Sat, 30 December 2006 my motto for 2007

Write more,
Write better.

Fri, 29 December 2006 interludes and elder gods

The holiday season is such a distraction. It’s nice to meet up with friends and family, exchange gifts, share a meal, and over-indulge a little, but there’s a limit to my ability to dodge my internal taskmistress. She’s strict, and has no tolerance for excuses.

Yet, even though I haven’t written much in the last week I’m currently growing a bunch of stories in my mind. The Novel Idea is simmering. A new short story is taking shape. It’s weird, set in a strange place, and the main character is flitting in and out of my periphery imagination all the time. I’m hesitant to write anything down. It feels too early.

There are several other story/script ideas that are jouncing around too. Plus there are the re-writes I want to complete.

I haven’t written out my goals for 2007 formally, and already my dance card is pretty full.

I’ve a lot of new steps to learn.

Tonight I caught a H.P. Lovecraft film adaptation on TV I hadn’t seen before. I’m a sucker for a good occult/monster flick, but I didn’t expect much from The Dunwich Horror (1970). It was directed by Daniel Haller, who was an art and film director for Roger Corman. Much to my surprise Curtis Hanson had a shared screenwriting credit for the film. Sandra Dee plays the virginal blond Nancy Wager who is mesmerised by the staring eyes of a young Dean Stockwell, who plays the alliterated and alienated Wilbur Whateley.

While watching the film I thought Haller must have been a fan of Argento’s Suspiria (1977), but it wasn’t until afterwards that I realised that the reverse must have been true. The Whateley mansion in The Dunwich Horror has fantastic interiors: strong primary colours with kitsch 70s wallpaper and baroque furniture. There’s a cool circular mural in the floor. The whacky grandfather carries around a staff with the same black and white motif. The coloured lighting favours the purple end of the spectrum. When you discover that Haller was the art designer for The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) and The Raven (1963) it all becomes clear.

I ended up rather charmed by the film. There’s a lot of heavy breathing, tricks with negative images, unseen chanters in black robes, a monstrous twin, a writhing girl on an altar, and guttural readings from the Necronomicon. And the occasional glimpse of tits – obligatory for a 1970s film. The problem was that I was rooting for Wilbur’s plans to open the mystical gateway that would unleash the Lovecraftian Gods upon the planet. All of the other characters were uninteresting and rather unmemorable. At least Wilbur had a goal, well, an obsession really, and a rather cool set of tattoos.

The Dunwich Horror is now my third favourite Lovecraft adaptation, after Dagon (2000), and The Call of Cthulhu (2005).

Thu, 21 December 2006 variety is the spice of writing

Over the weekend I completed the edits on “Bone Mother” as requested by Paul Tremblay, the co-editor of the Fantasy anthology (and Fantasy Magazine). It was a painless process, because the suggestions were mostly wise and useful. I used the opportunity to correct a couple of small errors that a friend pointed out.

On Monday I finished a short one-act play, which is currently called Consequences (that will probably change). I wrote it in response to a challenge my screenwriting/playwriting group posed: members were to write a short play/set of monologues/short film by a set deadline. The idea was to provoke new material, and also to see if some of us could work in a new medium. I was keen to try my hand at playwriting, which is new territory.

Discovering the best format to use for a play wasn’t easy. Apparently there is an American style, and a European style, but there doesn’t seem to be any rigorous standard like you’d experience in screenwriting (or even in short story writing). The BBC’s Writers Room has a handy page that lists suggested formats for scripts across a range of media. I decided to use their U.K. Stage Format. If it’s good enough for the Beeb it’s good enough for me.

Initially, I attempted to use Final Draft to write the piece, but since the format wasn’t the same as the UK style, I abandoned it in favour of a Word document I created with a bunch of tabs and special line formats. It was irritating to set up, but now I can copy the file for future use.

Over the past year I’ve made a concerted effort to attend more plays, and I’ve been reading plays too. It’s very, very different to screenwriting. Several of the standard tropes of playwriting would be anathema in a screenplay. I’m still getting a feel for it.

