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Why I Write Fantasy - Jen Delaney

I started writing fantasy when I was eight.

One day I walked into a T.J Hughes’ store and saw a My Little Pony toy that had leaves on its flanks.  It was called Ivy. I realised in my eight year old brain that the name Ivy existed. She instantly became a character in my mind. She was mercurial. A fairy, then later, an Elven warrior, she was amazing.  Ivy was mine and she lived in a world I’d created just for her.

I eventually picked better (more suitable?) names for characters but the drive to create them stayed with me. The fact that one little thing in the reality could impact me so much I’d create a whole character and world around it. But that’s the beauty of Fantasy writing, isn’t it? Reality forms fantasy, they’re two peas in a pod. Everything we live, breathe and think day to day – somehow adds another fort, mountainside or kingdom to the world that we’re already forming in our heads.

The things we experience as normal humans in a normal world make us strive for the extraordinary.

  Storytelling, myths and legends have existed as long as we’ve been on this planet.

To me, writing fantasy is just carrying on the long tradition of storytelling. Although with fantasy you get to create more.  Envisioning something bigger than the world we live in, giving into the power of creativity and imagination that is already built within us as human beings.

One of my favourite parts about writing is being able to look back and read through mythology, picking and choosing and wondering how on Earth such creatures were ever imagined. Then doing it myself. Taking beings that have existed for hundreds of years and reinventing them. Changing their meaning and fitting them into your own creation. mostly all mythical beings have been used time and again in novels but that doesn’t mean you can’t reinvent and struggle for originality. It’s all part of the fun.

Your characters don’t physically exist, but at the same time they do. To have characters that convey the emotion of living in a reality, they have to feel. More importantly, your audience has to connect with them.

It sounds impossible. How could someone living a day to day live connect with a dragon riding warrior in a past that never happened? It’s a test that constantly keeps the mind going. You’re never just telling with fantasy, you have to experience it too along with your character for the emotions they feel to get across to the reader. It’s your world they live in, you know everything about it – so you experience it with your characters as you write it.

You may have never been in a war against a Centaur army, or lost an arm battling with a witch, but you know what you’re talking about because your imagination allows you to.  

  Essentially I love Fantasy because you’re making something out of nothing.  Forming your own rules, religions, kingdoms and dynastic empires.  The challenge is to take something that is so strange there is no way it is plausible and making people want to lose themselves in the world you’ve created. The challenge of conveying a world that you’ve built and nurtured in your head and getting all the details onto paper without swamping the reader.  The tip of the iceberg.

I could go on for pages about why I love fantasy, but it’s simply that nothing is off limits. You want a ten armed soul eating a demon that resembles a mammoth... you can have one. The world will have to encourage it but you don’t play by the rules of reality; you can make up your own. History didn’t have to happen, the world can be anything you want it to be. It’s a fresh canvas every time. Writing fantasy is opening up your mind to the possibility of more. It’s never ending. And that’s what is amazing.

  Above all, Fantasy writing is what I do because, I can create anything. 

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(Technically we weren't really in HQ when we found this... but it was good enough to get put on anyway. Found this on the corner of Seel Street or Parr Street in Liverpool city centre.

Are any of you lost for words?)

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What's on the inside of your notebook?

Are the words there just for you? Or do you write with the hope someone else may delve in one day?

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Writers' Island Asks - What Are You Reading?

The folks here at Writers' Island want you know what you're reading.

Why?

We're nosey and we like to compare notes. Get back to us and tell us what you're reading, why and what you think of it! Can't wait to hear back.

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It's Friday night!

What are everyone's plans for the weekend?

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A couple of the Writers' Island team watched this a few days ago with some friends. It's a brilliant and informative watch if you're thinking about writing comedy whether it be stand up or otherwise. All of these people have experience in lots of different fields in comedy writing. If you've not come for that, come for the hilarity of some of the funniest people sitting around and ribbing on one another.

Let us know what you think of their different approaches!

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Crystal Clear: Why You SHOULD Be Watching Breaking Bad - Paris Ventour

If you haven’t seen it, then you must’ve heard of it. The show that everyone seems to be talking about: Breaking Bad.

     ‘You need to watch Breaking Bad.’

‘Breaking Bad is the best show EVER!’

