Caliban's End

The Lady on the Train

2009-11-28T06:35:00.013+10:30

A lady was smiling on the train the other morning. If you have caught a peak hour train in Melbourne recently you would know that this is not a common occurrence. Connex makes it difficult to smile.

The woman was reading. With six more stations before my stop I pondered this. What made the woman smile?

On the platform, reading by moriza, 2006 Creative Commons Copyleft Licence

That's the thing about reading - it's personal. Although there are a lot of forms of communication that are as personal, reading is quite unique. The message is conveyed silently, without anyone else being able to receive the same message at the same time. It's not broadcast.

Reading gives the reader control. The reader decides upon the speed, the time of reading and the amount. I think this sort of control allows for a reader to form a bond with a book. Think about how we describe the act of reading: 'We curl up with a good book.' The phrase has connotations of intimacy.

Reading Time by adwriter, 2006 Creative Commons Licence

So why was the lady smiling? Perhaps what she was reading was funny. That would be the simplest answer. But I think it was probably more than that. Often when I am reading good literature, I am reminded of things I had forgotten. In a fashion akin to deja vu, an old feeling is rekindled. The essence of an emotion is distilled in a way that makes it recognisable in a most specific way. At that moment of recognition we smile. We see ourselves reflected in the book.

In many ways books are mirrors. Sometimes we may even see aspects of ourselves that do not make us smile but it is through these instances that connections are made and the book becomes more than just a collection of pages.

So if good books often reflect aspects of the reader, where do we stand with fantasy?

I have quite a clear view on this. Fantasy should, in my humble opinion, reveal as much about humanity as any other book. In fact, it has the potential to reveal more as it is not shackled to conventions that may restrict the exploration. Fantasy allows us to explore what ifs? What if I had the power to change things? What if I had the resources at my command to punish, avenge, alter, influence...

In some ways, this is what I have tried to do in Akin to Pity - explore the human condition by placing my characters in extraordinary situations. It is my hope that as people read the book, they consider themselves, imagine what they would do if placed in a comparable position? Akin to Pity focuses a lot more on the characters than What Lies Beneath. Whereas the first book had a fair amount of back-story to detail as it set up the premise of the story, Akin to Pity has the luxury of peeling back the skin of each character to reveal what lies beneath (forgive the gratuitous pun).

It is no coincidence that the title has an emotion as its focus. Akin to Pity is a much more emotional book. Over the past year, I have come to know these characters intimately, and when some of them met an unsavoury end, I felt it. It is my hope that my readers also feel the book acutely, in times of triumph as well as sadness .

I'll end this post with some happy news. After six months of feeling totally disenfranchised by Lulu.com as a result of their disgraceful shipping charges, I am pleased to say that things have now changed. I just ordered five copies of my first book at a paltry shipping cost of (US)$11.99 in total. So now, I feel motivated to put the final coat of polish on Akin to Pity and unleash it upon the world. There are still quite a few corrections to be made which have been uncovered by my editors (i.e. family) so I'll spend a couple of weeks sorting through these and then release it (hopefully in time for an Australian summertime read). Sorry it's taken so long, but - to be brutally honest - Lulu's shipping prices sapped me of any motivation to finish the drafting process. Now that problem has been attended to (and the exchange rate is good) I'm keen to wrap this project up and put a big bow on it. That seems the thing to do at Christmas time.

Caliban's End

2009-07-18T16:01:00.008+09:30

I'm happy to post that last word in the story of Caliban's End has been written. Last week I put the finishing touches on Akin to Pity, the second (and last) book in the Caliban's End saga. The book has since been sent off to the US publisher, printed and delivered back to me! (See goofy picture below)

It's a funny feeling to finish. There were lots of times I didn't think I would. But bucket loads of encouragement and interest got me over the line. And it feels brilliant. I feel like I've just eaten a massive Christmas dinner - now it's time to lie down on the couch and snooze.

Not only is the book done, but so is the wiki. In many ways, this was a much bigger job than the book itself (and not without its share of challenges). If you care to wander over to http://calibansend.pbworks.com/ , you'll find the wiki numbers well over 1,000 individual pages. Not only does each chapter of the books gets its own page, but every single thing in the books (characters, fauna, flora, places etc.) also gets its own page, and in many cases adds to the narrative of the novels.

It's a bit different so it's probably worth a look.

The book will be available for free download in a few weeks. I have a couple of clever people reading over the proofs, tracking down all the typos that my blurry eyes missed. Once they're done with their proof-reading, I'll correct the remaining mistakes and click the Available to Buy button on Lulu.com. Hopefully Lulu will have fixed up their rather horrendous issue with shipping costs. In their last correspondence with with me, they intimated that changes would be coming. Let's hope so because I want lots of people to read my book, not just people willing to splash out the extra dollars to get the new book (i.e. my mum, wife, close friends etc.)

Anyway, while you're waiting (or even if you're not) have a look at the cover (below) and please, please, please spend some time wandering through the wiki.

The Flow of the Thing

2009-04-03T10:07:00.004+10:30

Just a quick blog post today. It's more of a status update. I'm still working my way through the final draft of Akin to Pity, the second and final book in the Caliban's End saga. At the moment, I am in the highlands of Upper Scoriath with Lara, Edgar and others making their way to the breach in Sessymir. Don't worry - no spoilers here. As this group has made its way across the land, more and more of Caliban's work has come to light and it is most disturbing work indeed. There is no mistake about it - war has come to the Myr.

I mentioned it in my last post, but I'll say it again - I am really enjoying reading the book. In fact, I'm quite thrilled with the flow of the thing. Now the backstory, setting and characters have been properly introduced, it's a delight to dig deeper into the characters and I think it makes for more fulfilling reading. The second book is just as brutal as the first, but I am finding there are more moments of connection between the characters and the tone is a little more varied.

I created a little video for Akin to Pity. It's a trailer of sorts. I was experimenting with marrying images to music. My intention was to follow the tone and rhythm of the music so the whole thing had a cohesive feel. You can be the judge of whether I have succeeded.

The YouTube version of this video can be found here. The music Lux Aeterna/Requiem for a Dream is by Clint Mansell.

Getting Back in the Saddle

2009-03-16T13:23:00.006+10:30

It's March? Already? No, that can't be right.

You know, late summer should conjure up images of lazy, balmy afternoons, long twilights and languorous hours spent reading trashy magazines or watching even trashier TV. Unfortunately, I can't say this has characterised my experience of recent months. Returning to work after Christmas break has been like jumping into freezing cold water (the type that makes one's brain hurt).

Last year, I would spend my lunchtimes sitting in the gardens across the road reading over the manuscript of What Lies Beneath. It was a nice way to spend sixty minutes. This year, my lunch breaks have been occupied with far more prosaic pursuits.

What significance does this hold for anyone reading this blog? Basically, it means that Akin to Pity (the sequel to What Lies Beneath) will be in print slightly later than I had hoped. I'm looking at May now unfortunately. It's a reality of the amateur writer I guess - doing the stuff that pays the bills must come first.

However, it's not all gloom and doom. Over recent days I have been re-reading the manuscript of Akin to Pity and I'm finding that I'm not making a lot of corrections. I'm already up to page 75, trotting along at a pretty good pace, so it might not take that long after all. What's more important is that I'm actually enjoying what I'm reading. The three months I have spent separated from the Caliban's End saga have not made reading the second book any harder, which bodes well for other readers methinks.

It's probably worth mentioning here the reaction I've had to the first book. As readers of this blog would know, I've been a little nervous that the book may have been too inaccessible and demanding for most readers but the feedback I've received has been to the contrary. Most readers have enjoyed the complexity, even revelled in it. I think I was slightly disheartened by a few comments I received early on - before the book officially went to print - that suggested the narrative was too dense, and I've been apologising for it ever since. Now about thirty people have read the book from start to finish, I'm realising that the challenges the book puts before the reader are pretty much what some people want in their reading.

