The blog has moved

Just to remind anyone interested that the blog has now moved to DGRose.com. I've just posted a new entry, all about what I learned when I caught the bus to Cartagena, which was a surprising amount. I hope you'll join me over there and let me know what you think of the new site. The post is at http://dgrose.com/?p=32. See you there :)

After the first draft ends

It has been said that the only certainty in life is change. Caterpillars become butterflies. Students become unemployed. Cows become steak. Change.

The one thing that has seemed to stand alone in defiance against the tide of change is my first draft. It shames me to say that it has been twenty one months and six days since I typed 'The End' on my first draft. In that time I can tell you exactly how much it has changed: not one single word. Not one single letter. Not even a full stop added or taken away.

First of all I'd read that you should get some distance after writing the first draft, so you can see it more critically when you go back to revise. Then, after a month had passed, I returned to the draft and cast my critical eye over it. I circled it for a bit, poking it with a stick to see what would happen. I printed it out, red pen at the ready. After a few pages of red lines and professional looking scribbles, I put the pen down and wondered what the hell I was doing.

Struggling to work out my next step, I found a few willing volunteers and let them have a look at the rough draft. The response was positive, better than I had expected. They let know what worked, and more importantly, what didn't work.

So what did I do with all that good advice? Nothing.

Knowing I had to something, I started reading as many writing books as I could get my hands on. In particular, I felt that the structure and plot needed tightening up, and I read some excellent books on the subject. 'Structuring Your Novel' by +K.M. Weiland and 'Plot And Structure' by +James Scott Bell have both been invaluable in helping me understand a bit more about making a tight well-structured story, whilst 'Nail Your Novel' by +Roz Morris is a book I will return to time and again, all books I would recommend to other aspiring authors without hesitation. I worked on deep character profiles and transcribing my story onto index cards along with many other exercises, all of which were helpful. Yet still the first draft lay there, staring at me in an accusing fashion.

So it was that earlier this week, I came to the end of yet another writing book and started looking for yet another one to read. It was then it struck me, that I've read enough books to do what I need to do, so why wasn't I getting on with it and actually revising this damned book? I realised that reading all these writing books had become a way of me feeling like I was writing without actually having to put my butt in the seat and put pen to paper. I have no doubt I will read many more books on the craft on writing, and I will doubtlessly go on learning more each time, but if I wait until I've read every single one before I carry on with the redrafting, then the story will never progress. And progress is essential.

So no more waiting. No more paralysis through analysis. I'm going to finish up this blog post, and I'm going to go straight out to buy a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Then, I'm going to come back and I'm going to work out exactly what scenes need to be written to complete the novel, and I'm going to actually write them. It's time for change.

Professional vs Amateur Writing

Being a top level procrastinator, one of my biggest struggles is finding the time to write. I always have a million and one things that need doing, and writing often gets put onto the 'Tomorrow' list. So it was with interest that I started reading Stephen Pressfield's book 'The War of Art.' Mr Pressfield puts forward that all of us face an ominous 'Resistance,' a force from within that has the sole objective of doing what's really important (not necessarily what's urgent, a very important distinction).

One of my favourite sections so far is where the book compares the Amateur vs the Professional. After making the point that all of us are professionals in the sense that we work and (hopefully) get paid in our day jobs, the book lists the qualities that define us as professionals, the first three of which are as follows:

1. Professionals show up every day.
2. Professionals show up no matter what.
3. Professionals stay on the job all day.

The book goes on to list other qualities, but those first three made me think. I went to work today at my day job, exchanging 8 hours of my life for a paycheck. I felt completely lousy this morning, having spent the previous evening sick as a dog and getting very little sleep, but I turned up anyway. My boss expects me to be there from 9am until 5pm, so that's what I do. 

So how come as a writer, it doesn't seem to quite work the same? There are plenty of days I don't 'show up' to write, and it only takes the smallest excuse or distraction for me to not just quit writing, but fail to even start. To cut a long story short, if I were my boss, as a writer, I'd have fired myself a long time ago. 

