With the hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic the book shelves have been awash with fictional and factual books about the subject. Also the TV has been showing documentary after documentary concerning the ship, as well as any film or TV series attached to the the vessel.

Over the past couple of weeks I have read two fictional books based round the event.

The first, David J Kowalski’s The Company of the Dead.  This is a lavish alternative history. It is rich in detail both about the ship and the different time lines that spring from the intervention of one character. It is plain to see this was a labour of love for the author and it shows in the depth of his prose. Yet, there was one fault; I found it hard to connect with the fate of the characters. There was so much going on that I found it hard to develop a relationship with the players in the drama, they seemed, least to me, buried in the detail. For all that this is a superior alternative history and welcome addition to the genre.

The company of the Dead, by David J Kowalski, published by Titan Books.

The second book is Carpathia by Matt Forbeck. I had high hopes for this book when I first read the blurb a couple of months ago, but sadly it did not hit the mark for me. The story was fast paced, but to me this was its downfall. It was too fast. It did not give the reader (me) time to connect with the characters. I also found that the characters behaviour and attitude was too modern for the time period, and the horror elements slightly matter of fact in their development and depiction.  I know these remarks sound a bit nitpicking, but they drew me out of the story, which on the whole is a good, solid one with a clever twist (that of Vampires) on the whole Titanic story.

Carpathia by Matt Forbeck published by Angry Robot Books.

This is something of an obsession with me. Let me explain.

Often when I am watching a film or TV program a character is emoting like
crazy, tears of fear, anger, pain rolling down their cheeks, smearing the
makeup that has taken an hour to put on. Their words and physical actions are
portraying the scene, yet there is nothing behind their eyes. Their eyes tell
me that they know the emotion is false that they are, indeed, ‘acting’. Try as
they might the emotion just does not bleach the colour or brightness out of
their baby blues. I see it in the orbs of major actors and bit players this
look of knowing it is a performance.

In the series, Homeland, the female lead, for all her
anguish and wide-eyed stamping about, her eyes failed her, right up to the last
episode. Only then did something creep behind her eyes and stay there for two,
maybe three scenes. It was the moment when the actress and the character were
not separated by the barrier of having to produce a performance. They were one
and the same, no longer two separate personalities, but one, and the actor’s
emersion into the character was complete. Sadly it did not stay there, for as
the episode continued the emotional shadows were gone and the, ‘acting,’ was
back.

Yet, for a moment the emotional turmoil portrayed on the
scene was real. The actor had caught the character and it had drawn me deeper
into the story. This is something I relish, this becoming one with a character.

As a writer, this is something I strive to put there. When I
read back a section of work I ask myself, am I showing my reader what lies
behind the eyes. Is the emotional affect of what the character is doing, has
done and thinking of doing there for the reader to see. Can my reader glimpse
my character’s life? Or is there nothing behind the eyes?

I don’t mean listing the reasons or why my character is
behaving in such a way. I mean the odd word, said or thought, the gesture, the
expression created by a reaction to a situation or a fellow character. My, ‘acting’,
out my character in words, drawing my reader to look into their, ‘eyes,’ and
letting them it is real for that one moment

Do I succeed? Only my readers can tell me this.

19,025 on Tuesday 3rd April 2012. Not as many cabbages as I wanted, but better than none. I went to a wedding on Saturday so lost a day.

Next update will be Tuesday 11th April, Though the count might be small as I am away at Eastercon, still I can try.

After that it’s head down for a good month the count must be complete by mid June.

Signs of the obsession are;

• The plot line is always in my head.
• When I sit down at the computer I don’t start surfing the net
• Interruptions of any kind are unwelcome
• I am writing a hundred words or so before I go to work.
• I resent going to work, eating, sleeping and housework.
• I am reading research books at lunchtime.

The obsession has also resulted in Stoneman Green turning into a duology. Maybe that was part of the problem I was trying to cram two totally different, but linked stories into one book. So book one (no title at present) is having a couple of thousand words added to it each week. I hope to have a first draft by the end of April. Book two called, Stoneman Green, has a good 30,000 words written already. Though quite a bit will be edited and added too I have a good start there.