What has also astounded me is how supportive most people have been about it. The one thing most people seem to be short on is time, which has made it incredibly satisfying to know that there are people who have spent their moments of leisure reading my book. What's even more fulfilling is the extra time they have taken in giving me feedback and asking questions born out of a desire to know what happens next. I've been blown away by the hypotheses some people have had. I don't want to spoil things for them suffice to say there are things in the sequel that may surprise my readers (but hopefully satisfy them too).

Since finishing What Lies Beneath I've played around with the idea of taking the books to publishers or even writing a screenplay of it, but I'm in no hurry. I'll spend the next month or two getting Akin to Pity ready for print and then see what happens from there. It's been good to have a little break from it, but now I'm back in the saddle, I'm keen to dig the spurs into the snorse and get moving again.

A Christmas Tale

2008-12-25T09:00:00.005+10:30

In my last post I mentioned that my novel What Lies Beneath had inexplicably dropped off the face of the earth (or, more specifically, Lulu's website). Well, I'm happy to report that the problem has been quickly resolved and the book is not only accessible from this link http://www.lulu.com/content/2796543 but it is also available now through search at Lulu.com.

I'll just use this post to add my thanks for all the interest and support I have received from people as I have bumbled my way through this project. Merry Christmas.

Taking the Good with the Bad

2008-12-23T08:48:00.008+10:30

It's been an interesting week, that's for sure. After a handful of days, the book has sold over ten copies now (mainly family and friends but not entirely).

I've received a some really nice comments on the blog and via Twitter which is appreciated more than many people probably realise. I think I've quoted Matthew Reilly before but here it is again:

To anyone who knows a writer, never underestimate the power of your encouragement.

Last night I received this week's Google analytics for the blog. I've had a startling number of visitors compared to previous weeks - 149 visitors this week compared to 5 last week! The majority of these are from the US and Australia but I have also had visits from Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand, China, Germany, Finland, Morocco and Malaysia which is simply brilliant.

Unfortunately, last night I also received an email containing an error message from Lulu.com and this morning one of my Twitter followers (Katherine from Toronto, Canada) said that she received an 'Item not available' error when she went to http://www.lulu.com/content/2796543 which is pretty annoying, especially when people make the effort to have a look at the online storefront.

Hopefully it's just a temporary glitch in the system. I'll put up a post as soon as Lulu.com tell me the problem's solved. So far this is all I know:

Perhaps I should start saving for my own printing press.

Spine

2008-12-15T15:58:00.008+10:30

Finally.

After months of paper supply problems and printing mishaps, the book is available. The waiting is over and the politely written emails to publishers (flavoured ever so slightly with a sprig of frustration) and awkward apologies to interested friends and family are now relics of the past.

In my small, grubby hands is a book whose spine bears my name. Can't help but feel a little proud. It's not that I've penned a masterpiece - the pride doesn't come from there. It's more that I've seen the thing through to its proper conclusion. In the maelstrom of holding down a full-time job whilst trying to be a full-time dad and husband, finishing a book and getting it into print seems like a triumph. Not a world-changing victory by any means, but a significant one to me.

Let's cut to the chase. If you were inclined to buy What Lies Beneath where would you go?

If you click on the link http://www.lulu.com/content/2796543 you will arrive at Lulu.com's online bazaar - specifically, my stall amongst the labyrinth of vendors all vying to sell you exotic goods. It's as simple as clicking on the Add to Cart button, and going through the sort of process familiar to anyone who has ever purchased anything online. There's a Paypal option (much like Ebay) as well as a few others like Visa.

Someone asked me the other day whether I expected to make much money out of the venture. I'll get this out of the way as it's something that seems to repeat itself like a sausage from Bunnings. I will make a few cents off each copy sold. Literally, a few cents. The price of the book as basically as low as I could make it - I want people to read it.

As I've stated before, it's a challenging book in some ways, but the happy few who have read it so far have told me that it's a rewarding read once the pieces of the puzzle start falling into place. I liken it to a difficult rock-climb. At first things seem daunting and the view is obscured by some difficult early sections, but perseverance pays off and by Chapter Six, patterns begin to emerge and the reader, like a good climber, should discover a rhythm to the way in which they traverse what lies before them.

I have a friend at work who is reading the book and she's picking up on things buried in the story that I thought would be easily missed. It's an absolute delight to hear of such discoveries (certainly worth more than a few dollars).

If anyone's reading this blog who hasn't wandered through the pages of What Lies Beneath's supporting wiki, please make a coffee, open up that tin of Christmas shortbreads and lose your way in the miasma that is http://calibansend.pbwiki.com/

After Christmas, I'll start preparing Akin to Pity (the second and final book) for its transmutation into ink and paper, but for now I think I just continue to enjoy reading Matthew Reilly's Six Sacred Stones and catching up on Season Four of Battlestar Galactica.

Wiki is go!

2008-11-18T07:17:00.006+10:30

Well, that's done! It's taken a while but the Caliban's End wiki is going public! http://calibansend.pbwiki.com/

What is it? It's a website of sorts containing the whole project. Basically, if wikipedia and my books had a drunken night of fun, the Caliban's End wiki would be their love-child. It contains a lot of backstory, a lot of geographical, historical, biographical and cultural details that are alluded to in the books, but more than anything, it's where my imagination ran rampart, creating things in more weird detail than even the books would allow. The wiki was the primordial ooze from which creatures such as sandkytes, mockworms, durnodaws and friggu came to life.

Now if you peruse the pages of the wiki, you will come across a lot of pages that contain people, places and creatures that aren't in What Lies Beneath (the first book). It should be noted, such things weren't just created for the wiki. You'll probably find them hiding in the pages of Akin to Pity (the second book).

So is the wiki an appendix? In a way, it is. I wanted to add another layer. The wiki provides quite a few twists on what happens in the novels. For example, there's a scene on a ship where one of the main characters trips a sailor so he falls overboard. It's a mildly amusing scene in the book. In the wiki you discover this character can't actually swim. So the wiki adds a twist here and there. I have tried hard to avoid spoilers, but if you read the wiki comprehensively, you may work out some things that are a bit more cryptic in the books.

However, no-one is going to read the wiki from start to finish - it currently numbers 742 pages!

Now I must add, even though the wiki is accessible, it's not complete. The beauty of it is I can easily add pages and fix errors with a few quick clicks. If you see any obvious mistakes, please let me know.

So what now?

I'm going to take a breather. Watch some trashy TV, play some Gears of War and read some things I didn't write.

Unfortunately, my frustrations with Lulu.com have continued. Although they conceded the recent printing alignment issues were their fault and the problem was being fixed, I received the latest proof last Friday and as you can see by the picture below, it isn't the result I was hoping for. Sadly, I'll probably take the whole project elsewhere. The book is available to buy from Lulu.com at the moment but I'm not encouraging anyone spend their money on something that's NQR.

'What Lies Beneath': MIA?

2008-11-10T20:24:00.006+10:30

The past couple of weeks have seen some friends and family ask one question about the book - where is it?

Hopefully it will be in my mailbox tomorrow. Now the Lulu.com problem with page thickness has been fixed, I'm just awaiting my copy. If it's okay (i.e. cover on the right way, page numbers where they should be etc.) I'll flick the switch and anyone who is interested has the opportunity to purchase the book.

When you go to Lulu.com you are given the Prologue and Chapter One to preview. This only amounts to a handful of pages so it makes sense to offer another chapter here. This was a suggestion made to me by a reader of this blog and it's a good one as it gives people the chance to check out whether the book will appeal to them before they lay their hard-earned down.

Originally, it was my intention that the wiki (http://calibansend.pbwiki.com/) would serve this purpose, but it has been a colossal undertaking and is still a week or so away from being finished. Basically every character, place, ship, institution and concept gets its own page on the wiki, even a dead pet fish. The fish features for a sentence in the book but in the wiki it gets its own page.

Today's preview chapter occurs about two thirds of the way through the book but it has some minor spoilers (i.e. nothing that will totally ruin the story but please take heed - it does throw some light on some events that could be considered spoilerific).

