Steampunk Retelling of a Fairy Tale - Short Series Podcast by Me!

[CROSS POSTED FROM ONCE UPON A BLOG...]

There's a new special short series podcast dropping today - August 1st - at "Supernatural Fairy Tales" - and it's a Steampunk retelling of a Grimm's fairy tale - by me!

Dorlana Vann was kind enough to invite me to write a short story for her site and it's turned into an exciting mini-production, being presented in five weekly parts during the month of August in both text and as a podcast.

The title of the story is:

"Cages: A Steampunk Retelling of Grimm's Jorinde & Joringel in V Parts with Epilogue"

(gotta love those old-fashioned lengthy titles!)

and has a definite Neo-Victorian feel.

It will be posted at the Supernatural Fairy Tales site HERE

and I'll update this post with the direct link as soon as I find out what it is.

In case you're not familiar with the fairy tale you can read it HERE (and thank you to Heidi at SurLaLune for making this a readily available online reference for me to check when I didn't have my complete Grimm's handy!)

I also managed to secure permission from Steampunk band Abney Park to use some of their music in the podcast, one song in particular being perfect thematically. Many thanks to them for their generosity in sharing their fabulous music. You can check out their website HERE.I'll also be making a PDF of the complete story available for free download and distribution at the end of the series, so watch out for that.

Lots of steampunk fairy tale goodness coming your way!

Enjoy.

Writing Scary/Suspense: Sometimes the Smallest Twist Makes the Biggest Scare

There is plenty of scary at the blog I found the above poster in. Only click if you can handle lots of fright and moderate gore.

I just saw these ads and thought they were an awesome example and resource for writers to consider - especially those who are writing suspense or having difficulty communicating a sense of 'scary' in their scenes.

Often writers will go overboard adding elements to try and amp the eek-factor but just a little twist is all you need to make the mundane truly frightening.

Have a look at these examples, by Advertising Agency: Jung von Matt Spree, Berlin, Germany

*Shudder*

I had a thought of printing these out to pin up somewhere to remind myself of this principle when writing, but they're so seriously creepy I'll just post them here and be reminded every time I look at my blog instead!

Be-Were the Writer (or Why Writers Are Like Werewolves)

WARNING: Mild gore ahead... consider yourself warned!

In case you want to skip the gore and just get to the bones of it (he he), here's a summary for you:

1. Writer - Beware!

2. Writer, Be Aware

3. Writer: Be-Were

Got it?
No?
Read on...

The writer is an unpredictable creature, this we know. The act of writing can transform the most normal and civilized person into a tortured soul.

Typical symptoms are snarling, moaning, head-holding, uncharacteristic fits of cursing, bloodshot eyes, maniacal laughter, unpredictable mood swings, growling if approached incorrectly, grunting, disregard for personal hygiene - er - grooming and shunning of society. Not to mention the tendency for keeping odd hours or turning nocturnal.

Sometimes there is drooling.

Yes, drooling.

You writers know what I'm talking about.

It can feel like you're getting turned inside out, that you're being taken over, that you're no longer quite yourself.

But not to worry.

This is completely normal.

It's just PMS (and yes, guys, I mean you too).

I'm not talking about blood (that comes later), I'm talking about Perfect Manuscript Syndrome; a very natural phase of the writing cycle. The strength of the symptoms vary from writer to writer but we all have to deal with it.

Phase One is when your writer-ly instinct kicks in.

You scent a story and the urge to capture it is overwhelming. With a novel in your sights, you scrabble about for a writing implement - any writing implement- resorting to using your nails as nibs if nothing else presents itself, lest your elusive quarry (the amazing story idea) get away.

Once you dig your claws in, it's all you can do not to gorge yourself on the meat of it; ripping in to get to the guts of its succulent characters, tearing it apart to find the juiciest plot twists, burying your head in the bowels of the story till your senses are filled with it. If it were up to you, you wouldn't stop until you devoured every morsel in one sitting, bones and all.

Eventually you emerge from your writing stupor with glazed eyes, wiping unsightly drool away (among other things) to leave a sheepish smile in it's place.

But here's the rib.

Most stories are much too large to consume all at once. You're likely to be left feeling more than a little unsatisfied. Your perfect story suddenly seems very flawed and doesn't sit so well in your stomach. You begin to notice the mess of manuscript around you and begin to wonder: "What the (bleep) have I done?!"

Welcome to Phase Two: The Realization.

Often we come away from the thrill of our writing spree bloated and fit to burst. It's only then we realize our prose is completely overwhelmed and awkward to behold. Experienced writers will tell you this is completely normal in the early stages of capturing a story but no matter how many times you hear it, your gut still aches when you consider whether or not it was as tasty and worth the pursuit as you thought.