That's why this is going to be a short blog post tonight. Sure, it's been a long day, and the idea of crashing out on the sofa watching TV sounds most appealing. But the boss has had a word with me. There's work to be done. 

Getting to know the players

Over the past week or so I've been working on the character profiles for my work in progress, and it's been one of the most worthwhile uses of my writing time since I finished that first draft oh so many months ago. I'd already had a good idea of most of my protagonist's back story, but it's been great to finally put a face to the name. However, the main benefit is I feel like I've finally gotten to meet the other characters for the first time. By casting actors to each part, giving them psychological Myers Briggs profiles and giving them a back story and motivations, I've come to know them on a whole new level. Additionally, it's helped me see certain things that need to change; actions that were out of character that have to go, and scenes that add character depth that need to be added. In fact many of the key moments will have to change. But I know that the characters and as a result the story itself will be better for it.

On that subject, allow me to introduce one of the main characters. Billy 'Stutterer' Ford (played by Coby Bell, who you may know better as 'Jesse' from Burn Notice) comes onto the scene early on in the book, and is the closest thing that John, the protagonist has to a friend. As I wrote the draft Stutterer stood out to me as the person I would most want to spend time hanging out with. In a world turned upside down, he's one of the precious few that didn't have an agenda. However, it was only after the dust had settled and I explored his back story that I learned why. I won't bore you with the full biography, but suffice to say he had a rough upbringing, bouncing around the foster care system. It was tough, but he was one of the lucky ones. He had a mentor, a role model. Someone who showed him that there was more to life than the fighting and chaos that surrounded him, that it was possible to rise above it. He'd already had enough scars to ensure that a 'normal' life was never an option, but he learned that in his own little way, he could help. He didn't have to be a selfish jerk to survive. And as a result, he could have something that was more valuable. Self-respect. When he meets John, he recognises someone who's more messed up than he is and, just as that mentor did for him, he becomes the friend that John desperately needs. 

And that's where the story kicks off, so you'll have to read the book to find out the rest. I currently have three final profiles to finish off, a structural edit, and then I believe I'll be ready to have the story professionally edited, before November and the joyful chaos of NanoWrimo comes round again. 

Initial thoughts on Scrivener and casting my characters

I know, you probably thought I'd forgotten all about you, but no, I'm still here. As is my first draft. Like an elephant. With a weight problem.

Writing out the draft onto index cards was a helpful exercise, and it's helped me identify more than a few gaps that need a hefty dose of polyfiller. But moving on to actually doing the hard work has been another matter.

On the plus side, I've been going through Scrivener and it seems like it's going to be a really helpful tool for getting everything together. The idea of having all your materials from synopsis, drafts, character profiles and research material all together in the same program is really useful.The ability to easily divide the screen into two windows so you can look at, for example, a synopsis for the chapter while you redraft it in another window seems like it'll be a great help.

Another advantage I'm already making use of is the ability to easily attach photos to the 'index' cards as a synopsis. This means you can write profiles for all your characters then attach photos. In my case, it's photos of the actors I would like to play their part.

This has been a really fun experience for me, but it's already helping me to picture the characters as living breathing people. Whereas my image of the characters tended to change throughout the draft writing process, assigning a specific actor has anchored an image to them. One obvious advantage is that now physical traits won't change over the course of the story. What colour eyes does my protagonist have? Have I mentioned it already? I don't need to worry about contradicting myself anymore. One check of the photo will make sure my descriptions are accurate and consistent.
Another advantage is, having been given physical form, my characters now seem more real to me, having much more depth and personality, which will hopefully translate into the redraft. I look forward to introducing you to them soon.

So what's next? By the end of the day I'm planning to finish writing profiles for all significant characters. Afterwards, I'm going to use the index cards to make sure my story is properly structured, with proper turning points and pacing. Once I'm satisfied, I'm going to input the final index cards into Scrivener to act as 'beats' for the rewrite. And that's how I'm planning on spending my weekend. I've accepted the fact that my draft is going to require more of a full rewrite rather than a quick redraft, but I know I've got 50,000 + words, a lot of which can be salvaged. With more realistic characters and a cleaner structure, I think the rewrite won't be as painful as I first thought.

