Do rules matter?

All my life has been spent sticking to the rules and assuming that everyone else around me is doing the same. Why do I persist in this naive belief? I’m constantly reminded that other people don’t bother, that they shape the rules to suit themselves and consider me stupid for not understanding that they can be broken.

So if rules don’t matter, why do we have them? I always understood that the rules were to make sure that things are fair for everyone, that everyone has an equal chance. When I studied philosophy, I was taught that we support rules because we benefit from them, that while it is always easier to support rules we believe in, our ultimate belief in civilisation benefiting all keeps us obeying all rules, in the understanding that other people do the same and that’s what keeps us safe, content and progressing.

The trouble with bending or breaking a rule is that you have to know when to do it. Is it appropriate to bend it now? How about now? If you’re ignoring it most of the time, what’s the point in having it anyway?

And so I plod on, doing as I’m told, following the path laid down while all around me people seem to dance on the grass and in the flower beds, enjoying their freedom and seeming to suffer no ill-effects; all the time I know that the moment I put a toe off the path someone will scream at me because even though others are doing it, I’m DOING IT WRONG.

I tried to find a suitable quote for my blog title. All the quotations I came up with seemed to be about how sticking to rules was boring and unconstructive, and how you had to break rules to get anywhere.

Is that true? Because that makes me very insecure. If I haven’t got the rules to rely on, something laid down in black and white that I can understand and stick to, then I’m lost. I’m just put in a position where I have to say, “I don’t understand your rules, I can’t stick to them, I don’t know when I can break them and so forget the lot of them, I’ll just use my own.”

And that, my friends, is the point where society starts to break down.

What about you? Do you stick to the rules? Do you understand the rules so thoroughly that you’re confident in knowing when and by how much you can bend them? Or do they not matter at all to you, and you break them without a second thought?

 

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by emmyleigh on May 15, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by emmyleigh on May 15, 2013

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On beta reading

I love reading, and I love writing, although I’m better at spotting what doesn’t work than being able to fix it myself. I am good at written English and I have the eye for detail needed for spotting errors.

As I’ll shortly be in the position of needing to earn some money, I thought I’d look into proof reading and copy editing – after all, with all these writers around who want to publish their own work, usually on kindle, there’s a growing demand for that line of work.

In order to build up experience I offered on the goodreads site to do some beta reading. Beta reading isn’t copy editing, and it isn’t proof reading, but it’s test driving a book, if you like – taking a look at a finished or nearly finished work and giving honest feedback as to what works and what doesn’t. I’ve done beta reading before when I was writing a lot of fanfic, and I also made use of one myself, and I had to admit that the use of a beta reader definitely improved my work.

So within hours of posting my offer I received three complete novels and the opening chapters of another to read. Gulp!

I’ve learnt a few things already from this experience:

  • It’s very different reading to provide feedback than just reading for pleasure – I’m reading on either my laptop or main computer, with Evernote open to note down my thoughts.
  • The opening chapters are incredibly important. With the ability to download just the opening of a book as a free sample, I suspect many books are rejected very quickly, and the writer really has to grasp attention within the first few pages.
  • Description does matter. Not pages and pages of description, but at least the odd word or phrase to help conjure up the world. So it’s a magic world. Does that mean swords and unicorns or does it mean guns and cars? Are we talking small cottage or imposing castle?
  • It’s a tricky balance to give out enough information so that the reader knows exactly what’s going on but isn’t bored by pages of exposition.
  • The best opening I’ve read so far went straight into action, and by the end of the first chapter we’d seen our hero in action, seen exactly how he responds under pressure and had our attention grabbed.
  • Other openings might offer intrigue but make me work too hard to understand, or simply start off far too slow to catch attention. Sure, the story might be brilliant once you get to the next chapter, but am I going to want to put in the effort to get there?

Self publishing is a big gamble. Without that extra filter of an editor and publisher to get through, how can you be sure that your work is really of high enough quality? Only by test-driving it somehow, as much as you can.

Some of this is done by other authors, seeking to receive the same service back for their own novel. Some of it is done by readers who just want to be involved in the writing process, albeit by proxy, or want to receive books without paying for them, and are willing to give feedback in return.

I’m hoping that enough authors are willing to pay for a high quality service so that I can incorporate the service as part of my business. After all, reading in this way is time-consuming and requires skill, and should go a long way towards making sure a novel is the best it can be before hitting the publish button.

Currently I think I’m going to offer a free sample service, reading the opening of a book and giving honest feedback on whether I’d buy it having read the sample, what I feel works and what I feel needs to be worked on. If the author then chooses to make further use of my skills, including detailed copy editing and proofreading, that’s up to them.

