Since I myself was a teen in high school, I have been a fan of John Marsden's 'Tommorrow' series.
I have religiously collected and read all 7 books in the original 'Tomorrow' series and also collected and read the 3 final novels from the 'Ellie Chronicles'. When I say read, I mean over and over again.
I don't know what it is about the story, but every time I immerse myself in the books, I almost always end up reading all ten again in quick succession.
In my opinion, 'The Third Day the Frost' is by far the best and I was so excited to find the movie trailer on youtube and to learn the first three novels in the series are being made into motion pictures. These movies have been considered many times before, but have never gotten off the ground! Finally at long last someone made it happen.
I cannot wait to now watch all my favourite characters come to life on the big screen. Although I am also a little apprehensive. Like with all novels, sometime the movie does the readers imagination justice, other time it fails hopelessly. In this case with three movies scheduled and a possible series spin-off, I dearly hope they hit the mark.
Check out the trailer below, so far it looks pretty good.
And before the release date, do yourself a favor and devour the books first
Friday, 25 June 2010
A workbook for Fiction Writer's
Here we are, the end of June 2010, the begnning of the new financial year (happy EOYFS!!) and as promised a new chapter here at Elysium.
'The Writing Book' by Kate Grenville, a workbook for fiction writers everywhere is now open beside me. This book contains ten chapters, I anticipate over the next twelve months to cover these chapters and indulge in learning for the sake of learning, writing for the sake of writing and creating for the sake of creating.
As always the exercises and advice will be directed toward bringing 'ELYSIUM' closer to completion. I have spent the last few weeks imersed in inspiration and ideas, now to harness these ideas and put them to good use. I always work best with guidelines and deadline, as of July one I will dedicate these pages to the chapter of Ms Grenville's book. If you would care to join me, please, follow along the yellow brick road, meet all the characters of Oz and celebrate the glorious day I can click my ruby reds and land a publishing deal!!
For the month of July 2010, chapter one. GETTING STARTED - The whispering voice of advice.
In respect to copyright, I will not document any of Ms Grenvilles wise words here on these pages, if you wish to participate, please purchase your own copy.
I will however post my experience, discoveries and perhaps the best and worst of any completed exercises.
Until July one...
'The Writing Book' by Kate Grenville, a workbook for fiction writers everywhere is now open beside me. This book contains ten chapters, I anticipate over the next twelve months to cover these chapters and indulge in learning for the sake of learning, writing for the sake of writing and creating for the sake of creating.
As always the exercises and advice will be directed toward bringing 'ELYSIUM' closer to completion. I have spent the last few weeks imersed in inspiration and ideas, now to harness these ideas and put them to good use. I always work best with guidelines and deadline, as of July one I will dedicate these pages to the chapter of Ms Grenville's book. If you would care to join me, please, follow along the yellow brick road, meet all the characters of Oz and celebrate the glorious day I can click my ruby reds and land a publishing deal!!
For the month of July 2010, chapter one. GETTING STARTED - The whispering voice of advice.
In respect to copyright, I will not document any of Ms Grenvilles wise words here on these pages, if you wish to participate, please purchase your own copy.
I will however post my experience, discoveries and perhaps the best and worst of any completed exercises.
Until July one...
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Today I sat behind trusty ol' Burgundy for two hours, with the intention of studying and somehow, I achieved zilch, zip, zero.
In my defense, I was working..just not on the things I was supposed to be working on.
As you may already know, I set myself the deadline of March this year to have 'Elysium' draft four finished and rested for 6-12months. I achieved this, much to my relief as on March 1st I commenced full time study, and I needed the head space to concentrate on Uni rather than Elysium.
Now the first unit's I ebarked on in this final year of my Literature degree were Narrative Fiction and English 210. As luck would have it, these two unit's are wonderfully inspirational for a would be writer and therefore made the transition from full time writing to full time study an easy one.
What they did not do however, was grant me the free head space away from 'Elysium' that I so desired. Instead, every note I made, every novel I read,and every assignment I submitted was tainted. Tainted with thoughts of how to progress with 'Elysium'draft 5!!!
