Same shit, different eyes

blankWhat matters context, save Perspective’s key,
When contemplating dull captivity?
For words would take unmitigated flight;
But knowledge binds them into black and white.
And so, ascribing malice to the spheres –
Expecting that to dry the convict’s tears –
May err in fact, while still remaining true:
His weeping may to other cause be due.
So in this case, the context is your claim,
And your perspective is itself to blame:
You sigh at fate, and pin it on the stars,
While he escapes by looking through the bars.

—

I wrote this piece in response to a #FieryVerse prompt on Twitter, using the following excerpt from The Canterbury Tales, beginning line 1083:

For Goddes love, tak al in pacience
Our prisoun, for it may non other be;
Fortune hath yeven us this adversitee.
Som wikke aspect or disposicioun
Of Saturne, by sum constellacioun,
Hath yeven us this, al-though we hadde it sworn;
So stood the heven whan that we were born;
We moste endure it: this is the short and pleyn.’

The prompt used this translation:

For God’s love, take things patiently, have sense,
Think! We are prisoners and shall always be.
Fortune has given us this adversity,
Some wicked planetary dispensation,
Some Saturn’s trick or evil constellation,
Has given us this, and Heaven, though we had sworn,
The contrary, so stood when we were born.
We must endure it, that’s the long and short.

The passage comes from The Knightes Tale (autocorrect is having a field day with Chaucer) and is spoken by Arcite, who seeks to console his fellow prisoner Palamon. [SPOILERS?] Palamon has just seen Emelya in the garden, and completely lost his shit because her beauty is overwhelming. Arcite hears the cries, assumes they’re the despair of incarceration, and tries to console his cellmate with the above cheery passage about predestination.

It was a challenge to shift from the more comfortable Shakespearean ABAB rhyme scheme to Chaucer’s rhyming couplet pentameter, but a fun one:  would play again.

So far so good

I’ve achieved a few little milestones since my last post:

  1. Published the electronic omnibus edition of The Fallen Shepherd Saga.
  2. Revised the series title, since the characters demanded a sequel – the continuing series will be called The Fallen Mythos.
  3. Started typesetting the paperback edition, and scheduled time to complete this over the next couple of weeks.
  4. Started rewriting the sequel novel.
  5. I haven’t started any new (non-work) projects. This is a pretty major achievement for me (which is probably a sad commentary on my writing process), so I’m comfortable counting something that didn’t happen as a milestone.

I’ve also been using Twitter prompts to write at least one short poem each week, which I’ve found useful for keeping the language alive while sticking to a single main project.

One month on, having a few defined constraints seems to be working well, and I’m increasingly optimistic about this approach.

That’s about it for the month… back to the re-write.

Resolving 2015

I’m not big on new year’s resolutions, given how transient they tend to be (that probably says more about my perseverance than anything else, but the studies support my case). So instead, I’m starting 2016 with a plan, charting specific, quantifiable objectives.

I took most of December off work and writing to complete an urgent renovation project on the house, because it turns out everyone wants to schedule scaffolding, builders and glaziers around the Summer break, and I’m obviously a masochist. Working outside in the sun (and rain, this is Auckland) gave me a little space to consider my works in progress, and – more importantly – to count them. Aside from those shown in the blog sidebar, I have several short stories, novellas, novel drafts, two podcast outlines and a screenplay in my “active” folder, and the “completed” folder was barely touched in the latter months of 2015.

So the plan is essentially this: complete shit. Erm, I’ll rephrase that. The plan is to complete all of my pending projects before I begin any new ones. I’ve got a shiny new timeline, a list of priorities, and as part of my accountability I’ll be posting more regular updates on this blog.

So, when we meet up for the more regular social interaction that probably does fall into the Resolution category, you can help: don’t ask me what I’m working on. Instead, ask me what I’ve finished this week, or when my next deadline is due.

Longer writing exercises are a frequent outlet for procrastination, so in 2016 I’ll be making more use of Twitter prompts for short bursts of poetry (and the always fun six-word stories), so follow @PeterRavlich if that’s your thing.

Finally, Initially, I hope that your 2016 brings with it plenty of opportunities to create, share, reflect and live. Globally, 2015 was a flawed creature in too many ways to list – but it has been put to rest. 2016 begins. Let’s make it better.

Phew!

So, my determination to post updates throughout National Novel Writing Month waned a little as I got stuck into the novel.

NaNoWriMoCert2015November brought with it my now traditional late start to the challenge, as mentioned in the last update, and I compounded my risk of failure by taking the weekends off. However, the characters would not be denied, and I now have a shiny new first draft of Bad Habits, the sequel to my Fallen Shepherd Saga.

There is still a lot of rewriting, expanding and polishing to be done, but the characters knew what they were doing – more or less – and the story came together into a shape I’m really happy with.

 

Remember, remember…

… the month of November
The characters, setting and plot;
When scribes of all ages put novels to pages,
Or (at least) give the challenge a shot.

However, whomever, you write this November,
It all boils down to the text:
Though resolve may diminish, you’ll get to the finish
With one word preceding the next. 

Two days in, and I spent yesterday returning from a fantastic holiday and wedding in beautiful Queenstown (I should probably reverse those, but they’re chronological, not in order of importance). So I’m playing catch-up today, after working through a week’s worth of client enquiries and jobs (all done, clients!) collecting the dog and running errands.

This year, I’m breaking the rules if not the spirit of NaNoWriMo: I’m writing a novel that I’ve already started, the sequel to my Fallen Shepherd Saga. However, I won’t cheat, i.e. the first 6,314 words won’t be going toward my total.

That’s it for now, better get back to the characters, and hope I remember where I left them.