85 Index cards later

In a rare and uncharacteristic flash of productivity, I finished transferring my rough draft from the screen onto index cards. 85 of them to be exact. 

This was actually a harder project than I anticipated. Doing it this way round involved reading through the rough draft of the story, then considering what the key moments were in each scene. What was necessary, what wasn't, so a scene could be summed up on a single index card, in nice large letters. If I was going to do it again, I'd undoubtedly try to get the whole story down on index cards first, before writing the draft. Additionally, I'd make sure I had different coloured pens for keeping track of different character arcs and plot lines. Maybe next time I'll go with a digital version of this idea using a program like Scrive

ner, though I must admit I like the fact I can physically lay out the story on the floor and move bits and pieces around. 

The real test will be to see how this helps with the ongoing revision of the novel, and I'm looking forward to using this to make the story stronger, more complete. The next step though is to get some character biographies completed for all the major players. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates soon. 

Tentative pokings of the Wattpad beast

Just a quick post to say I've opened up a Wattpad account and posted my short story The Visit (under the name Visiting Hour on there. I'm interested to see how it goes, and whether it's a good platform for connecting with other writers and readers. If you want to pop over and say hi, maybe have a biscuit and a cuppa, my username there is IcarusWasPushed. The kettle's on.

Keeping up appearances

Just keeping everyone updated on what's been going on.

First up, I really enjoyed writing the short story, so much so that I went ahead and wrote a second one. It's a little rough around the edges, but expect to see an upload soon. 

I've been really enjoying listening to podcasts on creative writing and self publishing, and recently listened to +Joanna Penn and her interview with Ashleigh Gardner, head of content at Wattpad (If you're interested you can find the interview here). It got my curiosity, so I decided to start an account. It looks like it could be a great place to publish some work and I intend to put my short stories up there. I'll let you know when I add anything, but if you're looking for me over there in the meantime I'm there under IcarusWasPushed. 

Watch this space...

Are you sitting comfortably? The Visit

To follow is my entry for the Writers and Artists short story competition. Unfortunately, other people entered, and so I didn't win. However, I'm now free to share the story with you. I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know what you think, good or hideously bad. Ladies and gentlemen, I present: 

The Visit

Alex hated prisons. He always had, for as long as he could remember. There was a smell to them, he decided; a damp smell, a stale odour that hung in the air. Was that what despair smelled like? The sun was shining as he reached the gates, but the grey exterior of the prison was stark, dominating the skyline and blotting out the blue skies. Alex paused at the door, took a deep breath, and stepped through and into the prison.

The signing in was painless enough, with Alex giving his name to the cute receptionist, showing his ID and sitting down. It could have been a hospital waiting room, with it's sanitised appearance, magazines laid out in neat rows for the visitors. The visitors themselves looked as excited as if they were waiting to see the doctor. Alex didn't note any smiles, apart from the young woman with a child in tow. She wore a smile, albeit a tired one, and it seemed to be more for the benefit of the toddler than anything else. Alex felt his stomach turn, the knot inside twisting around, and he was worried for a moment that he might actually be sick, another reminder of the many visits to the emergency ward.

No one ever wanted to be in a hospital; the places were for the sick and the dead, but prisons were even worse. No matter how much they dressed them up, these were places for the broken and damned, with no pretense of hope. Alex was sick of it. He took his seat and picked up a magazine, although he didn't see a single word of it. Anything to avoid eye contact with the other lost people who inhabited the waiting room. He tried to calm himself, to bury that knot that was turning deep inside, that apprehension that was eating him. So he stared at the magazine, letting the images and the words blur before his eyes.

The door opened, causing Alex to jerk back to reality. It felt like hours, but the clock revealed that it had been only a few minutes. A guard stood in the doorway, a tall gaunt looking man in a crisp shirt. “Visitors, follow me please.”

Without waiting to see if anyone was following him, the guard turned and disappeared through the doors. The people quietly stood up, dropping their magazines and shuffling forward. Alex waited until the last of them had left the room before he stood up. After giving the exit one last glance he followed the others and walked through the entrance to the visitors room.