What do you reckon? Would you be prepared to pay for such a service? Do you feel that it should be offered purely for free and that people seeking to charge are just trying to profiteer? Do you feel that having put so much time, love and effort into your novel you’d be doing yourself a disservice not to run it past a professional eye before publication?

Note: I’m not seeking customers as much as – well – seeking feedback on whether the idea works or not. I still have these three novels and an opening to get through and I’m working full-time at the moment…

 

 

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by emmyleigh on May 11, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by emmyleigh on May 11, 2013

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Mr Gove and Mr Rush

Have you seen the story of the dumbed-down history resource? Mr Gove, UK’s education secretary, pokes fun at a teaching resource that suggests likening the main characters in the rise of Hitler to Mr Men, in a speech entitled “What does it mean to be an educated person?” 

Now I read that speech before I saw the web erupt with indignation over this article, so have been following the discussion with interest. But unlike, I suspect, most of the population, I’ve taken the time to explore the argument further. You see, Mr Gove was taking a headline statement without looking into it properly. The history resource in question was not only created by an independent school teacher for an IGCSE qualification (those are the ones that Mr Gove says are much more rigorous and that many schools are choosing to use instead of standard GCSEs because being international they’re not so subject to changing on a whim), but the purpose of the exercise is to revise the topic by reworking it into a form to teach to year 6 students. The year 11 students are encouraged to explore the topic by allegory and analogy, in order to help younger students to understand.

Now I’m a great fan of the teddy bear school of learning – this is one that says if you want to really understand something, teach it to someone else, your teddy bear if necessary. As you search for the words and concepts to get the topic across, you deepen your own understanding. In this case, in groups striving to create resources that the younger children will understand in order to get an important point across, students will be forced to pick out the more important issues and figure out a way to get them across. This means they will need to have a deep understanding of the topic in the first place and their reworking of the topic will fix it further in their minds.

The trouble with Mr Gove’s speech headline, however, is that the majority of people won’t explore the topic enough to understand the full story. Instead, just like in a Mr Men story they’ll pick out the main characteristics and exaggerate them. Mr Men plus history project = dumb teaching.

You see, I agree with a lot of what Mr Gove says. I do feel it is important that our children are taught rigorously and grow up with a deeper understanding of the world around them. I do think that sometimes we make excuses for the children, or allow them to make excuses. But declaring everything from the past few years a waste of time and trying to rebuild things completely and instantly is wrong. You can’t change attitudes overnight and you can’t fix education overnight.

We need to get across that everyone should be expected to learn and understand. This means that everyone in school and out should support every area of learning. No more “Yeah, I could never get it either”, no more acceptance of poor standards, no more admiring celebrities who suggest that the way to success and earning lots of money is simply to win a talent contest, but instead celebrating success in all its forms, including academic, and showing the sheer pleasure of a good education in helping people to understand the world around them and how it works.

To be able to notice problems in the world around you? That’s one of the rewards of a good education.

To be able to drill down to the heart of the problem, understand the best way to fix it and then do so sensitively and positively? That’s the mark of a great education secretary. Sadly, I feel Mr Gove is in too much of a rush to improve education to consider carefully how to move from where we are now to where we want to be, and what sort of timescale it might take. Instead he blunders in, upsetting everyone by failing to listen to them,  seems to be working towards some sort of ideal that might work for some but not for the majority, and then expects the anger he stirs up to produce positive results.

Part of the challenge of education in all its forms is to figure out how to move from where you are now to where you want to be. You can’t just throw some insults, wave a magic wand and have everything exactly as it should be.

 

 

 

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by emmyleigh on May 10, 2013  •  Permalink
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So what’s your excuse?

One of my excuses has always been I don’t have time to write. Then I came across this blog entry from Elle Casey, in which she describes how she has written 18 books in 15 months. She must be a full-time writer, I guess – except no, she works 2 days a week as well. She must have found the secret of avoiding social media – but no, she has an active presence on facebook and on her own blog, and she takes promoting her own work seriously. No family? Sorry, husband and kids.

It can’t be any good, right? Not written at that speed. Sorry, wrong again. I knew within the first few lines of the first book of hers I read that she knows how to write and her books are well edited as well.

So what’s her secret? She reveals in her blog post how she does it. She admits it won’t work for anyone, but the fact is that it can be done. And a large part of that secret is just to sit and write.

Damn, that’s that excuse blown out of the water then. You can create high quality writing in high quantity without locking yourself away in a room away from everything. What other excuse can I use?

There’s the two-pronged excuse of … you know what? I’m not sure I can even put it into words any more. That double edged sword of not wanting to expose my writing to scrutiny, and not wanting to write if no-one will read it.