Instead of giving into despair, experienced writers will tell you this is the moment to sit back, digest what you've captured and take a long, hard, critical look at what you've done (also known as Phase Three).

Actions have consequences and it's time to deal with yours.

For a lot of writers this is the hard part. The thrill of the hunt has passed. You've gorged on a tender idea and now you're left with a mess to deal with. Worse, you're tired and you just want to zone out and forget it ever happened. Nobody has to know, right?

But abandoning the remains to rot in a drawer somewhere won't leave you truly satisfied. After a while the messes start to pile up and others begin to notice the smell. There's nothing like the stink of piled-up story corpses to close doors of opportunity.

There's a lot more to being a writer than hunting down stories when you're hungry.

And this is where I'm at, right now.

My manuscript for "Dead Wood" stands at approximately 80 000 words and, not only is it not-quite-finished, it's in need of serious cleaning up and restructuring.

I can't avoid this. In fact I'm walking around all day burdened by this embarrassing dead-weight, feeling unable to move forward until some serious damage control has taken place. Having my novel in this unresolved mess is hard. I'm frustrated at the constant race against the clock, the hairy lack of focus and the plain, hard work I need to put in to make my hunt worth it. I still see in my mind's eye that story that I set out to capture and wonder just how much of my own blood I'll have to sweat (see, I told you there would be blood later!) to transform this story-carcass into that shining, perfect prize.

So the re-write begins.

Cue moaning, gnashing of teeth and all the symptoms that make writers unpredictable - and sometimes dangerous - company to keep.

Now I'm clawing at ideas, at plots, at words, trying to settle them into a cohesive story-form but - surprise surprise - my prey is uncooperative.

This is where I have to remind myself of what I truly am and to trust that I have the ability, the tenacity and the resources to finish what I started.

When I resist the transformation to fully-formed writer (also known as the writer-who-actually-writes, not the 'writer'-who-just-wants-to-have-written) and become self-conscious of who I am and what I'm doing, the process gets harder.

This is also where I remind myself that my transformative tendencies are not a curse but a gift.

What I need to do is give in to my dual nature, revel in it even. If-and-when the instinctive half falls short I can still continue the hunt with my more rational side and finish what I started.

That search for the perfect manuscript, or PMS, becomes less traumatic as I gain experience and learn to deal with this, very natural, cycle. If nothing else, I have proven to myself that I can capture a story in its entirety (a.k.a. finish a novel) and that means I can do it again. And again. As many times as I want to.

There will no doubt be those unkempt-hair days, those "careful I might bite your head off" days. I am intensely occupied in my task, after all, but once the base nature of my beast has had it's fill I can choose the paths I take, focus on my goal and, in the end, savor the complete and delicious taste of a complete and fulfilling story.

"I am Writer - hear me roar!"*

* I find it ironic that this phrase is grammatically incorrect! Let's just call it a stylistic thing, shall we? :)

NOTE: Illustrations are copyright of the following artists:
Werewolf 4 (female) by Aaron Sims Company
Werewolf Pawprint by ~Leonca
Werewolf (mixed media) by Seph77 (Joseph Witchall)
Werewolf by Korethi
The Maiden and the Werewolf by Gizmodus (Reto Kaul)

Click on each picture to go to the artist's website and see more of their work.

What The Heck Is She Up To?

Wondering what many things I'm working on right now?

Here's a brief list of posts to come and a peek at my other projects:

For THE ORGANIC WRITER there's lots coming your way!

• I'm busy getting details on the writing processes some published organic writers use - fascinating stuff here! The results are likely to be in the next post or two.
  

• I'll be profiling one writer in particular who uses art as part of his process (the general post discussing multiple writers has to come first but this will be lots of fun!)
  

• You'll hear about some of my different writing approaches

There are lots of CREATIVE DETOURS to take you down:

• the next one I've chosen creates beautiful fairy tale worlds within books by using the books themselves...

URBAN FANTASY Topics:

• I have at least three half-written but rather than get your expectations up I'll just tell you there's lots more UF focused posts on the way :)

Then there's MY WRITING:

• For day-to-day updates, progress and 'regress' reports on my WIP 'Dead Wood' please feel free to follow me on Twitter.You may even get hints about the novel I'm working on! ;) I'm using the hashtag #SOLIDARITY to indicate I'm joining in with other writers attempting to make serious progress on their books. Here's the link: http://twitter.com/inkgypsy
  

• I've been involved in an experiment of 'chain fiction' with James Patterson & Borders via Twitter. I'll discuss my thoughts on the social media experiments on 'crowd written novels' and 'chain fiction', plus you'll get to read 'the story so far..' and my thoughts on the results

• I'll post an update on 'Dead Wood' too and my current challenges with it

• A new urban fantasy story has reared it's tantalizing head but I can't give it the attention it would need to go from 'interesting' to 'excellent' just yet, though I have written one interesting scene...

