raining in adelaide

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been a bit slack with LJ. I had a few too many big groups and that meant I was missing friends' posts; and just generally I've been on the internet less for a few weeks - busy IRL and all that. But I'll be checking more often from now on :)

Anyway, the main part of the post:

So I've been considering writing a novel that I actually plan to get published. I already have one written that I like but I don't think I'd want it to be my first published novel. The thing is, I don't want to get 'trapped' in a genre. Some successful writers - Stephen King being an example - can transcend/change genres, but generally a writer of a genre novel sticks to said genre.

I would love to write in a genre like Jonathan Carroll and Neil Gaiman write - I don't think they're 'officially' magic realism novelists but that's the label I'm applying. There's a certain freedom there, I think - all kinds of other genres can melt in; horror, sci-fi, thriller and romance are examples. But I think that they - those two writers at least - have a very elegant way of constructing their not-quite-reality and I don't think my writing is subtle enough for that. Most of my stories that I am mulling over at the minute do have that mixture of the real world with magic/mythology injected into it but I think my writing would make it more Harry Potter than American Gods (please note I'm just referring to the style of story rather than suggesting that my writing is anything like Gaiman or Rowling :D).

What's my point? I don't think I really have one ;) I guess I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts about genres and if they think that writers are best when they stick to just one genre or if they should feel comfortable expanding out into other areas.

I finished Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days this afternoon (big thanks to darktwinkle and jenniekitty for getting it for my birthday! ^^).

I enjoyed it - thought the graphics were good and the gameplay translated very well from the PS2. The cutscreens were very pretty and I liked the way the touchscreen was used when Roxas was 'remembering' his life as Sora.

Xion was an annoying waste of space but then I expected that; I was interested in more of Axel and Roxas (AkuRoku? Hee!) which I got... It was fun to see their friendship. But the damn game raised more questions than it answered, especially when it came to Axel (who I am in love with - it's the hair). Maybe Birth by Sleep will answer more of them via his Other, Lea (and maybe I'll be getting a PSP when the game comes out...). Speaking of Birth by Sleep, it was fun to see a certain someone who looks a lot like Roxas in 358/2 Days even if that was unexplained. Damned SquareEnix and their cross-console games.

Now I want to play KH and KH2 again (and buy KH Re:Chain of Memories) :)

Oh and huge props to kurenai_tenka for the half-price LJ sub. Thank you so much :D I can now have more icons, hurray! And I'm super happy with my new journal style. I likes stripes ^^

(Who's sick of the weather already?)

Who's made a New Year's Resolution? This year, instead of making just the one, I decided to try out 101 things in 1001 days - the LJ community can be found here: mission101. Some of the things of the list are things I was planning on doing anyway; some are small things that I just need to remember to do; and some are pretty epic! And I might need your help for some of them :)

( 101 things in 1001 days. )

Since part of my New Years Resolution is to keep in touch with friends more, which includes LJ, I decided to make a few icons. I'm currently on a free account which means I only get 15... That and those damned annoying ads might make me purchase a paid account. Maybe when I know what's going on with the whole moving-house thing and I know better where I stand budget-wise.

But anyway, yes, new layout (ho-hum I know) and new icons. I think I've lost the knack for making icons and I was certainly running out of ideas. Plus I made more icons that I can use which makes me sad (and makes me sway towards the paid account option).

Preview:



( Others under here )

So I was roaming the internet (possibly http://www.wedinator.com or http://lovelylisting.com) and these two ads popped up next to each other:



So... am I looking for a gay man or a black woman? Am I confused or is it just the advertising? (Also isn't that gay couple adorable?)

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope everyone has a great 2010. And of course hope everyone had a great Christmas or winter festival of choice.

I had fun though it's back to work on Monday, sigh. I finished my novel though (just short of 107000 words, though it'll probably get cut down a lot in editing) so I've been productive.

Well, I have a few bits and pieces to share. There's a short Christmas story, plus a couple of sketches of the main characters from the story.

