Archive for February 6th, 2009

Feb 06 2009

Writing Sequels – it’s weird.

Published by PeterMBall under Writing

So today I resumed work on the novella draft that was once laboured with the working title The Girl Who Loathed Cats* but now has the working title Claw** and is probably better known as the follow-up to Horn which pits our protagonist against a talking cat and evil foetii***. 

This novella is, officially, the weirdest thing to work on as far as process goes  - I’ve never really written a story that follows-up on a character or world I’ve already written, and it seems to involve a lot of time sitting around and wandering what makes a re-appearance and what doesn’t (There’s also a lot of time spent trying to reconcile how the world works, since Horn is all fairies & unicorns while a large chunk of this plot is driven by a magic cat and a deranged fan-boy/scientist). The nice part is that the process is going to be pretty leisurely – I’ve made a self-imposed deadline of March 31st to get this draft done, which means that I’ve currently got to write less than 500 words a day to get it finished. Of course, given that 500 words a day are about all I’m good for with all the other stuff going on at the moment, there’s still a great deal of potential for things to go awry :)

*because apparently novellas are where I unleash the lamest of titles under the pretense of a homage to Raymond Chandler.
** because, well, it’s less slightly lame and fits a little better with Horn. And it’s a better option than the second choice at this point - Foetus.
*** this was done after thesis work, during the part of the day spent lazing about and cursing the heat.

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Feb 06 2009

Not that this will surprise anyone, but…

Things Disney’s Three Musketeers film has in common with the original Dumas novel:

  • Character names
  • Swords
  • Hats
  • France

Things that seem remarkably different upon re-watching the film for the first time since reading said novel:

  • Everything else.

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Feb 06 2009

Youtube Nostalgia Friday

Published by PeterMBall under Life & Survival

This song has been playing in the back of my head all week. I’ve been saving it up until Friday, when I needed it most.

It does make me wonder, though: is it really possible to love Guns and Roses without a feeling of irony or faint embarrassment? I think Jason can, but he’s certainly one of the few people I’ve met who can approach their appreciation of GnR honestly.  Me? I just filter it all through nostalgia as a defense mechanism…

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