Well kids, I have good news and bad news... and then just news!

You may have wondered why it's been such a long time since my last post,, and in all honesty, I've been busy as hell!

For the past two months I've been dealing with the bureaucracy that is University, specifically a course transfer. it's frustrating but at least I'm in the course I want... for now.

The good bit about this is that I've run into a lot of familiar faces over the past couple of weeks... but this is also some of the bad bits I've been dealing with. You see, I didn't exactly close out the PWE course on the best of terms with the people I consider friends and confidants. Thankfully, I've been able to reconnect with some of the one that I consider to be my closest friends, but I've noticed that with a couple of people I seem to have thoroughly burned those bridges.

For the most part, I'm fairly certain that the persons I'm referring to know who they are, so I won't keep harping on about it, other than to say that hopefully, with time, things can be repaired.

The other thing I feel I should bring people up to speed about is my novel - Maia's Plight.

Some of you may have heard the rumors... and now I feel I should clear things up. YES. The Maia's Plight manuscript version 1, is currently out being edited. I've sent out five versions out for editing, and I've got three back. Hopefully, when I get the others back I'll be able to collate it all into version 2.

If everything goes to plan, I'll be able to try and sell it to a publisher by the middle of the year.

I think I'll say goodbye here with one final point. For the longest time, I posted in this blog in order to try and get my name out, and so doing invited people to comment. This was an act of pure ego, and as such was only meant to boost my ever-flagging confidence and ego.

Now, however, I find myself truly not giving a damn. So comment on this or not, I really don't care anymore.

Enjoy and keep writing.

People who work in the creative arts will all tell you the same thing.

There is no such thing as a completely new idea... As a result, if you look hard enough, you can see the similarities in all the more recent stories that have been written and produced for stage, film and book mediums.

I do find it slightly ironic that we as a people choose to ignore this and just accept it as gospel. In fact in some cases, society actively encourages the creation of these same stories over and over again. Not that I'm complaining or anything. In fact it is this very phenomena that allows me to have a career as a novelist!

So you may be wondering what I going on about.

To put it simply, I've been reading. A really unusual thing for a writer to do, I know, but still there it is. You see after the titanic effort I put into NaNoWriMo 2010, and the crappy year I had before that, I sat down and put the pen away for a break. Whilst I was taking this break from my own writing, I began reflecting on the year that was and I realised something profound - at least to me.

I realised that, at some point during the year, I had stopped reading for enjoyment. Sure I still read novels, poems and articles as part of my course work but I ceased enjoying what I was reading. The worse aspect that I noticed was that I also stopped looking for new stories to inspire my own writing. It was exceptionally odd walking through a bookstore searching for appropriate christmas gifts for my more literaryamily members and feeling little but ennui washing over me.

So to counter act this downward spiral, I took inspiration from a friend of mine and looked up some fanfiction sites. Now, before I go any further, I have to address a small issue. For the longest time I thought fan-fiction to be a cop out. The reason I thought this is quite simply that the world, characters and situations are already established by the original author, so therefore it is much easier to take brief forays into these established worlds. However, what I found, was quite the opposite, in that I found a large number of well thought out pieces. Now admittedly, there were plenty of woeful pieces and some that I would barely consider as legible english. But those few diamonds in the rough has got me addicted almost to the point of wanting to try my hand at it.

However, before I do, I have to wonder... Is fanfiction a legitimate means to get your professional name established? As far as I'm aware, there has been very fanfiction writers who've successfully made the transition into professional writers, and all of those who have didn't publish under their online pseudonym.
 
I'm curious to get others opinions, and while I wait I think I'll sit down to the next entry on my preferred fanfiction site and see if it's sand or a diamond.

Earlier today I went and saw the newly released film "Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", and I swear C.S Lewis would turn in his grave at the travesty that hollywood has perpetuated upon a literary classic.

Now, admittedly, that may seem like an excessively harsh criticism from some random guy who has no real experience critiquing films, but bare with me and I'll explain my reasoning. The Chronicles of Narnia series has been a staple of english literature for the past sixty years in that it is a wholesome fantasy series that can be read and understood by children from a relatively early age. When compared to other significant fantasy series written around the same time; like Robert E Howard's Conan the Barbarian series, J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series and Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series, the Narnia series can be seen to be written with the intention of younger audiences relating to the characters while the others were written in a much more cerebral tone and thus are intended for older audiences.

Now in the recent past Hollywood has taken it upon themselves to create film versions of those same literary classics, as well as more modern creations, with varying results. The problem that most of these films versions have, specifically when they fail, is when the directors think that they can improve upon what works by adding their own spin on what the original author spent up to years getting right.

And so I come back to Voyage of the Dawn Treader where I notice that the directer kept many of the main plot elements but restructured them from a Journey story into and Action/Adventure story in a re-hashed failing style (similar to the previous film in the series Prince Caspian). As a result, they made attempted to put a clear and definite point in for the main plot characters to achieve and thus carry the film. Specifically a classic style quest of journey for a bit, destroy the baddy, save the world and go home. The problem was that the plot called for the characters to go on a journey of self discovery. In the original plot for Dawn Treader, unlike Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, there was no direct cause for the Pevensie children (the main characters) to be called from Earth to the alternate reality of Narnia. What the directer and writers of the film tried to create was that clear quest/purpose and all they created was a plot vacuum.

