Still writing "Juvie" and Rarely Coming Up for Air

Still working away at "Juvie". It's taking in some interesting ideas and real making me examine the way I write. I'm trying to inhabit the characters more, feel my way through the novel using their eyes, react to events with their prejudices and experiences. It's hard work but my writing is better because of it. I'm also getting a more measured feel for the world they inhabit, one not that different from our own. They love and cry, hate and think the same as us so therefore their environment would be similar. I'm trying to keep as far away from one dimensional characters faced with obvious decisions to make as possible.

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman is a book suggested to me by my agent. It's an alternative history book, the imagery of black and white role reversal being played out in a world similar to our own. It's YA or at least for older children and the main characters represent the age group of the audience. At it's heart is a Romeo and Juliet story between Callum (a nought and white) and Sephy (a cross and black). It's an apartheid culture that will keep the two apart and from the outset its obvious their difficult relationship is going to become a disaster as they age and face the world they live in.

I found the main characters a little bit too vanilla and their immediate landscape I kept imagining as the Southern US, when I think it was the UK (but this is probably me just putting my own experiences onto the book). The writing is excellent, but the kids aren't allowed to be themselves. I just didn't think they would have spoken in that way. An interesting idea but one that feels just a little bit too contrived.

John O'Farrell is a comedian I'm familiar with from his numerous appearances on Radio 4. He also writes history books, one of which is a tour through 2000 years of British history. His angle is that most of the disastrous decisions made have been by upper class idiots with little in the way of thoughts for the people they represent. This is GCSE level history but its very funny in places.

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Read this week

An Utterly Impartial History of Britain or 2000 years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge by John O'Farrell

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

I was talking to my agent the other day...

I've had some encouraging news recently after "Juvie" was read by a well respected agent. On the back of that I am now being represented by Edwin Hawkes of The McKernan Agency. This means several things. Firstly my ability to get work in front of publishers has just gone from almost impossible to likely. Secondly it means I have someone off which to bounce ideas and gain a better understanding of the business and the market place. At the same time it now means a work like "Juvie" has to be rewritten, almost from scratch, to incorporate a larger world view. This is necessary for it be a viable project but also very scary as I really have to think about everything within. For the first time I'm thinking about each and every word as I place them on the page, I thinking about the ideas behind the story and how they interact and move the plot forward. I'm judging the characters, rewriting some, introducing new ones and killing off those that just don't fit. Everything has to be stood on its head and kicked about in the back of my brain and prodded and poked until I'm happy with them. This means that if you talk to me at the moment I have a tendency to act a little vacant and off hand. I am listening but at the same time I feel like I'm elsewhere.

Don't get me wrong I understand that just because I now have an agent that doesn't mean a publishing deal for "Juvie", but it's a step in the right direction and I can't help but be just a little bit excited.

So now I'm tied to my desk and probably won't resurface until later in the year.

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Of course I still have time to have a quick look around the interweb and pick out some interesting digital vacations:

An interview with Charlie Huston is available of Vimeo. Part one here and part two here.

Huston's Joe Pitt novels have become one of my recent favourite quick reads (see below) and it looks as if he is a writer with many ideas yet to explore.

There is also a long look at Gaiman available from the New Yorker, though I think there is a few inaccuracies in the facts.

I've also been reading some of the free mags available on Issuu which I've mentioned before but is worth a visit, and I've been reading Coilhouse' website and want to order a copy but they've sold out of their most recent edition so will have to wait until next month.

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Every Last Drop, the penultimate novel in the Joe Pitt saga is as edgy, quick-witted and violent as the others. Pit has been cast out of Manhattan and finds himself in the hinterland of the Bronx, a lawless place that soon has him wanting to return. To do so will require debts being paid off and they aren't going to be cheap. As usual it's out of the frying pan and straight into the roaring inferno. Great sharp storytelling.

V for Vendetta is now famous. I first read it twenty years ago and I'm not sure I really understood it back then. Personally I think it's better than Watchmen. Perhaps this is due to its UK setting but I certainly find it more accessible than much of Moore's other work. It reminds me of John Wyndham's work, only more working class and with less chance of redemption. A classic work, though the art work feels old fashioned.

