Hello. Happy Halloween you spooky bunch. This week my posts have both been a day early. Monday’s because I was excited about sorting out “Atlas”, and today’s because Nanowrimo starts tomorrow.
Monday I finished the character bio’s (finally) of the supporting characters, and the new protagonist from Narrative Three. Tuesday I took a day off because I went to see my parents off on their six month trip to Spain (they also have SAD, so they’ve gone to get some winter sunshine and a break from house renovating), and yesterday and today I’ve been working on getting the settings right. This has been a bit of a weird one, because I’ve never written a setting bio like I have this time, but it’s important for ‘Myrghes’ because the settings represent so much more than they have in my other stories. The woodland from Narrative One is a metaphor for how strong (or weak) the connections in the commune are, for example. It’s been a bit tougher than anticipated to be honest, but Scrivener has a template and to be honest I only used it because I wanted to try it out. I’ll do the same I think when planning the other two stories. It will be particularly useful for ‘Atlas’ I reckon, seeing as the hotel is the titular character/thing. In ‘Rats’ it will be really useful to prep on scrivener and keep track of the different settings because there are a fair few, but it’s not quite the same as when writing prose I don’t think. Also in scripts you have the slugline so I will be able to pull it up a lot easier in my mind.
So the last thing I want to talk about is my influences for ‘Myrghes’, just to give you an idea of tone and setting. I’ve bought a bunch of books and am slowly making my way through them, but I took a bit of a break during October because I’ve been so busy. I’ll list them at the bottom.
I guess the first place I would start would be “The Bees” by Laline Paull. This is the second book I read this year and by far my favourite, I wrote a review when I was optimistically doing that. Very motherhood focused in a survivalist narrative. I would put it up there as one of the great books of it’s kind, and I’m not really sure whether it’s speculative or where I would place it, but most people have placed it with Atwood.
Speaking of Atwood, I have said a whole bunch of times in the last month that “The Testaments” has been a huge influence on the formatting and style of this novel. I would say that this sequel is more influential to my work than “The Handmaid’s Tale” because the narrators are more autonomous in their actions that Offred. I would say that “The Handmaid’s Tale” is probably secondary reading though because the motherhood themes are a much more direct theme in the story that in “The Testaments”, particularly for Narrative One.
Another secondary reading is “Vox” by Christina Dalcher. I really thoroughly enjoyed reading “Vox” and thought it was really tight and high stakes until the last few chapters (where everything seems a bit deus ex machina for my taste). Again, the protagonists’ conflict is focused on being pregnant in a dystopian society. Post-reading I feel like it clings to the coat tails of “The Handmaid’s Tale” successes, but it’s entertaining in it’s own right. The protagonists’ characterisation is incredible.
“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” by Philip K. Dick is a huge influence. Not so much in what it is, but in what I was hoping it would be. Obviously, I love Blade Runner (1982, Dir. Ridley Scott) because who doesn’t, and I knew the book was very different. I was disappointed in that I thought it would go into much more detail on post-humanism themes. Maybe it does, but in a way I didn’t recognise because I was new to the literary genre at the time. I only read it because I read “The Cyborg Manifesto” for work and figured I should probably understand the genre better. I feel like this is one of those books where I’ll get what it was trying to say in a few years when I’ve mulled it over and read a bunch more books. Also there was a distinct lack of direct discussion about whether androids could literally dream and why that’s an important question- I’ve put that in “Myrghes”.
In a similar vein, Arthur C. Clarke’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” has accidentally become a huge influence. I say accidentally, because really the part that is relevant to “Myrghes” is only a small part of that book (Where Hal is present) and of mine (Narrative Three). The key part I’m inspired by is the relationship between a digital consciousness and a biological one. I even pay homage by calling the robotics company that my second narrative’s protagonist works for “Clarke Industries”.
I guess this last group are less of an influence and more of a nod to a theme? I’m not really sure if that’s even the right word to use. But I called my android protagonist in the third narrative “Shelley” after Mary and Percy Shelley. This is because Percy Shelley wrote “Prometheus Unbound” and Mary Shelley wrote “Frankenstein: A Modern Prometheus” – both tales are about characters which do something that pushes human intelligence beyond limits that it can control. In “Prometheus Unbound” it’s a tale of the Greek Hero Prometheus (obviously) and his punishment for giving humanity fire and creativity. In “Frankenstein” it’s obviously the monster. When I read the latter I learned the original nature of Frankensteins monster was an empathetic, intelligent being who only wants a bit of love/affection/friendship, but only meets rejection and hostility and that’s when he becomes a murderous and angry creature. That’s fed into my protagonist Shelley’s characterisation, and that’s where the conflict comes from, although not so directly as Mary Shelley’s work.
The books I have yet to read are:
- “Station Eleven” by Mary St. John Mandel.
- “The End We Start From” by Megan Hunter.
- “Last Ones Left Alive” by Sarah Davis-Goff.
- “The Children of Men” by P. D. James.
- “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy.
- “I, Robot” by Isaac Asimov.
I’m hoping to have them all read before the new year, ready for the second draft. We’ll see if that actually happens, I’m a really slow reader. I’ve read less than ten books this year (for fun, if you add for work it adds up to a lot more). I’ll update you on my thoughts as I read them.
And with that, I best get my last minute prep done for tomorrow. Good luck to any of you who are also nano-ing.
Don’t tread on the flowers.
F x
Froshie Evans 