Yesterday I played host to a small group of fellow writers and got them to talk candidly about THE NOVEL (or at least the 70,000 words I gave them to read a couple of weeks ago).
The Good: They pointed out a lot of ways the book can be improved, none of which came as a complete surprise to me.The Bad: They pointed out a lot of ways the book can be improved, none of which came as a complete surprise to me.
The Ugly: I’ve got a bit more to write to finish the “first draft” (quotation marks because I tend to revise as I go, so when I finish the first draft, it’ll be more like a third or fourth draft… I hope), and a lot of fiddly auto-electrical, and ambitious structural-engineering work to do to enact the changes I know the story needs to be the right mix of: bold and engaging, odd and believable, plot driven and character rich.
Filmy aside
I watched the first half of Sergio Leone’s The Good the bad and the ugly the other day. Spent most of the time wondering why some bits were dubbed (or synced poorly) and others times the actors seemed to be speaking English in time with their lips. In the end I started Googling and lost interest. In bed by 8.30pm
Y’know, the usual
.Cloud Atlas when it comes out in October, coz it was a cool book and could either be a cool movie or a train wreck: either way it’s bound to be an engrossing 2 hours and change.
Also, there’s an adaptation of Michel Faber's Under The Skin, which I just finished reading (and will post about tomorrow). Scarlett Johansen as Isserley? I'd probably pay money to see that.
Another loosely themed playlist
(slightly ashamed about #6 but I've been earworming it like crazy... let this be its exorcism)
Das ist nicht mein Bier
There was a lot of media coverage last week of the Prime Minister’s keenness for school league tables. Not so much coverage of the release of the NZ Writers League Table.
I kid, I kid.
Actually, there was a bit of chatter, but mostly around the fact one German journo went to one press conference and saw a lot of scenery and heard a lot of talk about food and wine, but not enough about books (or enough Te Reo Maori).
Congrats to those writers in the Premier League (and the Championship, and League One). It's great to see a couple of young buds (Hamish Clayton and Tina Makereti) get to rep Aotearoa along with the fully blossomed... I almost made a joke about 'deadheading', but I don't actually believe that.
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