The room was fairly large, although with the perspex screen cutting the room in two it seemed much smaller. Restrictive. Alex noted that the windows were high up, and although there weren't bars across them he could see the reinforced mesh, which he considered a bit extreme, considering how high they were and how small the windows were. The mesh did it's job though, and he felt as trapped as if he were an inmate, with no chance of escape. He looked along the seats and selected an empty one, close to the door.

A buzzer sounded and a door the other side of the screen opened, allowing a procession of men to file in, heads down and looking as equally as happy as the visitors. They made a rather bizarre group, with nothing more in common than the prison issued clothes they wore. The first time Alex had been in prison, as a visitor, he had expected all the prisoners to be dressed in orange jumpsuits, the result of a television diet of American thrillers. Instead he had been surprised to see that the issued prison kit was much more subdued, consisting of some grey jogging trousers, a blue t-shirt and a sweatshirt. But in spite of the same uniform the inmates were all vastly different. A thug with empty eyes led the parade, the sort of man that looked as if he worked every muscle but the one between his ears. He was closely followed by a skinny lad with tattoos all over his face, couldn't have been more than eighteen. His eyes darted up to the visitors briefly before returning to stare at the ground. A short, older man came next, his face twisted in a snarl, muttering obscenities to himself. The last prisoner walked through the door with his head held high, making eye contact with everyone in the room, starting with the guards. He smirked at one of them, giving him a wink which was completely ignored.

The prisoner shrugged, still grinning. After giving each person in the room the eye, his eyes finally met Alex's. Alex immediately looked away, an involuntary reaction. The prisoner sauntered over, taking a seat opposite Alex, a thin but wide smile on his face. Alex looked up nervously. The prisoner picked up the phone, gesturing for Alex to do the same. After the briefest hesitation, Alex picked up the phone and listened.

“Alright little brother?”

Alex took a deep breath and gave a nod to his brother, Shane. “Alright bro. You?”

Shane gave a snort. “I'm fantastic. What do you think you muppet? I'm in prison.”

“Sorry,” said Alex, looking back to the floor.

Shane gave a dismissive wave. “Whatever.” There was a long pause while he glared at his younger brother. Finally he spoke. “I've been in worse places, I'll be straight with you. Anyway, what's happened at home? You been taking care of things for me?”

“It's fine, I've been doing my best. Jamie's been doing her homework, I made sure of that. She got her marks back for those exams, she did well.”

“You gotta look after her Alex, until I get out of here. You understand me?”

“I hear you bro, I will.”

“You gotta step up now, be a man. No more messing about.” Shane shook his head. “I know you Alex, I know you'd rather have your nose in book than stand up for yourself, but that's gotta change little bro. You're the man of the house now.”

Alex nodded hurriedly. “I told you , I heard you. I'm going to take care of things.”

Shane regarded Alex carefully. “Okay little brother. I'll be out as soon as I can, but till then it's all up to you. Don't let me down.”

Alex looked up at Shane. He'd always been the bigger brother in every sense of the word, and he'd always made sure Alex had known it. It struck Alex as ironic that Shane was now asking him to stand up when every other time he'd tried standing up for himself Shane had been the first to knock him back down. He cleared his throat. “You think you'll be out soon?”

Shane leaned back in his chair and shrugged. “My lawyer's submitting an appeal this week. He says that unless the police produce this mystery witness then we stand a pretty good chance of getting the conviction overturned. Said the evidence against me was circumstantial at best.”

Like many thugs, Shane had a surprising gift for the intricacies of British law. He raised his hands, as though the whole situation was a done deal. "If it all goes according to schedule, I'll be out within a month. So you just have to handle things until then."

Alex took a deep breath, feeling his head begin to spin, the knot twisting tighter. "You killed a guy Shane."

"Hey, quiet down there." Shane looked around nervously. "It's fine, they can't prove anything."

Alex stared at his brother in disbelief. "I don't care what they can prove. You killed the guy and we both know it. You beat him to death with a crowbar, and they're just going to let you out?"

