This is going to be tricky.
I’m about to write 25.000 words – give or take a few paragraphs – in ten days, or I’ll miss a deadline.
And I can’t miss the deadline.
Two deadlines, actually
The plus is, I’ve about 5000 words already – so yes, I’m cheating, I’ll have to write only 20.000
It’s not much, really.
It means writing two thousand words per day.
Twenty hundred good words, that is. Continue reading
My friend Lucy just published her first novel, a story called My Little Moray Eel* – a fun and unexpectedly moving romp full of monsters and undersea action.
As part of the launch, she’s doing a series of posts on her blog about her novel’s book and movie influences, and she mentioned The Deep.
And this is good, because I feel like undersea adventures right now.
The Deep is a 1977 movie based on a Peter Benchley novel.
After the success of Jaws, everybody wanted a piece of Benchley’s trademark underwater adventure.
The Deep is not as strong as jaws, but it’s a lot pulpier – it features not one but two underwater treasures, sharks, a giant moray heel, lost tribes, and, yes, Jacqueline Bisset in a wet T-shirt.
I think I’ll do a post on the movie soon, but in the meantime, I’ll leave you with the trailer from 1977.
Enjoy!
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* Despite the English title, it’s in Italian.
… well, maybe not fifteen.
The idea is doing the rounds, here in the Old C Block of the Italian Blogsphere – list fifteen (or twenty) things that happened to you, and that would never work in a story because they are too implausible.
Aw, c’mon, they would say – that’s just too much!
My friends are doing it in Italian, I’ll do it in English, just because.
As I said, I can’t assure you I’ll make it to fifteen. Continue reading
This is not exactly a writing prompt.
Fact is, sometimes we chance upon a picture that sums up everything we’ve been searching for.
I’ve been collecting material for a new series now for over a year.
I want the mystery and the magic of the sea.
Castles on the coast, golden in the last hours of the waning day.
I want shipwrecks and underwater action.
I want the enclosed space of a small sea – the Mediterranean.
And the dream of a quiet, simple life.
And yesterday I found this picture, that has it all.
What a wonderful cover it would make!
I’m taking the day off.
It’s the eleventh of September, and it’s my brother’s birthday.
I’d love to spend the day off line, thinking about family.
It would be nice, for a change.
Be seeing you.
OK, silly post written on a dare.
Five things I miss for being a true fantasy writer…
a . a photo of myself wielding a sword or other sharp implement, in an unlikely martial pose, looking suitably moody and badass.
b . a tattoo – possibly tribal or featuring something out of the AD&D Monstrous Compendium – splattered somewhere I can display socially.
c . a big collection of heavy metal records, the more obscure the better.
d . a black T-shirt with either a heavy metal band logo or the Jack Daniel’s Old N° 7 label printed on the front
e . goggles
Now being a geologist I actually have a pair of well-worn protective goggles somewhere – you know, to protect my eyes from rock chips when collecting samples. But they tell me they are not the right kind because they don’t come with a top hat.
All in all, as fantasy authors go, I’m a failure.
Once again about female characters in fantasy.
The painting here on the right is by the great Donato Giancola.
It’s my idea of a fantasy sword-woman done right.
She has character, she projects strength and toughness but she has class.
OK, so maybe there’s no reason in the ‘verse to handle a sword like that (or so they told me) but who cares – I can believe she’s a real woman.
No brass bikini, no empty, inflatable-doll-like curves to please an adolescent audience.
And the adolescent audience is what’s making me nervous.
And a quick survey of the fantasy and sword & sorcery field in my country* has been dis-heartening. Continue reading
Karavansara 