Cooper and Jones and fantasy ideas

Today I woke and it was 4 degrees. That’s cold for Australia so I made the rational decision not to get out of bed, after running through my timetable for the day. Did I have time to huddle under the covers for another hour? Yes, yes I did.

I put one hand out far enough to read on my phone. I downloaded a sample of Reflections, a compilation of the writings of Dianna Wynn Jones on her creative process. She wrote Howl’s Moving castle (and forty other books.) **

Later, while I ate lunch I watched a YouTube lecture from Susan Cooper; a contemporary of Jones. $$

She wrote the Dark is Rising sequence (and thirty other books). She described growing up in WWII and she said the bombs that brought the war to an end were dropped by the Light, not the Dark.

Indeed.

Besides me being interested in how each writer got their ideas, both women are linked by their attendance at Oxford where their world collided with both CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien.

Cooper remembers that Tolkien mumbled; mumbled in English but spoke clearly in Norse. He declaimed Beowulf; shouted it, and made all the students in the lecture sit up straighter.

The idea for this famous fantasy started when she saw a thousand pound prize was offered for a family adventure story. It was more than she earnt in a year as a reporter. Once Uncle Merriman had made an appearance, she forgot about the competition and just wrote the story.

It took her ten years to understand there were more books she hadn’t written yet in the series.

She laughed as she recounted how readers always told her that they saw themselves as Will in the second book.

At the 41:29 mark of the lecture she finished with this:

Whatever may be going on in the real world, fantasy takes you back to the universal, the things that don’t change; the things that are at heart. The mystery. It’s a window onto truth as beautiful as that moon; as bright as that sun.

And it will always be there no matter what. All you have to do is look and read.

My copy of the Dark is Rising is a combined paperback and is falling apart. I read it aloud to my children. The first book is Over Sea, Under Stone and features the three Drew children.

Maybe it’s time for a re-read.

**Note to self: buy ALL those books

$$ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4Qf7NnL2h8&t=0s&index=36&list=WL

And then what happened?

This week I have been listening to Stephen Fry read the complete Sherlock Holmes.

One story, the Adventure of the Crooked Man, tells a locked room mystery. The husband is found dead, the wife is in a brain fever, there are mysterious animal prints in the room, and the door key is missing.

Spoiler warning.

After some investigation, Watson and Holmes discover that the couple were happily married, childless, and that the husband doted more on the wife. Nancy is described as ‘striking and queenly’. She had been into town to a church meeting with her friend, come home, had an argument with her husband that the servants could hear some of, and then the disaster struck. The local police think the wife hit him with a poker. ‘Coward’ was a word the servants overheard her shout at him.

On questioning her friend, she confesses that they met a disabled man in the street. The wife and he had quite a conversation that she did not overhear. He was new in town and did magic tricks for the soldiers.

The autopsy exonerates her. James died of shock. After some more digging, they track down the man she met and question him.

Watson says: “The man sat all twisted and huddled in his chair in a way which gave an indescribable impression of deformity; but the face which he turned towards us, though worn and swarthy, must at some time have been remarkable for its beauty.”

When Nancy was a young woman she had two suitors; both in the army. One was a sergeant James, and the other, more handsome one Henry, was a corporal. Her father, a colour sergeant himself, thought Henry was unsuitable as he had a reckless youth.

During the Indian mutiny, the town was under siege. Henry volunteered to try and get out a message for help. He discussed it with James, who betrayed him and then reported to her that Henry was dead. She and James married and thirty years later, are stationed back in England where he is now a Colonel.

Henry tells them how he was treated as a slave, tortured and punished each time he tried to escape, until he is the crooked man of the title.

The animal? “It was a mongoose!” Holmes cries as if that was the big issue, and off they go back to London.

It is famous for being the story where Holmes ALMOST says, ‘elementary, my dear Watson.’

But my writer brain wants to know what happened next.

Did Nancy and Henry reunite? How could she possibly compensate him? Can he claim decades of lost Army pension? Does she still love him? Can he forgive her for marrying his rival?

That’s the story I want to read. Sighs… maybe I’ll have to write it myself?

Writing excuses season 10 master class Ep 4

Episode 4 Q&A on ideas

There was no homework for episode 3… I swear there wasn’t.

But for episode 4 it is: Audition five different characters for one of your story ideas.

