Category Archives: Genre

August 4, 2010 · 8:28 am

Ramble on Writing

I just went to see the Inception movie.  The premise is that someone can enter your dreams and they can construct dreams which feel so real, you don’t know you’re dreaming. In the movie they use this to steal information or plant ideas.

Listening to them talk about this kind of dreaming made me realise that writers do this all the time. In fact, we’d do it all day long, every day if the rest of the world would let us. For us the dream (our stories) is more real than reality. Otherwise why would keep coming back to write?

I saw this article which said that gamers, if they play games directly before going to bed, they can control their dreams to a certain extent.

Well, isn’t that what writers are doing all the time? When we are ‘in the zone’ we are lucid dreaming. The only thing that holds us back is the speed we can type at.

Inception was good. I liked the layers of the story and some of the visuals were breathtaking. I liked the main character’s motivation and it was a change for a movie to have a happy ending. Or was it?

Did you sit through all the credits like I did to find out if the top stopped spinning?

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July 29, 2010 · 9:46 am

Currently Watching …

IT Crowd, series 4, can thoroughly recommend it.

Having attended many SF conventions surrounded by people who could have stepped out of the IT Crowd, I feel quite at home watching this show.

Back at Christmas time I had a tooth out (stitches, yuk) , so what did my sons do? They put on the IT Crowd to cheer me up. It hurt to laugh, and I mean really hurt but I couldn’t stop laughing.

I laughed until I cried and had to leave the room, then I came back for more.

Sad, really.

My favourite line?

When Roy is helping Moss learn to deal with the bullies. Roy role plays a bully.

Moss bursts into tears. ‘It’s too real Roy, too real!’

I have days like that. We all do.  What’s your favourite line?

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July 13, 2010 · 11:01 am

Favourite Movies

Tomorrow for work I get to watch The Princess Bride. (I get to watch it three times in a  row …)

I discovered the original book many years ago and never forgot it. Then, when the movie first came out I saw it and it has been a firm favourite of mine ever since.

For the amusing back story on the story within a story see this section on Wikipedia. Some authors have a wicked sense of humour. But then Goldman would have to, to write the book in the first place.

It must have the best sword duel (Montoya and the Dread Pirate Roberts on top of the cliffs) and the best revenge scene:

Inigo Montoya: Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Count Rugen: Stop saying that!

When I teach writing dialogue I always mention The Princess Bride.  There are so many memorable quotes from it, it’s hard to decide which is my favourite. For a full list of memorable quotes see here.
Some are underplayed but strong, like this one:

[Vizzini has just cut the rope The Dread Pirate Roberts is climbing up]
Vizzini: HE DIDN’T FALL? INCONCEIVABLE.
Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

And there is the very black scene where Count Rugen and Prince Humperdink are preparing to torture Westley.

Count Rugen: Your princess is quite a winning creature. A trifle simple, perhaps. Her appeal is undeniable.
Prince Humperdinck: I know, the people are quite taken with her. It’s odd, but when I hired Vizzini to have her murdered on our engagement day, I thought that was clever. But it’s going to be so much more moving when I strangle her on our wedding night. Once Guilder is blamed, the nation will truly be outraged – they’ll demand we go to war.
Count Rugen: [snickers, then examines a huge tree] Now where is that secret knot? It’s impossible to find…
[he finds it and the tree opens to reveal a hidden passage]
Count Rugen: Ah. Are you coming down into the pit? Wesley’s got his strength back. I’m starting him on the machine tonight.
Prince Humperdinck: [sincerely] Tyrone, you know how much I love watching you work, but I’ve got my country’s 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it; I’m swamped.
Count Rugen: Get some rest. If you haven’t got your health, then you haven’t got anything.

Really, if you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.

And lastly there is my favourite bit. How the phrase ‘as you wish’ is introduced.

Grandpa: [voiceover] Nothing gave Buttercup as much pleasure as ordering Westley around.
Buttercup: Farm boy, polish my horse’s saddle. I want to see my face shining in it by morning.
Westley: As you wish.
Grandpa: [voiceover] “As you wish” was all he ever said to her.
Buttercup: Farm boy, fill these with water – please.
Westley: As you wish.
Grandpa: [voiceover] That day, she was amazed to discover that when he was saying “As you wish”, what he meant was, “I love you.” And even more amazing was the day she realized she truly loved him back.

When I ask my husband to do something he says ‘As you wish’, just to tease me. You know that dialogue is memorable, when it becomes part of our shared world view. As my kids head off somewhere I can tell them to ‘Have fun storming the castle!’ and they know just what I mean.

Do you have a favourite quote from The Princess Bride?

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July 11, 2010 · 10:28 am

Being Human

When my husband said you must watch this show, it’s about a werewolf, a ghost and a vampire in a share house in Bristol trying to pass for human, I thought I have to see this.

This is the only show I actually watch on TV. (I really must get the series on DVD).

I thoroughly enjoyed the first season. And I’m finding the second season raises some lovely moral abiguities and puts the characters through the mill. Just the sort of quandries I like.

I love it that their ambition is to be ordinary!

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July 8, 2010 · 7:11 am

On the cover of Rolling Stone …

I had a day off work. I promised myself I would write and I was so looking forward to it. Today when I should have been writing:-

I made 3 trips to the train station to drop off and pick up teen age children.

Baked choc chip cookies with son number 4.

Discovered the cat had been shut in the bathroom and peed on the bathmat. (Why does cat pee smell so bad?)

Stripped the bathroom (threw out the mat) mopped the floor and …

Put through 3 loads of washing, brought in another 3 loads of washing (still not sorted and put away).

Went shopping with daughter number one and we set the world to rights over coffee.