By now you might be wondering what my issue is. Quite simply, I'm forced to wonder how my own masterpieces will do in the hands of a Hollywood butcher? Since the current trend for film makers is to take someone else's hard work and turn out an "original piece of film", is it really worth it?

The unfortunate reality is that I've spent the better part of the last decade working on my first novel manuscript and it is almost ready to be sent out for publication, and I've been thinking that modern film makers no longer focus on the story and seem to focus on the less important aspects instead. As a result I'm forced to ask myself what will I do if and when I'm faced with the decision of what to do with my novel's film rights. Will I allow someone else to mess with my "baby", or will I be selfish and keep it close? I dearly hope, that when that time comes, I will be wise enough to decide...

Until then, I'll wait and hope that when Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair comes out in 2012, they'll honour the books and keep the plot as close to the original as possible!

It has been said that "There are plenty of fish in the sea"... The trick is finding them.

Many of you may be thinking this is in reference to dating and such the like, but you would be wrong! I am, in fact, referring to my writing group, named Big Fish.

You see, my dear readers, for the past year or so I've been involved with and supported by a group of like-minded writers. Admittedly, when I call them like-minded, I'm referring to the fact that we are all writers, though we do focus on completely different aspects of the craft.

Like many social groups, we argue, discuss, cheer, and laugh with each other at opportune moments, but the focus is always on construction rather than destruction. We gather together, edit and work shop each others pieces and then separate to let the comments stew for a fortnight before we come back together to start the process again.

It's a wonderful experience. The best way I can describe it, to those of a non-writerly persuasion, is it's like having your own personal cheer squad who doesn't rhyme (too often) or cavort about but will tell you straight about areas in need of improvement and show you ways to fix problems. In many ways a writing group is like a coach and cheer squad rolled into a nicely put together package.

The issue is, though, that getting a group of writers together in one place with a single purpose in mind is like herding cats. As I've said in previous posts, writers are very individualistic people and thus tend to have different priorities. I've been lucky with my group, in that we all started from a single place. My writing group evolved out of a class I enrolled in two semesters ago, where we workshopped each others writing on a fortnightly basis.

However, recently we off the "Big Fish", being the name we gave our little merry group, have met with some set backs. Namely we lost one member to her exponentially growing magazine enterprise of which she is an editor, we lost our second member to domestic issues - specifically a corporate occupation to support his growing family, and now we've lost a third member to an evolving job opportunity. Whether we'll see any of them back as part of our merry little group only the Fates will tell, but I have been left with a personal side effect.

Given that you may have noticed in my past few posts I had set myself on the path to dealing with some of my more pressing personal issues, I have recently noticed a new issue growing because of this changing scenario. Unfortunately it seems to have flowed on from the issue I had at the beginning of this year.

I feel as if my support base has been cut dramatically, and a wave of ennui has swept in to fill the void. Translation - I seem to be suffering from a severe case of "Can't Be Bothered" syndrome.

Here I am, in the final semester of my course, and I really don't know if I want to quit or to finish. Logic dictates that I finish and my sense of pride won't let me quit, but I know that my inspiration and drive to finish have left me. I have "hit the wall" or so marathon runners would say.

So I'm left asking myself "How and Where am I going to find my drive when what kept me going was the support group of friends and Big Fish has vanished?"
 

As for the answer... I'll have to get back to you about that, cause I don't know what I'm going to do...yet.

1. Maia's Plight (The Balance of Haven Trilogy: Book 1) - manuscript to be completed before November, hopefully.
2. Octo's Strife (The Balance of Haven Trilogy: Book 2) - NaNoWriMo project (November).
3. Linea's Choice (The Balance of Haven Trilogy: Book 3) - Plotting in preparation for next year.
4. The Man known as 'Bear' (A Balance of Haven short story) - working title, subject to change further down the track.
5. In the Bandit King's stolen hall (A Balance of Haven Novella) - working title, subject to change

Given that I'm currently working through certain aspects of myself that aren't exactly pretty, towards being able to move beyond them, I remembered a post that a friend of mine did...which I am now going to blatantly steal. (Sorry ladyknight1512 )

Whereas she chose to use it as a means of introducation and a little bit of fun...I'm going to use it in my continuing campaign towards catharsis.

So here goes...
 

