Why I Don't Write Post-Apocalyptic Fiction

That is why I don't write post-apocalyptic fiction.

Because, really, Mad Max, your 28 Days Later and your Fallouts have nothing on what Liberia is like.

I'm not able to describe many places worse than Liberia. Because Liberia really is an utter shit hole. And it is a far more uncomfortably nasty and hellish shit hole than the post-apocalyptic fantasies I mention above are. It is real for a start, and it is a systematic failure of UN intervention, many years of corrupt authoritarian dictatorships (is there any other kind?), two civil wars and massive poverty. This place is what the world would look like if Fallout was real.

For me trying to use a scenario in fiction for pulpy hijinks without directly acknowledging the situation in Liberia or Somalia seems to me, well, not crass exactly, but just pointless and lacking in verisimilitude.

Now writing mundane fiction, or stories that aren't exploiting this imigary "just because it is cool" I'm down with.

"He killed my ma, he killed my pa, but I will vote for him."

- Charles Taylor

A Few Things

* Still working on a short story that I intend to submit to Interzone.

* Nearly finished the first draft of a short story for Short Fuse.
It's a bit wanky and experimental, but it is a remix of a short story
I love.

* There are two comics I should be writing. PAGAN BASTARD and
something else I've forgotten.

* www.ectomo.com is still down. This is annoying.

* I am reading through my archive of Warren Ellis' Bad Signal and
enjoying it far too much.

* I can smell pizza being cut up.

--
http://www.will-ellwood.com

Five Songs Three Months Into the Year.

So we are three months into 2010. Spring starts tomorrow with the Vernal Equinox and the phase of the year where for the past three years I have found my albums and tracks of the year has pretty much passed. The sound of the year has been set. What are the five songs I can't stop listening to at the moment?

Assume no order here except for the order I remembered them. There are many things can be inferred from this list. All of them are true.

1, La Roux - In for the Kill (Skreem Remix)



I love the original version of this, but the Skreem Remix is something else.

2, Royksopp - This Must Be It.



It is the beat and Karin Dreijer Andersson singing here. A great video as well. Sadly I can't embed that here.

3, Zola Jesus - Night



The beat and the voice. It is the beat and her voice.

4, Soom T - Dirty Money



An 8bit dub future. Lovely stuff. A perfect single. It might help that I agree with the sentiment expressed as well.

5, The Knife - Seeds



Thump, thump, thump, thump. What?

Doom Level: Green

So The Kick School of Creative Writing is happening. Like really
actually happening in just over a month. There is genuine enthusiasm
for the idea as well.

So I've done good.

And there's some short fiction of mine floating around the http://www.weaponizer.co.uk queue as well. I
think two stories. One called "Three Words" and another called
"Terminal 5." So that's good.

Been coming up with pitches for Kick all day as well. A light exercise
to fit in between working on this weeks short story. This short is
coming to the 2000 word mark and still has life in it. Aiming for 3000
to 3500 words now. I need to get this done and organized before I
workshop it on Wednesday.

No real essay or thoughts here. Just outlining what I'm looking at today.

I still feel really lazy.

--
http://www.will-ellwood.com

A 1 AM Power Cut

This morning there was a power cut in my village. The power dropped when the clock struck one. All gone; even the street lights outside. I walked out of my house with a head torch and the constant amber glow of suburban sprawl was gone, and my breath was like smoke in the cold air. I looked down the street and my light, the only light, reflected from a road sign seventy meters away. The only sound coming from the chorus of burglar alarms tripped by the sudden lost of vital electricity. It was all very post-apocalyptic.

A Mundane Near Death Experience

I have this notion that I'd make a very disappointing near death experience story person. I'd be in a traffic accident, or an aeroplane crash, or a terrorist explosion, something like that someday, and I'd be lying there dead -- not very injured, but death like -- and then I'd wake up a few hours later, and the only thing I'd be able to say is, "What the fuck happened there? Oh man isn't breathing great. "

"Did you see any white lights?" I'd get asked. "God, St. Peter, how about a wheel of reincarnation?"

"No, sorry. I just woke up and saw your surprised face. Can I have some pain killers please?"

And at that point I'd stand up, dust myself down, and not make a fuss. No one would mention it every again. No sympathy etc.

Grabbed from a MSN chat with Daniel Williams.

The Kick School of Creative Writing.

I have ideas every hour of every day; some of these are good ideas, and some of them are downright terrible ideas. Most of these ideas fall somewhere in the middle.

I'd like to think that this one falls in the upper-ranges of good.

The basis of the idea comes from looking at Molly Crabbapples's Dr Sketchy, and wanting to see something for writers. Because I can't draw to save my life. Seriously stick figures are pretty much beyond me.

So the deal is this: get a bunch of writers together, wannabe or not, and write. Because for the wannabe the only way to get better is to write stuff. Different stuff. Lots of different ideas. Lots of different styles. And for pros, the people who know how to write, same deal; since these are skills that need maintaining.

A format I have in mind is roughly the following. Everyone turns up, gets comfortable, has a pot of tea etc. Then the first prompt is delivered. This could be a phrase, a poem, a song, anything that can inspire stories. Then we, the group, writes for about half an hour.

And then we break for ten minutes. For more tea, toilet breaks and smokes.

Then this process of writing for half an hour and chilling for ten minutes gets repeats two or three more times. A different prompt each time.

Also because it's kinda cool to share stuff that's raw and unedited there's a chance to read stuff that's been written at the end. This might be the weak part of my overall idea.

Anyhow, I'm going to look into hosting an event of this nature in my local area, and I'm making the idea somewhat public because I suspect it isn't a unique idea (I'm sure people must have done this already), and also because if I make the idea known I might get prodded into action.

My proposed name is "The Kick School of Writing". Named after the Tesco's own brand Red Bull, because I'm cheap. A motto, if this thing needs one, has to be something along the lines of "Writer Harder, Write Faster, Write Better."

Peace & Love

Will.
28/02/10