Pushing Forty

 Featured, NaNoWriMo, Some Other Scotland, Writing  Comments Off
Nov 252012
 

NaNo GraphFor the final weekend of NaNoWriMo I’m pleased to have hit the 40,000 word mark – a milestone worthy of comment, I think. That leaves only 10,000 words to hit the NaNo goal, but I think, from progress so far, that it will take up to 60,000 words to finish the story. Since it took 66,000 words to get as far as episode 26, this does fit with my original expectation that Some Other Scotland would last for around 50 episodes in total.

It is full steam ahead from now on, as I spent some more time working out plans and timelines using the still-in-development tool ‘Scapple’, the latest software from the developer of ‘Scrivener’, which is the writing software I use to put together SOS. Here’s what I put together using Scapple to help me work out the order of events, the items that still need to be dealt with and the trail of evidence to be followed by Sykes and Co. (yes, it is too small to make out any details, so no spoilers!).
Scapple planning

I have found Scapple to be great for throwing together a whole load of ideas and showing the links between them. Standard mind-mapping software can tend to limit layouts to a hierarchical structure, but Scapple lets links flow in many different directions, which is ideal for my way of working. It outputs in a variety of formats, so I have a copy in pdf format that can sit within my ‘Research’ folder in Scrivener, letting me check back on the plan without having to open another program.

When I first started putting together a timeline for the story, I used a trial copy of Aeon Timeline which seems to be ideal. In fact it was very easy to use, had all the features I wanted and even has a straightforward way of synchronising with Scrivener that made the whole process work smoothly. Unfortunately, the way the software works meant that my long timeline (4,000 years approximately) was too much for it to cope with. It let me enter the events in the timeline and was able to display them, but when I wanted to zoom into any time period less than a month it could not display any further detail. As a result it was no use for plotting out events that happened within the course of a single day, of which there are many in certain sections of the story.
According to the support website, this is a known issue and the way around it would be to have separate timelines for each set of events (e.g. one for neolithic times, one for 18th century, one for early 20th century and one for the ‘current’ time), which is really not practical and would make the otherwise perfect software a pain to use. I ended up switching the timeline to a LibreOffice spreadsheet for comparison purposes and using Scapple to identify the actual flow of events (i.e. event X must happen before events Y and Z).

Now that I know how the story will end, it is just a matter of keeping on with the writing and then beginning the editing process. Look out for another new episode in the next week or so, depending on how well I progress with the writing over the next few days.

Almost there!

NaNo progress

NaNo Halfway

 NaNoWriMo, Some Other Scotland, Writing  Comments Off
Nov 172012
 

NaNo Graph
The halfway mark for NaNoWriMo has passed and I am pleased to say that I have managed to stay on target. The little chart here shows a couple of yellow and orange days, which are those where the daily target was not quite reached, but that was balanced out be the days when I wrote well over the target (mostly weekends and a few days off work). As I write this post, my word count sits at over 27,000. That is roughly equivalent to eight episodes of the podcast, so I edited a section of what has been written so far and recorded it with my nice new AKG Perception microphone. There is a new episode of the podcast just been posted and I will be recording more in the next few weeks.

The whole process of writing SOS in this way, instead of on a weekly basis, has made it flow well, though fitting it back into a twenty minute episode can be more tricky than writing it in specific, episode-friendly chunks. Nevertheless, I am currently finishing off the end of the second act of the story and will soon be starting to bring all the final threads together and wrap it all up. The story has taken some unexpected turns, even without the last of the polls being included, but I am very pleased with the way it is making its way to the conclusion.

NaNoWriMo 2012

 NaNoWriMo, Some Other Scotland, Writing  Comments Off
Oct 172012
 

NaNo GraphIt’s that time of the year again and, after sitting out last year’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I’m giving it another shot in 2012. This time I have set myself the goal of writing another 50,000 words to Some Other Scotland, so not technically a new story. The weekly nature of the news stories, which have fed into the plot of SOS since the first episode, has been something of a mixed blessing, breaking the writing flow. By attacking it in a large, continuous block of writing over the month of November, the aim is to finish or at least come close to finishing the whole story.

With just two weeks before NaNo kicks off, I have been writing up Every Photo Tells… stories in advance, so there is nothing to get in the way during November. One of those is set in the SOS world, which is a gentle way to dip my toes back into the story. Over the next week I will be looking at the plot lines as they currently stand and working out how they will resolve over the second half of the story.

The chart of my progress on will be on display here. Do drop in and see how it is progressing and make certain I don’t fall behind!

Fellow NaNo writers, if you’d like to add me as a buddy, my username is SOScotland.

Glimpses

 Featured, Podcast, Short Stories, Some Other Scotland, Writing  Comments Off
Nov 202011
 

A few months ago the team at Podioracket launched an anthology podcast featuring writers of Podiobooks.com stories. This is the second of these collections they have produced, though this one differed from the first by showcasing stories that were spin-offs from existing podiobooks.com titles. The idea is to give people a taste of some of the books available on the site, perhaps interesting them in tales that might not otherwise have appealed to them based solely on their descriptions. I thought this was a great idea, having already written a number of stories in the same world as “Some Other Scotland“, and knew straight away what to write.