The best writing I’ve done has been to get stories that stick in my mind out into words. In a way, it hasn’t mattered whether they’ve had readers or not. Some have, some haven’t. A couple that I’ve put onto fanfiction.net as I wrote them were never finished, as the impetus died away. Every one of them has taken my writing skill a little bit further, but only a little bit because I didn’t keep writing.

The trouble with publishing fanfiction like that is that it becomes like a drug: all the reviews you get encourage you to push out more and more, and then the quality can fall because you’re too interested in publishing and editing becomes an irritating delay.

I think it’s time to get back to when I first started writing fanfiction, when I would put down ideas onto paper just to see if they work out or not. It’s not lack of ideas that’s the problem: it’s actually going through the process of getting them down, fixing them into words. I have so many stories that come to me in a flash, and I can see the whole story arc, but just can’t be bothered to actually do anything about them. I’m sure that if I encouraged them I could quite easily put out large amounts of fiction. Sure, the quality would probably be poor, at least to start with, but it’s only by writing that we learn to write.

Half an hour a day maybe? How much can I write in that time? How much can I write and edit in that time? Only one way to find out. Then I suspect it’s like running: the more you do it, the more you feel like doing it, the more you notice the results and the better you become.

 

 

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by emmyleigh on May 4, 2013  •  Permalink
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Politics and me

voteIn our area yesterday we had local elections. I didn’t go along and vote; I didn’t feel there was any point. I knew nothing about the people standing, or what their policies were. I tend to trust people to get on with their jobs and feel no urge to oversee or interfere.

I’ve been thinking about it since, though, and realised I’m wrong. It’s no good saying it’s their fault for not getting information out to me, it’s up to me to make myself aware of what’s going on and make my own decisions.

I treasure the fact that I’ve had a good education, and that I’m interested in the world around me, but it’s not enough. I need to realise that it’s every person’s responsibility to look out for themselves and for others. I’ve spent a good part of my time studying and helping others to study Animal Farm, and that contains a warning about just what does happen when the animals leave the pigs to run things. They assume the pigs have everyone’s interest at heart, while in fact the pigs are worried only about their own interests. Some of the animals were unable to take any part in decision making, while others were able but unwilling, and in the end all paid the price.

I’m not suggesting local (or even national) politics is as bad as the situation in Animal Farm, but the fact remains that their work does need to be supervised and overseen by everyone. There are certain stories that crop up regularly in the news and I wonder what the point is, then realise that the scrutiny is important, that if we stop watching and stop reporting then accountability is lost.

Unless enough people are aware enough to understand what’s going on around them and take an interest in politics, then the politicians have things their own way. It’s up to each one of us to take responsibility for this understanding and scrutiny, and it begins by taking an interest in local elections and making sure we are aware of issues and people.

So the next time polling cards drop through our door I’ll be doing my own research, finding out who’s standing and what their policies are, and I’ll be looking at the local and national papers not just for the entertaining or human interest stories, but also to see what those who make decisions on our behalf are doing, and deciding for myself whether I agree with it.

After all, unless we take our part in the decision making, even if it’s only helping to decide who makes those decisions, then how can we complain if we don’t agree with those decisions?

 

 

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by emmyleigh on May 3, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by emmyleigh on May 3, 2013

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I am Schrödinger’s Cat

I am Schrödinger’s cat, and my life hangs in the balance. Am I alive or am I dead? I do not yet know. I am waiting for someone to remove the lid, look inside and reveal the truth to me.

What do I think? I think I refuse to think. It is not for me to have any opinions or decisions on the matter. My fate lies entirely in the hands of others.

It is a strange feeling, to be so helpless, so reliant on others. It is not by choice; and yet it is. The duality of it is fascinating and unpleasant.

The box is open. The verdict is in. The cat is dead.

And yet…

Are we really sure of what we are sure of? Is the truth the truth? Is the cat completely dead or is there still a glimmer of hope? Or should the cat refuse the box and run, free to make its own path or starve?

Sorry, it’s been a strange day ;)

 

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by emmyleigh on May 1, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by emmyleigh on May 1, 2013

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Z is for Zombies

Zombies saved my life. Maybe even literally. Not real zombies, of course; I’m not even a zombie type of person. I’m disturbed at the current trend of fascination with the undead, and the idea of zombies and vampires really does nothing for me.

But last summer I was studying gamification, via an online course, and came across mention of an app called “Zombies, Run!” which made exercise into a game. I decided to try it out, downloaded it, put my headset on and then went for a walk, as the idea is that you listen to the story between music tracks, and as you move you pick up objects that you can use to build up your base.

I soon became engrossed in the story and characters, and started to walk regularly. Within a week, that walking turned into running; I used to run years ago, but it faded out. Over the past few years I’d done little exercise other than walk the dog, and then when we lost the dog there was nothing. Now suddenly I was out in running clothes, and while at first I was doing far more walking than running, I gradually built up. A friend had been talking about parkrun, and I’d been curious enough to look it up. The discovery that the only one anywhere near me was only 5 miles away was the spur to start that regularly.

