Faked Tales

That’s it, Script Frenzy’s done. A month which felt like forever, writing-wise, and no time at all, in normal terms. I’ve managed to maintain some of my social life while hermitting away on my balcony. This year I had even less holiday to take for the Frenzy and still managed to hit the deadline. I ended with a hundred and four pages, only just more than my required hundred, but I have things to do.

My current plan for the comics is to work on the pitches for each of the four series, which shouldn’t take too long, maybe as a Monday’s work in the next month. Then look on sites, Comixology and the like, perhaps, post the first few pages to see if I can hook in any artists who might work well with it.

The next thing on the agenda, writing-wise, is to edit the novel. It took three months to proofread, so I’m giving myself three months to make the changes I’ve noted down. I’ve missed the characters and the setting of the novel, which is hopefully a good sign.

I have had issues with genre lately, being that it fits a bunch of different genres and for ease of use, I’ve just had it down as a “Young Adult novel”. This month, as well as editing Lightning, I’m going to read a few YA novels. I’ve grown a bit disillusioned with the genre after a few books went down badly. I’d reached a point of thinking to myself, “Do all YA books have no plot at all, because if that’s the case, then I’m not writing a YA book.” I know, or at least I hope, this is a crass generalisation. In a party last night, discussing the tone of my book, I mentioned that it was a YA book for adults. A vast amount of YA books have a large adult following, possibly as large as the youth audience. People frown on genre fiction, while ‘literary’ fiction has grown just as formulaic and somehow even more po-faced. So the ghetto of YA seems like it’s actually a good bridge between the two. You get historical fiction, sci-fi, teen drama aping the problems of literary fiction (albeit with far less mid-life crises). So it appears to be a good place to be, from an outside perspective.

Then you look at some of the novels in it. I’m not going to lie and say I don’t want Lightning to be the next Harry Potter or Twilight, popularity-wise. I do, and hopefully that’s fine. I’m aware of my problems with Twilight, at least, and Harry Potter’s one of the books I’m actually putting myself through this month, just to see what’s right, what’s wrong, and if I genuinely do fit in this niche area. I don’t expect much, but hope to be surprised. Somehow. The other books I’ve got lined up from the genre are:

Skellig, which is a borrowed book and therefore should have been read a year or two ago when I first got it. I’ve got no idea about what it is, other than I think there was a tv version at some point.

The Subtle Knife. I was crashing at my brother’s and read the entire last half of Northern Lights from when I woke up until he woke up. We’d had a lot to drink, been up late, but I woke up early just out of habit. So when we wandered around Greenwich, looking for breakfast, I charged into a second hand book store and got a copy of The Subtle Knife. Then I promptly forgot to read it for ages. I’ve heard almost all people who know me and know His Dark Materials say to me that it’s the one I’ll love the most. That it’s a great piece of work. So that I’m saving for last, my prize for getting through Harry Potter’s first book and whatever Skellig will have to offer.

As far as indicative texts on teen media go, I’ve already read Twilight, in case people have that as a recommendation, for whatever ungodly reason they’d do that. That’s a horrible, strange tale for another time. I’ll just say I wasn’t impressed and get onto the hyperbolising later. For those who haven’t heard of it. I envy you.