‘It’s so much better than anything else on TV.’

The almost frenzied hysteria that surrounds AMC’s hugely popular series has appeared to reach a boiling point just as its final ever run of episodes has started. The sheer amount of hype for one show may be off putting to people who have never seen it. I have friends who won’t watch it because they feel it cannot live up to all the praise that has been heaped upon it.

     I am here to say that you should believe the hype: Breaking Bad isone of the greatest television series ever made (I personally think it’s the best written series since Friday Night Lights, which if you haven’t seen is also a must watch). Now it’s coming to an end, this really is the perfect time to jump in and experience one of the defining shows of our generation.

     Television can be consumed in a variety of ways and our enjoyment of them is dictated in how we watch them. We can watch it the ordinary way as it is broadcast - waiting each week for a new instalment and then up to a whole year for the new season. Personally I find this frustrating as juggling multiple shows can lead to some getting lost in the shuffle. Plus it’s always annoying when they don’t find a large enough audience and are cancelled midway through their run (looking at you, Firefly, gone but not forgotten).

     Personally, I prefer to wait until the season has finished and just binge on every episode at my own pace. Which is often seven episodes a night until it’s over – the more seasons available to me at once, the better.

     This was how I experienced Breaking Bad for the first time. After receiving so many recommendations I decided to watch the pilot one night last summer. A few weeks later I had seen all five seasons.

     For the uninitiated Breaking Bad tells story of Walter White, a borderline genius chemist trapped in a dead-end job as a high school science teacher. His teenage son suffers from cerebral palsy and his wife is unexpectedly pregnant with their second child. On his 50th birthday Walt is diagnosed with lung cancer, he doesn’t have long to live. To provide enough money so his family are well looked after once he dies, Walt teams up with his former student, the wannabe gangster Jesse Pinkman, to cook and sell Crystal Meth.

(Season 4, Episode 13: "Face Off" - Jesse Pinkman and Walter White)

     Creator Vince Gilligan’s mantra for the show was to turn ‘Mr Chips into Scarface’ and that’s exactly what he did. He turned the protagonist into the antagonist and across the five seasons we have seen the once moral Walter White commit some truly horrific acts in his ascent towards power. It speaks volumes about the writing and the acting that Jesse, someone who has a penchant to shout ‘yo’ usually followed by ‘bitch’, becomes the most sympathetic and interesting character out of its large ensemble.

Breaking Bad really feels like a show that’s firing on all cylinders. Aside from the writing and the acting (which rightly picks up the majority of the praise) the visuals are simply stunning. The cinematography is head and shoulders above anything else on television and film. The wide-angled beauty shots of Albuquerque have become a staple of the show now and the lighting, camera placement and the costumes all combine to express more about the character’s motivations and reasoning.

The talented directors and camera operators seem to always find the most unusual and interesting angles to place the camera. Jesse’s float up to the ceiling after his first injection of heroin and the final shot of the season 4 episode ‘Crawl Space’ being my personal favourites (I believe the latter is the greatest single achievement of the entire show, it still gives me goosebumps just thinking about it).

Alongside the dazzling cinematography, the show has also been lauded for its stylish use of music, especially in the now-trademark ‘meth montages’. Similar to a Tarantino film, the producers consistently find the coolest songs to accompany sequences of the meth being produced or being sold on the streets.

Breaking Bad probably is the ultimate ‘word-of-mouth’ show out there. Critics and fans both adored it from the beginning and helped it grow in viewership to become the behemoth it is today.

The internet has also played a huge role in Breaking Bad’s rise as the fandom comes online in full flow immediately after episodes air. Phrases and quotes are hash-tagged and instantly become memes. Artwork, posters, trailers, clothing, even cartoons are produced and distributed. Some of it is absolutely incredible and it’s always a joy to come across.

That is why I think more people should get into the show now, so they can experience this community sharing their love of a great series in the most creative ways possible. It’s not too late to find out what all this hype is about, just watch the pilot and then you’ll see what everyone else is already addicted to.

  Relevant Links

Gliding Over All: The Cinematography of Breaking Bad

A series of videos edited by Press Play Video Blog showcasing the striking visuals of the show:

Season 1 http://vimeo.com/72319639

Season 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKgJNiZ2C-4

Season 3 http://vimeo.com/61847525

Season 4 http://vimeo.com/52028066

Season 5.1 http://vimeo.com/48781235

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Moment of Quiet - Finish Line!