Yet, it was fun to write the one-act play. I don’t know if it’s viable, or interesting enough for production, and even I can see that the ending needs work, but it was great to stretch the mind and branch out a little. I’m looking forward to hearing what the more experienced playwrights have to say about the piece in the New Year. It may end up being just an interesting experiment, but even those are useful.

Thu, 14 December 2006 An ode to Irish weather

Relentless rain falls
From a monotonous sky.
Please stop.
Please.
I don’t own a canoe.

Wed, 13 December 2006 the writers’ rodeo

Another day another rejection.

I’ve been thrown off that horse so many times I know every crease in the saddle. Each time I hit the ground, dirt flying in the air, I’m surprised. Despite it I climb back on the nag, and I’m optimistic.

I must be mad.

Sun, 10 December 2006 and the winner is

A hearty congratulations to my mate John Vaughan, who nabbed one of the three RTÉ Filmbase Short Script Awards for his script “My Dad”.

Those of us who’ve encountered John won’t be surprised by this win. He’s a mad, hilarious Corkman who is driven by a passion to make films. I look forward to seeing “My Dad” when it’s finished, and knowing John that will be five minutes after he gets the money.

Sat, 09 December 2006 a writer by any other name

The name we’re given at birth can have its pros and cons. As a kid I was never hugely enamoured of the name Maura, but it wasn’t awful either. In Ireland it’s relatively common, and to my teenager mind that was the worst strike against it.

I remember my shock when I first saw a copy of China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh. Here was a fellow McHugh, with a similar first name, who was a published science fiction writer. Worse, the book was well written and very good. At that time I had aspirations to write, but was doing very little about it. I’ve followed Maureen’s career since then and she is a fantastic writer. Her collection Mothers and Other Monsters is outstanding.

I made a decision some time ago that when I wrote prose fiction I would use the Irish form of my name, which is Máire NicAodh. This is not an issue for screenwriting since no one pays attention to the writer anyway!

While at Clarion over the summer I had the good fortune to spend a week in the company of Maureen McHugh. There’s a lot to be said about genetics, because I could see what I would term “McHugh traits” in Maureen. It was like meeting a long-lost relative. Of course she was intelligent, generous, and funny. She could also crack the whip when needed.

A couple of weeks later Ellen Datlow arrived for her week of instruction at Clarion. One of the many pieces of advice she gave us was to make an early, and firm, decision on what name we write under. It’s a lot harder to change later than it is at the beginning.

I know that I was hesitant to use the name Maura McHugh because I did not want anyone to accuse me of trying to impinge in some sense upon Maureen. While at Worldcon in Glasgow last year at least two people asked me if I was Maureen. The names are very similar.

I considered these matters and decided to continue using the Irish form of my name. When I made the sale to Sean Wallace in October I had intended to use Máire NicAodh. Yet, Ellen bugged me about it. She likes my name in English, and urged me to use it. She raised the point that outside of Ireland people are going to find the Irish form difficult to pronounce, spell, or find. And putting aside issues of pride in Irish identity, the reality is that as much as I like my name in Irish, I never use it in daily life. In that way it is not a reflection of who I am.

I gave the matter a lot of serious thought. Much more than I had bothered with previously. At times it seemed like a frivolous, egotistical issue to ponder (since I’m standing on the bottom rungs of the writing career ladder), but part of me recognised that it was important. I emailed Maureen and asked her opinion on the matter, and her advice was practical and valuable.

I do not possess a useful middle initial, and I’m not convinced that it would make any real difference anyway. People remember the first and last name more than anything else.

The upshot is that “Bone Mother” will be published as the work of Maura McHugh. It’s who I am, after all. I’m grateful to Ellen for pushing me to consider the matter fully, and to Maureen for her insights.

After all of that thought/discussion on the matter now I have to concentrate on my writing. At this point that’s what’s going to sell my stories, not what name I use.

