ideas, really.
So, end of the day, I’ve taken notes, so the brilliant new idea won’t slip away from me, and you never know, I may even get to write a few words of it by 2015. It saddens me that I’m already thinking that far ahead, but such is the slipping away of life.
Although the guy whose talk inspired me was an astrologer for the Daily Mail, so maybe it’s best this stays at the bottom of the to-do list.
So, yes, this is the exciting thing I was hinting at yesterday. Was published late yesterday night, but I was off watching the tennis. Still, people are interviewing me, I must be doing okay. Check it out.
Today is National Flash Fiction Day, and I thought I’d whip up a story.
So, below is my effort for 2013 – a superhero story, because that seemed to be where my head was at today. If you want to see some other flash work by me, I’ve included some links underneath the new story.
Lewis clipped the cape to his shoulders, placed the tiny domino mask over his eyes – it probably didn’t hide his identity much, but sure looked good – and opened his window wide. It was his first night out on patrol since graduating from Fire-Man’s Academy For Superpowered Youth, and he was so excited about finally being a proper superhero.
He scampered over the rooftop, hair blowing in the breeze, and ran up to the gap between buildings. With practised confidence, Lewis jumped. The extra energy within his muscles, amping up his every movement, pushed him further than any normal human could go. He wasn’t a student, apprentice or sidekick anymore – he was The Extraordinary Man.
Yes, it was cheesy, and yes, at eighteen years old he was at the younger edge of the “Man” scale, but legally it was fine. He’d done it. He’d arrived as a superhero now, he could feel it as his boots thudded down onto the next roof, collecting dust and filth
.It was about ten at night, and people were milling about in the street below, going about their business. The Extraordinary Man dashed to the edge of the rooftop, just like they’d taught him in class, and perched, dramatically and visibly, to let the citizens feel protected, make sure any nearby evildoers knew not to try anything.
That done, he made another leap to the next rooftop, feeling older than he ever had. Before he could consider his next move, though, he heard a yell of panic – a young man shouted from the next alley over. The Extraordinary Man paced over, knowing what he’d see before he even looked.
Sure enough, a group of scary guys in hoodies were chasing the victim down, shouting for him to give up his wallet. All of a sudden, The Extraordinary Man’s legs froze up, and he locked in place. Lewis stared, feeling his skin move beneath the mask, imagining the crash of their fists on his cheekbones, and finally, he pulled out his mobile and called the police.
Then, eyes still wide, he dashed back the way he came. One step at a time, he told himself. He was still closer to being a superhero than two hours ago.
Some of my best received other flash work includes…
In general, you can find my flash stories under this category. Read to your heart’s content.
Recently on the ever-lovely Web Fiction Guide website, a discussion arose on whether it was wise to avoid reading other material similar to your work-in-progress, lest you subconsciously steal their ideas, and it’s an interesting one.
I’m sure I’ve seen the ever-blunt Warren Ellis post on one occasion that he was avoiding certain material as it was too close to something he was working on. This would be a better anecdote if I could remember any context at all.
But the point being: should we worry? After all, if it could happen to Ellis, it could easily happen to the rest of us.
Broadly, I think the general advice is to read widely around your area, filling your head with influences, thus allowing yourself to plagiarise from several people at once, replicating no one story whilst homaging several, putting yourself above criticism. But what if the one story came up that really was exactly like yours?
I mean, my first ever completed novel manuscript was uncannily similar to the TV show Heroes – both revolved around normal people getting comic book superpowers. It was more of a contained character drama, rather than going into the conspiracy stuff, but I’d used a lot of the same scenarios as them. Basically, we were both influenced by/ripping off roughly the same superhero comics. (Don’t worry though, I still got some use out of the characters – they are the suspects/cannon fodder in my current Hobson & Choi serial. Except now they have no superpowers to save themselves.)
Most interestingly of all, my story had a villain called Skyler and Heroes had one called Sylar – does anyone know what we’re both “homaging” with that? I’ve never accurately traced it.
I mention this because I’m considering reading more around Faustian deals for the current novel-in-progress, and although I’m sure there’s some great stuff, I’m a little concerned I’ll just subconsciously rip it off.
Thankfully, I haven’t yet stumbled across the one story which resembles mine so much, it makes me throw my hands up in despair and say “Fuck it, it’s all already been done, I’m off home to cry, put Heroes DVDs on and throw Doritos at the TV again!”
But will I, one day? Or do I need to grow a little writerly hubris and accept that my work is unique for its voice and slight resemblences are inevitable? (Especially when dealing with something as well-mined as the Deal With The Devil.)
Probably the second one. Anyway, more ruminations may follow, just wanted to get that out there. If anyone has any recomendations for Faustian deals in literature, feel free to mention them in the comments. I’ve already got Doctor Faustus itself on the pile, don’t worry.
Or, indeed, if you know where me and Heroes nicked Sylar/Skyler from. It was a decade too early to be Walt’s wife from Breaking Bad.