Read this week:

Every Last Drop by Charlie Huston

V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd

New Year and Restless

Christmas came and went with a woosh, speeding past in a blur of panicked visits to airports, sitting on planes, much German food (mainly sausage of one sort or another), a long trip down south across a country blanketed white, with frozen windscreen nozzles and long delays for accidents. Visits to hospital to check on my Father-in-law, see my Grandmother, and the rest of the family. Helping to clear a house out, cooking a ham and a long trip back north.

New year came and went with a woosh, speeding past but spending a pleasant evening out for dinner and finding two big boxes filled with copies of my first novel ‘The Missing’ delivered to a neighbour and no contact at all with my publisher.

‘Juvie’ has also been finished.

So all in all, I don’t feel very rested and I’m probably in need of a break, but I have far too much to do and still not enough hours in the day.

I also forgot to make any kind of New Year resolution.

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I did get to do a bit of reading so here’s a quick run down:

God of Clocks, third in the series in ‘The Deepgate Codex’ is complicated by time shifts. Hell is still a fully realised horrific place and Carnival is still the best character, but in other areas I wanted more.

Asterios Polyp is one of best comics I’ve read in a long time. Carefully crafted, whimsical but full of depth and interest. Clever and amazing.

The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch, is slight and probably not worthy of being turned into a single comic book. It should have been left as a short story. Though interesting to see Jonathon Ross and his wife in comic book format.

Batman: War Games Act One, is classic Batman with a full cast of character and plenty of punch.

Pictures that Tick is a series of short works by Dave McKean. Here you can see his evolution as an artist and comic book creator as he tries different ways in which to present stories and experiments with the form. A thrilling book.

No Dominion and Half the Blood of Brooklyn, are books two and three in the Joe Pitt saga, vampyre and Chandler-esque bad boy in New York City. Fast paced with cool dialogue and thrilling to the end.

Read this Week:

God of Clocks by Alan Campbell

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli

The Facts in the Case of the Departure of Miss Finch by Neil Gaiman, Michael Zulli, Todd Klein.

Pictures that Tick by Dave McKean

No Dominion and Half the Blood of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston

Copulating woodland creatures

Been working my way through the new novel ‘Juvie’. I’ve about finished the second draft but still need to add in a couple of ideas I had whilst writing it and was too far on to go back. After that I’ll have a short break before printing it off and having a read through before the third rewrite.

I’ve heard that ‘The Missing’ is at the printers but still have no confirmed date for its release. I’m hoping before Christmas, but you never know with the publishers.

'the small print' has sold 900 copies and you can now buy it online. If you haven't already got a copy please get one as all the money goes to charity. You can order it from www.thesmallprint.com

Things to look at this week include:

Issuu is place where artists and authors publish all sorts of works from magazines to comics, to piece of art to short stories many completely free. This is something I’m interested in as I find the modern way of publishing might well be on its last legs. I don’t think we’ll stop buying printed material but the old fashioned publisher trying to sell his books to a few chain stores and then paying for advertising just can’t carry on. Publishing is coming back to the masses. Anyway have a look around and tell me if you see anything interesting.

An article about how a lot of literary authors write a novel. Some strange ideas out there but I guess you find what works best for you.

And another about how comic books are not just for geeks. As if you didn’t know already. this article refers to COMICA: The London International Comics Festival which sounds brilliant and I wish I was going to.

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The new Terry Pratchett is a Discworld novel that starts as if it’s been written by someone else. All the usual tropes are present, but it feels as if its been filtered through muslin or else it’s an echo of Pratchett. The reason for this is that he dictated large chunks of the novel and an assistant wrote them up. However once ‘Unseen Academicals’ gets going the whole thing settles down and the work becomes pure Pratchett.

Like all his later works this deals with big themes and its only tokenistically about football delving as it does into a discussion of sexism and racism. The novel introduces several new characters and sets its self up for a return to below stairs at Unseen University.

