Friday, July 30, 2010

P=nRT/V

Sometimes, a little pressure is a good thing.  It stops things from bleeding out of control or ballooning beyond their intended size.  It also helps to drive you along your course and slow you down when you need to stop.

I’m all out of pneumatic metaphors, but deadlines are a good thing.  Without the constant reminders I’ve set myself, I’d probably have abandoned  Teratogenesis back around March.  Of course, it doesn’t always work, but we don’t live in an ideal world (no matter what the formula in the title says.)  Well, it’s more of a pun than a metaphor…

Bad pressure is when you realize you only have six weeks to finish the secret project you thought you had until November to work on…

Also, bonus points if anyone can spot the significance of the Lou Reed track in the latest chapter of Teratogenesis.

Monday, July 19, 2010

A Dead Give Away

I told you the pace was gathering.  Admittedly, it went dark for two weeks immediately after I said that, but it’s true.  There is still another update at the end of the week.
One of the things I’m really enjoying about this project is the chance to weave in topical events.  When I first started plotting out Teratogenesis and working out the mechanics of it, I didn’t know what a vuvuzela was, never mind how annoying they were.  It also lets me reveal certain things second hand.  For example, if something is scheduled to happen in a certain time and place, and  Rud…  the narrator is also there, then it stands to reason that the previously unknown location is revealed.  Doesn’t it?
Not everything in Teratogenesis is true, you know…
The original plan was to use a piece of music by Curve as the soundtrack, but it made more sense to go with PiL.  Which is a shame as Curve must be one of the most underrated bands of the last twenty years.  What the hell, have a listen to it anyway, it’s lovely and it's over on there on the right.  Or rather, it would be, if the embedding widget would work.

Try this instead:  A Clip On You Tube, Since It's Not Available Anywhere Else


Sunday, July 18, 2010

Normal Service Is Resumed

And to further reassure me things are getting back on track, I had another moment of synchronicity.  I’m becoming quite superstitious about this now.  The soundtrack to today’s Teratogenesis is by Johnny Cash and the minute I picked it, he appeared on TV singing San Quentin.  It’s always nice to see Johnny Cash on TV, especially the San Quentin concert.  I have to say, I don’t like Country music- at all.  But I do like Johnny Cash and I think that’s a testament to the way he tells a story in most of the songs.  Current favourites are:  One Piece At A Time, (Ghost) Riders In The Sky and A Boy Named Sue.
Time is also ticking away on a secret project I’m working for the end of the autumn.  Suffice to say, I need to write it and someone else should probably illustrate it, but all this needs to be finished for around the end of September and despite the fact that it will be a really low word count (because of the nature of the piece,) I’m still getting nowhere.
So yeah, I need to find a half decent artist who will work for cheap.  Please leave a link to a sample of your work if you’re interested…

[Monday 19/7/2010:  It might actually be worth enabling the comments on this one...]

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Excuses, Excuses

“It could all unravel yet!”

I wish I hadn’t said that two posts back.  It almost did.

Basically, since the end of last month, I’ve been feeling tired and run down.  Not really ill, but severely lacking in motivation.  There was a fairly arduous project on in my day job and that, coupled with poor diet and hay fever, meant I was struggling to come up with anything worthwhile for Teratogenesis.

But I’ve managed to come up with a fantastic excuse for why our protagonist was also offline.  In fact, the story of why he’s been away for so long is probably better than how I would have written the events of the last two weeks.

Also, who is Trudie?  Well, it’s obviously Drury’s real name, which then raises the question of why has he let it slip…