Of Couse I'll Wonder

It's been of a bit of a mad week, truth be told, and not for writerly reasons. However, for those non-writerly reasons I unfortunately have nothing new to report. Curses.

One thing I did do was watch the Olympic "Isles of Wonder" opening ceremony. That was interesting. I was a bit pissed when I did, so at the time just let the noise wash over me and assumed that it'd probably make sense later. Then I watched it again and realised: Oh, no. It genuinely was that odd. Liked it, though.

Which is strange because I don't think I was supposed to. It'd be easy to be very cynical about it. It gave the cynic a lot of ammunition with which to be cynical - it was cloying, twee and occasionally a bit smug. But that's the point of Olympic opening ceremonies and criticising them for that reason is like slagging off the sea because you went for a swim in it and got your hair wet.

An Olympic ceremony basically broadcasts a nation's self-image to the world, and what Danny Boyle chose to broadcast was garish, eclectic and just a little unfathomable. So job's a good 'un, then. God help the overseas commentators trying to explain some of that to their home audiences.

The Industrial Revolution section was the highlight. Mostly because it played out like a live production of The Scouring of The Shire. Kenneth Brannagh's sideburns were a happy bonus.

But there was a disappointing lack of Iron Maiden. Gutted.

You don't frighten me, sunshine.

It seems I'm suffering a crisis of confidence of some sort. After several years of writing nothing but comics, my ability to write simple prose has taken a bit of a hit. Doing it is also giving me the fear.

I was not expecting to be so nervous about doing this. Methings there will be much agonising over details in the weeks and months to come. I also can't help but feel it might be silly of me to bomb straight into writing a whole book without first warming up on something shorter and easier. That would be the sensible option.

But screw it, where's the fun in being sensible

So it's a novel and it currently feels quite intimidating, and what I have written so far is bloody awful. Bring it on, bitch. I will soon be eating through your pages like a mad thing.

Hudson Rises.

My computer appears to be briefly behaving itself, so last night I spent a little time writing Hudson Falls - as a novel. It was just an experiment to see it it'd work more than anything, and as it turns out it feels pretty natural and I think I might give it a try.

I'm playing a little with a semi-epistolary form, staggering newspaper stories and press articles in between chapters, and it seems to give the story a bit of extra body. I've not written much of it so far so there's no major changes to report, but I'm already tinkering with the idea of ramping up the fantasy quotient and having a denouement that resolves the story in a more unreal, anthropomorphic way.

It'll be a while yet before I can get back into it properly, but when I do I think I shall be having a real go at this novel thing. Hell, if it doesn't work out, I can always re-convert it to a comic book. In any case it felt good to be writing again, although I'm woefully out of practice writing prose after so long concentrating on comics.

Stupid technology...

It seems my break from writing is becoming even longer than anticipated. Unforeseen problems with my email account and general PC troubles are getting in the way. In short, there are issues with my domain which mean I currently can't send or receive any emails, and my computer appears to be melting, albeit quite slowly.

I'm sorting everything out gradually, but apart from the odd foray that I can steal while my PC is working, or on someone else's rig, radio silence is to be maintained for a little longer.

Frightfully sorry, old beans. I know you must miss me so.