‘Tales from Outer Suburbia’ is a lovely book by Shaun Tan. Like his other works these fall into books for both adults and children alike with the most wonderful strange art work. This is a book of short stories with tales about strange stick creatures, a visit to the end of the world and a visiting marine mammal things are always strange yet never sinister in this great book.

A new work by Bryan Talbot is always worth a read and ‘Grandville’ is no exception. I mean it’s steampunk with badgers - you can’t ask for better than that. Part Sherlock Holmes, part Rupert the Bear and a dash of Tarantino, Talbot introduces us to Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard. Brilliant art work, great dialogues and copulating woodland creatures. Brilliant.

Harvey Pekar can be a bit depressing. He obsesses about everything and worries too much. He’s kind of a working man’s Woody Allen however rather than films his anxiety Harvey turns them into comic art and has produced ‘American Splendor’ for about as long as I’ve been alive. The art work is by several different artist including Crumb, but the voice is always Pekar’s as complain and kvetches about life.

Finally, we have the new children’s book by John Connolly of Charlie Parker fame. ‘The Gates’ is about science and myth and religion all running into one. CERN have accidently allowed a demon to open up a portal in a small English town so that she can bring about the end of the world. Unfortunately she has aroused the suspicion of young Samuel Johnson and his dog, Boswell. Explaining the science as he goes along this is a comedy in the vain of Pratchet with many asides and explanations of scientific principles. When it’s good it’s hilarious, the best character being the put upon demon Nurd, but not all the jokes work.

Read this week:

Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett

Tales from Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

Grandville by Bryan Talbot

Best of American Splendor by Harvey Pekar

The Gates by John Connolly

Coming soon to an interweb near you...

I’ve been working away at the second draft of my new novel which I can announce here. The book is called ‘Juvie’ and is set fifteen seconds into the future, that is just slightly ahead of time now. Set in Greenville, a town in the middle of the grass desert that could be the US or else a town in Europe, the novel follows Ben, a teenager who has decided to stop taking his inhibitors. The world around Ben is antagonistic too children and juveniles alike, treating them with outright hostility and ensuring that they are constantly watched and monitored after ‘the incident.’

The book is about paranoia, surveillance culture, Big Brother and the Mothering State, how we’re fearful of those who differ from us, are younger than us, think in different ways to us.

I hope to have the second draft done by Christmas with another rewrite early next year.

‘The Missing’ has had it’s cover approved and I’m now awaiting the proof copy for one last read through. The publisher’s claim it will be out for Christmas - so fingers crossed. I’ve got a website going live very shortly adamjshardlow.co.uk will be the place to find out about my work and also the new home for this blog. I’ll let you known when it’s live.

'the small print' also has a blog.

Right back to work, but before that here are a few things to keep you busy:

A great little story in pictures by the very talented Shaun Tan is available at The Guardian.

The Mannahatta Project is cool interact map showing what parts of Manhattan looked like in 1609.

A new blog by a friend of mine. He’s managed the sum total of one update so far but I’m sure he’ll add another. He is a little angry with life. Stay away if you don’t like swearing.

The website for artist Vincent Chong

And an interview with John Jarrold which is very perceptive and informative.

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Warren Ellis is well known for his comic books, but his single novel should be hunted out as well. Crooked Little Vein is a pastiche crime novel, part Raymond Chandler, all Warren Ellis. It’s laugh out loud funny and shocking and perverted (in only the best sense) and clever.

A burned out PI Michael McGill lands a case for the American Presidents heroin addicted Chief of staff to search out a lost part of the Constitution. This leads to a nightmare road trip across the US in the company of a nymphomaniac into the darkest underbelly of alternative sexual deviance.

Did I mention it was funny?

Warren Ellis (not to be confused with the musician) is a definite favourite of mine. You can read his daily updated website here. He’s a little misanthropic, but below the gruff exterior I have first hand knowledge that he’s a very nice man deep down (I won’t say what it is to protect his cover).

Read this week:

Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis