Confession

I have a confession to make. I cannot spell the word ‘necessary’. The S’s and the C’s confuse me. I can never remember which way they go or how many of each is needed. Being that I often spell words phonetically, as both letters produce the same, or at least a similar sound, I’m always tripped up by this word.

Unless I have a dictionary or something like spell check at hand, I try to avoid writing this word. And it’s not just this word. There are other words I can’t spell as well. For years I used to spell ‘definitely’ as ‘definately’. I can’t think of any other words off the top of my head at the moment but when it comes to the word necessary… yep, I just can’t spell it.

So there we have it. A writer who can’t spell. It just goes to show how important a tool the dictionary and spell check are when it comes to writing.

Spell check – I would be lost without you!!

Challenge yourself

HI!

I’ve been debating for awhile about a topic to post as in my last update, I did say that I would like to use this blog to explore writing techniques. As it is, I haven’t quite gotten around to that yet. So, here I am… and yes, this isn’t really a post on techniques of writing but it is about writing. That counts right?

Here it is…

As with anything in life, when writing it can be incredibly easy to fall into that trap of staying inside your comfort zone. Why not? I mean, it’s nice and safe there right? And you know what you’re doing there. You know what is expected of you.

But it doesn’t help you grow. It doesn’t challenge you. And as a writer, you should always be challenging yourself – it’s how you get the best from your work.

So how can you challenge yourself? What can you do in order to move out of your comfort zone? Here are a few things you can try:

Point of view:

If you always write in first person, try writing in third, or vice versa. And if you always write close-third or first, try omniscient for a change. You might surprise yourself and you might discover a little something more about your writing and your characters

Genre:

Personally, I always take myself to be a sci-fi/fantasy writer. It’s my favourite genre to read and most of my ideas always end up having a supernatural twist to them. That said, I was finally able to branch out just recently into the crime/drama genre and I found that I enjoyed it so much. It was a new experience for me and it was enjoyable to play with a story that had no supernatural elements to it.

So try experimenting with an idea in a different genre. You might find you like it.

Tone:

This could also go under genre but I thought it would be best to tackle it under a separate heading. And what I mean when I say tone is the underlying genre of your piece. Is it humour? Angst? Drama? Romance? If you are used to writing in one tone, try a different tone. Branch out away from humour and try to write an emotional piece that will tug at the heartstrings. Or vice versa – if you normally love your drama, why not attempt something light hearted that will have people quirking their lips or rolling on the floor with laughter?

Characters:

There are quite a few things that can go under here. Gender, age, personality…

Is your lead character usually male? Try writing a female one. (Yes, I’m very guilty of this and I really should attempt a main female character sometime.)

What about age range? Do you usually write young characters? Or do you prefer writing older ones? Try to change it up a little. Have some fun!

As for personality, this can be tricky but you can do it.  Those broody characters you normally write? Change them in for someone light hearted and bouncy. Try choosing a trait you may normally overlook and write around that. Write about a character with a scarily high IQ or try one who is easily distracted by shiny things.

At the end of the day, the characters will be who they want to be. They will develop and grow on their own. But if you give them the right story, they may show you a different side to them.

Style/Format:

And this is going to be my final one for now. The subtitle speaks for itself.

This might not be suitable if you’re trying to write a novel but if you just want to challenge yourself with short writing exercises or even with fan fiction, this could allow you to see what you can do with your writing. It might even give you a few ideas for a novel you’re working on. But mostly, it just allows you to flex those creative muscles.

So try playing around with styles and formats. For example, you could try writing poetry or a character study. If you have a habit of babbling and being extremely descriptive, you could try your hand at a drabble (a story in 100 words) or if your writing is normally short and sweet, you could attempt to expand and play around with description.

You might be wary. You might think you can’t do it. But then, you might really surprise yourself by the time you’re through.

Give yourself more credit as a writer and a creative being. Yes, write what you’re comfortable writing but don’t be afraid to try something different every now and again. After all, you never know – that something different could very well lead to a novel that will be a bestseller.