Change the sex, age, jobs, ethnicity, or have different levels of experience.

Find some way that they can fit in your story.

Hmmm… I am going to choose the role of the detective in the widow time travel case.

1. older and experienced man of colour

All I can think of is the movie se7en, or Lethal Weapon, so my older, world weary detective is Morgan Freeman - he’s an older man of colour, well read, and he has weeks before he retires. But he trusts his instincts and this case has him smelling a rat. He is open to ideas of time travel because he has always had a cheap scifi paperback in the pocket of his trench coat. As a result of his reading, he has absorbed a few rules of science and quantum mechanics. He has Internet friends at university labs that he chats to online and can ask ‘hypothetical’ questions.

So… he actually believes the widow and knows that her husband's murder can’t be written up as solved, but he wants to travel through time. Maybe it’s on his bucket list?

Does his time trip change the case somehow? Does he solve the case and then retire in the past? Or the future? Does the widow want the time machine? Or would she give it away?

2. young and inexperienced

And female? Such a massive chip on her shoulder to prove that she is as good as the other detectives, but they have deliberately given her the freaky weird, rich guy case thinking that it will be too difficult and destroy her, or that she will bring down a legal case against the department from the widow, or have Internal Affairs all up in her business, or that she will fail so badly she will go back to uniform. They will take any of these options. And they have made themselves scarce to leave her to her fate.

She, on the other hand, more than needs to solve it. She HAS to solve it. Her own self-worth is pegged to this case. It’s a rookie mistake but she’s a rookie. She gets emotional about the kids and the widow, gets protective of the widow against the insurance company, angry with the widow’s lover; gah this girl’s got issues… lol.

How does that spin it when the case looks like being unsolvable? Is there a way she can get a result? If so, how? Does her emotions help solve the case?

Who is her partner? Are they on sick leave or something that leaves her alone all the time. Who is the murderer? And what is their motive?

3. male, geeky, young CSI dude

He’s not supposed to investigate the case but just try and stop him when those weird lab results come in. He keeps going out to the house to redo tests. He feels sorry for the kids / widow, and pushes the investigation. Does the tests the detectives haven’t even ordered. Generally gets too involved in the case. 

Sticks his hacker nose into bank account records. Checks up on the widow’s lover.

Or does he start with the odd blood tests from the victim? He can’t get it to add up - the rare illness, the symptoms/residue (whatever time travel does to your blood) and the way he was murdered. He may discover that the kids are not the victim’s children and when the widow tells him she was encouraged to find other fathers for them, he gets dragged into it.

Does he invent some techie machine that reads temporal residue or chromatic particles or whatever (makes it out of cast off lab equipment) and it goes crazy at the house. He finds and identifies the time travel device himself.

Maybe he has anxiety issues similar to the victim’s fear of the dark?

4. shady antique dealer

Imagine if a crooked antique dealer got hold of a time machine? You like Hepplewhite chairs? I can get a set of eight for you … but it will cost.

No, wait - that’s a whole new story.

5. MacGyver /Jim Rockford detective

Or Michael Weston of Burn Notice for the modern viewers.

He’s a rule breaker detective, never does his filing or types up his own reports. He flirts with the widow, cuts corners, knows all the shady types but has a heart of gold and takes the hopeless cases and solves them in his own way. Has legion of people he has helped before who can assist. They follow the lover and the insurance investigator.

He hates guns.

Make him a different ethnicity; Spanish or Italian or North African. Maybe he has family connections that he uses all the time, too.

What MacGyver would do with a time machine is another whole novel as well… bwahaha.

But the big issue is working out the why and whodunit of the murder, before I go crazy on the detective options. Or, do I do a Christie and have several options, any of whom could be the murderer and decide at the last minute.

Writing excuses season 10 master class Ep 2

Episode 2 I have an idea what now?

Part two of my writing excuses podcast homework. Part one is here

Writing Prompt: Using last week's five story ideas (or five new ones):

• Take two of them and combine them into one story.
• Take one and change the genre underneath it.
• Take one and change the ages and genders of everybody you had in mind for it
• Take the last one and have a character make the opposite choice.

Okay… let me think… what were my ideas?

Tassie tiger shape shifters, murdered rich conman with Seasonal Affected Disorder leaves widow, woman having existential moment in car, location centric time traveller and guy journeys to find what he had at home.