101 Things About Me.

1. My name is Andrew, but I will publish under the pseudonym 'Andre'
2. My middle name is Bruce, named for both my Father and his Great Uncle - a RAF pilot who died in WWII.
3. Because of the social stigma associated with my middle name, I hardly ever mention it in public - Thank you, Monty Python!
4. I am the middle of three brothers.
5. All of our respective occupations are derived from Humanities/Arts - one is a musician, one is a writer, and the other a drama teacher.
6. Both parents are in the medical profession - Dad's a doctor, Mum's a nurse.
7. I hold dual citizenship, thanks to my mum, in both Australia and USA.
8. I consider myself a hybrid of two english speaking cultures...much to the amusement of my friends.
9. Because of my dual citizenship, I can vote in two separate countries.
10. and, whilst I don't really like politics, I'm tend to vote conservative Liberal in Australia, and conservative Republican in the USA.
11. I'm and avid reader and have been from a very young age.
12. So much so that I had read the entire school library, cover to cover, by the end of Grade 1...or so the school librarian says.
13. Suffice it to say, from the end of primary school prep through to the beginning of University, I was a social introvert.
14. My favorite aspect of myself is my ability to listen and not judge
15. - whether this stems from my social introversion or not is a different question.
16. Favourite physical feature...I don't have one. You may have to ask my friends.
17. I hardly ever truly smile. Most of the time I fake smile.
18. I only ever truly smile when I'm with my close friends.
19. I'm a big fan of courtesy, Chivalry, and traditionalist morality.
20. My personal motto's are: I don't go where I'm not wanted; I don't stay where I'm not welcomed.
21. and C'est La Vie (Such is life)
22. My earliest childhood memory is of a time when I was about three and a half, and being accused by my mother of "living in my own little world!"
23. to which my response was "there is nothing little about it!"
24. It was this moment, I think, that began my love for world building.
25. I count myself as a Fantasy writer
26. ... though I have yet to publish a single piece of my fantasy writing.
27. My love for Fantasy began when I first heard C.S. Lewis' "Jabberwocky" performed aloud, back in grade 2.
28. I tend to be humorous and fun loving around friends,
29. but I clam up and go speechless around women I find attractive.
30. More often than not, I suffer from cases of un-requited love...with my full knowledge of why.
31. I've had my heart broken by women three times...
32. ...twice by the same woman.
33. I'm afraid of putting myself out there again and possibly have my heart broken again.
34. I've suffered from clinical bouts of depression with suicidal tendencies for most of my life...
35. ...I'm mostly over that now. (the suicidal tendencies...not the depression)
36. I try to be mysterious and aloof...
37. but my friends say I'm as easy to read as a Garfield comic.
38. I am a geek...and proud of it!
39. I was born and lived most of my life in the same small town.
40. I'm an avid Down Hill skier.
41. I was an active member of the Scouts
42. ...until they kicked my out for being too old.
43. I've performed in amateur theater productions for seven years...
44. though I still maintain that I can't sing or act.
45. I'm a natural pessimist, expecting things to go wrong...
46. and never surprised when they do.
47. I naturally take the cynical point of view about most things...
48. and I can't take any personal complements...
49. ...though, oddly enough, I do take complements about my work well.
50. I'm very protective of my close friends,
51. and they of me...which I do find strangely charming.
52. Even though I have both a cat and a dog,
53. I'm more of a cat person.
54. I currently drive a Toyota camry...
55. but dream of owning a 3-series BMW
56. In the Ninja vs Pirate debate, I'm pro-ninja all the way!
57. My close friends have reserved the rite to interrogate anyone I date...
58. in order to see if I've chosen correctly.
59. I try to deny that rite at every oppurtunity.
60. My favorite author, and the one from whom I draw my inspiration, is Terry Pratchett.
61. I am a Christian
62. and have been for as long as I can remember.
63. I enjoy BBC productions, usually because of the quality of performances involved.
64. Specifically Red Dwarf, Black Adder, A Bit of Fry and Laurie and such.
65. Favorite bands are Evanescence, Linkin Park, I Am Ghost and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
66. The first three are because their music works so well for me when I'm writing,
67. and as such are the inspiration behind most of my characters and certain aspects of the world in which they live.
68. Where as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy...they are just really cool.
69. I find my characters a really cool, and my favorites being two of the mains - Aernon and Teora.
70. Aernon - because he is me...only better looking...sounding...alright just better in every way.
71. Teora - because she is the woman of my dreams...and would have stayed within my dreams...
72. if she hadn't walked into the classes I was taking two years ago...in the form of a classmate...
73. It is a dream of mine to travel and explore the world with some close friends.
74. My greatest fear is abandonment
75. ...specifically dying alone.
76. I am a closet gamer,
77. Mostly I tend to play RPGs
78. ...as a means of escapism.
79. My greatest vice is pride...
80. so much so that when I get embarrassed or feel shame, I shut down, drop off the map and disappear.
81. I tend to bottle up my emotions, and not let people know the real me.
82. Any time I succeed at anything, I tend to be self-deprecating and shoot myself down before anyone else can.
83. When faced with adversity, I turn terse and stoic, while retreating deep within myself.
84. I've never smoked in my life.
85. I've never been drunk in my life.
86. I've never broken a bone in my body
87. ...but I have had my nose broken by my brother.
88. I'm average, by modern standards, in height - being 5 foot 11. (I think)
89. I'm well known by my friends a being a good hugger.
90. I'm also known for giving good shoulder rubs...
91. because of the massage course I partook a number of years ago.