Amazing Ride on the Muse's Horse

Thirteen days ago, on the 29th of September, I started up a new story from a little idea. I had just watched “Kingsman - the Secret Service” (a great spy movie, in my humble opinion) and thought about writing a little story about a female version of James Bond - a strong, independent female agent. As usually, it didn’t go according to plan.

Why do I give a date here? Because in thirteen days, I wrote over 56,000 words, an average of little under two chapters of about 3,000 words each a day. That’s about twice the length of anything I’ve successfully written so far. The muse grabbed me by the scruff of my neck, threw me over her horse, and galloped who-knew-where.

In the beginning, Jane complied well enough. For a very short time, she even was Jane Bond in my head, but then I decided that would be too obvious and changed her last name to Browne. Steven Quinn came in as replacement for ‘Q’ - hence his last name. But Steven complied less than Jane and she decided to go along with his lead. They handed me their own life stories, they handed me their abilities, they handed me their emotions. And the story turned. A little heist for the beginning, just to warm up. An agent specialised on breaking and entering with a front as rich heiress and a handler who did research and plotting in the background. A girl disappearing from foster care at the age of ten, after going through twenty foster homes in the course of seven years. A man who, albeit old by now, once rightfully earned the nickname ‘Reaper’ from his peers in secret service. An old villain, created long ago, waved her hand, bangles clinking, and demanded to be put on stage. Buried ideas for the story around her came along as well.

I forgot about James Bond, because Jane became a person of her own right. A woman who definitely didn’t fit the mould of female leads in the world of Hollywood. A woman who wouldn’t cry over a broken heart, but spread the ex-boyfriend’s brain generously over a nearby wall. A woman with a hidden power which was both a little super and a lot terrifying. Not ‘shaken, not stirred,’ but never broken, never bent. No waif, but an athletic woman keeping fit with kickboxing and parcours. No long waves of hair, but a practical pixie cut. Good for her interest in sports and an advantage in close-quarter fighting. No high heels, but sneakers, unless heels are a necessary part of the whole package.

Everyone else had to keep up with that. The handler who also is mentor and father figure to her, yet a man who can still scare people with a glare, if he desires. The organisation which is so secret even the MI6 doesn’t know about it. The fellow agents, especially the elite soldier. And, most of all, the enemy. I played that card carefully, as not to over-expose her. I gave her an army of henchmen, I gave her confidantes to act in her name.

Ideas and scenes flooded my mind and I started putting them in order. One heist, a second heist, a first meeting with the villain, some hard action, a little time lying low, more action - the story unravelled faster than I could write. It kept me working deep into the night, then pushed me out of bed again early in the morning. The moment my mind was awake enough to think about the story, it continued to write itself, reworking scenes I had not yet written, adding new scenes to the mix. My outline of 8 chapters (estimated at 2,500 words each) was completely eradicated. I kept adding chapters, pushing back scenes to make part for other stuff I absolutely needed. Chapters more often scraped 3,000 words than staying around 2,500. Agents designed as helpmates for one heist became a team for later in the game.

It was glorious and horrifying at the same time. I wrote a story more than twice as long as my usual work. Now I have to prepare it and to send it out into the world. And I think reading it again will be just as breathtaking as writing it was.

Return to Fowl Manor

Years ago, while I was still studying, I stumbled over a book, a paperback bound in glittery gold with a two-word title: “Artemis Fowl.” I was curious and the strange symbols at the bottom of each page made me even more curious. I bought the book, I read the story, I translated the secret message at the bottom. I was caught.

The cover didn’t show much, just a name. There was no impressive picture of what awaited me inside, there was no scene from the story depicted, no portrait of said Artemis Fowl. Just a name on a glittery background.

I followed the series up to book six (of eight), but “The Time Paradox” put me off a little. With the time travel, there was something difficult coming into it. Not difficult to stomach, a similar topic had been part of “The Lost Colony” (book five) already. Difficult to include into the story. Suddenly, there was someone going back in time to change history. Someone coming into the future from their own time. Things were getting messy and I stopped following the story. I shouldn’t have, as I learned today, when I finished my reread of the series.

I was, unknowingly, standing at a precipice, right above the exhilarating fall of the last two books (“The Atlantis Complex” and “The Last Guardian”), which are very close together in their story.

After rereading the books during the last few days (they are, technically YA, after all, so not that long), I realize that the story has been tied up very nicely in the last book (the only thing I still wonder about is what happened to Minerva). I realize which amazing change meeting the fairies and working with them has inflicted on the criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl.