Chapter 11 Mag Mel

Why this chapter? It's one of the most self-contained ones and may be easier to read as a result. Also, thematically and stylistically it's fairly representative of the novel and lastly, it has Sir Edgar in it who is one of my favourite characters.

Hopefully, I'll be putting out another blog post this week saying the wiki and/or the book is ready.

May your news be good news

2008-09-25T21:53:00.002+09:30

It's been a fairly long wait but I just received some pleasing news from Lulu.com. It seems the issue that has held up my book What Lies Beneath is on the cusp of being resolved. Here's an extract from an email I received earlier this evening:

We do have some good news in the works; the paper issue will be resolved within weeks, possibly less, and we should then see these future orders on our normal standard of printing. This would also fix the misalignment issues of the spine, as the paper would not be so thin, which is what is causing the spine misalignment.

Why does this fill me with the happiness of one hundred warm puppies? Because I'm a virgoan and I like to finish stuff. I like full stops. I like to rub my little hands together and say, 'That's done!' Closure is as important to me as it is to a bear trap.

This correspondence means I can now (now as in soon) say to friends, family and that odd fellow who talks to me at the train station on Wednesdays: 'Oh yeah - the book's on sale now. Just head over to Lulu.com and buy yourself a copy.'

It's a good night to be me.

Ten Tips for Reading 'What Lies Beneath'

2008-09-07T19:58:00.004+09:30

On the eve of my first book going public, I thought I'd put out a top ten list to accompany its release. What lies below is a list of tips that may help you in your trek across the pages of What Lies Beneath.

Make a mental note of anything that seems significant. If it seems important, it probably is.
Don't expect all loose threads to be tied up in this book. Some matters aren't resolved until the final chapters of Akin to Pity (the second and final book in the tale).
Give yourself time to read What Lies Beneath in uninterrupted chunks - it will be difficult to tame the narrative if you only read it a page or two at a time.
Try to spot the literary allusions - there's quite a few although some are a bit obscure.
Pay heed to the names. Many of them reveal a thing or two about the characters, creatures and countries of the Myr.
Get attached to certain characters but don't expect them all to live.
Consult with the Map on my wiki if you get a bit lost.
Check out the Characters page of the wiki if you'd like some more details on the characters.
Feel free to email me if you need clarification of anything you stumble across in the book.
Don't expect literary genius. The book is - after all - a hobby. It's far from perfect, but I hope you find it interesting enough to read to the end.

I'll be giving details in my next post about where/how to buy the book.

A Word from our Sponsors

2008-07-25T00:57:00.011+09:30

Brief update: I received an email from Lulu saying they are endeavouring to fix the printing problem as quickly as they can, so that seems like good news.

Tonight I decided to create an advertisement for What Lies Beneath. If you look directly above, you will see a picture of the northern coastline of Morae with the words Play and Stop loitering about. In this space I have assembled some of the pictures I have created for the Caliban's End wiki (out of beta soon) and put them to music. I put it all together in SwishMax which is a distant cousin of Flash. Most of the pictures were found in Morguefile which permits artists and writers to use the images without fear of infringing upon copyright. Other images were either sent to me by friends or I took them myself. I modified the images in Corel Photopaint which I actually prefer to Photoshop ('Heresy!' somebody cried).

The music came from the Creative Common site ccmixter. The song is called Strange Love and it is by Manolo Camp.

This little video is actually the short version. I amazed how many pictures I have done over the past couple of years; the longer version of this video will include twice as many images as this one!

I hope you like what you see. Just click the Play button to start and Stop when you've had enough. Enjoy!

BTW: If you're wondering how I managed to embed Flash into a Blogger page, check here for the secret sauce.

Cheers, Paul

Going Dark

2008-07-18T10:41:00.004+09:30

In software development, there's a phrase to describe periods when no-one hears anything from the code monkeys writing the software and the silence usually suggests a problem- it's called going dark.

Now whilst I haven't gone dark with my writing, things have slowed down a little due to a number of factors (i.e. other things that take up my time):

Work - unfortunately I have to pay the bills somehow and lately work's been the sort of slog that leaves you knackered by the end of the day.
The Caliban's End wiki - this is my wikipedia of the world of Caliban's End and it involves just as much writing. It's coming along nicely but it's far from finished
Printing problems - at the moment, I wouldn't be recommending Lulu.com with the confidence I once had. Hopefully they can resolve the issue before I use another self-publishing company.

Anyhoo, it's all part of the experience. The book won't be available to buy any time soon but I'm determined to make it available before the seasons change again.

On a completely unrelated matter, I thought I'd throw the text of What Lies Beneath into Wordle to see which words I'm using a lot. Here's the result (click on it for a better view):

Arrival

2008-06-06T14:24:00.006+09:30

Something came in the mail today... it was rectangular and surprisingly heavy.

Now what happens now the book's here? Well, I need to reread it and make sure there are no printing issues. Then I make my changes and get the whole thing printed again. I am just euphoric about how the thing looks, but I will be making changes. The font is a little too small. My fault, not theirs. I wanted to save paper by making the text small, but it's a little too hard to read. I also need to shift around a few things like the dedications to everything is nice and symmetrical. This means it will be a little while before the book can be purchased, but - as I have to remind myself - it's a hobby, so I can take my time.

By the way, the cover photo was taken by Shaun Quinlan. I found it on Morguefile which is a wonderful site that contains free image reference material for use in all creative pursuits. The lake in the picture is Lake Wakitipu in New Zealand which is not far from Queenstown in the South Island. I chose it for a number of reasons. Firstly, it's a beautiful photograph. Secondly, I have a sentimental attachment to New Zealand - when I was a wee lad, my dad took our family for an extended holiday in New Zealand and my memories of that time are the most vivid memories I have of my childhood. Lastly, it's a perfect match for Lake Erras, the lake that features prominently in the early chapters of What Lies Beneath. It also comes back into prominence towards the end of the second book Into the Endless. The trilogy's title Caliban's End is derived from the great vortex that lies at the heart of this fictional lake.

View Larger Map

An excellent gift for any occasion

2008-05-15T18:23:00.007+09:30

Just a small but significant post tonight...

It's been a wonderful week. I took two days off work to finish the final edit of What Lies Beneath and managed to do everything I set out to do. Although I'm sure there are still a few mistakes hiding out amongst the pages like wily banditos in the hills above a dusty Mexican town, the first book is now online and almost available to purchase. The first copy is being printed as we speak and in a week or so I'll get a paperback copy in my grubby little paws. In the biz, this is called a proof (I'm in the biz now) and once I give the proof a nod of approval, it will then be available for all to read. I'll be getting an ISBN so the book can be sold through Amazon, Barnes and Noble (and Ebay once friends and family realise that the book's not their up of tea!)

The sale price will be $US 13.95. It will also be available to download as a PDF for 5 greenbacks. Start saving those pennies.

I have still got a bit to do on the Caliban's End wiki but that should be ready for public consumption by the time I give the green light to Lulu.com to roll the presses.

Before Hell Freezes Over

2008-04-23T06:44:00.004+09:30

I need to explain something.

Late last year, the person who had kindly offered to edit my books had to tend to other matters. The job of editing fell back into my lap and I had no idea just how painful and time-consuming the task would be. Sometimes I have had to spend over an hour on a single page and when two of the three books number over 500 pages, that's an awful lot of time I have to scrape together.

Even though the book was finished, the work is not. Editing has led to a battalion of changes for which I had not planned. I have changed the names of a number of characters (including the tale's protagonist). I have also changed the name of the world in which the Caliban's End saga is set - it's no longer Terra. That's a lot of individual changes.

Editing is hard. You wouldn't wish it upon an enemy or a real estate agent. Squeezing the task into the small spaces that exist between work, family, friends and other stuff has been a wee bit challenging. This is the business end of the project and to be honest, it's the least interesting part.