And there's the stuff I WANT to be doing too - my WISH LIST - that somehow needs some attention without taking away the little time and energy I have for my main projects:

• My poorly neglected fairy tale blog, in which I explore themes, ideas and post some of my own fairy tale inspired work

• My personal family blog
  

• Project 'Bite Me' which blends retelling fairy tales with urban fantasy

• Finishing my 'book cover illustration' for 'Dead Wood' - though I won't be using it for a while it is in progress and will be useful, eventually...

And don't get me started on my GOTTA READ list!
(Anyone have a cloning machine handy?)

I think that about does it for now. Stay tuned for more to come!

Oh and isn't the Jack & the Beanstalk illustration cute? I thought it appropriate, seeing as we're talking about stories and projects that grow and end up goodness-knows-where. I especially like that he's lost his hat on the way but has to keep climbing. I know how he feels! (Illustration is copyright of Niko Geyer. Click on the illustration to see more of his work.)

What Is UF? (The Elevator Pitch Version)

NOTE: This is NOT the blog post I've been planning for days now but I couldn't resist...

Writers of Urban Fantasy often come across the same dilemma.

It goes like this:

Conversation with average-off-the-street-and-fairly-well-educated-types eventually comes around to vocation. You say you're a novelist and then...

They say:
Oh you're a writer!
We:
*nod* (& add a reassuring smile)
Then they say:
What sort of stuff do you write?
We say:
Urban Fantasy
They say:
What's that, exactly?
We:
*take a deep breath then ramble, trying definition #32 for the day in an attempt to encompass both the genre we love and write in AND our new novel which would seem to not quite fit within the confines of said definition*
They say:
"Oh." *and either look confused and wonder if you know what you're doing or decide you're writing another version of Twilight or Buffy*
We:
*sigh and decide we'll try definition #33 next time we're asked this question*

The writers over at The League of Reluctant Adults, have been thinking about this recently as well and comments were invited to suggest the ultimate 'one-liner' for a definition of what Urban Fantasy really is. Here are some of my favorite responses:

Please note: the above quotes are excerpted from people's comments. Most had a lot more to say than a single sentence! For the whole post and all comments please click HERE.

So what's my elevator-pitch definition of UF?

Well I shy away from saying 'paranormal' or 'supernatural' because to me that not only means ghosts but all things X-Files, including aliens, which I think belong to the sci-fi realm so I'll say:

Urban Fantasy is a contemporary genre-soup of an often-edgy story where the main ingredient is an element of the fantastic, be it fanged, furred, fey or other mythical type (kick-ass protags welcome but not truly necessary).
What do you think? Are we getting close?

NOTE: Illustrations are copyright of Timothy Lantz. The top illustration was used as the cover art for A Flash of Hex by Jes Battis, published by Juno Books. Please click on either image to go to Timothy Lantz's website.

The Fantasy Sculpture Garden of Bruno Torfs Destroyed in Australian Bushfires

I just found out about this today. It's just one of thousands of horrible stories coming out of the horrific bushfires still underway in Australia and while it doesn't compare to the loss of life, losing great art is worth mourning in its own way. The loss of this work in particular has affected me very deeply. I'll give you the awful news first then I'll explain why it's close to my heart.

Australian Bushfires Destroy Amazing Fantasy Sculpture Garden

The fantastical sculptures of Bruno Torfs, nestled in a temperate rainforest garden setting in South-Eastern Australia have wowed, moved and inspired 1 000's of visitors from all over the world for over 10 years - but no more.
The unique sculpture garden was one of many places destroyed in the devastating bushfires in the state of Victoria last week. The Torfs family, who lived at the garden and gallery, managed to get to safety but lost their home, over 300 paintings and sustained great damage to the sculpture garden. Friends and neighbors in nearby Marysville weren't as lucky and lost not only their homes but their lives. The area remains in a state of emergency at this time.

The Torfs family, in a statement on their website, say they hope to salvage some of the sculptures with the intent of rebuilding the fantasy garden in the near future. The website also has a slideshow of some of the beautiful sculptures the garden contained before the fires swept through.
My sympathies and condolences go out to them. While nothing can compare to the loss of life, the destruction of this unique home-gallery and garden is a great tragedy that will be mourned by many.

For those who wish to show their support for Bruno and his family, please see his website. For general support for the many bushfire victims please contact The Australian Red Cross and reference the Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009.

Reasons This Is Close To My Heart

I am an Australian, living in the US for 10 years now, and have been anxiously following news of the fires as I have a lot of family there. I am lucky in that all of mine are safe, though a few of my cousins continue to fight the remaining fires in their various capacities. I am very proud of all the work they are doing and how they're able to directly help so many.

