Do Not Read This Title

The Nanonovel just completed is a murder mystery set in Hobart in 1827, and the main character is a police constable, and pickpocket on the side. Which is all well and good, but now I need to know something about policing in Hobart in 1827. That's all.

In the 1820s, things were rather different to what we're used to. Rather than a centralised, professional police force, the job often fell to unpaid/poor paid locals, with no uniforms and not a lot of authority. In NSW & VDL, at least, the job was about maintaining order (and retrieving absconders) rather than investigating crimes.

It was also a time of change, and that meant change in what police meant. The London Metropolitan Police were established in 1829. Even in Hobart Town, there was a major restructuring in 1827 (one reason for my date).

It is also a time people don't feel a need to write about, for anywhere. The little I've found in secondary sources (books & online) has been about the organisation. And by "little" I mean I have about enough notes to fill about 1.5 word processor pages, from all the resources I've been able to find. Primary sources might be useful, if I can discover what they are and then get access to them :)

I did get lucky last week. I found Police Superintendent Humphrey's evidence to the Bigge Commission in Series 3, Volume 3 of the Historical Records of Australia (a rather dry looking series of volumes that cover three shelves in the library) and the very useful "Standing Instructions for the Constabulary of Van Diemen's Land in appendix 17 of the second volume of the three volume "Report from the Select Committee on Transportation". They being from 1820 & 1836 respectively, although the latter was issued under the same lt governor who did the restructure so it's particularly useful. (Those two reports are also full of other useful and/or interesting stuff, I should consult them more often.)

Still that's a good start, and I feel more confident about writing it now. There are big holes still. (Like where does the MC sleep at night? I'm fairly sure he's not in the prisoner barracks but the police barracks don't seem to have been built yet (I wish I hadn't come across that bit of information or I could have happily been sending him there each night.)) There's also more to be pulled from the newspapers on Trove, but that is time consuming and not frustrating because of things that are implied or hinted at but never explained. It's like doing a jigsaw with no picture and all the pieces have been mixed up with the pieces in other boxes.

From a friend's blog

And now the impasse. How does a writer extend their capacity for originality? Working in the speculative fiction genre, writers are up against a barrage of clichés at every word.

I didn't want to give the obvious answer, but maybe it's not obvious. Even if it is, it doesn't help to remind ourselves.

So, read outside of the genre.

Read romances and thrillers. Read non-fiction. Read fiction written in different times (it's like historical fiction but with less worrying about whether the author has done their research.)

Read about people in different places. Read about people in different times. I think everyone should read history -- yes, even science fiction readers -- and primary sources*.

And not just read, of course. Visit places. Visit museums, and keep an eye on upcoming travelling/temporary exhibitions. Visit events where people demonstrate skills. Try them yourself if you get a chance.

You can't create original stories by rehashing what you've read. You have to bring in new material. But even old story ideas can be given new life if the materials used to build them are fresh.




* We do know about Trove, yes? Particularly their digitised newspapers which I've made use of once or twice? I live the newspapers, they're a window into different societies, and what mattered to them and who they worried about, and how they dealt with the day to day happenings.

If you want to know the concerns of a new colony in a strange new world, read the Sydney Gazette from March 1803

More than the newspapers though, if you want to do your eyes in/pull out your hair, there's the diaries, letters, archives section. That accesses overseas archives too. Just as a matter of interesting, there is Bligh's notebook and list of mutineers, but I wasn't joking out the eyes bit.

A year or two ago, I'd told cassiphone I'd write a post on why I tend to write male protagonists. At least I think it was her. It was so long ago I'm not sure. I put off writing it because, well, when I thought about it, it became complicated.

The simple reason, as I was growing up, I usually found female protags annoying, so why would to write one?

Second reason, when I write it's usually to explore a character in a situation and, well, I'm familiar with female attitudes/approaches/attitudes having put up with them all my life and I want something different when I write :)

The third reason is interesting, and I only noticed it recently. See, most of my stuff is fantasy set in a world based to some degree on some time in the past. That'll be the starting point for my world-building. Now every novel length story I've written like this has a male protag. As of this month, I've written two set in the present and both had a female protag. I also have two set in the future, on other planets. One has a female protag, the other because the nature of the story has male protags. But with both these worlds, there seems to be a genetic problem associated with the Y-chromosome because they both have more more female characters than males among the supporting and minor characters.