The books are not without a body-count. Several characters, including some who have been at the core of the stories, die throughout the eight novels. There’s a lot of danger awaiting the not-so-heroic hero of the novels, one Artemis Fowl II, descendant of generations of criminals and villains. There are those who want to hurt him, those who see him as evil incarnated (though not necessarily for long). But there’s also the most unlikely friendships blooming. There’s expanding family, too.

What I liked most from the beginning is the main character. Admittedly, he is a ‘typical’ boy genius in many ways, with the typical way of talking and the typical mannerisms (most obviously: acting far too old for his actual age). Barry Ween is much less of a typical one. But Artemis has style. And he’s a criminal genius, so there’s heists to be had.

Eoin Colfer, the author, also made sure to give Artemis the weaknesses a main character needs to balance out his strengths. Artemis is not very fit, not a good runner and certainly not a fighter. His coordination is definitely sub-par. He can’t really connect to other people, either.

Artemis grows a lot during the stories, from book to book, there’s a definite change. The twelve-year-old who decides to kidnap a fairy is not the really fifteen-year-old (and technically eighteen-year-old, due to the time shift in “The Lost Colony”) who stops the eradication of mankind at all costs.

There’s also a huge host of additional characters, from Holly Short, Artemis’ abduction victim in the first novel (who turns into a friend later on), over the centaur Foley and LEP-Commander Julius Root (LEP is short for Lower Elements Police, the police force of the fairy world), to villains like Opal Koboi.

Technically, the “Artemis Fowl” series is written for Young Adults, but adults can have a lot of fun with the books, too. Just don’t judge it by “The Time Paradox,” there’s better stuff to come afterwards.

Moran's Memories

The first novel by Kim Newman I got my hands on was “Anno Dracula” and I never finished it. Somehow, I couldn’t get into the story. Perhaps it was the story, perhaps it was me. I was both interested and a little unsure when I stumbled over “The Hound of the d’Urbervilles” in the ‘suggestions’ section of Amazon. I looked into the book, read a few lines of the first chapter, looked at the price, and decided to take the chance. It was a good decision, because I went through the book basically in one sitting.

Over the years, I’ve read a lot of pastiches and additional novels hanging on, one way or another, to the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Some were good, some were interesting once, some have found their way among my personal favourites, some I’ve forgotten by now. But this one was the first book I found not dealing with Sherlock Holmes (who mostly appears in the last chapter, under the moniker ‘The Thin Man’ except for one sentence), but with Professor Moriarty. Like Holmes, he has his chronicler, Colonel Moran. Unlike Watson, however, Moran doesn’t have a serious case of ‘hero worship’ to deal with. Moran does respect his boss for his intelligence and abilities. He fears Moriarty for his ruthlessness and disregard for the human life. He’s not smitten with Moriarty or sees him as some kind of twisted hero. He’s also more crude and, in some ways, more honest in his prose.

I like heist stories and that is what the seven chapters (each with several sub-chapters) are. They range from Moran’s first meeting with Moriarty (set slightly before “A Study in Scarlet,” in which Holmes and Watson meet) to Moriarty’s dying day (suggesting Holmes did not tell the truth about what happened at the waterfall). Some of them run parallel to Sherlock Holmes stories you might know, some set them up, some just imitate them (like the titular “Hound of the d’Urbervilles”). Others take their lead for a vast span of gothic or other turn-of-the-century literature (such as two less-known stories by Bram Stoker and even an ‘all but forgotten’ German villain).

Moran’s voice throughout the stories, which are told from his perspective, is true to the character we are presented to. A man who freely admits he finds crime and murder thrilling (which makes him such a great second in command for Moriarty’s Firm), a man who constantly seems to think about sex when laying his eyes on a woman, a man with a lot of experience, a man with a sarcastic voice and a good eye for detail.

His description of Moriarty, where it comes in, doesn’t paint a very nice picture of the Napoleon of Crime. He knows from their very first meeting he will not leave ‘the Firm,’ as he refers to Moriarty’s crime syndicate, alive. But he also knows it will offer him a steady income (important for a man who likes to gamble) and the frequent thrill of the hunt (most of the time for humans). Yet, he paints a very complete picture of his boss, relaying Moriarty’s mannerisms and his way of dealing with people, problems, and life as a such.

The stories, despite frequent murder and crime, are not to be taken too seriously. Quite some of them, like “The Adventure of the Six Maledictions,” are over-the-top and campy, very much unlike the tone of the first “Anno Dracula.” Perhaps that is the main difference.

“The Hound of the d’Urbervilles” is a good read, interesting, full of references, funny and action-filled. If you can set morals aside for a few hours, you’ll have a blast reading it.