So, if you have been able to sustain even a modicum of interest in this avocation o' mine, thanks for your curiosity - it is appreciated.

I have written a preface to the first book. FYI, it's below.

Caveat Emptor
(or 'Danger, Will Robinson!')

A Preface

Perhaps 'Preface' is the wrong word for it. Forewarning seems more appropriate. Please indulge me as I make one or two comments before your boots get muddy in the world of Caliban's End.

First of all, a confession. This trilogy was not written to be popular fiction. It breaks most of the conventions of popular fiction and ignores most of the sage advice given by writers who know a lot more about the craft than I do. This is not a book that is designed to be a best-seller. It won't pay off my mortgage any time soon.

This begs the question - why spend so much time on something that won't make bags of money?

The simple answer is that financial gain is not the only motivating force in the universe. These books have been a hobby and I have enjoyed writing them as a hobby. Whilst I did not play by the rules in terms of structure, length, number of characters etc. I did follow one piece of advice - write the book you want to write. This advice rests on the premise that there will be others out there in shadowy corners of the globe who are similarly enamoured by a particular approach to writing.

So in that context, I have succeeded. I think I've written the sort of book I would enjoy.

So what does that mean? Let me explain.

I've read The Lord of the Rings books three times. I've read Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter series twice. I've read Peake's Gormenghast novels three times each. As a child I even read the Finn Family Moomintroll series at least five times over. And in all cases, I found myself wishing for more. In my mind, I would expand the universe, follow the paths of characters who were only glimpsed at in the main narrative. For example, in The Fellowship of the Ring, whatever happened to Radagast? I wanted to follow his journey further but could only do so in the form of conjecture.

Caliban's End is a little different. The world is made a little larger to accommodate the tales of ancillary characters. The first book What Lies Beneath spends some time in exploring the lives of a range of characters including lesser players (some of whom - unfortunately - do not make it to the end of the trilogy). A critic might dismiss this as undisciplined writing. Perhaps it is. But I wanted to properly explore this world I have invented and occasionally that meant I would stray down little laneways that led away the central narrative.

This perambulation means that the reader has to walk a long and twisted path - it is a demanding read. At times, there are more characters on the page than is probably necessary, but I am reluctant to remove them to make the book more accessible. The non-linear structure of the writing may annoy some readers, but I did not want to dumb things down in order to create a book that could be easily enjoyed in an airport lounge. I revelled in creating a dense, intricate world. Some may dislike the novels as a result, some may find them convoluted and some may put the first book down having struggled to get up the rock-face in the first chapter. But it is my hope that there are a few individuals who are captivated by it. The internet allows me to throw my net widely and there is a chance I might snag one or two readers who want to get lost in the stories of the people I follow in these tales.

I hope you will be one such person.

I Know What I Did Last Summer

2008-01-13T21:43:00.001+10:30

I know it's been a little while since my last post but I've been a little busy. In fact, so busy that I have something to announce - I finished writing the whole thing!

Yes, I wrote the last line of the trilogy this afternoon at about 5pm. It's a pretty amazing feeling to finish it. I won't write a long post but this is what I'm thinking... I take a month off before I look at the book again. Then I'll reread it, fix errors, get a bit of feedback and then off it goes to Lulu.com for printing.

I'll be fixing up the Caliban's End wiki after the time off and then working on getting some artwork happening. I might even record the books and put it up on Podiobooks or some such place. Once the books are online, I'll make this blog and the wiki public and see what happens.

Just for the stats, here's the final word count for the trilogy. (Ignore the page count - I used tiny font!)

Now to put this in some kinds of perspective, the average novel is about 80,000 words long. If you average my books out, you get about 165,000 words per book which puts it into the Epic (unpublishable) category.

Anyway, it's done and I'm a little proud of it. I really liked the way it all came together at the end. I hope I like it as much when I reread it!

Thanks to a ridiculously supportive wife for helping me out. She took this photo of me on the last day of writing. I'm trying to look a bit bohemian in the picture but I think the Superman t-shirt ruins the moody, anguished writer look I was going for.

Words

2007-10-29T19:03:00.000+10:30

"I know about words . . . about the depth charges they carry."
- Narrator from 'After Long Absence' (Dislocations by Janette Turner Hospital)

Shakespeare was believed to have been responsible for introducing about 1,700 words into the English language. Technology has also introduced its fair share of words over recent years. What I have done in Caliban's End is reintroduce quite a few words that are rarely used these days. Why reintroduce them? Because they should never have dropped out of common usage!

I'll give you a few of my favourites below. The novels have a race (the Spriggans) whose speech is characterised by an indulgence in ornate language - logorrhea is the word for it. You may have heard some of these words before, but even if you haven't, please don't let that stop you from using them in your next conversation with that special someone you hope to impress.

atrabilious: melancholy; splenetic; acrimonious, irritable
bibacious: overly fond of drinking
bloviate: to write or speak windily
bullyrag: to assault with abusive language; to badger
caliginous: misty; dark; dim; obscure
callow: unfledged; inexperienced
corvine: crow-like; of, like or pertaining to crows or ravens
drygulch: to murder by pushing off a cliff
effluvium: invisible emanation; offensive exhalation or smell
gloaming: period between sunset and full night; dusk
humgruffin: terrible person
juggins: a simpleton
logorrhea: excessive flow of words; uncontrollable garrulity
meliorism: the belief the world tends to become better
miasma: foul vapours from rotting matter; unwholesome air
naupathia: sea sickness
ophidian: of or like a snake
pusillanimous: lacking firmness; cowardly; having a weak character
quotidian: everyday; commonplace found in the ordinary course of events
scuttles: portholes on a ship
soporific: tending to produce sleep
stagnicolous: living in stagnant water
thanatosis: gangrene; necrosis; state imitating death
trilemma: quandary having three choices
uliginous: slimy; oozy; swampy; growing in swampy places
voraginous: pertaining to a whirlpool;
wormwood: something bitter, galling, or grievous
worricow: scarecrow; hobgoblin; frightening-looking person

On a completely unrelated note, you may have noticed my little Podbean player on the side of the page. This contains music that I have associated with certain characters and events in the novel. You may find it interesting to listen to some of it and see what images float into your head. I'll be adding to this every now and then, hopefully with some original stuff early next year once the books are done.

To end this post, I'll give a quick summary of where I'm up to in the books. You can see by the 'Chapter Completion' chart on the right that quite a lot has been done since my last post. Although I had the best of intentions to finish the whole saga by the end of October so I could have it printed in time for Christmas, things haven't worked out that way. This is understandable, now the book is actually a trilogy.

Despite a busy month with conferences, birthday parties and falling off bunks, I have manage to keep writing every day and hopefully the quantity hasn't been at the expense of quality. I don't think it has. In fact, I've been delighted with a few little twists and turns I've been able to weave into the narrative. But to say anything more will spoil the dish.

I have titled the three books. They are:

What Lies Beneath (Book One)
Into the Endless (Book Two)
Akin to Pity (Book Three)

Let me know what you think of the titles. They can be changed if the consensus is they stink (although I kind of like them, especially Akin to Pity).

Hopefully next time I post I'll be in the home straight. Until then...

That's a lot of paper!

2007-09-21T20:50:00.000+09:30

Just a quick post tonight. The footy's on telly (Geelong v Collingwood) so I'm writing this during the ad breaks. Yesterday I printed what I've written so far and what I now have in my hands is quite a weighty tome. It's wonderful to be able to use that phrase!

How weighty, you ask?

At the moment the books are 666 pages in total. Yes, I know that's a sinister number. But it gets weightier! I have typed up the manuscript in tiny font to save paper. Tonight I reformatted the whole thing in the font size and page set-up stipulated by Lulu.com (where I am publishing it) and it came in at 1198 pages! Now just so you can get a sense of how long that is, Tolkien's entire Lord of the Rings trilogy is 1069 pages long. And I haven't even finished!

Of course, it a poor comparison because a lot of what I have penned is probably utter rubbish, but it nice to have so much done anyway.