Novel Update:

In other news, I am currently editing my Occultus novel. I think I’m onto my third edit... I think. I’ve lost count, reading it, editing it, rereading it, re-editing it…  But I’m nearing the end of this edit and there have been a couple of bumps but so far it’s going quite well.  I lost about 1k to 2k of words in my first edit but I think my current edit might take me back up to 70k… we shall see!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

First Draft

Last night I completed my first draft of the Occultus. I still haven’t quite processed that information yet. Maybe it’s because I’m in shock and denial as I’ve really enjoyed writing this novel or maybe it’s because I know I’m not finished yet. Now comes the really hard part – editing. Now I have to read through it all, pick up on the parts that don’t work and fix them.

So final word count of my first draft, a few words over 70,000.

In my next update, I thought it would be interesting to explore writing techniques that I’ve seen used and have used myself. In the meantime though, I promised to post a snippet. So here we go:

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Breaking into a hospital is easy enough – just spin the right tale for the nurses and they’ll leave you alone. Of course, ‘my grandma is dying and I just want to say goodbye’ doesn’t work quite as well for breaking into the more secure parts or for getting you past the on duty policemen. But then, that was why Serena had asked me to accompany her hapless hunter. Things like pesky security cameras were no problem for a demon of my class – though it would have to be a really pathetic demon that couldn’t handle a security camera or two. The police guards were a different story.

“Can’t you possess one of them or something?” the kid asked and I cocked my eyebrow at him before peering around the corner again at the two overweight men.

“Why would I want to?” I liked my body. It took some serious string pulling to get it and I wasn’t about to exchange it for inferior packaging – not even temporarily. “I could kill them though. That would get them out the way.”

He stiffened beside me, his hand automatically moving to the knife behind his back even though he knew it would do no good. “Not an option.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re my moral compass – here to keep me on the straight and narrow. It would have been easier if Serena had made me come alone.” It was exactly why she hadn’t let me.

I watched the men as they stood in silence, no doubt wishing they were back home rather than standing outside of a loony’s room, guarding her and keeping her from escaping.

“Wait here,” I whispered, already moving around the corner to stroll toward the men. I heard him shuffle behind me, torn between stopping me from hurting the men and staying hidden and out of trouble. He did as he was told though. Good boy.

“Excuse me,” officer number one called out, eyes locked on me. Both men were rigid, their postures suggesting that they were ready to manhandle me if I got too close. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Well, I shouldn’t be in a lot of places that I tend to go but he didn’t know that. I offered a sheepish smile and watched as the man’s shoes went up in flames. Anyone watching carefully enough might have seen the slight flick of my hand. Anyone watching from the security camera at the end of the hall would have been stuck watching snow and for anyone else, they would have probably been too busy watching the officer dance around frantically in an attempt to put the flames out.

“I saw an extinguisher near the lift if you need it,” I said, hitching my thumb over my shoulder. Ever the Good Samaritan. Truth be told, I lied. There probably was one lying around somewhere but if there was, I hadn’t seen it. Still, it got both men away from the doorway as they forgot about my presence and focused solely on putting the fire out. After all, the girl was locked up and what was I going to do?

As they had hurried passed, I’d lifted the keys from the least flammable of the pair and was already working at the lock when Danny-boy came up behind me.

“What did you go and do that for?” he demanded, his black and white view of right and wrong coming through clearly in his words. It wasn’t like I’d killed either of them, simply distracted them but he just couldn’t get passed the possibility of first degree burns.

The door to the room swinging open, I turned to look at him with a grin, about to tell him to stop overreacting but my words died as Miss Blondie slammed into me. Her words were so loud that they nearly drowned out my thoughts.

“DEMON!”

I barely caught sight of the broken metal in her hand as she attempted to drive it into my chest. My hand grabbed her wrist just in time to stop her but other than that, I wasn’t having much luck at subduing her. She was a hell of a lot stronger than she looked but then maybe that had something to do with the crazed look in her eyes.

Daniel slipped behind her, gripping her arms and pulling her back and away from me. She continued to buck and thrash, fighting to get back to me. She was frenzied and out of control. Jesus, maybe she really was a nutter and if that was the case – just why were we wasting time rescuing her?

“Let me go!” she cried but Daniel held her all the tighter. “He’s a demon!”