It's all over now, you can start talking and screaming and what not again. We'd love to know what ideas you came up with or what kind of things crossed your mind. Tell us about your trains of thought and where they took you!

Can't wait to hear from you all!

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Writers' Island

Join us over the weekend with a moment of quiet. 

This is a perfect chance on your day off to relieve yourself of the week's stress. Be with yourself, be alone with your thoughts and be calm. Allow yourself to just have a quiet moment and see what crosses through your mind. See how your writing changes as a result, see what thoughts come to you in the silence.

Join us on Facebook here!!

You've got until Sunday night! Let us know what you come up with!

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Hammer and Anvil - Cal Monaghan

The office is relaxed. In the air, you can smell lemon green tea, bananas and the remnants of tomato soup. Keyboards tap away furiously and invasive hair is swiftly removed from one’s eyes as fingers try to keep up with the cogs behind. Outside, Toxteth bustles on: cars rushing past, sirens in the distance, people shouting and laughing outside barred windows. Summer sun struggles from behind clouds to made gold bands across the blue carpet.

Another day at HQ.

Around the world from where I’m sat, the story is much different. Take, Jobar. Jobar is an Inner City area of Damascus, Syria. It is one of the locations where alleged chemical attacks on civilians have been reported (source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-accuses-rebels-using-chemical-weapons-141457992.html). There, instead of sirens and cars, there is probably a low rumble of armoured vehicles, shouts of pain, surprise, the cough of assault rifles. Maybe now there is even the quiet scraping of feet, the continuous cursing of UN inspectors as they work to uncover the truth. More likely, sobs as those Syrians who couldn’t or wouldn’t flee as refugees are trapped between a rock and a hard place.

They are the metal between the anvil of opposition and the hammer of Bashar al-Assad. Is it really necessary for the West to temper the Syrian Civil War?

The Arab Spring has, obviously, been a world changing series of events. Democracy is creeping into an area of the world where it has only been marginally accepted or abused. Tunisia showed the North Africa and the Middle East that they no longer needed to live repressed. That they had more to aspire to, that freedom was within their grasp and all they need do is to reach out and take it.

I can’t help but notice how ridiculous I make it sound. How Western it sounds.

I was born, raised and continue to live in the United Kingdom. It is a country that is so smug with democracy and levels of social freedom that it wishes to impose them globally, in some cases through military intervention. Old habits die hard. What nags more is the feeling that it isn’t even our choice. That the Cold War era ‘special relationship’ obligates that we must suggest action on behalf of our allies. Is the heartbreaking concern in Whitehall for the wellbeing of civilians real? Or is it just a good opportunity for Western powers to establish regimes that will bode well for the future, secure the oil trade and ensure our own countries longevity that bit more? What’s the real motivation?

Is democracy even the answer? In Tunisia, it has led to the emergence of a majority Islamist party who have already pressured state-run media and drafted a constitution that reduces the rights of female citizens. In Libya, it has given rise to the rule of armed militias, gangs who control the streets and have forced policy in the Libyan national congress. Egypt is a hive of revolutionary activity, mass protests and demonstrations and military enforcement. As ever, trouble persists between Israel and Palestine, another legacy of the West’s intervention and disruption of the region. Syria boils over into the occupied Golan Heights, Lebanon and the rest of the Middle East. In the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf, American and British naval assets perch like vultures. What comes next?

I am no expert. I will not pretend otherwise. I just follow the headlines. Admittedly, I am a bit of a news junkie. Morning light breaks through my slat blinds to stir me and I stretch, roll over and check the latest news stories on the BBC phone app.

(Image courtesy of Instagram, Cal Monaghan August 30th, 2013)

This habit and my interest in current affairs have impacted my work. For the final assignment of my Fantastic World’s university module, I spent three weeks researching how I could make vast changes to face of international politics. The end result was that events in the Middle East came close to starting a third world war, the fall from grace of the United States of America, the emergence of an Anglo-sphere superpower and a bitter war between that and India. It all started, and evolved, from the idea that in August 2012, al-Qaeda alongside other extremist groups were able to take control of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and force the country into submission.