Then daughter number two turned up and we had to set the world to rights, too.

The I opened my mail and discovered this …

My wonderful publishers, SOLARIS, have done a promo for the King Rolen’s Kin trilogy on the back of the 2000AD comic.  You know that line from the Dr Hook ‘Wanna get my Picture on the cover of Rolling Stone!’

Well this is not quite that but it is awfully close. Feeling really inspired despite the cat!

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July 6, 2010 · 9:18 am

Currently Reading …

I commute to work which is a half hour trip both ways. To save myself from boredom- also to save myself from reading over people’s shoulders as I can’t seem to resist the written word – I bring a book to read.

I’ve always enjoyed Georgette Heyer’s comedy of manners. This series has that sense of fun.

Werewolves, vampires and parasols, oh my!

I watched a documentary recently on the demise of the romance movie. Screenwriters were saying – Where is the romance and sexual tension if the guy and girl can hop into bed on the first date and no one blinks an eye.

In this series there is a great deal of eye blinking going on. I read it on the train and try not to giggle aloud.

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June 30, 2010 · 8:46 pm

DUF Giveaway

It is always a thrill when someone you’ve known for years gets published. Here is the cover of Nicole Murphy’s new  book, first of a series. They are dark urban fantasy.

Over on the ROR blog Nicole is talking about the process of getting published and there’s a giveaway!

The Dream of Asarlai is an urban fantasy trilogy being published in Australia by HarperVoyager. The first book, Secret Ones, is due to hit the shelves in July, with the other two books appearing next year.

Here’s the blurb.

She′s from an ancient clan. He has no family. Can they save the world … together?

Maggie Shaunessy is used to keeping secrets. She′s a fantastic teacher, but she′s also gadda, part of a hidden, powerful race – and she has a habit of annoying the wrong people.

Until Lucas Valeroso meets Maggie, he had no idea what awaited him: super-human powers, a smart and beautiful woman interested in more than unlocking his new abilities and, above all, a sense of belonging.

But dark ambition and dangerous bigotry are emerging in the gadda ranks. Lucas′s new family might cast him out before he′s even truly found his place. And Maggie must work with new allies to find and retrieve a missing artefact before the entire world is changed for all time.

′fresh and interesting approach to an urban fantasy series′ Bookseller+Publisher’

Support Aussie authors not only becaue they’re Australian, but because they write damn fine books!

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Filed under Australian Writers, Book Giveaway, Competitions, Dark Urban Fantasy, Fantasy books, Fun Stuff, Genre, The Writing Fraternity

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June 29, 2010 · 11:19 am

Dark Urban Fantasy of Another Flavour

Just when you thought you’d seen all the permutations you possible could in the Dark Urban Fantasy genre along comes something fresh.

Power and Majesty by Tansy Rayner Roberts.

Of course I am biased. I read Tansy’s book in draft form before it was published as part of a ROR writers retreat. And I’ve been hanging out for the next instalment ever since.

She takes the decadence and frivolity of Ancient Rome, combines it with the Roaring Twenties, Sky Battles and Seriously Sexy Shape-shifters. Impossible you say?

See here for a taste.

But don’t listen to me. See here and here for what the reviewers are saying.

And if that doesn’t convince you, go here for a podcast reading.

And the best thing is that we RORees are on a countdown for another ROR right before World Con in September,  so I get to read book two of the Creature Court!

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Filed under Australian Writers, Dark Urban Fantasy, Fantasy books, Fun Stuff, Genre, Promoting Friend's Books, Writing Groups

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June 28, 2010 · 11:25 am

KRK Book One – Free Sample

Over HERE at the Solaris Blog, also known as When Gravity Fails, they have announced the first chapter of KRK book one is available for download.

Hope you enjoy.

And of course the good thing is that books two and three will be released in August and September. No waiting, for you fantasy junkies.

I know I would much rather buy a whole series so I don’t have to wait for the next book.  In fact, if I find an author I like, I buy all their books and read them in chronolgical order to see how they develop as a writer.

But not everyone is as obsessed as me.

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June 23, 2010 · 11:00 am

Matrix Overloaded!

Today I watched the first Matrix movie and analysed it with my students, twice. We looked at the way the movie follows the Hero’s Journey and the classic three act structure.

The Matrix hits so many of the steps of the Hero’s Journey it’s a good one to use. The call to adventure is actually a phone call, the Resurrection is actually a resurrection.

The first Matrix movie was made in 1999, 11 years ago and the students who were with me would have been kids at the time. They laughed at scenes that, when the movie came out, made us go ‘Wow, that is so cool’.

This made me realise how lines and images from the movie have become genre tropes, which I guess is a sign of a ground breaking genre movie.

For instance, that image of Carrie-anne Moss leaping into the air, had become a cliche by the time the princess did it in the first Shrek movie.

And there’s the spoon boy. In my house we sometimes say ‘There is no spoon’ to close a philosophical discussion. Everyone gets the reference.

Wonder what they boy is doing now.

And then there’s bullet time. Even the phrase carries the connotations. It’s a short-hand way of describing action.

For those of you who are into these things here’s a site with memorable quotes from the movie.

I enjoyed revisiting the first Matrix movie and taking the time to analyse what the Wachowski brothers were doing.

It is not the sort of thing I’d choose to watch over and over, unlike Fire Fly for instance, which has layers upon layers. But I can still admire it for what it is.

I guess a writer or movie maker knows they have made an impression when things they’ve created become part of popular culture. When a new type of hominid gets named a ‘hobbit’  you know that the book where that invented word appeared has become mainstream.

What movies of books have made a lasting impression on you? What did you find yourself thinking about days afterwards?

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