Fri, 08 December 2006 the first

Today I returned from five enjoyable days in Scotland, which I spent in the company of a dear friend. For one lovely afternoon we rambled around Edinburgh: I bought a excellent pair of running shoes from the enlightened Run and Become, we browsed a Christmas market sipping mulled wine from a proper mug, visited the National Museum of Scotland, a cheesemongers (hmmm, Goat Gouda), and finished up chatting with mates over a strong coffee in Beanscene. It’s a wonderful city.

Six weeks ago I made my first professional sale of a short story: to Sean Wallace at Fantasy Magazine. (Those of you in search of gifts should note that there is a bargain holiday subscription rate currently on offer to both American and International customers.) I wrote the first draft at Clarion West this summer, and revised it several times after I returned.

Yesterday Sean emailed me to let me know that my story, “Bone Mother”, will appear in the magazine’s sampler anthology, entitled Fantasy, which he is co-editing with Paul Tremblay. The collection will be published early next year. It’s a clever marketing drive to introduce new customers to the magazine, and the material it publishes.

It was a nice coming-home surprise.

I’ve made the decision to begin cross-posting these entries to my LiveJournal account. A friend of mine has been bugging me about this lately. It’s not much of an extra effort, especially since I read so many journals on that system anyway. I’ve been blogging in some form or another for over six years, and LJ was one of the first systems I evaluated. Its strength is its vast network of communities. I might as well make it easier for people who use that journalling software, and plug into those communities.

Those of you who read this journal on my Splinister site needn’t worry as I will continue to post there too.

Now, back to playing catch-up.

Thu, 30 November 2006 overview

November ends and 2006 enters its last month.

I’ve been making progress on the Novel Idea (ha!), which requires thought and research. The latter is never a problem with me. I love research. Perhaps too much.

In between I’ve revised a short story, kissed its head, and sent it out into the dangerous world of red-pen-wielding editors.

Yesterday I discovered the wonderful organisation tool that is known as Tiddly Wiki. It’s a simple html file that allows you to organise your information in a handy Wiki-style. This means it’s portable and works across platforms (mostly). You can put it on a USB memory stick, with an install of Firefox, and you’ve got a WikiOnAStick. I’ve already created three of the little darlings. Luckily, I’ve been using Wikis for years so I’m familiar with their WritingStyles and quirks.

One of the new Wikis I created is an adaptation of my ideas document – an essential file for all writers. My old file was very simple: I categorised ideas by type (i.e. a screenplay, short story, etc.). Its replacement is a more comprehensive file that categorises ideas in a similar fashion, but also contains information about what’s completed, in progress, and out at market. I’ve even created a replica of my submissions-tracking table in the html file.

This task wasn’t just time-wasting or writing-avoidance, because it made me take inventory of all the work I’ve created. There were stories I’d forgotten about, sometimes with good reason. As well as fragments of tales that contain potential. Plus there are loads of ideas I haven’t tackled. It made me realise that I’m finishing projects at a regular rate.

I assess my progress at the end of each year, and set out goals for the following twelve months. This year I suspect I’ll be content with my improvement.

I’ve a long way to go before I’ll be truly happy with the quality and regularity of my writing. The only solution is to write more often.

Life’s simple, sometimes.

Thu, 16 November 2006 events of note

I’ve been quiet because I’ve been busy. Plus there’s been another wedding.

It’s unlikely at this stage that I’m going to make the 50K goal of NaNoWriMo, but I don’t mind because it’s been a great focus and I’m happy with the work I’m developing.

I’ve not felt the urge to write anything in this blog of late. I’d rather do, than write about doing at the moment. Perhaps that will change in the future.

I noticed today on IFTN that the final shortlist for the RTÉ Filmbase Short Script Awards has been announced officially. My mate Alan Keane has made the grade with his script, Remote. Congratulations to Alan for a well-deserved placement in the top ten, and I wish him the best in the upcoming interview.

My alma mater, the Huston School of Film and Digital Media, is hosting the John Huston Centenary Conference from November 23rd-24th 2006. It’s an academic conference, but it includes screenings of two classic John Huston films: The African Queen, and The Dead. There should be something among the events to tempt the historian or the amateur film buff.

Back to writing.