"What do you mean you don't care?" After making sure no one was in earshot, Shane lowered his voice. "He was just some punk who was trying to take over and deal on my corner. I was protecting what was mine. I was protecting us." The anger subsided a little from his voice. "Don't you worry little bro, I'll be taking care of things in no time."

"Taking care of things like you always have, big brother?"

Shane gave him a curious look. "Yes, of course. Always have, always will. You know that."

Alex felt that knot back in his stomach, felt his eyes straying to the exit. Instead he rolled up his sleeve. His arm was covered with bruises, a montage of purple and black. "This is taking care of things?"

Shane gave a dismissive snort. "Come on little bro, that's nothing."

"Nothing? How about that time you broke my ribs, brother?"

Shane's lips curled into a snarl. "You dare bring this up now, here? I've done nothing but work hard every day since I was 14 to put food on the table for you and Jamie."

"How admirable. Working hard selling drugs."

"Doing what I had to do. I did that because you certainly wouldn't. If it had been left to you, you and Jamie would have starved. I looked after you, protected you."

Alex could hear his voice raising. "You'd come home high or drunk and knock us about if we so much as looked at you the wrong way."

"It wasn't like that little brother." Shane shook his head. "I may not have been perfect, but I did my very best for you, for Jamie."

"It's not good enough Shane. I could take the bruises, I even took the broken bones and I never said anything, never spoke back, never complained. But Jamie... No, I'm not going to let you do the same thing to her."

"And what do you think you're going to do about it little brother?"

Alex stood up and replaced the phone in the holder, before turning to walk away.

"Don't you walk away from me little brother," Shane yelled at the perspex screen. "You get back here and pick that phone up now."

Alex stopped. He looked up at the exit for a long time, every fiber of his being screaming at him to walk away. Instead he wrenched himself back around to face his brother. He walked back to the phone and picked it up.

“Now sit down little brother,” growled Shane.

“No.”

There was pause as the word seemingly echoed around the room. Shane stared back at him.

“No,” repeated Alex. “I’m not going to sit down. I want you to know I’m not going to listen to you anymore. I’m done with this. I’m going to put down this phone and I’m going to go home and pack our bags and I’m going to take Jamie far away to a place where you won’t be able to hurt us anymore.”

Shane was purple with rage. “You’re not taking my family away from me.”
“We’re not your family Shane.” Alex sighed. “We may have the same genes, the same parents, but family’s more than that. So much more. It’s about trust, reliability. Feeling safe. You never understood that.”

“I’m going to find you little brother, I’m going to find you and bring you and Jamie home whether you like it or not, because you are my family, even if you seem to have forgotten that.”

Alex slowly shook his head. “No, you’re not. Because before I leave I’m going to do one last thing. I’m going to go to the police and I’m going to finish giving them all the evidence they need to lock you up for a very long time.”

Shane looked at Alex with disbelief. "You? You're the mystery witness?"

"Good bye brother."


Alex slowly replaced the phone on the hook and turned around. Ignoring the ranting, the curious looks from the others, he calmly walked away, closing the door behind him. For the first time in as long as he could remember, he smiled. The knot had disappeared.  

Making the Habit

What's your routine when you wake up in the morning? What do you do first, pour your coffee or prepare your breakfast? When you're putting your shoes on, do you put your right shoe on first or your left? When you're brushing your teeth, which teeth do you start with?

Chances are you probably had to think before you answered. However, tomorrow morning, you won't have to think about this. You'll just do it, no thought required. Force of habit.

Habits are a fascinating subject, actions carried out by the subconscious but which are incredibly useful for getting things done without exerting any substantial mental effort. I've just started reading The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Early on he talks about the story of Eugene Pauly. Due to a viral disease, he lost his memories. If he was sat in his living room, you could ask him where the kitchen was and he wouldn't be able to answer you. But here's the interesting bit. When he was hungry, he would get up, walk straight to the kitchen, get a snack, and walk back. No thought required. Force of habit.
For a more in depth description you'll have to read the book, but the lesson to take home is that habits are a very important part of our day to day life. With that in mind, I've been thinking about what habits I have, and what habits I'd like to have. Being the geek I am, I've started using an android app called Habit Streak Plan. I've listed the habits I'd like to develop, then each morning the app asks me if I succeeded in keeping my habit the previous day. So far, my goals include writing daily, and to do at least one web design tutorial each day. the idea is little and often. It's still early days, but so far it's proving quite the incentive. And hopefully, in time, I'll have some positive habits that I can use. No thought required. Force of habit. 

