December 9, 2013
I'm not generally hugely impressed by 3D films. Either the 3D is used as a gimmick (Duck! There's a hammer flying out of the screen towards you!), which usually means that the script is weak, or you're so engrossed in the story that you don't notice them, so what's the point? However, I have discovered an exception: Gravity. Okay, the two stars (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) are capable of far more, and there wasn't much story, but the 3D effects really conveyed the strangeness of space, where there is no up or down without another object to refer to.
I hadn't considered before how fire might behave on a spacecraft, or that there is nothing to slow the momentum of a movement. Elements of the story might have jarred, but not the portrayal of space (apart from Sandra Bullock's hair). Without 3D, I believe the film simply wouldn't have worked.
As all the best films do, Gravity left me with questions. What would have been happening on Earth with so many satellites smashed? Would there have been a defense crisis? Would communications have been completely out of action? Would pieces hitting Earth cause chaos? The results could be catastrophic. There are many other stories that could be told sparked by the same catalyst.
On the whole, Gravity was well worth seeing.
Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews
December 1, 2013
I seem to have spent most of the past week uploading versions of
Discord's Child with its super-duper new cover, and letting everyone I can think of know about it. The reaction has been brilliant and I'm truly grateful to everyone who has taken the trouble to let me know their thoughts. I'm still tempted to keep looking at it, but it's really time I got on with some writing otherwise Ro will have grey hair before I finish her story. Sorry, guys, no more time to chat, I have a band of Iyessi a...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : FantasyFiction
November 26, 2013
At last I have a brilliant new cover for
Discord's Child, and I can't say loudly enough how thrilled I am with it. My own previous effort made the novel look amateurish.
The new design is the work of Katie Stewart at Magic Owl Design, and it's spot on. Despite being a pre-made, it features several important features of the story, and captures its atmosphere as if I'd given Katie a detailed brief. She was a joy to deal with, and I have no hesitation in recommending her services to anyone want...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
November 17, 2013
If you want to be taken seriously as a writer, you need to act like an author. That doesn't mean donning a cravat or reciting poetry in the pub when you've had a few. It means having the attitude of a writer. If you don't value what you do and believe it's a justifiable occupation, no one else is going to. Drop your writing every time someone wants a chat on the phone or wants your help with their pet project, and not only will you never finish it, but everyone will regard what you do as 'a n...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
November 3, 2013
Mud, mud, glorious mud... whatever Flanders and Swann sang about mud, it isn't all that glorious when your characters have been ankle deep in it for days only to get even more seriously bogged down in a city full of potential enemies. The trouble is, I thought I knew exactly how they were going to get out of this fix until I came to write it and realised that it simply wouldn't work. So much for plotting in advance! It looks as if I might have to backtrack, and get them all wading through the...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
October 27, 2013
With the clocks changing and the weather forecasters predicting floods and hurricane-strength winds tonight, perhaps this is a good time to prepare for a night indoors.
I could settle in front of the television to watch a film and call it research. Or I could read a book–ditto. Or I could sharpen my pencil, sort out a pad of paper and write about the storm. How will the wind sound? Will it whistle down the chimney? Will the rain rattle on the door trying to get in? Will the trees thrash abo...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
October 21, 2013
Why do writers procrastinate? Presumably we're all writers because we enjoy writing or derive some satisfaction from it (if not an income). Why is it, then, that most of us would rather bath the dog than settle down and get on with it?
My own delaying tactics include everything from sharpening the pencil, making coffee, remembering that the veggies for dinner need peeling and discovering that an essential piece of information requires an hour of research on the internet, to sorting out the co...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
October 14, 2013
I've been asked to give a talk about writing to 11 and 12-year-old members of a local school's book club. I'm honoured and terrified. What can I possibly say that will interest them? It's a long time since I was that age–perhaps they'll be interested in what I was reading then, and I still have some of my 'deathless prose' from that period which might not be too embarrassing to show them.
In trying to trace what it was that set me writing initially, I realised that it was reading. I had an ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
October 6, 2013
In the past couple of weeks I've had news of a few successes. I've had a poem short-listed in a competition (the final winner is yet to be decided) and a short story short-listed in another. A poem has been commended in the Thynks competition and another has been long-listed in a fourth competition. Okay, none of them are actually in the prizes (yet), but it's still something to be pleased about, isn't it? The fact is, the organisers of the latter competition offered me an extra opportunity, ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Competitions
September 30, 2013
Fiction that crosses genre boundaries is increasingly popular, so much so that many sub-genres are popping up, such as steampunk, paranormal romance and Western science fiction. Reading
Map of Bones by James Rollins recently, I was struck by how easily the plot could have been adapted for a fantasy novel.
Map of Bones is a fast-paced action-packed thriller involving secret societies, undercover agents with special abilities and a race to stop an evil sect from gaining ancient knowledge that w...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