I'm sometimes asked, 'How long to go?' To answer this, I have supplied a bar chart on the blog (just to the right). It shows how complete each chapter is. 99% basically means it's finished, pending any editorial advice I receive. The book is 49 chapters long and a lot of it's done as you can see. I have decided to divide it into three books. It's a practical decision. It's now too long to print as two.

The other thing to mention is I have also added a chat facility to the blog. If you have a question, or you see I'm online and on a crazy whim you decide to say hello, all you have to do is type your message into the little widget! It's that simple. No log-ins to worry about. Of course, you could pretend to be someone else and type in a nasty comment, but please bear in mind I am very sensitive and may cry should you upbraid me in any way.

I think I am on target to have the whole project wrapped up by Christmas. Hopefully everyone will be getting the same present from me!

Back to the footy now.

Enjoy what you do

2007-08-13T18:41:00.000+09:30

'To anyone who knows a writer, never underestimate the power of your encouragement.' - Matthew Reilly

The past few weeks have been pretty busy and I haven't been writing as much as I was when I last posted. That said, I must say that I found a bit of a groove with my writing in the past couple of weeks and in the absence of anything profound to say, I thought I'd comment on that.

Instead of jostling shoulder to shoulder with other commuters on a packed city-bound train, I have been leaving half an hour earlier and this has guaranteed me that Holy Grail of long-suffering Connex concubines - a seat! And instead of blankly staring out the window through a patina of gunk and grime, I manage to write two or three pages by the time to get to Parliament Station.

Now I know I could head into the office and start work early giving my employers a little more value for money, but I resist that urge and head into The Commune (pictured below) where I can write another page or so with the frothy goodness of a latte in my little hand. (My right hand that is - I write with my left).

The end of the working day swings around and instead of taking the train home I wander down through Fitzroy Gardens to the tram stop where I can climb aboard a half-empty tram and get another page or three nailed before a short walk home. This practice has enabled me to get six or so pages done each work day without breaking a sweat. Sure I have to type it up when I get home but I can do that whilst watching telly or some other cerebral cortex-lite activity.

Now if all this writing sounds like a chore, I've badly misrepresented it. I actually enjoy the process, and as I'm writing fantasy I can travel a lot further in my book in an hour than a tram can take me.

I'm in a really good place with the second book right now. Book One had a lot of exposition in it. Obviously lots of characters and places had to be introduced. Book Two affords me the opportunity of delving deeper into these characters and their relationships with one another and the strange world they inhabit. It means I can inject a lot more humour into the narrative, as well as deepening the sense of tragedy when things go awry.

Characters such as Sela Noye, a four foot tall, porcupine-type person with a penchant for turning every conversation into an argument are so much fun to write. Others, such as Sir Edgar Worseley, the fastidious knight who will stop mid-battle to wipe the mess off his sword, and Mulupo, the frequently drunk and painfully loquacious Spriggan, tend to write themselves and it is sometimes hard to scribble/type fast enough to keep up with their antics.

I've also derived a fair amount of pleasure from creating creatures of all descriptions. There's the ridiculous two-headed flummox that is so irascible that one of its heads will attack the other despite the pain it will cause to itself. And there's the dim-witted, thousand yard long mockworm that is so scared of all other creatures that it will disguise itself as a hill to avoid being seen. But my favourite of all is the petty, petulant quawk replete with an offensive bodily function that is best left out of the blog for now.

I can hear two naughty children jumping up and down on the beds upstairs. Their mum has left me in charge and it's all gone pear-shaped. I'll cut this short and post again some time soon.

Harry Potter and the Amateur Writer

2007-07-22T08:45:00.000+09:30

Here's the latest. Book One is being read by my editor Catherine (that sounds very formal and impressive, doesn't it!) so I have been slaving away at the wiki which is rapidly approaching 500 pages. I have also been writing on the tram to/from work and I'm fairly chuffed with how some of the latter chapters are progressing.

However, yesterday was a day off. It was July 21st - the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I was one of millions across the globe who lined up for my copy of the book and a soft, plush owl.

So "What's so good about Harry Potter?" I was asked by a curious colleague on Friday. Now I could write a book about this but as I have another book to finish, I'll restrict myself to a few points.

Firstly standing in line yesterday really highlighted the fact that in a world of photo-realistic video games, high-speed Internet and futuristic iPhones, people still like to read. Love to read. That's kind of reassuring when you're trying to be a writer. I actually enjoyed standing in line for two hours. I had one of my boys with me and it was wonderful to see him absorb what was going on around him. Also the slow queue through Borders actually forced him to look at the covers of hundreds of books and ask questions about them.

It is pleasing in a world where cynicism seems to be the soup of the day to see the bubbly enthusiasm Rowling's books have created. It's also been pleasing to see that the interest in her novels has grown rather than dwindled. The proud loyalty of her readers really shows that not everything should be considered a passing phase. Some things are more than just fashion.

Why do I like the Harry Potter books? I'll try to keep this short. I have found I have been continually impressed by Rowling's sense of structure. She achieves a wonderful balance of exposition and drama. It is interesting now that Dumbledore is dead- that's not a spoiler; he died in the last book - she has had to employ other ways to weave in exposition. In previous books, the role of explaining things - the backstory, or pre-history if you like - always fell to the sagacious Dumbledore. But now he's gone Rowling can't use him for this crucial role. She has resorted to other means which I think is more interesting. The use of obituaries, biographies and letters in Deathly Hallows makes the exposition more interesting. It's also engaging to receive the backstory from less obvious characters, especially (minor spoiler here) a character like Kreacher, who is an unusual but brilliant vehicle for filling in details.

I am also enamoured by Rowling's intricate management of the narrative. I am just over 200 pages into the book (it's about 600 pages long) and she is slowly and inexorably tying together her many plot threads. Inevitably, this will be seen by some to be a weakness in the last book - she doesn't introduce many new storylines - but this is more than compensated by the way in which she wraps up what has been dangling until now.

Rowling's attention to detail has been exquisite. Seemingly small details often take on great significance, which encourages a reader to read closely in the hope he or she does not miss a vital clue as to the mysteries contained within. This 'puzzle' quality is certainly something I have tried to do in Caliban's End. When people are lining up to read my novels, I hope they are also discussing their theories on why's and wherefore's.

I also like the humour of the Harry Potter novels. Having grown up on a diet of The Goodies and The Young Ones, I have found myself preferring British humour to American (just compare the UK's The Office to the American version). There are traces of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett in Rowling's style of humour which is not a bad thing. Most of this is character driven and occasionally slapstick, which appeals to the idiot in me. For example, on the morning of his 17th birthday Harry uses magic outside of Hogwarts for the first time. Although his glasses are only a foot away, he uses a spell to retrieve them and promptly stabs himself in the eye with them. It's not high-brow humour, but it is appealing.

In contrast to the pratfall comedy, I am regularly captivated by Rowling's classical aspects, espcially in the area of magical creatures. She weaves in so much mythology that her books resemble a classical bestiary and it is always interesting to see the twists she supplies to her interpretations of creatures such as phoenixes, basilisks and bogards. She draws widely using Egyptian, Celtic, Greek and Scandinavian cultures to embellish her work and this is reliably balanced by creatures of pure invention (like the Blast-Ended Skrewts). Admittedly, so far her last book keeps the introduction of new creatures to a minimum, but that's to be expected in a novel attempting to satisfy readers seeking resolution.

I have always loved Rowling's penchant for hinting at a person's significant aspects through her use of names. Characters such as Voldemort/Tom Riddle, Professor Lupine, Sirius Black, Severus Snape and many more have clues built into their names. At times, these may be a bit obvious (I knew Remus Lupine was a werewolf the first time I read his name), it all contributes to the fun in the telling of the tale. Even names such as Peter Pettigrew and Horace Slughorn have such a playful, Dickensian quality (Pumblechook, Magwitch... ) that encountering each new character's name alone is a small event.