No Likey, No Lighty - AKA The reason your project is no good.

There's a television show in the UK called 'Take Me Out.' If you've never seen it, think 'Blind Date' but on steroids. The premise is that one man is brought before thirty women with the aim of impressing them and winning a date with one. At the start all the women have a light on in front of them, but as the rounds progress they can turn off the light 'if they do not believe a meeting with this man would be constructive to their well-being' (Thank you Wikipedia). No likey, no lighty. It's the ultimate in guilty pleasure TV and the kind of show that no self-respecting person would ever admit to watching, especially in a blog post that could be read by anyone.

So, one of the things I've.... I mean my friend Bob..... noticed, is that no matter what man comes out, never have all the girls left their light on. It doesn't matter how good looking, physically fit, intelligent or humorous the man is, there's at least one lady, and usually many more that just don't like him. You can't please everyone. 

While you think about that, let's play a game. I'm going to quote three genuine Amazon reviews, and you have to guess which book they're for. Ready?

Book 1 - As is so often the case, it starts off with some promise. We are painted a picture of early 20th-century America with all the hopes that go with it. Sadly, mine fizzled in the way that the narrator's dreams did. The book comes over as a poorly-written schoolboy essay. The characters are wafer-thin and the situations absurd....The writing style is best described as bland, over-blown, not always accurate, and by no means is this literary excellence. It is very difficult to understand what the fuss is all about. 

Book 2 - This book has a great start (first few pages)... Unfortunately it went downhill very quickly and soon became dull, boring, pretentious, and gimmicky. The sentence structure and grammar are such that if you had written an essay in this style in your English class at school then you would have been "caned"!... The description is totally over the top and does nothing to help the narrative. 

Book 3 - Due to the supposed enchanting nature of this book I was very excited at the start of my read. Waiting for these magically parts of the book, I continued to trawl through it...deeper and deeper I searched for anything that remotely seemed interesting but alas it was not to be found. I do not wish to slate the book as due to its continued success it is clear it is popular, but I promote my view of an over exaggerated fairytale with little enchantment

Any guesses?

Book 1 is one of my favourite books of all time, The Great Gatsby.
Book 2 is the current number one bestseller on Amazon, The Book Thief.
Book 3 is the widely considered classic, Lord of The Rings.

No likey, no lighty. My point is that no matter what it is you're doing, someone out there just won't get it. In fact quite a lot of people will probably think it's no good, that it's rubbish. We look for the approval of our peers, and when this isn't forthcoming this can be a real deterrent. That's why it's vitally important to remember that you can't please all the people all the time.
So don't try. Trying to please everyone is a surefire way to please no one  Rather, be passionate. Write the book you want to read, code the program you want to make, draw the picture you want to see. It's the only way you can create something you can be proud of. Sure, you will get negative reviews, and that's okay. You're in good company, with Fitzgerald, Zusak and Tolkien. And somewhere along the line, just maybe, possibly, someone else will like what you made too.

The Ones You Love To Hate - Villains

It has been said that without conflict, there is no story.

Cinderella met the Prince and lived happily ever after.

Romeo and Juliet fell in love and lived happily ever after.

Luke Skywalker lived with his Uncle and Aunty and lived happily ever after. 

Clark Kent met Lois Lane and lived happily ever after.

I love the fact that as much as we apparently long for the happy endings, these stories fall flat without the conflict that delays it, or even prevents it completely: Romeo and Juliet never got their happy ending, and Clark Kent seems destined to battle Lex Luthor or some other super villain until the end of time.