Between strokes of inspiration, bags of Tesco’s Sherbet Lemons and tepid cups of tea, I managed to power through one of the hardest pieces of work I’ve had to complete. It was also the most fun I’d had writing in a long time.

It made me realise that I shouldn’t only be relying on my stagnant imagination for inspiration when the best place to find that was the world I lived in. What better way to inform and realise settings than to examine the one you inhabit?

This led me into a new place with my writing. Finally, I was able to sit down and conquer a large portion of my manuscript.

The world I’ve devised for my novel proposes that a large amount of humans leave Earth and venture outwards to new worlds. Kemet is largely settled by inhabitants of the Middle East and North Africa, India and a minority of Far Eastern colonists.

In the east lies the world’s capital, Pharoah. Originally two cities that grew into one another, it has become the centre of Kemetan politics, economics and industry. It is a world that trades in energy. In the west is Nenavenatu. The second city of Kemet is geared more into the agricultural sector and many of the citizens work to maintain Kemet’s population and luxury items. Politics is dominated by the Vizier, the elected leader of the Internal Ministry who represents the world in the interstellar union: the Multisumvirate. Unfortunately, his leadership has been less than exemplary. It has led to the rise of popular resistance and civil disobedience. After strict attempts to crack down, the uprising erupted into a civil war that engulfed Pharoah.

Is this all starting to sound familiar?

It is no secret that science-fiction writers use the genre as a way to comment on current affairs. Often, it is hard to keep these things out of a piece of writing. After all, the fallout from what is happening in Syria is in some way affecting people globally: large fluctuations in the oil industry, political standoffs between regional powers like Russia, China and America, the United Kingdom and France. The will-it-won’t-it debates in pubs and bars or at the dinner table in quiet suburban homes. You just have to open your Twitter or Facebook to see the frenzy of users protesting the possibility of military intervention in another civil war halfway around the world.

What are these events building up to? What is the endgame for the Arab Spring and what kind of effect will it have on the rest of the world?

In fiction, I can plot the course of these events because I am the architect, the man with all the answers and the power to make changes.

In reality, I can only guess. Situations that are made to seem dire casually flick by every other month. In April, people were steered by the media to believe that there might be a resumption of hostilities on the Korean peninsula. Headlines from the Middle East said that Israel and Iran were “days away from war” and even now we can see the same here (source: http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-strike-on-iran-may-be-no-more-than-a-couple-of-months-away-says-ex-intel-chief/). Last week, the media was intent to report how bad circumstances were in Cairo. News is often fleeting and we soon return to the humdrum rhythm of our daily lives.

What will make people stop, listen and watch? Last week there was a chemical weapons attack, the team sent to investigate came under sniper fire, and people lost loved ones. Are we no longer surprised by acts of war?

I do not envy the government their decisions.

Instead I take all of this frustration with the world and I take Hemingway’s advice. Writing is easy you just [sit down] and bleed.

For me, observing these global crises and using them as inspiration is not escapism and it’s not really that enjoyable. It is a way of dealing with the horrors of the world. I am thankful that I live in a country that has not, in recent history, been destabilised by a revolution. Inspired by the world around me, I sit down and take on the troubles of Alexian Di’Marco as he wanders bullet-bruised streets, unflinchingly stepping over the bodies of civilians who have been caught in the crossfire. I sniff at the air and the aroma of sand and sweat and blood and bombs fills my nostrils. I hear with his ears the call to prayer, the screams and wails of men, women and children as they pack away their lives into carts and car boots, music rising out of coffee shops and houses as people try to drown out the chattering of rifles in the distance. I feel my loose shirt cling to me with sweat, the weight of the pistol on my thigh, the cuts and scrapes and the camera dangling around my neck.

I write because I am powerless to do anything else. 

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10 Signs You Might Be A Writer #2 - Helen Walsh

2) You’re paranoid MI6 (especially after the Tempora reveal) will turn up at your door and demand to look at your computer after all the dodgy research you’ve been doing for your book.

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At the same moment this article was posted, 50 years ago, Dr. King approached the stage and made one of the most famous speeches in history.

Today, Liverpool alongside of the rest of the world, marks the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's famous "I Have a Dream..." speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC. You can see a video of the speech above or if you'd prefer read a transcript here.