So I'm thinking this is a reflection of how I view these cultures. Past settings are usually male-dominated so less opportunities for females characters so I have less. I don't care for the FC who goes out and pretends to be a male. I like my FCs to, at least start off in, roles that appropriate to their society. Then they tend to be more real to me, and therefore more interesting. Whereas in the future, the appropriate roles are broader.

(Having said that, I do have a potential story set in 1830s VDL with a female MC that I'd hoped to do for Nano this year but although I had interesting characters and situation, they wouldn't give me a plot. Until the werewolf turned up last week and brought a plot with him. I can't see me maintaining interest in it for another 11 months though.)

My main character, to quote another character in the book, can't open his mouth without a string of obscenities coming out. His friends aren't much better. They're crude, bitter, uneducated and, yes, they do have a limited vocabulary.

Obviously this in one area where written speech differs from the spoken word. Putting f*ck in front of every word doesn't work, even if that's how someone actually speaks, because swear words have more impact in print. Limiting it too once per sentence looks silly. It's too artificial. Not using any at all, in the case of these characters, just reads wrong.

I googled a bit to find out other people's thoughts. Not very useful. When it comes to swear words, it seems there are three approaches.

The first uses the idea that if swear words are used very lightly they have better shock value. I understand this. If a character who doesn't usually swear, or who uses mild curse words, suddenly comes out fuck or their culture's equivalent, then it has an impact. They're angry! They're upset! Whatever. Running alongside this idea is the common thought that overuse of curse words reduces their impact, dilutes them. Of course it does, and if you want the shock! effect, it's something to bear in mind. I'm not sure it's so appropriate to this situation.

The second type of discussion goes along the lines of "I don't use swear words in my writing and you don't have to either. Here's how!". Um, yes, there are many characters types who don't feel a need to swear. We know this. Now fuck off.

The third is don't actually use it. "Jill ran together a string of words that made all those around her blush." We can see how this would be a little difficult for a main character, yes?

I guess I shall have to pick up some books with crude, bitter, uneducated characters of limited vocabulary and see how they're handled. Suggestions?

I have been reading Ripping Ozzie Reads (ROR) which is a new blog by a bunch of Australian Speculative Fiction Authors. (So new it only has one follower - me! Which reminds me, does everyone realise how Bloggers follow thing works? Not the putting icons on the blog's page and showing popular it is crap. If you follow a blog (and you can do it anonymously), then the latest posts appear at the bottom of your dashboard, like a poor relative of LJ's Friends page. It makes keeping up with blogs much, much easier though. (I haven't had much luck with RSS Feeds - the Opera one annoys me, TBird doesn't seem to believe that I actually want to see the new posts & I really don't need any program running on the computer) and the bestest thing -- it's not limited to blogger blogs, I've added them from all sort of sites, including Wordpress. A handy thing, is this Following.)

Anyway, I was reading the latest entry, by flinthart, and he brings up the topic of writing about his writing. Which I don't generally do, write about my writing that is, not his. All right, I do a bit in November in an attempt to make the Nanoupdates slightly interesting and I used to do a bit in there from time to time (and I do occasionally on my Blogger blog, which you will note I'm not linking too and which I believe isn't read by anyone else, even though there are visitors noted on the web counter -- it shares this with one of my other Blogger blogs that gets hits from people looking for wooden boat festivals photo on Google image search (really, all right so I get the occasional visitor looking for cliffs or something, but most visitors end up on the same page). This is because I don't like writing in a lot of details about my WIPs in front of people who might possibly one day get to read them and so I tend to be vague which makes for boring posts. Also, I find other people's writing updates generally make for dull reading.

General writing posts (about craft, problems, inspiration and all that) are often interesting. I'd point out sartorias and cassiphone as two LJers who often have interesting writing posts, but then I get the feeling that I'm missing someone else from my Friends list who also does and I don't like that feeling,
so instead I'll point out the cassiphone (Tansy) is one of the contributors to the ROR blog that I mentioned earlier. Personally, I don't tend to write these sort of posts because they involved Thinking and Inspiration, both of which seems to disappear as soon as I hit the "Post An Entry" link.

