JoZebwrites

Like most writers, I have a few works in The Trunk, the virtual box under my bed where works that don't work lurk. I have two, in particular. One is a YA sf thriller I started when I was still repped by a YA agent and thought I should probably write something for that market. I like it okay but I've never really got to grips with the characters or the speculative elements. It also reminds me too much of a tough time, writing wise, when I was left in a limbo that I'm only drawing out of now, and I suppose that steals the will to continue with a work.That one, I think, will stay where it is for now. My second trunked novel is a more challenging scenario. This one is a sf. I love the concept, I love the characters, but it's just not quite working. Part of that is a structural issue - this is a mother and daughter's combined story, told mostly by the daughter through a link to her mother's memories - which I have never fully managed to solve. Part of it is the n...

I'm a character writer. I can't write a story until the character chooses to appear in the black hole in the back of my mind that an entire town lives in, as far as I can tell, and starts to talk to me. I don't do character sketches. I don't muse on what type of person they'll be or how I'll add edges to them, or make them sympathetic. (That does mean that not everyone will dig the characters I write, but that's okay. I don't dig everyone I meet, after all). They just happen. Yesterday, for instance, an entirely new charactrer made themselves known to me. They're a friend of Neeta's in Inish Carraig. They're skinny and streetwise and they're going to be a handful - and I've yet to write their point of view yet. (I might never, but I still hear their voice). They're one of three new characters so far, all of whom have appeared pretty well rounded from the first instance. This means when anyone asks HOW to write a character, I...

It's been a week of online discussions about authors' income, where various friends are placed, where I am placed, who has an agent, who has a trad deal, who made nothing on their last book, who made something, who made lots (ha! haven't actually had that conversation, anywhere...). During that week I've learned lots of things. Like, for instance, if I had a big publisher I might not be allowed to bring out material, unrelated to the book the publisher has, and expand my writing output. In other words, if I went trad, I couldn't be a hybrid writer, picking and choosing the market as per the project's needs. For me, that means two things. Firstly, I would lose my freedom to publish as I'd like to - and as much as I like to. But, more importantly - all those little short stories related to worlds, the Christmas freebies, the ability to expand and promote wherever feels best, would be lost. And yet, I'd have a big publisher and a bigger income. Perhaps....

This week is, apparently, the 40th anniversary of Blake's 7, that shaky-setted, pirates in space series. Apart from making me feel incredibly old, it also made me nostalgic (Rumours of Death might go on tonight for old time's sake) it also made me reflect on where we take influences from and why. It's no secret that B7 was a huge influence on Abendau (along with a load of other sf from the 70s-80s like Star Wars, Dune, and the older, classical Space Operas). There are a number of B7 Easter eggs through the trilogy - Kare is named for Kerr Avon, my baddy was a woman because, after Servalan, deliciously evil male rulers lack smack. There are other, subtler, references - the shifting sands of Abendau were partly inspired by Sand and when I had to abandon my good guys somewhere awful where better than a quarry? But it was also a huge influence on the type of characters I develop. Characters who question, who have moral codes of various ilks, who feel real. Characters with...

I'm working on Inish Carraig 2 at the moment, and back with the characters and I wondered what a Christmas would be like in that world. And here's what it was. I'm signing off now for a couple of weeks - for all those who are doing the same, have a lovely holiday. I hope 2018 is great for all, and many, many thanks for all the support through 2017, as ever. Jo ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A COLD, HARD CHRISTMAS, a SHORT STORY BY JO ZEBEDEE John perched on the window-ledge of the house he, Josey and the kids had been allocated. Carter would have conniptions, but after a year in a house with no windows John found the centrally heated interior stuffy, almost nauseating. He stared over the flat, reclaimed loughshore to a snow-covered Belfast, its two giant cranes visible in the distance. Even the invasion hadn't seen to Samson and Goliath, although it had flattened much ...

A few days ago I got talking to the fabulous Anne McMaster about the title of Waters and the Wild. For those who know their poetry, they might recognise that I took the title from a line in Yeats' poem, The Stolen Child. To explain a little about my Yeats background. My mother is a huge fan of Yeats. So much so that she decided one year the ideal family holiday with a bunch of teenagers was visiting Sligo, and lots of his writing sites. Which sounds strange and not quite up there with Disneyland but, actually, that holiday has always stayed with me. Suffice to say if you have a childhood that incorporates a holiday like that, you'll have a passing knowledge of Yeats' poetry. (An admission: I like poetry to read. I don't write it. I wouldn't have a clue where to start and, frankly, I like my blasters, but I do enjoy a read of it.) Now, I do think a title is worth thinking reasonably hard about. Despite Inish Carraig's apparent irrelevance to science fiction...

One thing I get asked a lot when running courses etc is how to get beta readers, how many to have and what sort of skills they need to have. Firstly, though - what are beta readers? They're readers who look at the early manuscript and tell me all my horrors. Technically there are alpha readers, who look at the first-first draft, and beta readers who look at the reasonably tidied up version. But, for the purposes of this blog, I'm going to just refer to them all as beta readers. This is a timely thing to do since I've just put together a team of willing victims - cough, volunteers - for Inish Carraig 2, so it's something I've been thinking about, and the process is reasonably fresh with me. So, where did these volunteers come from. All 4 were met on one forum or another - two through the sffchronicles, whose writing community I've been a member of for some time and under whose guidance I cut my writing teeth, one through Skypen, a local forum which is now s...