( Story and pics, hope you like )

Don't ask how I found this, but I found this pretty funny. It's a slightly crazy Scottish bloke wittering about Tunnock's Caramel (which I agree are yummy).


It's worth a watch just to see his Scottish craziness, and to wonder why on Earth the video was made.

Lol xD

EDIT: Oh and while I'm posting videos:

Here's another.

The vid itself is pretty funny but the comments are full of FAIL as well. But then, they always are on the Cheezburger network. Are those people in the video actors? I hope so but... I kind of doubt it. Oh dear.

(PS, Mr Baron Cohen? Can I be paid for advertising your movie as well? Kthxbai.)

I feel a bit pre-emptive writing this early on Saturday evening but man, what a week!

( The week from a very petty and annoying Hell? )

I've not really up to much lately other than crossing my fingers and hoping to move house soon! Been out a few times - oh, had a few friends round the other night for an Indiana Jones movie night (just the first two, the other two in a month or so) and I dressed as Indy (of course! :D). Went to Little Tokyo the other day, was tres tasty - but then it usually is :) Funny, I've not been to LT for about a year and in the past month I've been about three times (and maybe a fourth next week!).

But anyway, the point in me posting today:

Firstly: I watched the movie with that actor in it - you know, the guy I posted a pic of the other day, saying he looked like one of my characters? The movie is called Yossi and Jagger (go find it here on Amazon for about 6 quid or you could always borrow it from me :P) and is incredibly sad ;_; It's also very good! I recommend it.

( Secondly: here, have some art - warning, pretty darned (low quality) image heavy! )

That is all.

I don't have anything in particular to say... Apart from that work has been incredibly hectic and I'm extremely glad that I have a few days off the week after next!

I've been overloading somewhat on the Lord of the Rings lately; after the last of me, Sophie and Gareth's LotR nights. I've watched all the extras on the extended DVDs (haven't quite got so bad as to watch all the commentaries yet xD). And I've nearly finished reading Return of the King (I think I might get the illustrated books for my birthday/xmas :D) too.

( Some pictures of that and other things beneath the cut )

I ordered some earrings just over a week ago and they came today. They're so cool! They're handmade strawberry and yoghurt cupcakes.

( Some pictures under here )

I just read the last chapter of Tsubasa. It just read like CLAMP had been ordered to finish up the series and given no time to plan anything decent and wrap everything up properly. I can't believe how terrible it was. What a horrible, horrible disappointment. Ho hum.

I've seen a few things online recently about some authors not giving their fans enough time; that they're not posting on their blogs recently, they don't Tweet enough, etc...

Does anyone else disagree with this? I know that authors should probably keep up with the times and use teh interwebs more often as a PR machine but how much time should they be expected to spend on things like this? I'm sure they're still doing the other traditional PR stuff - signing tours, magazine interviews - but is it really their place to keep their ravenous fans updated on the internet? Of course it would be nice to see a regularly updated blog from a favourite author, but I would never feel that they were 'abandoning' their fans if they didn't, nor would I write horrified, angry posts on the web about it with some sense that the fans are entitled to a weekly blog update. A novel writer's job, surely, is to write novels. If you get the new novel on time then surely that should satiate the fans.

Any thoughts?

So today, straight after work I spent 2 hours getting an x-ray, got in at about 8, watched 2 episodes of American Dad - then proceeded to look at some amazing cakes and now it's half midnight. Huh. The internet steals time, I'm sure of it.

Now at 100 pages on my story though :D

I just went over 50k words on the story I'm writing. I'm so proud of myself (like, ridiculously so for something that I'm writing just for me - and maybe for posting on here one day if anyone is interested...). Also, I spent most of the day doing housework - I'm quite proud of myself for that too :D

Would you guys like a laugh? Of course you would. Then check out this website - http://www.yournovel.com/products.aspx. Surely the most epic fail of ever. You can even check out excerpts of the terribly written stories (any of the ones which are not ebooks will have WILD (or "...is this supposed to be sexy?") and MILD (or "just plain lame") chunks of the story for you to read and enjoy.