Take two of them and combine them into one story.

I am going to combine the murdered rich conman with Seasonal Affected Disorder who leaves his widow to investigate, and the location centric time traveller.

The reason why he had this odd light loving disorder is that it is a side effect of time travel. The underwater ballroom hides a secret. It is now underwater because land levels have changed since the time-pinned item was put there. It cannot move obviously. Now the item might be larger; a stone or a statue - or something ON the stone or statue. Roman statues were painted and decorated in their time. If the widow is forced to sell, she loses access to the item. That gives her more reason to keep the insurance money and the house.

Ooh… what if, his murderer came through time??? The police will never be able to solve this mystery in the present (story present is actual past for us). Does the widow take the detective back in time to show him even though he can’t tell the truth in his present? She needs him to falsify the records for her.

It has to be back in time now, because I assume that forward in time would have easier ways to murder people OR we hit the old can’t travel forward in time rule.

Take one and change the genre underneath it.

Existential crisis isn’t about her husband trying to kill her… She’s in a car, so I can’t change it to a western, for example. It’s about… hmmm… thriller? She has discovered some information at work and needs to run; to protect her husband and family. But she doesn’t have the first clue how. She met a spy at the opera years ago and he gave her his card. She never called him, but now she needs help.

Or horror… she has found bodies buried in the back yard when she went to bury her dead chicken. Human bodies. And they have teeth marks on the bones. Is it a matter for paleo or police? Could still use old friend idea… she/he is an archaeologist, not a spy. Her house is built on a sacrificial site. (Too poltergeist-y?). And the spirits are angry at being disturbed.

Now she needs a priest or an exorcist.

Take one and change the ages and genders of everybody you had in mind for it

Young person journeying to find what he had at home is now old. Fits with the song; god’s ears might be listening harder if you are older. What if he is gay/bisexual but has hidden it his entire life? He goes on the holiday and has a revelation. Once out of his own little suburb, he sees things differently and he sees the rainbow flag fly everywhere.

The search for meaning becomes a search for his own truth. The deep down truth of the song is the one he has hidden inside himself. He goes home determined to change more than just himself. He needs to work on his community.

Take the last one and have a character make the opposite choice

The woman who found the Tassie tiger shape shifters isn’t going to help them fight environmental change; she just wants to hunt them. And she plays up the romance angle on a young male to gain his trust. Betrayal. Heartbreak. Death.

Writing excuses season 10 master class

I listen to a podcast called Writing Excuses done by Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson and Howard Tayler. It is worth a listen and it is only fifteen minutes long, as their spiel says. This season they are doing it as a writing master class.

You can listen to the episode here: Writing Excuses 10.1: Seriously, Where Do You Get Your Ideas?

This is my homework for this week’s episode. Mary’s work is here:

Episode 1 where do you get ideas?

Writing Prompt: Write down five different story ideas in 150 words or less. Generate these ideas from these five sources:

From an interview or conversation you've had

From research you've done (reading science news, military history, etc)

From observation (go for a walk!)

From a piece of media (watch a movie)

From a piece of music (with or without lyrics)

This exercise might not generate the very best ideas you've ever had, but it will definitely flex your idea muscles in new ways.   

From an interview or conversation you've had

Someone suggested years ago that there could be Aussie shape-shifters. Today I saw a video of the last Tasmanian tiger or Thylacine. Unbelievably, it died when someone forgot to let it out of the caged area in the zoo and into shelter from the summer heat.

Tasmanian tigers didn’t go extinct. They are really shape-shifters. There is nothing like them anywhere else in the world. Being hunted, they stayed in their human form and infiltrated society. They refuse to leave Tasmania, but became environmentalists and anti-logging campaigners. Their secret is strained when… a person discovers them? A tiger saves her from drowning in the Franklin River and he falls in love with her; a non-shifter. Why her? Is there a reason?

From research you've done (reading science news, military history, etc)

Underwater ballroom built by crooked businessman - saw post on tumblr and looked it up.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2058772/Witley-Park-Surrey-The-story-Whitaker-Wright-Britains-bizarre-folly.html

A folly with a difference… oh, now I had an idea for a story set in a folly. They are such a peculiarly English thing. It was a murder mystery - but why?