The International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, UK, has hosted a series of events today which you can find the full information for here.

King had a dream and 50 years on is that dream enduring? Has racial equality been reached in the United States of America? Has the rest of the world listened?

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Purple Prose - Helen Walsh

Please, don’t use it.

Nothing jolts me out of a book more than running into a wall of flowery, over-descriptive, often clichéd nonsense. Purple prose is when the author wants to show off how wide their vocabulary is, screw the story and style. To borrow a quote from TVTropes, and through them Amanda McKittrick Ross, how could anyone stand to read a whole book of this: "Do not sit in silence and allow the blood that now boils in my veins to ooze through cavities of unrestrained passion and trickle down to drench me with its crimson hue!" Seriously?

It had a place in literature, maybe. If it did, it was several centuries ago and it really should have gone out with ‘thee’ and ‘thou’. I personally can’t imagine anyone slogging through and enjoying it.

My friend gave me the first book, The Ill-Made Mute, in Cecilia Dart-Thornton’s Bitterbynde series as a present.  I started it, persevered for a few days (usually I can finish a book in a couple of days) and eventually put it down one night and never picked it up again. It was so thick with purple prose. You wouldn’t swim in custard so write that way? The only reason I stuck with it to almost half-way through was because I felt obligated to read it. It was a present, after all.

I’m sure some people must like it, or at least tolerate it, since the books sold relatively well. But, it just makes me skip over the text entirely and look at the next book on my shelf. The descriptions don’t draw me into the story; instead I have a running commentary in my head of how ridiculous it all sounds, and really, can’t they use the word ‘eyes’ instead of ‘orbs’ for once?  A technique that I assume is meant to hook the reader instead pushes me right away and makes me either put it down or, as in the case of The Ill-Made Mute, start ticking off clichés, or, the number of times I’ve winced at a line.

What annoys me the most though is that without it, some of those stories could have potential. The Bitterbynde series, maybe. I’ve just read the summary and didn’t get the sense that I was missing anything. What struck me was how often the protagonist’s name changed throughout the three books, which made me think that Dart-Thornton just couldn’t make her mind up. I’m sure there was an in-universe explanation, and I know the wiki article left out a lot of detail, but still. I’m not convinced.

Romance, or romantic plotlines, seem to be a trigger. I know some books I’ve read that weren’t marketed as romance, and usually had perfectly normal style and voice, would jump into purple prose when the romance subplot came into play. Then, quickly come back out of it again when the romance part had ended. There’s the old saying that love can make you stupid, but does it also change your entire grasp and use of language? Really?

Note to any of my mates reading this: if I ever turn hypocritical and become that stupid over someone or start waxing poetic about them, hit me in the head very, very hard. I will thank you for it if I’m not comatose or dead.

Although I’ve not read it myself (scandalous, I know), I’ve heard that Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has quite elaborate language. Yet I’ve also read that her original draft was sparser, and it was the urging of her husband that prompted her to make the text more descriptive. What rankles about this story is that her husband, Percy Shelley, wasn’t a novelist. He was a poet. Both are admirable disciplines, but they rarely overlap well. Why she let him mess about with her manuscript like that, and change it so much, I do not know. There’s a difference between constructive criticism and altering an entire text.

So yes. Authors, if you have an urge to write purple prose, please just write the scene, get it out of your system, then write in plain English (or whatever language you speak/write in) for the book you’re actually going to publish.

Rant over.

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Formatting your Manuscript

If you’re planning on one day turning your manuscript in to literary agents and publishing houses, you need to make sure it’s formatted correctly. In many cases, your manuscript will be skipped over if it isn’t done to industry standard, so here’s the basics that you’ll need if you don’t want to be ignored. Before I get started, please know that this is aimed specifically at fiction manuscripts. If you’re writing non-fiction or a memoir, the expectations will be different, so it would be wise to Google what you need.

The Basics

Make sure your font is 12 point Times New Roman, Courier New, or Arial. These are the only three fonts you are allowed to pick from.

Your spacing should be 1 inch on all sides of the text. This is the default on most word processors, but double check your settings just to be sure.

Your text should be double spaced.

