Writing Difficulties

Currently I am working on a small writing project, I am trying to write a story from a theme suggested to me by my dad, including a keyword. I won’t tell you the theme or the keyword here as I want it to be a surprise ! I will posting some of the work I do here on my page, look forward to it!

I wanted to talk to you all today about the problems I have found while working on this project. One of the main problems I have while I am writing is stopping the distractions – the internet, all the books I have piled up just waiting to be read and the cat. It’s very, very hard to ignore all these things going on around me and more than once I have, much to my dismay, given in to those desires. So, my new strategy is – get a routine going, everyday spend at least an hour a day at the library writing. I would like to do more than an hour a day but think that it is important to not push it when you want to get something done, I have a lot to do at home at the moment so need to make sure I use my time wisely. I have also given myself a deadline so that I have something to aim for, I have always done better with a routine with deadlines (I loved being at school and miss it quite a lot…) so I will make myself a timetable and keep to it. What do you guys do to keep to a deadline? Leave a comment on this post! 

Another problem I have while writing is going off on a tangent – not that it is a big problem really! I will just keep writing and writing until I am happy. But I find that when I come round to typing it up I will strike away a lot of it, as well as change the way it is set out and some of the words. It’s quite interesting to go back over what I have written just to discover that most of it is just rubbish, but that rubbish somehow creates a spark in my mind that helps me create something better. Something more interesting. Just having the outline written out on a page helps me get started with the detail. What do you guys think? Outlines are helpful or not?

Darren Shan – Procession of the Dead

As a long time fan of Darren Shan I have made it my life’s work to read all that he writes; my latest conquest was his novel for adults – Procession of the Dead. Being so used to his style of writing meant for teenagers I was in utter shock after reading the first few pages, needless to say they were very rude! But it wasn’t long before I had settled into this new style and devoured the entire book. Darren Shan has such a great way of expressing his ideas and stories that you can’t help but be sucked right into the pages and fall directly into the arms of the characters. From there they carry you through the story, in this case the brutal tale of a gangster named Capac. Check out the blurb:

Quick-witted and cocksure, young upstart Capac Raimi arrives in the City determined to make his mark. As he learns the tricks of his new trade from his Uncle Theo – extortion, racketeering, threatening behaviour – he’s soon well on his way to becoming a promising new gangster. Then he crosses paths with The Cardinal, and his life changes forever.

The Cardinal is the City and the City is The Cardinal. They are joined at the soul. Nothing moves on the streets, or below them, without the Cardinal’s knowledge. His rule is absolute.

As Capac begins to discover more about the extent of the Cardinal’s influence on his own life he is faced with hard choices. And as his ambition soars ever higher he will learn all there is to know about loss, and the true cost of ultimate power…

I wasn’t sure that I was going to get into this story as I have never really delved into the world of gangsters and crime in literature, I’m pretty sure the only ‘gangster’ themed work I enjoyed was the wonderful musical ‘Bugsy Malone’ – the one they show around Christmas with all the children. But this book had me hooked, the action, the drama, the mystery, I just wanted to understand what was going on the whole time and of course, the master of horror that he is, scared me a few times.

This certainly isn’t my favourite Darren Shan novel (The Darren Shan Saga will always own my heart), but I have already ordered the whole ‘The City Trilogy’ and can’t wait to get stuck into them.

Crime – Chris Carter

I’ve never been the biggest fan of crime in fiction but from time to time an author will catch my eye – Chris Carter is one of them.

I first read Chris Carter’s ‘The Executioner’ while on holiday in Mallorca under the recommendation of my mum and sisters. I’m very glad that I did! His way of writing is so detailed that you feel as if you are there alongside the officers (or victims) feeling all the same things they do.

I have found that a lot of crime novel authors tend to distance the reader from the characters, I find this disconcerting – I thought they were meant to have a strong, unbreakable connection to their characters that they want to share with the world? All I see is the authors dislike for their own creations. Pushing away their individuality, not letting a connection be formed.

When I asked a friend about this she suggested that the author may be attempting to protect the reader from all the nasty situations that inevitably show up in crime novel. Although she has a good point, I believe that this is wrong way to go about ‘protecting’ a reader and is probably the reason I don’t read more crime. By distancing the character and reader you are sacrificing the very reason many people pick up a book in the first place – the fantasy, the escape from the real world.

The best part of reading a work of fiction is the ability to immerse yourself in the world that has been created for you to enjoy…or fear in the case of crime/horror. George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones is a wonderful example of a novel which allows the reader to, not only visualise and enter his world, but gives us the space to use our own imaginations to expand on it.

But I digress, I read another of Chris Carter’s work on another holiday (apparently the only time I read crime is in another country…) “The Crucifix Killer” is the first in the Robert Hunter series. Check out the blurb:

In a derelict cottage in Los Angeles National Forest, a young woman is found savagely murdered. Naked, strung from two wooden posts, the skin has been ripped from her face – while she was alive. On the nape of her neck is carved a strange double-cross: the signature of a psychopath known as the Crucifix Killer.

But that’s not possible. Because, two years ago, the Crucifix Killer was caught and executed.

Could this be the work of a copycat killer? Someone who has somehow accessed intricate details of the earlier murders – details that were never made public? Or is Homicide Detective Robert Hunter forced to face the unthinkable? Is the real Crucifix Killer still out there, ready to embark once again on a vicious killing spree, selecting his victims seemingly at random, taunting Hunter with his inability to catch him?

Robert Hunter and his rookie partner are about to enter a nightmare beyond imagining, where there’s no such thing as a quick death.

Another reason I like Carter’s work is that he has written them as a series, but reading them out of order (like I did) does not spoil the story for you. The story was fast-paced, interesting, exciting and easy to read (always a plus on holiday, who wants to read something difficult while lounging at the poolside?)

I found a few scenes a little gory for my tastes, I had to put the book aside sometimes to catch my breath, but I just couldn’t stop reading. Over and over I attempted to work out who the killer was, what was going on but I just couldn’t do it. Every time I thought that I was close to an answer Carter would kill off the guy. I think that he has a personal vendetta against me. So, if you enjoy being surprised at the end of a novel and relish in infuriatingly clever characters then I suggest you pick up some of his work.