The fact is that every protagonist needs an antagonist, something that stands in the way of their happy ending. Sometimes this can be something internal; maybe a battle with addiction as in a Scanner Darkly, or with self-doubt and lack of self-confidence, as in Bridget Jones Diary. Sometimes this can be against nature, against the elements, as in The Day After Tomorrow and Twister. But often, the antagonist takes physical form as a villain, a person who thwarts our heroes efforts.

One of the prime roles of the antagonist, more specifically than providing obstacles, is to provide a measuring stick for our protagonist. Until our hero faces and struggles against a foe, we have no idea what his strengths are, and to reveal a great hero we need a great villain. If Tony Stark aka Iron Man battles with a someone who's been dropping litter in the park, so what? No, to see what he's really made of, we need a villain who can push him to his limits. We need someone who makes our hero struggle. We need a villain who for all intents and purposes is superior to our hero, allowing our protagonist to grow as he overcomes insurmountable odds.

Now that we've identified the importance of a great villain, there are two important things to remember when creating worthy opponents for our heroes.

Motivation - Just as our heroes must have a motivation, have an objective, so must our villains. We've come a long way from the nefarious gentlemen tying young ladies to train tracks and twirling their mustaches for no apparent reason. We expect something more. Most of them don't even think of themselves as a villain. In their minds, they are the hero of their tale, and are simply doing what they have to do. Even if we don't agree with their motivations, it is essential that we understand why the villain acts the way he does. Sometimes we may even be able to sympathise with them.
In Othello, Iago is driven by jealousy of the man who has it all, the prestige and adoration of everyone. We may not condone his actions, but we understand his motivation.
In Batman Begins, Ra's al Ghul shares a similar motivation to Batman, although his methods differ critically. He see's the corruption in Gotham and wants to bring it to an end, by whatever means necessary.
In The Matrix, Agent Smith, an AI construct, isn't just simply following orders when he tries to destroy the resistance. Having sent the other agents out, he confesses to Morpheus that he can't wait to leave this place, that he can't stand it, and he fears that he has been infected by the humans.
In the story I'm currently redrafting, the antagonist is seeking revenge for something that he holds the protagonist responsible for (to find out what you'll just have to read it when it's released ;))

Along with believable motivation, it is also important to imbue our villains with qualities, attributes that make them worthy opponents.
In the stories of Sherlock Holmes, Moriarty is a criminal mastermind, an intellectual giant who seems to stand alone as an equal to Holmes, with none of the moral restrictions that are imposed on Holmes.
In Dark Knight Rises we have a completely different villain in Bane. He possess great strength, succeeding in physically breaking the Batman. On top of this, he is also revealed to be fiercely loyal, having watched over Talia al Ghul for most of her life.

Villains are important, at least as important as our heroes. If writers can remember to create fully fleshed out antagonists, with believable motivation and strong characteristics, then they will have memorable villains, and memorable stories as a result.

Natural Ability vs. Nurtured Ability - 3 Ways To Improve Your Skills

Just what is a 'natural' ability? Is there such a thing? The question was raised when I shared a point from an article with my friend Jonathon Ogden. The article in question stated that 'natural abilities' could be enhanced, and went on to give examples of craftsmanship and design. You can read Jonathon's thoughts on whether this is wholly accurate here.

Semantics aside, the article and the subsequent discussion got me thinking on how much our skills are down to innate natural abilities. This probably comes out more in the realms of physical activities. We tend to think of the professional athletes, the Olympians and so on as being genetically gifted. However, this classification does reach out further; chess grandmasters, nuclear physicists, the classic artists, musicians and indeed, authors. In short, anyone we perceive as better than us. We say they're gifted, but what we mean is lucky. They got the genes jackpot. In doing so, what we really say is that what these people have achieved is nothing. Anyone with the right selection of genes could have done it. Is that true?

In his book 'On Writing' Stephen King writes about the various types of writers, ranging from the bad to the great.