All of your indentations must be a half inch. Do not press indent. Instead, drag over the top arrow on the ruler to have every new paragraph automatically indent.

The Title Page

The top left-hand corner of your title page will have all your personal information. They want to see your name, address, phone number, e-mail address, the novel’s genre, and word count.

Your novel’s title is allowed to be between 20-24 point font if you want. Bold is also an option, but not necessary.

The title will appear halfway down the title page.

“A novel by [your name]” will be about three quarters of the way down the page.

The Next Pages

If you have a dedication, it will be on its own page.

If you have some sort of verse or quote, those will also need their own pages.

Do not include a page for acknowledgements.

The Chapters

Chapter titles will be 12 point font. No bolding or italics.

Chapters will start from one quarter to halfway down the page.

An easy way to format chapter headings is to press enter five or six times

Make sure you always start your chapters the same way every time.

When you start a new chapter, make sure you use a page break to bump the new chapter onto a new page. This will keep it in place so that it will never budge, no matter how much you cut out or add to the previous chapter.

Page Numbers

Page numbers will start with 1 on Chapter 1 of your manuscript. Page numbers will not appear on the title page or dedication page.

Page 1 will be labeled in the footer of Chapter 1. It should be centered.

Page 2 will be in the header of the next page.

From page 2 onward, your headers will be labeled like this:

If you insert a section break after the title and dedication pages, it will make it easier to insert the page numbers.

For the most part, this is the most important of what you’ll need to know for formatting your manuscript. I used this video as reference, so I’m trusting everything it says is true because it was made by an author who has several novels published, and because it was uploaded this year, it should be up to date.

But just remember, whenever you go to turn in a manuscript, make sure you check the website of the agent or publisher you’re trying to contact. They might have specifications that differ with the ones stated in this video, and you should always do whatever you can to abide by what they want.

[writers-island]

Is New Music Blurring the Lines? - Phoebe Dunnett

Usually when I see blurred lines it means I’ve got a killer migraine coming on. Then again, the same could be said after seeing the video Robin Thicke’s ridiculously catchy hit of the same name.

Nothing makes my head hurt like the concept of finding out that we are not moving forward from objectifying women in creative platforms such as music videos, but in fact, moving backwards. There have always been ‘video hoes’ (an unfortunate term) but usually they were at least clothed. Not under Robin Thicke’s watch. In his video the girls are wearing nothing whatsoever, except maybe a strategically placed… lamb. What’s that all about? Perhaps a nod to the innocence of the girls he is objectifying – but it’s all okay because he knows that REALLY they want it. God, talk about teases. Acting like they don’t want to sleep with him, when, duh, they must do. Right?

‘ And that's why I'm gon' take a good girl/I know you want it/I know you want it/I know you want it/You're a good girl/Can't let it get past me/ Must wanna get nasty’

Sounds like someone’s trying to convince himself. He can’t help it though, it’s just those god damn blurry lines. If I had to define blurred lines in Robin Thicke’s world, I imagine they are in fact a mix of wishful thinking, lack of any semblance of self-control, and a delusion so grand that the idea of rejection is warped into lust.

So the modern woman in a pop music video isn’t just there for titillation like the ‘good’ ol’ days of say, Pitbull’s Hotel Room Service; now she’s there to provide what is essentially soft porn. 

Pitbull may have got these girls to his hotel/motel/holiday inn, but hey, they’re still dressed.

You’d struggle to find the uncensored version of ‘Blurred Lines’ on YouTube anymore, and they definitely won’t be showing it on TV. It seems like most broadcasters are in agreement that it’s offensive and degrading to women. So we can take it down from certain webpages, and scrap it from television schedules but it’s still out there. It brings to mind a point that has been raised during the recent Lose the Lads Mags Campaign, when supermarkets requested Nuts and Zoo sell their magazines in modesty bags: If these magazines are deemed so offensive to women that they must be sealed up, away from the eyes of the public, then why is it acceptable to even sell them at all?