This you would think is a good thing, and indeed it was, but now I find myself dying to start on draft 5, but alas I cannot, as the next semester has already started. The two unit's I am studying do not lend themselves so well to creative writing. Public relations and Styles and Genre's Journalism will indeed be interesting and of much use to me, however 'Elysium' has no place in the course of study.
As you can imagine this has left me in a bind, but I have come up with a solution.
During the course of my love affair with literature, I have purchased many a writing book to inspire and motivate. Many years before I had the freedom to embark on Uni I purchased Kate Grenville's 'The Writing Book' and although I flipped through it and kept it on my bedside table, sadly I never managed to work through it's wonderful pages.
Now last semester I found to my delight that Grenville's book was on our reading list, but sadly once again, I did not get a chance to adequately work through the entire range of motivating exercises Grenville's book details.
The solution to my conundrum then, of not being able to start on 'Elysium' draft 5, but being full of motivation to write, is to commit one afternoon a week to a chapter per month of Grenville's book. This I am hoping will keep the light that I accessed last semester alive, it will see me through this bleak time of living outside of 'Elysium' and hopefully inspire as many noted as my previous semester's work.
If you are interested in joining me, get a copy of the book, and check the blog monthly. I will post the chapter I plan to work on at the beginning of the month, invite a discussion about it during the month and post my findings at the end.
And now, I must be off, the girls are awake and the boy needs to be collected from kindy.
Happy reading...
In my defense, I was working..just not on the things I was supposed to be working on.
As you may already know, I set myself the deadline of March this year to have 'Elysium' draft four finished and rested for 6-12months. I achieved this, much to my relief as on March 1st I commenced full time study, and I needed the head space to concentrate on Uni rather than Elysium.
Now the first unit's I ebarked on in this final year of my Literature degree were Narrative Fiction and English 210. As luck would have it, these two unit's are wonderfully inspirational for a would be writer and therefore made the transition from full time writing to full time study an easy one.
What they did not do however, was grant me the free head space away from 'Elysium' that I so desired. Instead, every note I made, every novel I read,and every assignment I submitted was tainted. Tainted with thoughts of how to progress with 'Elysium'draft 5!!!
This you would think is a good thing, and indeed it was, but now I find myself dying to start on draft 5, but alas I cannot, as the next semester has already started. The two unit's I am studying do not lend themselves so well to creative writing. Public relations and Styles and Genre's Journalism will indeed be interesting and of much use to me, however 'Elysium' has no place in the course of study.
As you can imagine this has left me in a bind, but I have come up with a solution.
During the course of my love affair with literature, I have purchased many a writing book to inspire and motivate. Many years before I had the freedom to embark on Uni I purchased Kate Grenville's 'The Writing Book' and although I flipped through it and kept it on my bedside table, sadly I never managed to work through it's wonderful pages.
Now last semester I found to my delight that Grenville's book was on our reading list, but sadly once again, I did not get a chance to adequately work through the entire range of motivating exercises Grenville's book details.
The solution to my conundrum then, of not being able to start on 'Elysium' draft 5, but being full of motivation to write, is to commit one afternoon a week to a chapter per month of Grenville's book. This I am hoping will keep the light that I accessed last semester alive, it will see me through this bleak time of living outside of 'Elysium' and hopefully inspire as many noted as my previous semester's work.
If you are interested in joining me, get a copy of the book, and check the blog monthly. I will post the chapter I plan to work on at the beginning of the month, invite a discussion about it during the month and post my findings at the end.
And now, I must be off, the girls are awake and the boy needs to be collected from kindy.
Happy reading...
Literary Competition
'Tonight as I strolled along the foreshore to the Wall, the sky was ablaze with stars. Below the living world slept peacefully. Curled up next to Dan, only Faith rested fitfully. It was cold, spring was still new. The flowers may have blossomed but the chill night air remained. Her belly was swollen, fit to bursting, 'Dan.' she whispered. He stirred then rolled over, snoring, 'Dan, the baby is coming!'