This is the house. He clearly had a thing for light - look at all those glass roofs and he was buried in a glass hearse - why? Terror of the dark? Why? What is in the dark? Is he haunted? Driven? Why? Parental abuse? Locked in the dark - he takes his revenge on all people - his finance victims are all of a type - careless men who do not look after their children. Body chemistry? Needs more light than others? The opposite of a vampire? Is there an illness that matches?

So the owner is killed by cyanide poisoning (as in RL). Someone suspects murder. His very young wife - married at 17. He was a big man - did she have a lover?  Did they kill him, or the lover who hoped to marry her afterwards did it, and then finds there is nothing left in the bank accounts. He was about to be charged with fraud; was it really suicide?

She has 2 children but they were not his and he did not care. He didn't want them to inherit his illness so she was ‘playing away’ with permission like Lady Chatterley.

Then someone else dies? Who? Why? Etc.

Who is the detective and why are they called in on this case? Or does the wife try to find out by herself? She was on a good thing, even if he was a conman. He loved his kids. Plus if it was suicide, insurance won’t pay out. They will for murder. She HAS to prove it, to support her kids in the future. Creditors can’t take the insurance money.

Does she hire a PI and they become friends/partners. Marple Junior?

From observation (go for a walk!)

Today driving along the highway there was a car waiting to pull out. Left indicator on and the three lanes of road to their left were completely empty. We were stopped by traffic and watched her, but she just sat there. Kid 1 quipped that she was having an existential moment.

What was she doing & why? Paralysed by guilt? She saw something and has just processed what she saw. Wait a second… he did take that necklace/kill his mother/replace the rat poison/ whatever. He does have a lover - he IS trying to kill me! Should I go on that diving holiday with him? He did just increase my life insurance.

What does she do about it? Where is she going? Are there consequences because she is late? She has sat there for ten minutes thinking. Doesn't snap out of it until a car beeps behind her. Who does she talk to? An old friend? What do they do? How do they protect her? And prove what he is doing?

From a piece of media (watch a movie)

Watched a bit of Labyrinth (TV movie of 2 women in different times linked by same place) today - reminded me of The Gauntlet - the children’s book - time travel by item - it’s a trope but… I’m doing my homework. *pouts*

A ring, a sword, a bowl - something functional and ubiquitous; not fancy or out of place in either time? A book mark - marks your place - boom boom? Candle stick? Letter opener?

OR does she go ahead in time? If so, why? Why her? Why now? What happens In the future that she can use in the past.

Who is the link? And why?

From a piece of music (with or without lyrics)

Hit random shuffle on itunes - got The The -deep down truth

Your bed at night
Awake, uptight
Your hopes, your fears
Your lips, God's ears

Days come and go
Beauty dissolves into skull
Time keeps spinning round
History thunders down

Every step of the climb
Led you to this place and time

There's no more power in darkness than in light
There's no more truth above you than inside
The deep down truth, the deep down truth

Your heart, your mind
Uncoiled, unblind
Ego undressed
All the time compressed

Into that shadow on the wall
From the raindrop waterfall
Crawling down the misting glass
To the future from the past

Every step you take
Leads you from this time and place

There's no more strength in hatred than in love
There's no more truth beneath you than above
There's no more truth in sadness than in joy
There's no more tenderness in girls than in boys
The deep down truth

There's no more truth in hope than in grief
There's no more truth in a saint than a thief
There's no more truth in fate than in chance
There's no more truth in your mind than your heart
There's no more justice in peace than in war
There's no more time behind us than before

The deep down truth, the deep down truth
The deep down truth, the deep down truth
The deep down truth, the deep down truth
The deep down truth

Songwriters

Matt Johnson

Sounds like a romance - or a search for meaning -

Guy goes on long mind expanding trip. Home is boring and his old lover is boring and he doesn’t want to be like everyone else. He goes to India (swims in the Ganges) or Thailand (gets one of those cool tattoos - sakyat?) and attends a Balinese ceremony of blessing or something. Climbs Borobudur and finds… nothing. There are no answers - there is NO deep down truth.

Goes home - sick at heart, sick in body - old lover nurses him - understands that a journey with another is the best kind of trip. Fate and chance have led him home and home is literally where his heart is.

Not sure if any of these ideas have legs or what next week's homework will be. But it has been fun.