Z is for Zombies

Today is the final post in the ‘Blogging from A-Z Challenge’ and what better way to end it than with the shuffling, brain-craving, walking dead?

Stories of reanimated corpses and undead creatures appear in folklore and mythology, as with most supernatural, fantasy and horror creatures, in particular in Norse mythology with a ‘draugr’ – a reanimated corpse that was said to roam outside its grave and would attack, eat and infect the living.
By the 1930s, zombie-like beings were starting to show up in the works of fiction and film. H.G. Wells’ screenplay ‘Things to Come’ which featured an apocalyptic world with ‘the wandering sickness’ a contagious viral plague that caused the infected to wander slowly and insensibly, (zombie-like) infecting others on contact. A scenario that has been used several times to varying degrees in modern entertainment such as ’28 Days Later’ and the hit TV series ‘The Walking Dead’.

As the majority of our posts are linked to our own writing, then yes, we do have some zombie fiction in the works. We have two major outbreak fictions, one that sees a couple, separated by distance and both thinking the other is dead, trying to find closure. The other is the work of a group of people, trying to rebuild a secure society, while the rest of society are trying to eat them.

As was said at the beginning of the post, this is the last of the A-Z posts, but we are hoping to keep up with at least one blog post per week, appraising our lovely followers of our ongoing progress with Emissaries and generally being sarcastic writer wenches, so here’s hoping. Wish us luck

Y is for Young Adult

When we started writing seriously all our ideas for books were always aimed at adults. Writing Young Adult (YA) or Children’s fiction never once entered our minds, but when the BBC ran a scriptwriting competition to write a pilot episode for a new CBBC drama back in 2009, well, we thought ‘what the hell’ and gave it a shot.

Naturally, we went the fantasy root for developing our idea for a script, and with only a week to submit the finished 30 page product, it certainly proved a challenge. Within that week, we managed to create an entire new world with a mix of characters, each with a rough backstory worked out, and a plot that could span a series.

Of course, we didn’t win, nor were we shortlisted, but we could still take positives from the experience. When the BBC returned our script, we were pleased to note that it had been read past the first ten pages (their initial read through limit of all entries), which hinted that we had at least got the reader(s) hooked with our opening and held their attention for a while. Another positive is we finished a project in a short amount of time, thus proving to ourselves that we are indeed capable of such a feat.

Most important, however, is it left us with a brand new idea that we could (and will) adapt into a series of books, aimed at an audience we never considered writing for.

X is for X Factor

Yes, we know we’re cheesy but X… is a bit of an XXXXer to find something for. We’ve chosen X Factor to try and explain why ‘Emissaries’ has always come first among our massive pile of WIPs. The answer is two-fold really, it is our oldest idea, our first-born plot bunny and has the largest corner of our shared brain, our strongest characters, our most developed story idea.

We believe that because it is what we consider our ‘X Factor’ idea, then it deserves our full attention. Which is why we are always working on it, no matter what, whenever we are writing. Despite how many ideas and other WIPs we have, we have the most confidence in the ‘Emissaries’ characters and their stories. Of course, we would love to see them in published form but to just have their stories in full manuscripts, right to the end, would at least appease the muses.

W is for Writers’ Talkback

Writers’ Talkback (TB) is the writing forum or message board of Writers’ Online  - ‘the Online home of Writers’ News and Writing Magazine’. At one time both of us were members but currently only I (Michelle, or Jediya as I am known over there) am a frequent ‘Talkbacker’ and a subscriber to the magazine.

A writer’s group is a good way of finding like-minded people that can provide advice, support and some helpful critique. However, if you can’t attend or find a nearby group to join then an online group, like TB, is certainly worth at least a look-see. As a forum, TB is free to join, well-established, friendly and there is usually someone lurking around ready to answer any queries – no matter how silly – that you may have. Members range from aspiring writers to published authors, as well editors. It doesn’t matter what genre you dabble in, or whether you write poetry, short stories, novels or non-fiction, they are all represented by at the very least one member, so you won’t be alone.

Since becoming an active member of TB and subscribing to Writing Magazine, I have found that not only has my writing improved but also that my confidence in it has. The abundance of advice and tips available through both are helpful to any aspiring writer.

The other plus point about participating in a writing forum is that the people you interact with don’t think you are, well, lets use the word ‘eccentric’. For example, just try to tell a non-writer (or non-creative person) something like, “my character’s decided they don’t like the name I’ve given them” or “I killed one of my characters today, I feel really guilty and upset now… was I wrong in killing them off?”. The likelihood is they will look at you as if you have two heads, whereas a fellow writer will most likely know exactly what you are going through.

V is for Variety

The majority of our writing falls into the ‘speculative’ branch of fiction, but even then, we don’t stay within the same area. Currently in the works, we have paranormal and supernatural, science fiction (including the sub-genre dystopia), fantasy (dark, traditional and modern takes) as well as the odd post-apocalyptic or survival novel. Speculative is our main ‘playground’ but we do like to dabble and try our hand at some other genres as well.

We also have some of our brain space taken up with a couple of crime ideas and a nice fluffy romance, which hell do we make them suffer for. We also have a piece of straight adventure quest fiction and have dabbled in scripts and young adult fiction. Yep, we’re busy and we’ve been working together forever.

Some people advise that writers use a pseudonym for each different genre they write in – if they choose to write in multiple ones. Right now, we are still writing everything as L.M. Towton but should we need to (or think it would be best to) we may end up writing under another name for some of our non-speculative fiction.

U is for University

This is really my game (me as in Loz), so here we go, the first and only entirely Loz based blog post. It’s actually me pretending to be a bit heroic. I work a full time job, with an added, up to, ten hours travel, aside from that I am also doing a part time degree, which takes up about sixteen hours a week. Thus, I don’t sleep as much as I should

I have one degree in Literature and Linguistics and am working towards a second in business and it puts a serious cramp on writing. For a start, business, particularly accountancy, is about as inspiring as a crap in a hat and for a second, deadlines have to trump creative urges…and when they don’t…well, I get even less sleep.

Today is not only the official bloggins day of U, it is also officially my first day of freedom (until it starts again) Today was the hand in for my final, which I completed, on time. So first I’m going to have a lie in, drink a few very good beers, and then, we are going to write.

Cheers

T is for Therians

The term ‘therianthropy’ has been used as early as the end of the Victorian era to refer to animal transformation folklore. Although, it may have been used much earlier than that along with skin-walkers and shapeshifters in a lot of cultures’ mythologies. Sometimes the term is also used to refer to creatures that are part human and part something else; like centaurs, sphinxes or the Egyptian gods – though, this; with a ‘beast-head’, is more commonly referred to as ‘theriocephaly’. Both terms derive from the greek word for beast, therion.

‘Therians’, if you haven’t guessed, is another of our WIPs.  Our Therians, have the ability to shift forms at fixed and fluid points and is possibly our most focused love story. It wasn’t the plan when we started, but sometimes, the characters make their own decisions, as was the case with the central characters in this case. It may sound like a werewolf story but it is not, it’s something new, and that’s the fun bit.

*Picture ‘Therians icon‘ ~ © Michelle Sutton