Speaking of names, there is one new character whose name bothers me - Pius Thicknesse. I actually like the name, but it causes me grief. Somehow, someone leaked the manuscript of Caliban's End to JK Rowling, as I already have a character called Pius. I'm sick of changing things because other more established author (and film-makers) keep ripping me off. It's not paranioa when they are following you. It happened like this. I needed a first name for the King of Pelinore. I was typing away with my two typing fingers and Channel's 7 Rich List was on telly in the background. The contestants were compiling a list of Pope's names and I took a break to have a go. Sadly, I could only name 3 popes (hopefully my mum doesn't read this blog) but the contestants got about 12. Anyway, one of them was Pius. I thought if it's good enough for a pope, it's good enough for the King of Pelinore. Perhaps JK Rowling was watching the same show! I'm not sure whether I'll change it. Probably not. I'm at page 203, the character of Pius Thicknesse has not had a lot of coverage yet, but Harry and co. are heading into the Ministry of Magic where he works (I won't spoil it and say what he does) so I may have to change it.

There are some other things that are similar that I'm not going to change. Minor spoiler ahead. At one point in the first few chapters of Deathly Hallows, a character has his ear removed. I too have a character who has his ear removed - Samuel Melkin. I know I could have a different appendage or limb removed, but the ear is crucial on a symbolic level. Melkin refuses to listen to the threats of his enemies so the removal of his ear is a nice way to highlight this. Even though it's pretty horrible when Rowling's character loses his/her ear, I think my scene is less palatable and more gruesome. I wanted to somehow recreate that brilliant scene in King Lear when Gloucester has his eyes torn out by the Duke of Cornwall: "Out vile jelly." Here's an significantly abridged extract from my book.

Lucetious sank his teeth into the side of Melkin's head. After a grotesque flurry of movement, accompanied by Melkin's howls of agony, the Ghul lieutenant lifted his head to display a bloody ear resting between his jagged teeth. Lucetious took the ear and held it up for all to see. For a brief second, he eyed it curiously, licking his thin lips as he did so and for a second, Porenutious thought he was going to eat it.

But Lucetious was not interested in satiating any hunger he may have felt. He merely wanted his two prisoners to see that he had no qualms about hurting them. He casually threw the ear away and knelt down before the two bound men. "You need to understand this. I have no more concern for your limbs and appendages than I would for a tree. I would pull off your leaves and break your branches without a moment's hesitation."

He goes on from there, but you get the idea.

Another fairly obvious similarity between my book and Rowling's is that a number of important characters die. I won't spoil things here for either book, but I think JK and I agree on why these characters have to die. It heightens the drama. I remember Joss Whedon explaining why the much-loved character of Wash had to die in the film Serenity. It was important for the audience to realise that all characters were fair game in the final battle. This made the last 20 minutes of the film more intense, knowing that everyone was vulnerable.

Killing good characters is also a necessary part in creating antagonists that must be opposed. There's no point having bad guys that don't do anything bad. I have just written a part of Chapter 34, which precedes the final battle in my book, where Caliban does something so despicable, I'm amazed I actually thought of it. It has something to do with a truly tragic character called Meggan, but you'll have to wait until the book is done to find out what I'm talking about.

I'll tie things up here. It's Sunday morning and I have been promised a few hours of writing. After spending much of yesterday lying in bed reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I'm lucky to have another minute to myself.

You've been a bad boy...

2007-06-30T06:19:00.000+09:30

I thought I'd concentrate on villains in this blog, but before I start, I'll quickly mention what I've been doing since the last post. Book One is finished and I've had the manuscript printed. Yesterday it was given to a friend to read. This is absolutely terrifying. No-one but me has read the book yet. I like it and I don't want to spoil the 100% popularity rating the book currently has. But it has to be done. Hopefully, I'll develop the epidermis of a garumph before I get my first criticism.

I have also spent a lot of hours between 8pm and 1pm most nights working on the Caliban's End wiki. It will be available for public consumption in September. It has a zillion links to pages dedicated to specific characters, races, places and anything else of note, so it's somewhat large (over 400 pages so far which is pretty big for a website). The wiki is basically my wikipedia for the book and it contains lots of information that isn't in the novel accompanied by pictures I have developed in Corel (such as the ones running down the right-hand side of this blog).

Anyway, onto the theme of this post.

Who are the villains in Caliban's End?

Arguably, Caliban is the villain, chiefly because he is the architect of much misery and destruction in the novel. He's guilty of terrible acts of cruelty and seems to have no moral compass - or perhaps one that swings chaotically on its axis rather than facing one particular direction.

Cruelty is something my villains seems to have in common, but whereas Caliban is cruel because he has been deeply hurt, others in the novel are cruel just because they can be. I have used this element in numerous chapters to define my villains. I find cruelty abhorrent and whilst the displays of it make for uncomfortable reading - Lucetious' treatment of Samuel Melkin in Chapter Six is a passage I still find hard to read - I hope it evokes an emotional response in the reader, a desire to see that cruelty stopped and ultimately avenged.

For me, intellect is a crucial quality in a novel's antagonist. I know literature is replete with villains who lack intellect, but for me the presence of a sharp mind makes the villain more... well... villainous. Throughout this book, readers will notice the motif of 'Siege', a game loosely based on chess. This motif is emblematic of the strategies and machinations that characterise the inner workings of Caliban's mind. In this, he is akin to famous villains such as Conan Doyle's Professor Moriarty and Tolkien's Saruman, who possess brilliant minds, however misguided their thinking may be.

There is also something of Conrad's Kurtz in Caliban. It is true he has been altered by his isolation and Wade's journey into The Endless reminds us of Marlow's journey into the heart of darkness. Like Kurtz, Caliban has turned himself into a charismatic overlord of all the tribes in his dark realm and this seems to move him into a morally ambiguous state of mind.

I do have sympathies for Caliban. That is not to say I agree with what he does, but I do not find him as repugnant as other villains in the novel. In some ways he is like Javert in Les Miserables: I feel for him and can understand his motives though not agree them.

Fairly Mild Spoiler ahead: Similarly, I do feel for Lokasenna. Originally she was just written as a cold, heartless bitch, someone who was so aloof she was incomprehensible much like the lady who used to work in the ticket booth at the Balwyn theatre. In Lokasenna's 'feature' chapters (Chapter 21: Assipattle River and Chapter 25: Hollow Hills) you'll really grow to hate her, but when I re-read these chapters, I felt hatred was too simple an emotion to elicit from a reader - I felt she lacked depth as a character. This led me to write an entire chapter (Chapter: 13: Nilfheim) devoted to her backstory. I also rewrote quite a few earlier chapters to develop this element further. Now, she's the type of character that places the reader in a quandary - she's a victim first, then an antagonist. I like this dichotomy as it makes readers oscillate in their feelings towards her, which hopefully makes for more interesting reading.

Like Richard III, Darth Vader and Peter Pettigrew, Caliban and Lokasenna are villains with a physical deformity – it is no coincidence that both father and daughter share the same loss - their left hand. (There are quite a few symbolic reasons for this, as well as playful ones such as the fairly obvious homage being paid to Star Wars). Also, the leprosy that has infected Caliban's body reflects the way his desire for revenge has eaten at his soul. His fall into villainy is reflected in his physical devolution.

Caliban is - no pun intended - my Shakespearean villain. Through him the themes of betrayal and revenge are explored. With Caliban, I had a lot of scope to explore the psychological qualities of a villain and I'm happy with his complexity. Whilst archetypal in some respects, Caliban is also intricate, a quality I like in my villains.

He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it. --Chapter 41 (Moby Dick)

Hopefully readers will detect something 'classical' about the book's titular character. Like Melville's Captain Ahab (who also lost a limb), Khan in Star Trek's The Wrath of Khan (who quotes Moby Dick as he dies) and Picard in First Contact, Caliban becomes obsessive in his efforts to find his enemy. Caliban's relentless pursuit of his twin brother has hints of the same self-destructive aspect, a fact heightened by the novel's title Caliban's End. Is the title a deliberate attempt to mislead the reader? The question of whether the quest for revenge kills Caliban is answered at the end of the novel (Chapter 46: The Endless). You'll have to wait till then to find out.

If I may digress for a moment... my love of Moby Dick is evident in Chapter 5: Jurojin Straits. There is a scene just before Trojanu commences his final attack upon a terrifying sea beast that echoes the tension felt between Starbuck and Ahab before the final confrontation with the white whale. I love putting in these literary nods; hopefully readers will pick up on these. If not, I could always write a Cliff Notes type appendix to acknowledge and explain them!

It is true that Caliban suffers from the overconfidence that often characterises the dispositions of many villains. Part of this is justified by his incredible intellect and resourcefulness, but I must admit that this is also a plot device which leads to exposition that breaks down his intricate plans so that the reader may understand them. Does Caliban's overconfidence leads to his downfall as is so often the case with archetypal villains? Again, you'll have to wait to find out but rest assured - I have made sure I have avoided the clichés of this convention e.g. I don't think he is guilty of many of the flaws you'd find on the Evil Overlord List , it's worth checking out at http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html

Now a quick comment on some other unsavoury characters:

Maeldune - in a way he's modelled on the French aristocracy who cared nothing for those beneath them. Like some of the great villains in literature and movies, some of the worst acts of evil associated with Maeldune are actually performed by his subordinates. Maeldune rarely gets his own hands dirty.

Maeldune is also an opportunist. If you've ever read Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, Maeldune is much like Steerpike - he will do whatever he has to to push himself forward, to satiate his all-consuming ambition. He's Machiavellian and gets away with far more than he should. I like the way that Maeldune doesn't outwardly show his anger. He remains calm, polite, methodical and dispassionate, even in the midst of committing acts of murder and deceit. His treatment of Jolon Bligh (Chapter 10: Garlot) highlights how villainous he can be.

And then there's the Ghul. I have tried to supply a range of naughty and nasty types, from the quick-witted realist to the dim-witted fool. Lucetious is cool and calculating, the closest thing the Ghul have to Caliban - it is no wonder that these two have a relationship of sorts. Others like Defecious and Spulla are stupid to the point of being comedic. The only thing that stops their foolishness being slapstick is that they are difficult to kill making them formidable (albeit stupid) enemies. Chabriel is cruel and slow to anger but once angered she is something to be feared. She is more like Maeldune.

Ghul such as Craddock and Gormgut are thugs. Evil without intellect. In Gormgut's case, I modelled his persona on the one of the yokels you would find in films like Mississippi Burning or Deliverance. It is the absence of intellect in these characters' cases that makes them threatening - their capacity to commit mindless acts of violence: "I'm gonna skin you alive." Whilst these characters are useful to colour a scene, I believe it is the more complicated and conflicted villains that hold the reader's interest.

Then there are villains who are so far outside contemporary moral sensibilities that they cannot be truly understood. The Cabal creature known as Succellos is an example of this. Succellos is vampiric and has absolutely no concern for anything but her own rapacious appetite. She is totally lacking in any of the principles that guide most people's action. It is not her heinous acts that are important; rather it is the reactions of characters to her that is important - she is a foil, through which other characters are defined (specifically Samuel Melkin, Porenutious Windle and Trypp). This literary device is alluded to in Joss Whedon's Firefly:

"Live with a man forty years. Share his house, his meals, speak on every subject, then tie him up, and hold him over the volcano's edge, and on that day, you will finally meet the man."
- Shepherd Book, "War Stories" written by Cheryl Cain

The book has quite a few other villains but I don't want to spoil your appetite. Also their reveals are big moments in the book (which you can enjoy late September when I plan to go to print).

Getting Things Done

2007-05-23T14:32:00.000+09:30

I know things have been a bit quiet on the Caliban's End blog front but that's only because I have been busy finishing Book One. It's an amazing feeling to finish a book. Hard to compare it to anything, but it's a bit like coming home from a week away on Outward Bound.

Of course, I'm feeling a bit pleased with myself so I'm going to dedicate this post to GTD: Getting Things Done. I thought I'd list my Top Ten tips for productivity. Now these are just the things that came to me on my lunch break. I'm sure others will come to mind as soon as I post this. I can always write another post to cover the things I don't mention below.

Firstly, there's no better thing for productivity than the support of those around you and I've got that in spades. I'm not sure how the tips below would work if I didn't have that. I'll assume they'd still work, only not quite as well.

Being productive is about being efficient. Controlling what you can. Here's what you can control.

1. Don't continually check your email. Once or twice a day is enough, but when you do check it commit to either resolving the email or setting aside time in your planner to deal with it. Email can be seductive - it makes you feel wanted! There comes a time when you must shut the door on the endless barrage and get a bit of quiet. Outlook should be renamed Lookout! because if you aren't careful, your emails will stop you from getting the important stuff done.

2. The key to productivity is complete focus. Don't have your email notifiers set to inform you whenever email has arrived. Close everything down when you are about to start a task that requires your focus. Hang a Do Not Disturb sign on your Gtalk, Messenger, IRC etc. Clear your desk of all other distractions.

3. When you are dealing with email, use Gmail tags - I'm assuming you're using Gmail. When something comes in that you want to keep, tag it and bag it (i.e. Archive it). Tame your Inbox. Keeping the Inbox clear is the trick to feeling like you're still in control.

4. Use a management system that actually makes life easier. For example, sharing out Google calendars is a really easy way to keep things organised with others. I have numerous Calendars - one for work, one for writing and one for family/friends. Because these are all viewable on the one screen, they allow me to coordinate dates easily. I also added in Remember the Milk to my calendar which will automatically send me an email when a task is due. To set a task, I just click on the Remember the Milk icon, insert the task and then forget about it. I'll be told when to do stuff if I've set it up correctly (which I have). Having a management system you can rely on is essential to freeing up your mind to focus on what's immediately before you. For work I use Highrise to keep track of every contact I have. It's free, searchable and because it's online, I can access it from anywhere.

5. RSS feeds. I have my iGoogle home page holding all my RSS feeds. This way I get a lot of news for a little bit of time. It's very economical.

6. Dedicate yourself to one or two TV shows and try not to get pulled in to others because you're tired. If you're tired, go to bed or go for a walk. I only have one show I watch - Heroes. That's it. This means that I probably have a lot more hours to use than the average Australian because I am willing to forgo the rubbish that piles up on our screen. Not that there's anything wrong with watching telly, but it's not really a productive use of time.

7. Browsing the web is very inefficient. Use folksonomies to give you more time i.e. let someone else find the good stuff for you. I use Digg and Technorati to find the best stuff on the web, as well as podcasts about things tech. I also use del.icio.us. This is such a time saver for me. If I see something worth bookmarking, I tag it. If it's worth someone else having, I add it to their del.icio.us account assuming they have one, and they do the same for me.

8. Promise yourself nice things. Whatever gets you into the chair to start work. I always plan to have some badboy food after two hours of writing. What usually happens is that I forget about the food once I'm in the groove.

9. Save time - listen to podcasts. If the house needs cleaning, the kids need walking or the milk needs getting, do it with an iPod in your ears. I have digested more literature and geek news in the past year than the five years preceding the day I discovered iTunes.

10. Accept that the smallest thing you do on a task is one less thing that you'll have to do later on. Procrastination is nothing more than an unwillingness to make a start. Often once the start is made, things get a momentum of their own and before you know it, you've done something substantial.

To Kill a Yafflebird

2007-04-09T19:48:00.000+09:30

The other day my little girl put on a pair of overalls and looked just like Scout in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (only prettier).

About an hour ago, I finished my final draft of Chapter 11 which is set in a rain-soaked, fog-filled swamp, about as far away from Maycomb, Alabama as one can get. However, I wanted to capture something of the feeling I had when I read the first few chapter of Lee's beautiful novel. There are a few flashbacks in Chapter 11, all concentrated upon the character of Sir Edgar Worseley. The extract below is from a flashback that reads like a mixture of the antics of Jem, Scout and Dill and the sort of thing I'd do with a friend when my parents weren't looking.