The writing posts I most like though, are the ones on worldbuilding. Things like how would PTSD have been dealt with in the 1850s (yes, I know the term wasn't in use then)? What sort of body modifications will popular in 100 years? But these involve discussions, and my Friends (wonderful lot that you are and very much appreciated) don't seem to be the discussing in comments sort, at least on this LJ, which is probably a reflection of the Owner rather than the Friends :)

But anyway, that's why there don't appear to be many writing related posts here (although there are probably more than you realise).

Nano over. Sememester over. Now, I have to decide what to work on next. Of course, everyone wants attention...

"You said it'd be us next. You even went through and reread us recently."
"I did, but--"
"A nice little urban fantasy novel, remember. We'll be easy to write."
"But your beginning is so dull. If you could liven it up. Maybe?"
"Hmm. Not really. Anyway, it's Bay that's the dull one."
"I think he's the more interesting character. Look, find a more exciting beginning and we'll talk about it. Now who else is there?"
"Me."
"Of course. I thought you were staying with buffysquirrel?"
"I am. I came back to remind you about me."
"As if I'd forget, but I can't rewrite you unless there is some interest in your 'companion' book, remember?"
"That is hardly fair."
"I know. I'm sorry. Here, go down to the pub, my shout."
"Maybe me then? You have been saying you'll rewrite us."
"I know, Jake. I would love to and I do like the new beginning, but the other half of your plot has disappeared."
"I'm sure we could find one."
"We?"
"Well, Nate thinks he should get some more--"
"Ganging up on me is not fair. Look, you're too much work right now and I don't feel like writing about ships & things right now. And you can tell your brother that too. Go and get a drink off him."
"How about us?"
"Oh. I'd forgotten about you."
"I noticed."
"No, don't sulk. That's what made me lose interest in you."
"You don't even remember my name."
"That's because you keep changing it."
"I'm supposed to. That's the interesting thing, remember?"
"It's the only interesting thing. Another time, OK?"
"Us?"
"No. You've had chances to be rewritten. You blew them, and anyway, your characters are too similar to the one I've just finished."
"Just a little bit?"
"No!"
"As you mentionedjust finished, I think we're the obvious answer."
"No way. I just finished your first draft."
"Come on, you're still thinking about us all the time. You want to write fantasy now."
"Not listening."
"We do have the best plot of all, you said."
"Go away."
"Yes, go away. It's our turn."
"Hmm. You're too SFish."
"We only need another rewrite, you said."
"I know but--"
"Is that really so hard?"
"It's not even your story. Just because you're the character in the working title, does nt make it your story. She is off sulking somewhere."
"She's supposed to be."
"Your beginning is dull."
"You think so? How about you finish the rewrite of it and post it for comments?"
"Well..."
"It will only take a few minutes."
"All right, but it is still not your story."

I guess when a story idea's characters start providing me names, arguing amongst themselves who will have the point of view and trying to work out what order the scenes are to go in, then it's probably grown beyond an idea into the realm of ready-to-be-written.


Carus, Orwin & Aldrus/Aldred. Except not Orwin, but like Orwin. And Carus is a Roman Emperor. So I could use names of Roman Emperors for characters, but I've done that in a different novel. Gah.

The end is on sight!

It's right there... on the other side of the canyon.


You see, what's supposed to happen next is everyone runs off to rescue the guy who was kidnapped (who we'll call Tom, because that's his name). The rescue involved going to a cabin in the woods, finding Tom there and untying him. Which is a little dull, straight forward, bit of let down. All right, there is this confrontation with poor Jack afterwards, but he's not really much of a threat and it is a little after fact.

Not a problem though. We can have a confrontation between the kidnapper and the Agent who is one of the rescuers. This involves guns & posturing & lots of tension-type stuff. Good!

Except, why are we doing this?
Because it'll add some excitement.
But what is the story reason?
There'll guns and showing off and goods stuff.
There's no story reason. It's inconsistent characterisation. It takes the tension out of the next scene.
But it's good stuff.

I think I have a workable solution though (bring forward the confrontation with J) that might even involve some of the 'good stuff'. I just have to get the POV on it worked out. (THE kiss needs to be from Tom's POV, unfortunately most of the other action around it, can't be.)

It is nice to have a printer that can print out 90 pages of text without a glitch.

That next "scene" is acutally three. Fun ones though, and mostly just tweaking what is already there. Some interplay between the female main character and a friend who'd she'd probably say Yes! to if he asked her to marry him, but he can't, and he's been missing for days and she's worried he might go away again.