The song in question sold over a million copies in the UK alone, and reached number one in fourteen different countries. The issue has moved beyond the music video, and into the airways. Videos are not seen by everybody, and mostly you have to self-consciously flick onto a music channel or do a search on YouTube to view one. However, pop songs can be heard everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Chances are that the radio will be tuned into a mainstream station at work, so everyone’s happy (Apart from people sick of hearing Daniel Powter’s ‘Bad Day’ for eight years straight, that is), in every shop the latest pop music will be playing, the same in adverts, television shows, the gym… you get the idea. This is what makes the misogyny in pop music so insidious. Harmful lyrics are masked by catchy beats and infectious melodies, and before you know it, you’re so caught up in the song, that you don’t even really hear the lyrics. Pop music gets away with a lot of sexism for this reason. It doesn’t even seem to get questioned that much, because these songs become so ingrained into our lives for a few months (or years depending on its success) that they lose their initial impact and transform into background noise.

Background noise, or newly released: lyrics in music form a narrative to modern times. Even if the words are so familiar to us that we sing along to them in reflex rather than in reflection, these are the words that are creating the popular culture all around us. No other form of media is so personally invasive. If you see a bus shelter poster of a naked woman advertising a new perfume on your way to ASDA, there is the option to look away. You have that decision in your power. But what are you going to do when you get to the supermarket, you’re throwing cereal and bread into your basket, and a song about the so- called blurred lines between consensual and non-consensual sex starts playing? Stick your fingers in your ears and carry on? It’s kind of like that phenomenon that arises around Christmas time- by the end of the December you think you might just call off the whole thing if you hear Slade one more time.

If sexist lyrics don’t bother you personally, then good god, think of the children! Haha, no but seriously – who do you think is keeping modern pop music alive? Young people go to more music concerts, and buy more music merchandise than the older generation, and that’s why record companies love to market their music towards the teens. So perhaps songs with a more ‘mature’ content are aimed at older teens, but they’re trickling down towards the young kids too. It’s like that scene in ‘Mean Girls’ where Regina’s little sister dances in the front room to Kelis’s ‘Milkshake’, imitating the popstar and her adult dance moves…sure, the film is a comedy, but it’s a satirical one at that. Kids imitate the world around them, and at the moment the world is increasingly saturated with sexualised imagery and now language too. When a girl hears : ‘My milk shake brings all the boys to the yard/And there like/Its better than yours/Damn right its better than yours,/I can teach you/But I have to charge’ maybe she just hears a song about milkshakes. And kids love milkshake. But – maybe she is also absorbing the message that lies beneath the playful tone of the song. The suggestion that her worth lies in sexual allure to men, and that  it’s something that can carry a monetary value too. Okay, so I know this may fly completely over a kids head. But the point is, is that the lyrics are being put out there- the more the records sell, the more these lyrics become weaved into our cultural tapestry,  and the more times we hear it, the stronger the reinforcement of the words become. And then one day these kids grow up into adults, and the lyrics are part of the narratives of their lives.

When I speak about pop music becoming part of our narratives, I mean it quite literally too. The songs we listen to over the years start to become important parts of our life stories. These songs are the first single you bought as a kid (Mine was ‘Five Colours in her Hair’ by McFly. Coincidentally, I still have an obsession over colouring  my hair…) and the album you listened to over and over again the first time you got your heart broken. These songs are the ones you have your wedding dance to, and the song you put on that makes your baby dance in their car seat everytime without fail. Music itself is such an integral, social, bonding experience for us humans that our lives would lack a lot of colour and emotional catharsis without it. See the violin section in any sad movie for the proof.

We aren’t outraged by the release of offensive songs because we see pop music as safe and fun; it is designed to bring us pleasure and invite us to participate in a rhythm. This is why sexist pop music is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. When we start to think about what is being said, what is REALLY being said in a song, we can make conscious decisions about what we want as consumers from the music industry, instead of subliminal decisions.

So this is why misogyny in pop music is so detrimental to our society. This is why Robin Thicke telling a girl that she ‘wants it’ and he will give her something that will ‘tear her ass in two’ means that he is not speaking to a fictional girl in a fictional pop music universe, he is speaking to a real girl, in our universe. He is allowing those words to become part of both the male and female experience and so, our experiences in turn are being warped into ones that willingly embrace a violent sexual message- just as long as the tune is funky and the beat is one that we can dance along to.

[writers-island]

"Space is a harsh, inhospitable frontier and we are explorers, not colonisers. The skills of our engineers and the technology surrounding us make things appear simple when they are not, and perhaps we forget this sometimes. Better not to forget."