'Above them – above almost all of us – are the Shakespeares, the Faulkners, the Yeatses, Shaws, and Eudora Weltys. They are geniuses, divine accidents, gifted in a way which is beyond our ability to understand, let alone attain ... [M]ost geniuses aren’t able to understand themselves, and many of them lead miserable lives, realizing (at least on some level) that they are nothing but fortunate freaks, the intellectual version of runway models who just happen to be born with the right cheekbones and with breasts which fit the image of an age.'

So is that it? Are we doomed by our genes to whatever fate has in store for us? Not quite. Natural ability is important, but overall it's not even half the story. In the January's WIRED magazine, Cecile Janssens, a professor of translational epidemiology, writes about how DNA might not be quite the great predictor that people think.

'Ten years after the Human Genome Project ended,the most consistent research finding is that common DNA variants aren't very predictive.'

While the article focuses on prediction of disease, the thoughts apply equally to 'natural' abilities and skills. The sheer number of factors, both on a genetic level and an external level means that it's improbable that we'll be ever to genetically produce the Usain Bolts, Steve Jobs and William Shakespeares of the future.

I believe that with the right conditions, someone without any 'natural' ability can surpass someone with the perfect genetic make up. I believe that right now there are hundreds, maybe thousands of 'geniuses' that we know nothing about. Why? Because they're sat in front of the telly. Because they were told that they weren't smart / strong / insert appropriate adjective here, and they believed it. After Stephen King's description of the great writers, the 'fortunate freaks,' he goes on to state that while he believes that 'it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one.'

I'm not going to get your hopes up. You may never be the world's greatest writer, coder, artist or sportsman. But I believe that you can do better than what your genes say, better than your natural abilities. You are greater than the sum of your parts, and in the above quote Mr King gives us a clue how.

Turn Up - I can't emphasise this step enough, as it's the most important. It doesn't matter how naturally gifted you are if you don't turn up. There's a proverb that says 'The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now.' What does this mean practically?
Don't dream about writing the next classic novel; start writing.
Don't dream about being a top programmer; start coding.
Don't dream about getting the gold medal; start training.

Hard Work - If you've turned up, that's great. Now the hard work begins. Michael Jordan, one of the all time great basketball players, was described as always being the first on the court and the last off, and you guarantee that he didn't spend all that time standing on the sidelines. Hard work and dedication is more than the amount of time you spend on something but also the effort you put in. Push the boundaries. Find out just what you're truly capable of.

Get Help - The great thing is you're not expected to do this on your own. I've been lucky enough to have friends and family that have encouraged me to reach my goals. But even if you don't have a network of people in place to motivate and guide you, we live in the information age, and there are no shortage of resources out there. As a writer, I've set up a Twitter profile and I follow the tweets of authors that I respect, both established and aspiring. I can find out what books are most recommended, what actions I should take next. Just make sure that you don't spend all your time researching instead of doing.


Do we have natural abilities? Sure. But what we do is far more important than what DNA we have.

Short Stories - Good things in small packages...

So last Saturday was the deadline for the Writers and Artists 2014 short story competition. True to form, I submitted my entry with just over two minutes to spare. Where would I be without deadlines??
This was the first writing competition I've entered since I left school, and it was a little strange to be honest. I've written two first draft novels with the aid of NaNoWriMo, and although there's a very real sense of pressure, getting that rough draft done within 30 days, that's where it ends. Theoretically I could leave those drafts on the shelf, where they would never be read. Theoretically, I could spend an eternity polishing them up, trimming an adjective here, expanding some dialogue there. But there's something rather scary about submitting something that you know is going to be read, and read critically.
The only people I've let read my drafts have been people I know. Now a complete stranger is going to read 2,000 words of mine and decide if they're any good or not. All of a sudden it doesn't seem enough. 2,000 words to introduce, develop and conclude a story. 2,000 words to make you care about characters, as though they were real people, to make you cheer for the heroes and boo the villains. It's a tall order. Every word has to count, has to add something.
Whether I succeeded or not in my lofty aims remains to be seen, but I've found the whole experience to be worthwhile. Writing the first drafts with NaNoWriMo has been fantastic, and has really helped me reach a stage I never thought I would, but short story competitions have an important place. Because it turns out that 2,000 words that are read are worth 50,000 on the shelf.