More from Stand-Off

I’m calling this novelette Stand-Off for the time being, until something better crops up.

Another little snippet.

–
It is fully dark now, and Boone, sitting cross-legged on the roof of the outstation, smoking continuously from a pack of Indian cigarettes found underneath the till in the outstation (which, it transpires, doubles as a tourist shop), watches a gun fight in the nearest skyscraper reach the end of its narrative. The tale began with a series of small explosions, followed by muzzle flashes which worked their way upwards, flickering through the windows as the intruders made their way floor to floor. Screams of pain, anger, horror, or a mixture of all three filtered their way up to the outstation, mixed in with other noises from the city, mainly the undead stirring, following the action.

Watching now, as the gunfire becomes more sporadic, and more lights are extinguished, Boone can hear the awful cacophony of a very familiar tune begin to take form. Those unearthly, vague cries of death and hunger and naked uncontrollable desire for destruction, all taking form and melody, harmonising in unison, like a flock of birds following ancient patterns of flight built of millennia of genetics, racial memory and instinct, all with one overriding, definitive goal in mind, defined as one simple statement:

Find human – kill human.

First Paragraph of new zombie story

Ok – here’s the first part of Standoff City Of Lost Light Hong Kong Zombie Story whatever.

I seriously need to find a name for this.

First draft etc, so usual caveats apply &c
–
“Boone…”
He opens his eyes, waking from a fever dream where he is stood at a bar, a pint of guiness in one hand, a mobile phone in the other, his mother’s frantic voice coming at him from thousands of miles away, while all around him the world crashes down in a single day.
When he comes to, staring at the clear blue sky, his first thought is: I’d kill for a Guinness. I would rake civilisations, destroy countries and annihilate worlds for just one ice cold pint of black.
Still ascending from the hot, smoky disjointed thoughts of his diseased mind, he believes he can, by dint of force of mind alone, conjure the pint in his right hand, condensation dripping down the side, creamy white top thick as icing.
“God help me, I would. “
“Would what? “ comes back the voice.
“Destroy the world, “ Boone replies through cracked lips.
“He’s still delirious, “ the voice says. A Chinese voice replies, tone curt and dismissive.
“No. I just really want a Guinness, “ Boone says, blinking at the clear sky above, feeling the wisps of memory detach from the fever-dreams until only the image of the bar and the drink remain, his mother’s screams on his mobile phone now a distant, uncomfortable, vague humm in the background of his mind.

The Amazing speak as you type Irate Scotsman Typing Tutor!

I came up with this gem a long time ago, whilst presumably on some sort of drugs…

Enjoy. Or not. Probably the latter…

The Amazing speak as you type Irate Scotsman Typing Tutor!

Yes! Image being blind. Imagine not being able to see…close your eyes now. No, really, close them. Dark isn’t it? Kinda scary, isn’t it? Just imagine if you couldn’t see at all, I mean, it’s okay for us, we can just open our eyes, but what if you were blind?

How would you type? Sure, you could find those knobbly bits that are on F and J and find your way, but if you can’t type that’s no help, and if you can, how do you know what your typing? For all you know you could be yu[omnh vomplryr foggoesj!

Well, thanks to the Amazing Irate Scotsman™ you can now know exactly what keys your are typing down. Press A, and prepare to hear the throaty tones of a gruff Glaswegian. Press a J and indulge in his smoke riddled baritones. Press and hold down allt he keys and you can almost believe you’re in a room with 15 angry vomiting scotsman!

Coming soon: dangerously sarcastic stoned guy and pretty yet bitchy blond! You’d be crazy – no psychotic to miss out!

Ring 0800 BUYMESTUPID

Third Person

I’ve been thinking over the last few days about the first section on my new novelette.

The section in particular involves two cousins descending into Hong Kong Island on a cart – a Hong Kong laid waste by a zombie holocaust*  and I started to think how I would describe all this to the reader in locational terms which the characters may not know, but which might be useful for the reader to get more of an impression.

And then this led me to contemplating just how a narrative told in a third person perspective from one character can presume to offer information not within the character’s remit, in effect turning the narrative into an omniscient third person perspective. Would this bother the reader? I don’t know, but it bothers me as a writer. I’ve always been a fan of intimate stories, and the second I start to introduce that omniscience I find it removes the reader from the character – for me it’s like how can you share an experience with a character when you know more about that experience?

I’ve written in first person for most of my writing life, and I think it is from this that my reticence to push the fourth wall comes from. In this case I will introduce this description in the form of (subtle, always subtle) exposition.

In short – I shall give Boone a map.

 

* really – is there any two better words combined in the English language? I think not.

writing writing writing…

I managed 800 words on Standoff City Of Lost Light untitled yesterday evening, and was pleased with the results. I had half an eye on this story after polishing off the final edit on Toby See The Stars and pretty much dived in on the first chapter without thinking. I found myself thinking of the first section whilst trying to sleep the other night, and felt that as it stood the first attempts didn’t come across as well as I hoped. The last version was particularly bad where I had decided Milo was suffering from autism, and the first part came across as an attempt to mesh Rain Man with Day Of The Dead. An interesting concept, but not that interesting. I want Milo to be odd – he is an oddball after all, but I’m all about subtle with my writing right now.

So I blatted through the approach to The Park – a reservation on the side of a mountain which faces onto Hong Kong island, which looks a lovely place to visit – and found myself happy with the results. The best part was how easy it all came across, very natural, very comfortable. I’ve come to realise I’m lazy when it comes to description – perhaps because I write at speed, yet slowly, which makes no sense but bear with me – and the entire section on Hong Kong silenced by a zombie holocaust comes to something like three sentences. Obviously not quite good enough. But overall I’m pleased.

I’ve found out in the last few years that the key to finishing a story is to get it written. This sometimes means I will leave an entire section unfinished and just plough on, often leaving tricker technical parts for the editing process, which I am growing to realise is a skill more important (for me) than writing itself. This prevents me getting stuck on a section that is bugging me, or not quite coming across, or is putting too many hurdles in getting character a to plot device b.

Standoff City Of Lost Light untitled has already been heavily plotted, with a 2,500 word synopsis that provides a great foundation for a smooth, uncomplicated writing journey. Looking forward to it.

Submission Frenzy

Time to clear the to do pile:

Waterwall to The Absent Willow Review
Toby See The Stars to Reflection’s Edge
Dead To Rights to Broken Pencil

Now: with that out the way – let’s write.

Nice Rejection

Nice rejection from The Absent Willow Review

Think I may have uploaded this but am too lazy to search can’t seem to locate it.

–
Dear Allan:

We really appreciate getting a chance to consider “Noomorph”, and while we did read the entire story, I’m afraid we’ll have to take a pass. Please do not let this stop you from submitting your work elsewhere or sending other works our way.

PS – Loved the concept.

Kindest Regards,

The Editors
The Absent Willow Review
http://absentwillowreview.com
Absent Willow Publishing,LLC
–

The last line made me smile.

New Story: Toby See The Stars

Knocked up a short story on Friday evening. It comes in around 1000 words, and was born on or around 1 AM after three JDs and Coke.

It needs a little work, but I’m quite happy with it. It’s been nice to knock out something in a short period of time – and reflects how my last story died on its feet when I got all overwrought about the plot (which I was never truly happy with anyway…)

Update: Another edit. It’s all come together very nicely. A few more passes and I think this one is ready to sell. Nice one.