Dan was awake immediately and together they prepared to leave for the hospital, totally and utterly unaware of the unrest here in Elysium.' (Excerpt, 1st draft 'Elysium - the winding path')
Why oh why are opening scenes so hard to get right the first time? I have pictured this opening line in my head for months now, I have played around with the idea on many sleepless night and taunted and teased my self incessantly about putting pen to paper on the second installment of Elysium. Finally, feeling confident enough to sit in front of trusty old Burgundy, I thought I had the scene down pat, nothing could stop the eloquent flow of words...
I was wrong.
Let's back track a little and I'll explain myself. Now if you've read the previous 15 posts, you will know I am on the epic journey of a novice novelist, from first draft to published. Currently I am awaiting the return of the fourth draft of 'Elysium - the road home', from numerous friends and colleagues who are oh so kind in offering their valued advice before I attempt the fifth -and hopefully final before professional edit - draft.
I promised myself I would shelve 'Elysium' for at least six months before committing to the fifth draft. Having worked on it solidly (between uni study and child rearing) for almost 3 years now, both I and 'it' where in need of some space. However, now 3 months down the track, as you may imagine, I am getting a little anxious. I miss 'Elysium', I miss spending time with Angel and Joslin, Chelsea and Sara, Khai, Wynn and the rest of my lovely world. I miss strolling through Elysium Fields, smelling the freshly mowed lawn and spring blossoms. I miss Elysium Common and Central, the Archives and the Wall. I yearn to swim in the river and climb the mountains and sip tea at the table with Nan and Pop.
So I bravely ventured into the unknown world of a sequel. Don't get me wrong, I have always though there was more to Elysium than one novel, however I always imagined I would have the first novel finished, published and loved by all, with the second and third already commissioned, before I made a start on the next instalment.
Once again, I was wrong.
Can you see a pattern here? Yes, I do often have to reconsider my preconceived notions of what the future may bring, as can be seen. I am now fully committed to the formulation of a story and mapping out a plot. As can be seen by the example above, I have the opening lines alive inside my mind. The story is already unfolding, as we speak new characters are dying and being reborn. Joslin is about to return home, but wait...
What is the unrest I speak of, what is happening in Elysium that my words struggle to convey?
That, my dear friends, is for now locked inside my overactive imagination, the story still belongs to monkey mind. Monkey Mind is the term I give my ever swirling, overflowing, erratic imagination when it has a great idea but cannot yet piece all the little bits together. The monkeys take hold of a thought and swing from their tails, thought to thought, tree top to tree top, maddeningly cackling to themselves while I try desperately to catch up.
And on that note, I will leave you all maddeningly trying to catch up with my ramblings. I am off to once again tackle the opening scene, I just have to project it up onto the cinema screen of my mind and the words will come...they will...I'm sure of it...almost positive...
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Blog Post #15 - 25th Feburary, 2010
Have you ever had that moment, when you may have just accomplished the greatest thing of your tiny significant (if only to you) life and there is no one there to celebrate it with? I would imagine if you are a writer or creative genius of any type, you may know exactly what it is I am talking about.
Here I sit, behind my trusty laptop, my husband would say my best friend, and the sad fact is, she (yes, it is a she and no, it's not because I am also a she, she is burgundy in colour and sleek. I do not know many men who are burgundy and sleek. Okay so I don't know any women that are burgundy and sleek either but she's a girl, trust me) so where was I? Oh yes, so here I am, alone with my laptop, having just completed Elysium, draft four and do you know what the first thing I did was?
If you do then may I suggest you get some professional help because seriously, kissing a laptop computer and doing a little jiggy waltz type dance around the room with it is seriously disturbed.
But that is just what I did. Then I blurted out my great jumbled news to all the world via facebook. Then I jumped on line and started blogging. Next I imagine I will twitter the news. And that is where I come seriously unstuck. Does anyone out there give a damn?
