Character Art Callout
As some of you know already, book two (‘Arthur Quinn and the Fenris Wolf’) is coming out in August. To coincide with the launch, we’re going to be unleashing a brand new version of the Arthur Quinn website a few weeks before the book comes out. One of the big additions to the new site is going to be a much more in-depth look at the characters. I want to include an illustration of each character as well. And I thought that the best person to do this is… well… you!
So send in your drawings! I want to see pictures of Arthur, Ash, Will, Max, Joe, Loki – everyone! You can take a photo of the drawings or scan them in and then use the form here to send them.
I can’t wait to see what you all come up with.
Pixar Intro Parody
I’m sure you’re familiar with the Pixar intro where the cute little lamp (Luxo Jr I believe his name is) comes along and bounces on the ‘I’. Anyway, College Humour have made a parody of the famous intro full of dark humour. Enjoy!
Warning: you may never look at little Luxo Jr the same way again!
How long can you look at this?
Present Tension
As I mentioned previously, I’m writing again. This time it’s a Young Adult novel. It’s quite dark and grim at times with a seventeen year old narrator. Oh, and it’s all written in the present tense.
The more I write it, the more I’ve been thinking about the present tense. It seems to have become very fashionable these days. Half – (if not all) – the YA novels I read are written in this tense as are a huge amount of books that turn up on award shortlists. In fact, a couple of years ago, Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, wrote a piece in The Guardian bemoaning what he saw as overuse of the tense. It’s an interesting read and, as much as I admire him, I don’t fully agree with him here.
I’ve used the present tense throughout all the Arthur Quinn books – but sparingly. In each book, Arthur experiences strange dreams/visions of Asgard, the land of the gods. I wanted these visions to read differently. Switching from the past to present tense acts as a sort of lingual key for the reader; it takes them away from Arthur’s world and brings them to the world of the gods, a time where time itself acts differently. It’s jarring but it’s supposed to be. Read the rest of this entry »
Writing – YA novel
I’m back writing! But what I’m writing is very, very different to the world of Arthur Quinn. It’s a YA novel and I don’t want to say too much about it but I will say that it’s quite grim at times.
As usual, I’ve created a writing soundtrack and I’ve included some tracks here so you can get an idea of the tone of the book.
More Seuss – Mad Men
I’m a big fan of Mad Men. One of my favourite characters is Ken Cosgrove. He’s often overlooked but I like him because, although he’s just a boring accounts guy at work, he secretly writes short stories at home. The creator of Mad Men has said that the series will end in the modern day and we’ll get to see what all the characters are up to. I always get the feeling that Ken will have left the advertising industry to become a full-time and very successful author.
Anyway, I read this blog and it reminded me a lot of Ken. Turns out Dr Seuss worked in advertising before becoming a children’s author.
If Star Wars was written by Dr Seuss
Then and now
Back in the early nineties, my uncle who lived in America at the time brought back a book for my younger brother Paul. It was the Best Word Book Ever by Richard Scarry. Paul loved the book (mainly because it had pictures of fire-fighters!) and I remember flicking through it myself from time to time. I don’t think it was ever sold in this side of the world. I never saw it in any bookshops then and haven’t now.
Anyway, this flickr account grabbed my attention when I stumbled on it. Turns out that there are two versions of Scarry’s book. The first was released in 1963 and then his revised version came out in 1991. (We owned the revised version.) It’s interesting looking at what he decided to change nearly thirty years later and will tell you a little about how the world changed too. Have a look.