When it comes to fantasy, art and writing, though I have loved the classics and fairy tales of mainly European influence there was always a part of me that yearned to integrate that fantasy 'sense' into the landscape I love of Australia*, especially the forests and rainforests.
One of my long-term works in progress, called 'Fae Dreaming', is an attempt to approach classical fantasy from a unique Australian perspective in a very organic way. I say 'works' because it isn't just a story or novel but includes an artistic exploration of the images so people would literally 'see' what was in my imagination. I had planned to come back to Australia at some point to build a fantasy garden project with the dream that the concepts and characters in it would eventually make their way into film and/or animation. I hadn't heard of Bruno's Art & Sculpture Garden till very recently and couldn't believe the images I was seeing.
The sculptures were exactly in the same vein as the characters existing in my head for 'Fae Dreaming'! [MORE IMAGES FROM ANOTHER BLOG HERE, INCLUDING BRIEF MOVIE] It was as if he'd dreamed the same dream then brought it to life in his own way. I nearly cried for joy to see such imaginings had become reality.

To hear that so much is lost and damaged has me in tears again but this time of deep sadness.


*It must be in my blood. My Nanna's aunt - May Gibbs - had the same desire and created the well-known and loved characters of Snugglepot & Cuddlepie. Though I don't ever expect to approach her success I hope one day to have made her proud with my efforts. It's daunting to even think about (they're very big shoes to fill!) so it's best I just put my head down and keep at it. I have a lot of inspiration to keep me going.

'Shopping Expedition

QUESTION:
Where has InkGypsy been for the last 6 months?!

ANSWER:
Desisting from participating in all non-essential tasks in an attempt to stay sane during some trying times.

QUESTION:
So what, if any, creative work have you done?

ANSWER:
I've had many false starts, including: not-finishing my novel (no chunks of time to concentrate = a wash), not-NaNoWriMo-ing (one idea & no time - that was a hard one to give up), drawing practice (yes I've managed some. Not much I'm proud of but Jackzilla got lots of truck and animal drawings!) and other little things.

(I did learn something about my organic writing process in a post-NaNoWriMo-failure-anti-funk-writing-attack but that's another post...)

Then Christmas was over and I thought it about time I did something properly.

So I took on a project which I thought was impossible:

a book cover for a podcast novelist's book.

Not being a professional artist or having half the photoshop expertise necessary I took on the project with a great deal of disclaimers. After two weeks of barely any sleep, working in the dark on my laptop next to my restless and wanna-be-nocturnal toddler, I managed a miracle and created a book cover I was actually surprised and pleased with.

Then I got a couple of notes from the author. Small notes. Reasonable notes. Should be easy, right?

NO!

Turns out it wasn't as straightforward as it seemed and I spent as long trying to find a solution that I was happy to have my name on.

BUT...

I did it!

Wanna see my artwork for the podcast novel 'Scouts' by author Nobilis?

Here is a wallpaper version:

Here is a link to the full (textless) artwork on deviantART-

http://tiny.cc/qx1wO

& here's the book cover (text included) -

http://tiny.cc/ZnsdS

I've included some additional comments at the deviantART site in case you're curious as to my creation process but suffice it to say it evolved from one thing to another and I was both surprised and pleased at the result.

It's my first time making any of my art public so I'm a little nervous about it but if I don't risk putting it out there then nobody will see it and I probably won't get any better. So out it goes (gulp!).

I don't think of myself as an artist. Rather I'm a writer used used to be a dancer who likes to draw/photoshop a little, but I'd love to be 'a well rounded person, ably creative and proficient in multiple disciplines' (yes - Leonardo da Vinci is one of my heroes!) so I'm working on improving the 'art' side of me.

The piece has a slight comic book feel which I'm pleased I achieved and although my original version was a little moodier (which I prefer) this version works well too, to suggest a story.

Check it out and feel free to leave me a comment here or on deviantART!

If you'd like to know more about the book you can go HERE to find the 'Scouts' relevant episodes from Nobilis' podcast which consists of the author reading one chapter (per episode) and additional commentary about his book, his writing and other topics relevant to podcasting and Nobilis Erotica in general. [Please note the book's genre is sci-fi/erotica and the audio contains explicit adult content.] Nobilis has told me his website is currently undergoing a redesign but that my artwork should be up there soon (yay!).

Have a creative day. Hey - if I can, YOU can too!

In the meantime - anyone have any suggestions as to how to convince my toddler to sleep for 12 hours straight so I can too? :)

PS If you have problems with the links please let me know and I'll post the full ones. Merci!

NOTE: While I can't promise to be blogging regularly again yet, I will attempt to keep you up to date on any creative endeavors I take on. Not doing anything creative isn't good for my soul so I have to do 'something'! The trick is not take on too much, not to promise more than I can realistically (and sensibly) do and to only do one thing at a time. It's hard to choose that one thing and inevitably I wish I were doing something else along the way but it works.