In the early days of SOS, I wrote a short story that appeared at “Great Hites” called “The Cave pt1″. It was prompted by the ‘polar bear’ news item that came up and was set about 4,000 years ago, providing an outside view of a historic meeting. There was always going to be a second part to the story and ‘Glimpses’ provided the opportunity to tell the rest of the tale. This new story is set in the same time period and focuses on a meeting between the clans and the advanced civilisation featured in the main storyline. Throw in a mind-controlled polar bear and some bad attitude and you know that it’s not going to end in cuddles. If you haven’t been following SOS, then this story gives you a flavour of the main story, but if you have then this is probably the most ‘essential’ of the Spin-offs I have written.

The story has been available in audio form at Podiobooks for months (there is an audio promo below), but has just been released in eBook format. You can find it in a range of formats for all e-readers, or to view on your computer, at Amazon(for Kindle users) and Smashwords(in many formats).

You can find out more about the book on Goodreads or Shelfari – please leave a review if you enjoy any of the stories. We really want to get the news out there about the collection.

Glimpses Promo [ 0:53 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Some Other Podcast

 Podcast, Some Other Scotland  1 Response »
Feb 022011
 

Some Other Scotland
Between Every Photo Tells…, Wiener Blut and numerous other activities, my attention to Some Other Scotland has been spread rather thin of late. Okay, very thin. I am in the process of sorting this out.

First of all, a new episode of the podcast series was posted yesterday and it features something that was set up back in episode 4. Admittedly, because of the nature of the podcast and its audience-influenced plot-lines, at that time I had no idea what it was set up for, but once I did, it was just a matter of sitting on it until an appropriate time. The pace will be stepping up a gear or two over the next few episodes, as a result of this event. I have already started writing the next episode, so keep an eye on Twitter and Facebook for updates.

Polls

There is a new poll, ready for you to vote on. In the past I had to rely on third party poll sites that were either awkward to work with or didn’t do what I want them to do. The new, integrated poll fits the design of the SOS site, lets me include links on each poll item so that you can visit the original news items before making your informed decision to vote for the three things you’d like me to inflict on the characters. The new system even lets me provide a poll archive, so clicking on the ‘Polls‘ menu item will show all the polls from the past. Unfortunately this ability will only be available from this week’s poll onwards, but I hope you find it useful.

Wiki

Over on the SOS Wiki page, there have been a number of additions to bring the wiki up to date with the plot, such as discovering the name of the ‘Sidhe‘, adding in new locations, characters and items of technology. There was a spam attack on the wiki a few weeks ago, which slipped past because of some settings that have now been changed. It is a really useful resource for listeners of the podcast and don’t forget that anyone can register as a user there and make their own additions to the information there.

Subscribe!

There are a number of existing spin-offs that I will be dropping into the feed as well, in between regular episodes. In the past these have been spread around all over the place, but I am keen to bring them all into the main feed. For a while there has also been the ability to choose a special feed, for example if you are a podiobooks.com listener, but would like to grab all the spin-offs to enjoy. It was never very clear how this works, though, so I have added a Subscribe page that lists the special feeds you can access along with a nice shiny iTunes button to press if all that sounds too complicated and you just want to listen to the whole podcast.

Some Other Scotland

Every Photo Tells… Podiobook

 Every Photo Tells..., Podcast  Comments Off
Aug 042010
 

Every Photo Tells… is joining the ranks of podiobooks.com from next week (11th August 2010). The stories there are the same ones from the EPT website, though they have been re-ordered a little so that two-part stories are all presented back-to-back, presented as ‘Book 1′. The main site will continue as before, bringing new stories inspired by photographs, but those won’t appear at Podiobooks.com until another 6 months have passed and they will become ‘Book 2′.

Appearing on podiobooks will, we hope, bring in some new listeners as well as potentially some new authors too. The podcast is taking a break for August (there will be a photo and a single story, but no guest writers) whilst we get the podiobooks version completed, then will return in September. Over this period I’ll be working hard on ‘Some Other Scotland‘, so you can expect that to return to a much more regular schedule – Episode 20 has just been launched and there is plenty more to come.

Question Time

 Every Photo Tells..., Podcast, Some Other Scotland, Writing  Comments Off
Apr 152010
 

If you are interested in what goes on behind the scenes to put together an episode of ‘Some Other Scotland‘, you may like to visit two blogs that have been running interviews with podcasters over the last few months.

First of all, Rich at Random Pimpage has a series called “8 Questions”, where he asks 8 simple, if sometimes a little bizarre, questions to a number of people from the world of podcasting. Since this tied-in with the launch of Every Photo Tells…, you’ll find Katharina’s and my answers together at the site.