I am not going to say much about the plot line save for that it is a mashup of genres that I have never seen before, though I don’t doubt that somewhere someone has written such before.

As to my other WIP, Demon-Skinned, it is still having bits added to or odd bits of research done, but it is an annoyance at present, due to my obsession with Stoneman Green book one.

It’s one thing to say, “I don’t like the dress, it’s not my sort of thing.” But to make personal remarks about the lives of people you don’t know based on what you are seeing, just to impress your co-workers with your wit and to keep on and on about it for the next two hours, is well, lacking in thought to say the least. Ok, you might say, isn’t that what a stand up comic does and isn’t anyone in the audience fair game? Yes. But a stand up usually uses themselves as the butt of the joke and you know if you go to see a comic, you are fair game. And more to the point a comic has the ability to make us laugh at the absurdities of life. The remarks I overheard told me more about the people saying them than the couple getting married. It also re-enforced something I really should take to heart, especially with all the crap I am dealing with at present. What other people think of you and what you do is not, when it all boils down, that important. You can’t live your life to please other people.

I have found out what it is like  over the last couple of months to be between a cash strapped NHS and an unyielding parent who has taken to her bed. I knew from the outset that I could not personally provide the care she needs. Yes, I can do the shopping, washing and general stuff, but beyond that I knew it would take a toll on my own health.  The stress and the running about and trying to deal with at times my mum’s impossible demands from her hospital/care bed finally hit home this week.  I had an acute inflammatory episode with my legs, which triggered what was believed at the time might be a heart attack, (thankfully it was the affect of the virus that triggered my episode), which put me in hospital for a couple of days. I came out with a good dose of the noro-virus. Whether I caught it in hospital or before is mute; the result has been I have been confined to the bed for most of the week since I came out. The  doctor has signed me off for a few days, but the horror is that I am facing explaining why I haven’t been to visit to mum. I know in my heart if I tell the truth she will take to her bed even more, saying its all her fault and how horrible it has been for her. If I lie,  I will be berated as an unfeeling daughter. Damned if I do and damned if I don’t.

There is also the matter of my writing. The strain has hit this hard. I am struggling to put more than a couple of words down on the page. I am trying, but the frustration of not getting this first draft done is driving me mad. I need to get at least 90% of it done by Eastercon.

Speaking of which I got a great deal with the train tickets. Kath and I, will be traveling first class to London it was only a couple of pounds each to up grade so why the hell not, as this is seriously looking like it will be my only Con this year.

So far this year I have had two wedding invitations! Rather nice.

We are moving floors at work, as for the job itself, well, I still currently have one, but for how long who knows.

Well, that’s how it feels working on the 3rd floor of the new Staffordshire Place Building One. Yes, we have moved offices and are in out nice shiny open plan office. I am sitting with my back to a floor to ceiling narrow window lol, so a nice view of the drop if I push my chair back.  The office is not bad, it is the .6 of a mile walk to and fro from the car park that is killing my legs. If we had moved during the summer I think I would not have had the problems, but even in this mild weather my legs get chilled so they ache all morning and I am hobbling round. Most of the afternoon I can move far more easily, then comes the walk back and my legs are then suffering into the evening. Still the walk is doing my weight good.

My mum took a tumble last week so that has cut down my writing time. She is a lot better so back full steam this weekend. Also I have a week off before Christmas, partly to put the finishing touches to the holiday (not that I do much now-a-days.) but mainly to get a chunk of writing done. I will also do a chunk in the days between Christmas and New year. Things seem on track to get this first draft done. All my jiggling and re-writing seems to have been a good thing. I know where each of my POV characters are going and more importantly where they have been. It is turning into a strange beast this Stoneman Green. Demon-skinned is also going well. Also the ideas pot is filling up. I just need to finish work then I could spend all day on this machine writing.

P.S. WordPress thinks Staffordshire is spelt wrong.