Luca Parmitano, Italian Astronaut

(Cal chose this quote. Something beautiful came from something traumatic and as someone who regularly gets overly excited about space and the progress he believes we should be making there, its good to remind him and everyone else of the hardships that astronauts must face in the final frontier.)

[writers-island]

Write What You Know - Helen Walsh

Write What You Know:

  It’s a phrase that’s thrown around a lot in writing. Thing is, many of us want to write about things we have never done or experienced before. Many of us want to write epic battles or political thrillers, yet have never been medieval soldiers or politicians. Characters make life difficult – they decide they’re a quantum physicist and their job is vital to the plot.

Herein lies our problem – you can’t write about quantum physics if you’ve no idea what it is or how it works. Of course, running off to a top science university and taking a course in quantum physics for the sole purpose of research is a bit of a stretch, plus liable to induce therapeutic sessions of pounding your head against a brick wall.

Thank god for libraries and the internet.

Obviously just reading up on the subject will never give you as full an understanding of the concepts as being a professional in that field, but that’s the thing. You don’t need to be. Your readers, perceptive, nitpicky and seemingly in possession of a hive-eidetic memory won’t know the difference for the most part. Those who specialise in the field will be able to tell that you’re being a bit vague, or got a few details wrong, but most won’t. Even the specialists will appreciate a solid attempt at research as opposed to an author who just shrugs their shoulders and writes a load of vaguely-accurate sounding nonsense and declares it acceptable.

Those writers who know specialists in whatever field they need to research are lucky buggers. Note: if this is you, pester that specialist you know for every detail they can give you. They’ll either encourage you whilst pouring you both large mugs of coffee to stay awake while you talk through the night, or will forgive you eventually when you give them a dedication in your painfully-accurate book. Seriously though, any resource you have, whether it’s your local library, the internet, someone you know, anything or anyone who might help, use them. You owe it to yourself, your readers and, most importantly, your book.

That doesn’t mean overloading your story with details. I’ve done hours of research on a single topic, and I more than most of it never makes it off the notes page and into the story. If you know those details, even if you don’t write about them, it’ll make a difference. Knowing what you’re writing about gives you confidence that will show itself in your writing. That’s also why you need to know your world inside-out. Yes, you’re trying to research a world/place/culture that doesn’t actually exist. That doesn’t mean you can’t research it – you just have to work harder to piece the details together.

Many people leave their research until the second draft. I have. You just want to get the story down first, and sort out the details later. It’s a decent strategy, and works for the people who use it. However, it is easy to hit a roadblock this way. An example: over the weekend I was staying with a writer friend and we were discussing a new idea she’d had. She was still in the planning stage, hadn’t written the story itself yet, and I was happy to act as a sounding board. The snag was that one of her ideas just wouldn’t work; I just happened to be more familiar with the subject than she was. I proceeded to pick holes in the idea, and we spent hours figuring out a way for the basic gist of the scene to work, but in a way that would also make sense. (To my friend: if you’re reading this by the way, sorry for the stress! We got it sorted eventually though, right? Thanks for not swearing at me aloud).

I’m not saying she should start researching as soon as she has an idea; far from it. It just shows that different tactics have their pros and cons. Researching right away is something I’ve done before, but it’s a very good way to lose hours that could have been dedicated to writing.

No matter your method, research is vital.

I find discussing things with others helps and they don’t have to be experts.

Sometimes people who only know the basics of an idea can be as much help as someone who knows the topic in detail. Give someone the outline of an idea, and they are just as likely to think outside the box as in it.

I discuss my ideas a lot with my parents. When I get stuck or want a quick answer, I often refer to them. If it’s science or maths related (remember the quantum physics?) I ask Dad (and then get side-tracked for a few hours because we end up discussing it in detail). If it’s medical or care-related, I go to Mam (and end up learning way more about the human body when it’s ill than I want to. Thanks Mam). I can talk with both of them about ideas that are outside their areas of expertise or experience, but it usually helps because they think of possibilities that never occurred to me. They help to give me distance back when I’m too focused on a particular aspect.

There’re the other difficulties with research: obsession with detail and time management. It helps to have someone there to remind you to eat since breakfast was eight hours ago and you haven’t moved since.