“Well I’m not about to deny the truth.” I shrugged, playing cool even though I felt a little disoriented by the sudden attack. A quick glance around the room told me her weapon had probably been broken off from the misshapen thing pretending to be a bed. They should have just given her a mattress or a bunch of pillows – people didn’t try attacking demons with them.

“We’re here to help you,” Daniel tried to soothe her and I saw something familiar in his eyes, something I had seen in Serena’s before. It was something that I couldn’t quite comprehend but whatever it was, it was the very thing that had the psycho blonde calming – if only a little.

“Help? From a demon? I’d rather stay here.” She stopped bucking, her hand loosening on the metal but not enough to let it fall from her grasp. “Why should I trust either of you?”

“I didn’t say you had to trust us.” He was smart for a kid, I’d give him that. “And him, I don’t even trust him but I trust the one that sent us here.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Danny-boy. Now how about we ship out of here before the men in uniforms return – we can have this whole trust talk whilst we’re outside. We can even do those fall and catch things if you want.”

“Who sent you?” the girl demanded. Her blonde curls fell to cover her face but I could see her eyes clearly through the strands. They were strong and passionate in the same way Danny-boy’s were soft and clumsy.

“Someone who’s not a demon.” He didn’t bother to say it had been an angel. She wouldn’t have believed him anyway. “She believes you’re in danger if you stay here.”

I took a step out into the hallway, ready to get going. The lights flickered for a moment and I looked down toward the exit. The guards were on their way back, only something wasn’t right. The air smelt wrong, thick and choking. “Damn it. You two better move it out of there unless you want to be deep fried demon food. We need to find another way out.”

Fighting other demons wasn’t part of the deal. It was supposed to be in, slip past security, and then out again. But now I knew security wasn’t the real reason Serena had wanted me along. She had wanted fire power to back up her little hunter.

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Thank you for dropping by!!

What is normal?

"Nobody realises that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal."
-- Al Camus

I was reading through quotes last night and I found that one above. I thought it was fascinating and unbelievably true. It’s something I’ve always wondered about when watching other people. Looking at some of my friends, they all have their quirks, but they all (or most of them ;)) seem relatively normal and I know how much hard work it is for me to appear ‘normal’ at times so I often wonder if it’s the same for them. Do they make a conscious effort or does it just come naturally?

It’s just something that really makes you wonder.

Besides, what is ‘normal’ anyway?

Brief update for The Occultus:

I made it to 56k last night, finishing chapter 28. It’s going quite well at the moment and I’m really looking forward to seeing it complete. In my next update, I’ll post a small snippet or chapter, but in the meantime – back to figuring out these next couple of chapters.

Ciao for now!

Introduction

Hi!

That seems like a good place to start - 'hi'. My name is Ray, I'm British, extremely eccentric and weird in many, many ways, and I'm also a writer. I won't call myself an author, not yet - not until I'm published. But in summary, that's me. Eccentric, sarcastic and completely obsessed with writing.


The truth is, I'm not very good at this blogging thing but I figured I would give it a try. I created this blog for my original writing and figured it would be a good place to have snippets and updates. So how about I start by introducing my current work in progress?

The Occultus:

The demon Nate wants nothing more than to be left alone living his life to the fullest. Too bad Heaven and Hell won't let him. 


Nathaniel Godwin, a laidback and snarky demon, just wants to be left alone to enjoy his existence and all that the world has to offer - alcohol, sex, daytime TV and more alcohol. His rival, and only true friend, Serena - an angel on probation - has other ideas though and Nate soon finds himself babysitting a wannabe hunter and a young female fugitive from angels and demons alike.

In return for the protection provided by Nate, the hunter offers him a prized amulet that will hide the presence of anyone and anything - including Nate. However, the myth of the Occultus flows deeper than any of them truly imagined and as they uncover the mysteries behind the object, they also start to uncover where they fit in the ancient war between Heaven and Hell.

My aim for this novel is 70,000 words and my deadline is June. I figured that having a deadline will help me to push myself more. I have been working on this novel on and off for about a year but I've just gotten back into writing it seriously at the beginning of this year. Yesterday I reached 40,000 words so I'm beginning to feel like I just may reach my goal if I stay focused.

Anyway, that's all for now. Thanks for reading.