On the subject of Every Photo Tells…, we’re now into our third month of photo-inspired stories and already up to episode 8. So far there have been tales of love, assassins, pirates, monsters and even a classic whodunnit. There is plenty more to come!

More recently, a more detailed set of questions were put to me about writing and podcasting by Odin at his View From Valhalla blog. His questions go into depth about writing podcast fiction, techniques and equipment for recording and the goals of podcasting. Since he has had a number of people answering his questions in this “How I Do It” series, I would recommend it as a great introduction for new podcasters to pick up tips from those of us who have been through the learning experience already. My answers can be found right here. Incidentally, Odin also runs a regular review of podiobooks, so if you are enjoying ‘Some Other Scotland’ and would like to delve into other podcast fiction, he has some good recommendations for you to try out.

I Should Be Writing

 Podcast, Some Other Scotland, Writing  Comments Off
Dec 102009
 

I Should Be Writing

Mur Lafferty, author of “Playing for Keeps” and the “Heaven” podcast series amongst other things, has recently posted an article written by me on her “I Should Be Writing” blog.

The blog is the companion to her regular podcast aimed at new and aspiring writers, one that has provided a great deal of help and inspiration to guide me on my way. The article deals with the particular challenges of writing an ongoing piece of interactive fiction like “Some Other Scotland” and how I keep track of where it is going and ensuring it stays on course.

It is aimed at fellow writers, but if you are interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the SOS podcast, you might well find it interesting even if you’re not a writer. Do take the time to check out Mur’s own podcasts at the site; they are quite different to SOS, but you’re sure to find something of interest.

Great Hites Catch-up

 100 Word Stories, Great Hites, Short Stories, Writing  Comments Off
Dec 102009
 

Somehow I have managed not to mention a whole truckload of things in the last month. Rather than off-load them all at once, I’ll stick up a series of short posts to get back on course.

First of all, since I last posted, there have been another two stories posted to Great Hites, both ‘Some Other Scotland‘ spin-off tales.

GH Week 66 “Wearing sunglasses in the early morning.”
Breakfast Hat [sos]
Sometimes people just don’t want to be found. This is a short tale about what happens to Razer between wiping out the Empire State Building and finding himself in deep water.
GH Week 67 “A man with a duck-headed cane is at the door.”
Hide and Seek [sos]
A detective is sent on a chase that can’t end well. It is a longer tale set during the Second World War, giving the full story of the detective mentioned by Erica in Episode 16 of SOS and the previous attack on the ‘Merk’.

Since these are spin-off, they will both appear in the main SOS podcast feed in the future.

In addition to those, I recently included a 100-word story in the SOS feed that was to have been submitted to the 100 Word Stories podcast. It also gives more information about the first attack on the ‘Merk’ in a highly-condensed form.

There was also a bonus prompt for Great Hites recently for a 100-word story, written with a tight deadline, on the subject of “Spicy Mustard”. Like “Kelvin’s Last Message”, this is set in the future of SOS and may never come to pass. I will post the link to this when it becomes available.

Finally, just a reminder that there is a link on the right of this page that will take you to all my short stories, headed “Mick’s Short Stories“.

Waltzing With Werewolves

 100 Word Stories, Great Hites, Short Stories, Writing  Comments Off
Jul 292009
 

Wolf

This week’s Great Hites episode includes the biggest number of stories to date, with a number of new authors joining in and existing authors pulling out all the stops to make this a really good stepping-on point if you’ve never visited the site before.

The prompt for the stories was “Silver Bullets; the real reason that some cowboys carried them” and as you can imagine this has resulted in a number of werewolf-westerns as well as a few more unusual approaches. There are 12 stories in total, so Jeff has split it into 4 chunks, but it is all well worth a listen or two.

Two of the stories are mine: “Waltzing with Werewolves” is a 100 word love story set to music in a sort of spoken-song format, whilst “Silver Solves The Dilemma” is a fairly traditional western tale, but with werewolves and a somewhat skewed moral code.

Incidentally, the introduction music for each part that Jeff talks over is the theremin solo from The Ballad of Rufus Amos Adams – the country song I wrote some time ago for the Masters of Song Fu. Follow the link for the whole song.

Over on ‘Some Other Scotland‘ this week, the action heads over the Atlantic to New York where the final scene shows how the influence of the story is reaching far beyond the shores of Scotland, with some devastating consequences. I was delighted to have Philip ‘NorvalJoe‘ Carroll join me as the guest voice for Razer’s American friend Kyle, who provides him with a place to lay low for a while. The two of us also concocted the creepy promo for Great Hites that you’ll hear in the same episode, which was fun to put together.

Live Interview and Chat

Finally, I have been invited to do a live interview and call-in chat with Podioracket.com on BlogTalkRadio on the 10th of August. I will have more information about this shortly, but in the meantime, visit this link to set an email reminder of when the show will be broadcast.

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