I am over the moon, hysterically happy, I seriously could climb tall mountains and leap small buildings (or something like that) but the sad fact of the matter is, it is just me and my laptop, doing a sad little dance, talking to cyber space and celebrating on our own.
And that is the beauty of our world. I am alone but I am not, millions could celebrate, no one could weep. I know not but it's okay, because I live best inside my head. So there you have it, draft 4 is complete, ahead of schedule and the search begins for the editor of my dreams (preferably a darling free agent who can't wait to get their grubby hands on the next golden child of the literary world. If you're out there, please, send me a line!).
Now off I go to tell some actual real people, I'm sure my husband and kids, mother and father, friends and family would love to hear the news.
Over and out.
Here I sit, behind my trusty laptop, my husband would say my best friend, and the sad fact is, she (yes, it is a she and no, it's not because I am also a she, she is burgundy in colour and sleek. I do not know many men who are burgundy and sleek. Okay so I don't know any women that are burgundy and sleek either but she's a girl, trust me) so where was I? Oh yes, so here I am, alone with my laptop, having just completed Elysium, draft four and do you know what the first thing I did was?
If you do then may I suggest you get some professional help because seriously, kissing a laptop computer and doing a little jiggy waltz type dance around the room with it is seriously disturbed.
But that is just what I did. Then I blurted out my great jumbled news to all the world via facebook. Then I jumped on line and started blogging. Next I imagine I will twitter the news. And that is where I come seriously unstuck. Does anyone out there give a damn?
I am over the moon, hysterically happy, I seriously could climb tall mountains and leap small buildings (or something like that) but the sad fact of the matter is, it is just me and my laptop, doing a sad little dance, talking to cyber space and celebrating on our own.
And that is the beauty of our world. I am alone but I am not, millions could celebrate, no one could weep. I know not but it's okay, because I live best inside my head. So there you have it, draft 4 is complete, ahead of schedule and the search begins for the editor of my dreams (preferably a darling free agent who can't wait to get their grubby hands on the next golden child of the literary world. If you're out there, please, send me a line!).
Now off I go to tell some actual real people, I'm sure my husband and kids, mother and father, friends and family would love to hear the news.
Over and out.
Blog Post #14 - 15th Feburary, 2010
Ah the bliss, draft three put to bed for a (figuratively) long winter's sleep. She finished with a grand gesture of epic proportions, she has taken a curtain call, bowed down to our feet and called it a night. As she exited stage left however a coughing fit overcame her, she gagged up a wad of loose leaf and snuck out the back door before anyone could protest. Am I making any sense? No I am not.
At this point the fact that I don't make sense matter's not. What is important is that the much awaited, final edit before the final professional edit, is upon us. Yup, you heard right, Draft 4, here we come.
This one should be easy ( I say now at day 1). All I need to do it find my voice.
An authors voice comes naturally right?
We smooth out the inconsistencies, iron over the slips, press flat the bumps, sail on calm waters to the end of the ocean. Ay, easy!
So why does the challenge of getting Draft 4 also done by the deadline of March 1 seem absolutely, ludicrously, insanely, eat your brains for breakfast, seriously out of the ordinary crazy?
Oh right, because it is. Thanks.
I best get back to it then.
Until March 1, as Dora the explorer would say, Adios Amigos
At this point the fact that I don't make sense matter's not. What is important is that the much awaited, final edit before the final professional edit, is upon us. Yup, you heard right, Draft 4, here we come.
This one should be easy ( I say now at day 1). All I need to do it find my voice.
An authors voice comes naturally right?
We smooth out the inconsistencies, iron over the slips, press flat the bumps, sail on calm waters to the end of the ocean. Ay, easy!
So why does the challenge of getting Draft 4 also done by the deadline of March 1 seem absolutely, ludicrously, insanely, eat your brains for breakfast, seriously out of the ordinary crazy?
Oh right, because it is. Thanks.
I best get back to it then.
Until March 1, as Dora the explorer would say, Adios Amigos
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