Between Parkrun and Zombies, Run my life has been transformed over the past six months or so. I now run 5k regularly (four times last week!) and am building up to faster speeds and longer distances. I’m starting to feel that buzz from physical fitness, and losing the extra weight that had been dragging me down. Mentally, I find that running stabilises me and helps me gain perspective on stressful situations.

With the release of the new season of Zombies, Run! missions, the transformation is complete. I’ve gone from zombie to runner, and I’m loving it.

And something else I’ve been loving is this challenge, which has reached the dramatic conclusion! Thanks for staying with me. Now, what’s the next challenge? ;)

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by emmyleigh on April 30, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by emmyleigh on April 30, 2013

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Y is for Yes

Can he fix it? Yes he can!

Remember that? That undiluted confidence that the answer is yes? That’s what we need. No longer asking can we do it, or wondering what the result would be if we tried, but going out and doing it and answering with a resounding YES!

The note on my calendar the other day said something along the lines of: “It’s not that we don’t do it because it’s difficult, it’s that it’s difficult because we don’t do it.” How many times have we avoided something because we thought it was too hard, only to get going eventually and discover it’s not as bad as we thought? How many times have we missed out on an opportunity because we were too scared to try?

Next time, try just taking a deep breath and saying “YES”.

Apologies for this entry being a tad late; I was rather distracted last night. Let’s hope my saying “Yes” turns into others saying “yes” as well ;)

 

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by emmyleigh on April 30, 2013  •  Permalink
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X is for X-rated

XI’m thinking here not necessarily of explicit writing, but of writing that you’re scared of, or shy away from. Is there anything you’re too afraid to write about?

There is one book that I found too upsetting to re-read. It wasn’t a Stephen King book, although there are some of those that I found too much to read once I had kids. Those I expect to have the punch they have. The book I’m thinking of was by one of my favourite authors, Orson Scott Card. It’s called Lost Boys, and it’s about the narrator’s children, particularly one of his sons.

Now I have a vivid imagination: any time a member of the family is even a few minutes late, I’ve come up with a whole anthology of stories to explain their tardiness, most of them unpleasant. But there’s no way I could bring myself to write that sort of story. It feels kind of like tempting fate – that to imagine it enough to put it into words is to encourage it to happen. 

So how do authors bring themselves to write tough, unpleasant situations where people are in danger? Do they disassociate themselves from their writing, to protect themselves? or do they throw themselves into it, purge their emotions and survive intact? surely they can’t write about these subjects at full intensity and come out the other side unscathed?

If you spend all your time imagining and writing about evil, surely it has to leave its mark on you? or do you channel it onto the page and cleanse your soul in the process?

 

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by emmyleigh on April 27, 2013  •  Permalink
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W is for Wow

Okay, I’m allowed one contrived entry in the challenge, surely ;)

It’s wow because tonight my son made us all sit and watch a documentary. I’ve mentioned before in this blog that he’s a brony, and my C entry was about My Little Ponies. Well, he put some money towards a project creating a documentary about bronies. Over the past week or so he’s been cajoling and bribing various members of the family to watch it, and tonight turned out to be the night we sat together in front of the TV with it.

It’s very odd watching a bunch of grown men waxing lyrical about animated ponies, but I think he got his point across that there are many of them out there. What really impressed me, though, was the creativity that the series has sparked. We saw artists who produced original artwork based on the show, people who created and painted models of the characters, plush toys, clothing, animations, music, even laser shows. Each of these people took the original idea and developed it in their own directions, putting their own spin on it.

When I first came across this sort of interaction, very soon after I first joined the world-wide community of the internet, it was fascinating. Now I have learned to value it, to the point where when I find something new that interests me, for example Downton Abbey, once I’ve exhausted primary sources (i.e. watched all the original episodes), I’ll seek out secondary sources, such as fanfiction.net, to see how others interpret the characters. Sometimes they mirror my own ideas, and sometimes they’ll develop them further, taking me in a direction I hadn’t thought of. Always, they help deepen my understanding of the characters and their relationships. Even bad fanfiction has the same effect, in that it can show highlight things I disagree with.

I’ve always admired the creativity of people out there. From fan art to fan vids, from customised icons to full length novels. There are an amazing number of creative people, and the web and other technologies have provided them all with a vast array of inspiration and tools, not to mention a way to find an audience.

There’s a lot of talk of the long tail in sales these days. That applies equally to all forms of creativity. The web has a dark side, but it also has a positive side, and sparking creativity is part of that.

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by emmyleigh on April 26, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by emmyleigh on April 26, 2013

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