Endings are my weakness

I don’t mean endings as a such, though, I have no problems with the endings of most movies I watch or most books I read or most games I play. Okay, I might find some endings not that fitting, but that’s beside the point. I have a problem with ending my own stories - it’s my weakness.

Most writers have a weakness with one part of the story, be it beginnings, middles, or ends. Actually, I have a quite useful book about it called “Beginnings, Middles & Ends” by Nancy Kress, which told me that. I have no problem with the beginning of a story at all, I usually know from the first idea onwards where I want to start it. I have little problems keeping the story running through the middle. But I have a huge problem with the ending. It’s not so much a ‘I don’t know how to end a story’ and more of a ‘I don’t know when to end a story.’ During the course of writing a story, I usually come up with a lot of information on what happens later on. I could probably give you two years of what happens after the big confrontation scene. But I can’t write all that stuff down, I can’t add it all to the story, so I worry about where to make the break, where to stop the story.

For instance, I decided to end “Twin Sisters” with Saffron and Jasmine on the ship back to Australia. It was a clean cut and fit with the beginning of the story, Jasmine coming to London by ship, too. In my mind, however, I had plotted their first two years in Australia and could have added a couple of chapters with that story, too. Similar things happened when I was about to finish “Heart of Ice,” the first of the Loki Files. I was already filled up with more stuff which could happen. With this story, however, I just incorporated it throughout the following stories.

Sometimes, my battle with endings is long - there are a few stories only lacking one or two more chapters on my hard drive. Sometimes, my battle with the endings is short - for quite some, I quickly found the right place to stop. But it’s always a battle.

I’m not sure what is better or what is worse: being unsure about how to begin a story or being unsure about how to end it. I usually quickly find the important markers of the story, introducing the characters, showing the conflict, preparing for the confrontation, writing the confrontation. But afterwards, I slack off. Sometimes it takes weeks or even months for me to write the end of a story.

I think I prefer having problems with endings, though. To me, writing isn’t a chore (I know Dorothy Parker saw it differently), so I enjoy writing a story and running out of steam much more than I would probably enjoy spending ages trying to figure out the beginning of the story, but then breezing through it. Sometimes, not knowing when to stop is good, too. For some stories, I then go back, change a few things on the way, and finally have a good ending happening.

Other stories die on the way, just to be salvaged later for scenes or characters. But then, I think all writers have a secret cupboard filled with such ‘corpses’ for later use.

During the last few days, I almost feverishly wrote a short story which I woke up almost fully knowing already. Now it’s nearing the end and I find myself at an impasse again. Shall I incorporate certain scenes or not? I’m not 100% sure. I want to put in a scene with an explanation for the beginning of the story (especially with an information disclosed close to the climax). I want to put in a lightweight scene for the end (because the beginning is a bit depressing and I’d like to end the story on a more happy note). I want to end the story, I just don’t know when to end it. So there’s my weakness again.

Every writer struggles with some part of the story. It’s endings for me and I think I can live with it.

Releases!

After the last post, in which I updated my progress with three stories I planned to publish soon, now comes the post about their release. All three are now available for free at Feedbooks. Links will appear at the side of this blog, on my website, and here in the post as subtitles. The word-count now is the official Feedbooks word-count.

Infiltration:

A short MCU AU (Alternate Universe). Loki won the battle for New York City (and later the world), S.H.I.E.L.D. went underground and a rather inexperienced female agent is sent to spy on Loki and do some recon in former Stark Tower. Things don’t progress as planned and end in smut. (6,506 Words)

Fallen Prince:

Another MCU AU (Alternate Universe), trying partially to explain what happened to Odin at the end of “Thor: The Dark World.” Loki’s trick is exposed and he’s sent down to Midgard while Thor (and the rest of Asgard) try to find out what happened to Odin and how Loki came to replace him. He’s placed in the care of Agent Shaw, who sometimes isn’t sure whether to give the God of Mischief a few kicks in his behind or a few hugs. Things only get more complicated after a blizzard and the visit of a raven. No outright smut in this one, but some suggestions. (16,687 Words)

Vengeful Ghost:

This one is based on Norse Loki, not MCU Loki, and it might become a little series itself in time. Jane Carter became Jack Carter, so she could survive in more-or-less Victorian London on her own. Living as a freelancing journalist, a penny-a-liner, she stumbles over a job advertisement that’s too good to be true and finds herself in a world beyond the one she always thought was ‘real.’ (16,533 Words)

All stories are proofread (but nobody is free of mistakes, so there still might be some in them). And, as mentioned already, they’re for free.