Dominic, the younger of the two boys, snuggled down in the orange pile of leaves and shot his brother an impish grin. Edgar grinned back then snatched up handfuls of surrounding leaves and covered his younger brother's head until was completely obscured. Content with Dominic's autumnal disguise, Edgar then ran off down the footpath to a tall, decrepit house surrounded by weeds and dead flowers. The occupant of the house, an ornery, retired public official who was only known by the moniker Taxman Tomkins, was seated in a rocking chair ready to hurl abuse at anyone unfortunate enough to come within earshot. Taxman was renowned for his cantankerous disposition and spent most of his day scowling at passers-by, insulting any who had the misfortune to look his way.

The old man's jaw dropped when he saw young Edgar Worseley kick open his gate and come running down his garden path hollering at him to get up and follow. Ignoring all Taxman's protestations, Edgar spun a tremendous story explaining how the mayor had summoned the old man to his chambers, requiring fiduciary advice regarding a complicated taxation issue. Grumbling as he went, Taxman hobbled down the broken footpath, trying to keep up with Edgar who stopped from time to time to hurry up the old man.

Upon reaching an unusually large pile of leaves outside the Worseley house, Taxman Tomkins stopped to regain his breath. It was at that moment, the mound of leaves exploded and Dominic Worseley leapt out of his foliaceous crypt with a groan that would chill the bravest heart. He then danced around the old man like some crazed beast before running off down the street to join his brother who was rolling on the ground, his entire body wracked with maniacal laughter.

Now I've finished the chapter, I have to say, it's my favourite thus far. I think it is certainly the most well-written chapter. It has a wonderfully tragic aspect that I don't want to spoil here. The character of Edgar is comic, noble and tragic all in one. This chapter also has a few really good twists and it manages to wrap up a lot of the exposition about Caliban without slowing down the story.

I like a lot of the things I invented for this chapter such as the yaffle birds, the bogcrabs and Mag Mel's memory-inducing odours. The smells of the swamp being a stimulant for memories worked really well, especially when Edgar experiences a memory he had long-forgotten but proved to be extremely significant in the context of the story.

"When nothing else subsists from the past, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered· the smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls· bearing resiliently, on tiny and almost impalpable drops of their essence, the immense edifice of memory"

-Marcel Proust The Remembrance of Things Past

I am really enjoying using flashbacks as a means to illuminate aspects of plot and character. This is something that has been a part of the book since the start, but I think I am getting a lot better at using them. Although I lost interest in the TV show Lost (no pun intended) when I heard the writers believed they had at least seven seasons' worth of shows (I'm not that patient - I can't wait seven years for answers) I did like the way flashbacks in that show sometimes threw certain scenes into a completely different context, and sometimes made you feel differently about a character.

When I think about it, the book does have quite a few similarities with Lost - the ensemble cast, the multi-layered narrative, the themes of loyalty, revenge, sins of the past etc. I can also see comparisons could be drawn between Caliban's End and Heroes for similar reasons. I wouldn't mind being compared to Heroes when it comes down to it. I think the mapping of the plot in that show is brilliant and I love the way the seemingly disparate threads are slowly being pulled together.

Speaking of Heroes, last week the true name of Sylus was revealed - Gabriel Grey. The name Sylus came from the watch he was wearing when he killed his first victim. The surname Grey is applicable on a symbolic level and perhaps the name Gabriel (meaning 'Man of God') is also significant. Without giving too much away, I also use names in a similar fasion. The character of Tripp is a playful homage to Odysseus from Homer's epic, the surname Grayson is significant especially considering the ambiguity of the Morgai inheritance (grey + son) and Caliban is named after the deformed monster of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

...you're an old hand at deception.
And you lied to me so much,
about the world, about myself,
that you ended up imposing on me
an image of myself:
underdeveloped, in your words, undercompetent
that's how you made me see myself!
And I hate that image...and it's false!
-Act 3, Scene 5

"Une Tempete" by poet Aimé Césaire.

I even use the name Gabriel but saying any more would be a major spoiler!

Anyway, Chapter 11 is done and I'm only four chapters away from concluding the first book. The last chapter in the first book is fittingly set in a city called Terminus. I hope to be posting a blog on finishing that chapter by the end of autumn. Time will tell.

Oh no! Not again!

2007-03-23T19:33:00.000+10:30

I downloaded the trailer for the next Pirates of the Caribbean film today. Wish I hadn't. Now I'm feeling rather depressed.

Let me explain. Some time last year I wrote the following text on my Caliban's End wiki.

...Originally Sefar and the Kheperans had tentacles at the base of their heads and their mouths lay under a grotesque collection of tendrils covering the bottom of their faces. Then Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest came out and the promo trailer revealed a bunch of similar-looking individuals. My heart sank when I saw the antagonist (Davy Jones?) - he looked exactly as I had envisioned Sefar. I thought about keeping the design, but it seemed too derivative. I wanted something to make him stand out and the look had to be something that would instill fear into the hearts of others (which is important in terms of irony as there are times in the story where Sefar is not as brave as his physique would imply). This picture experimenting with the horn sold me on the idea and since drawing it I have written the design into the narrative. It now seems like such an essential aspect to the Kheperans that I am quite pleased that Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest made me change my mind. Now if the next Pirates film has someone in it with a big horn on his head, I will scream.

Well, I'm now on the verge of screaming. The trailer didn't have a man with a horn on his head, but it did have two elements that are significant in my book. The major one is the use of a vortex of water as a set piece in the film. I can't express how annoying this is. The vortex in Caliban's End is a pivotal part of the book - it's even called 'Caliban's End'! I can't change it; I can't take it out. Damn. Hopefully the film will bomb as I really don't want people to read it and sarcastically say, "Hmmm... I wonder where he ripped that from?" I'm not sure what to do. Perhaps it doesn't matter, but it feels like a major setback. If only I could get the book finished before any other films use the same ideas.

The second 'similarity' is a thing in the book I called the volvelle (based roughly on a real maritime instrument). Here's how it appears in the book:

"To aid his passage through the complex currents, Gerriod consulted a volvelle, an expensive piece of maritime equipment his father purchased at considerable expense from a Spriggan trader over half a century ago. The volvelle was a map of sorts, an intricate system of revolving copper disks ranging in size. Dependent upon the time of days, the seasons, and his vessel’s position on the vast lake, the volvelle was able to indicate the direction and speed of the brutal currents that lay just below the lake’s surface. It was mid-September – early spring. The disks had been set to accommodate the incredible volume of water cascading down from the mountains to the east. Very few sailors knew how to use a volvelle properly, and even fewer would dare navigate the inner currents of Erras. But Gerriod had been taught by the best and although Gamelyn Blake had long since departed, his son remembered every lesson he ever gave."

Now look at this screengrab from the film.

It's the same bloody idea! Okay, perhaps not exactly the same, but a map made of circular disks to navigate tricky waters!

Now these two coincidences came from a sixty second trailer. God knows what other similarities also exist in the film. On one hand it's made me keen to finish the book as soon as possible, but part of me is actually thinking, "Oh bugger it - it's all too hard." Changing jobs at the start of the year was a great move professionally, but the book has really suffered - it's just stopped.

Now if I seem a tad sensitive on this issue, there's a good reason. About six years ago, I almost finished a book called Taken at the Flood. It was comprised of two books. In one, the protagonist Francis Grimm goes through an intersection as the lights change to red. In the second book he brakes. The two books then chart how Francis' lives unfold from this seemingly trivial moment. I was really pleased with it and was not far from sending it off to publishers to read. And then the film 'Sliding Doors' came out. The entire premise was the same! Even though I didn't particularly like the film, the idea running through it was so appallingly similar to the idea at the heart of the book, I shelved the whole thing and it has stayed in a manila folder ever since!

Maybe I should be a screenwriter instead.