Right now what I propose to do is have my NaNoWriMo 2008 entry hosted here and possibly released under a Creative Commons attribution license, which would be kinda cool..  I don’t hold out much real hope of it actually getting read, but if any by chance anyone did then I’d love any feedback on it that you might have.

Disclaimer: The story is crap. I know its crap. But go easy, I was on a deadline and had an assignment due at the same time

Writing another one might take a slightly longer time though.

Amazing what a deadline can do to your concentration. See NaNo widget on right for current word count.

Image by kwc via Flickr

Listened to the Master read from his new piece (unfortunately I’d already read the book while in the que, got bored waiting), and he then did a Q&A. Some other git got my question in – Neil spent a month recently in China on a research trip, and wanted to ask was this for his latest work and what type of effort would it be – and he stated that it will be a non-fiction book revolving around mtyh, 7th (I think) century Chinese legend, and various such things. He has a very distinctive sense of humour, warm and dry at the same time, almost giving the impression of being a big kid who’s delighted that people came to see his latest fun and games. ( The picture here is not mine, but was similar enough that I thought it added to the post, thanks to original photographer linked at photo)

He told several funny stories, my favourite of which revolved around the two versions of the book, one illustrated by Dave McKean, long time collaborator, and one by Chris Riddell. Story goes like so (as far as my caffeine addled wits can recall):
Neil and Dave standing talking at the official launch of The Grveyard Book when Dave’s young son comes barrelling up: “Daddy Daddy!! Guess what!! Look, the book was illustrated by Chris Riddell, he’s like my favourite illustrator ever!!”. Silence from Dave, the kind of silence that can only be produced when horribly embarassed by a well meaning loved one. “Can we go and get him to sign my book daddy, please please please??”. “um, yeah, sure..” says Dave , and allows him to tugged away by his wide-eyed little boy, presumably glowing beetroot red. If I was Neil at this point I would have been rolling on the floor, struggling to breathe as the tears of laughter course down my face…

Someone also asked will he ever go back to comics, to which he replied that he was currently extremely behind schedule working on 2 part Batman story, apparently on page 25 of 32. Of part 1. Something to look forward to….

Neil very generously agreed to sign anything bought in store last night, plus 2 other items people had brought along, which suited me perfectly as I had bought the book, plus brough my copy of Absolute Sandman Vol. 1, and my copy of 1602. Signed all 3, and did little sketches in Sandman and Graveyard Book, see pictures below.

A very fun event, and massive thank you to Neil for taking the time out to talk to everyone, and spend so much time signing and personalising sketches/messages for everyone.

I am a happy fan-boy.

Should be fun and extremely painful, specially considering thats the month I start my Masters as well. Ah well, they say the best thing to do is pile on the work, helps motivate you to get going at it. also, posting my intention publicly is an added incentive to actually write the damned thing, as terrible embarrassment would ensue otherwise…

Thinking of a fantasy type thing, because I have this strange idea that it would be easier than writing a Sci-Fi novel. It will be fun coming up with the ideas and plots anyway. Blogger has very nicely provided me with links to various book writing tools I see… Fun…

I’m a big fan of the Gaimanator’s work, so much so that I’ve just ordered over €100 worth of his work off Amazon, including Vols 1 and 2 of The Sandman. Never read it but I hear its fantastic work. I already have several of his other works, including 1602, a fantastic piece set in 1602 in the Marvel Universe.

Frequently people write into him asking, How can I become a good writer, What are your secrets, blah blah blah, and to do him credit he doesn’t just tell them to fup off, he does give a reasonable answer to people. But a separate question still stands of what actually makes a good story?

For me personally, its got to have characters with real depth, or at least the possibility of depth. Characters that are blatantly two dimensional are, to put it bluntly, crap. Similarly the universe it’s set in needs to provide a convincing backdrop to the story, so it can’t be hard sci-fi set in pinky pony land. You’ve got to have some real meat to the story, something that will draw you in and hold your attention, something that will physically stop you from putting that beast down until you’ve milked every last drop of literary goodness from it.

The more I write and think about this, the harder it actually appears to be to quantify… Obviously there are always different criteria for different people. Some of my favourites would include the almighty HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy, the Discworld series, a short story called Flowers for Algernon, I am Legend, and sweet Jeebus too many to write down. But its an interesting subject, one of those things that drags you off on a tangent and wont let you go.

Maybe that means that the question itself qualifies as a story