Aridi Writes

Sooo I haven’t made a post in a little while.

I am still writing; in fact since the last update I’ve chewed through what has proven to be a very interesting couple of scenes. A couple more are forthcoming, which are followed by void. Well I say void, what I mean is, void that I need to give shape to sooner or later.

The thing is, though…I’ve started finding this niche a crowded one.

To express precisely what I mean by that. Imagine this: you make your own clothes. And you get the idea to make this wicked hat – an absolutely AWESOME hat, that you are sure will kick ass. And you start making your hat and devote a lot of hours every day to thinking about how awesome this hat will be, and planning what you need for the hat, and actually making the hat.

And halfway through, you realise that hats very much like yours are cropping up everywhere. Some of them are really bad. Some of them are just utterly forgettable. But suddenly the world is awash with your awesome hat. If you show your hat to someone, it will usually be greeted with a polite smile, which says: “Oh look. Another one of those bloody hats.”

Minute Silence is NOT every other superhero book – but the market is getting real crowded. And that’s just from what I can see in my library, which isn’t absolutely jam-packed with teenage fiction – which a lot of the naff superhero books tend to get tossed into. I’m not afraid that Minute Silence isn’t good, because I have managed to convince myself that it IS good. I’m just afraid that when it comes down to it, every publisher will read the synopsis/blurb/begging letter and toss it out, thinking: “Oh look. Another one of those bloody superhero books.”

One can hope not. But…

Most writers have a muse, or perhaps several.

This isn’t a flight of fancy. It’s true. Inspiration is everywhere to a writer but some people, places or things are packed so full of inspiration – often against all expectation – that they are the proverbal “beauty batteries” that keep a writer going. Some muses are very personal; some muses are very public. (I won’t give examples, go do some research. )

My muses can be times, places, people, situations; they are many and varied, and come and go very often. Not much links them; the majority have a musical component, if they aren’t just music, or people playing music. One of the most recent moments in which I felt touched by the muse was watching a group of music students in my local pub doing an extended jam session. It inspired me for a scene I have yet to write.

Sometimes I have moments in which I simply stop and stare at something, or someon. It is at times accutely embarassing for one or both parties. But I’ve seen people walk past me that are characters in my books – or at least, that will be characters in my books. I’ve heard songs and been struck entirely dumb by their quality, by the lyrics, the instrumentals, even just the beat or the emotion stirred up in it.

There is a scene in 300 that made my hair stand on end from beginning to end – from the moment the Spartans in their initial engagement with the Persians are being pushed back, to the end of that battle, when the Spartans in turn force the Persians off the edge of the cliff. That scene took my breath away and set my mind alight – at the end of it I was still a little twitchy from the adrenaline rush. It was powerful, and beautifully shot from end to end. Absolutely fantastic and brilliant material for a visual idea of a scene in a novel.

So if you catch me staring at a girl as she walks past me in the street; it’s not my heart breaking. It’s my novel turning over in my head.

Honest!

Just to prove that I am honestly still writing; it is half past midnight, and I am still plugging away at the novel.

See? See!?

I’ll confess. I haven’t been doing as much writing recently as I would like. This is simply a motivation issue; I think I suck at motivating myself…and can’t afford to have someone follow me around and kick my ass whenever I sit down. As cool as that would be. For bonus points, I’ll take suggestions on who, precisely, I should hire as my ass-kicker.

Minute Silence:

Moving forward – not as fast as I would like, obviously, but the plot continues; Mark is gathering more of an understanding about who he is, and what he can do – he’s getting to meet the others like him. Very shortly, he will be dropped in the deep end; beginning with totally shaming Lawrence Hersh, leading into getting into fights with people in disguise as FBI agents, and more. The death of Grandpa Phil – and the subsequent bequeathing of the Charger – will alter Mark in a deep and intrinsic way, making him more grim, more determined to do what he must. His crush on Isabel is going to become complex very shortly.

As for the ongoing plot…Julius is on the verge of discovering the existence of Promethean Technological, which leads him to make a very silly decision. I can’t wait for these characters to get into situations where they are squaring off against real challenges; Mark’s hit-and-miss education with his own power will give him some real punch, when push comes to shove. (Bad pun, yes. I know.)

The scenes I keep seeing and revising in my head, and the dialog that I play out theoretically, are starting to tie together. A leads to B which enables C and foreshadows D. It all comes together in the end; all I need to do is lay down the paving, so the reader can walk the path I am marking out.