Category: Am Writing

Rumours of My Demise are Somewhat Premature

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Am Writing, Random, Writing Tips

OK, so this is a bit of a cheat blog. I usually manage a blog post every month, so in the interests of maintaining my record – which only I actually care about – here we go. I don’t have a lot to say or enlighten you with, at least as I start to write this. I also don’t have an apology. I’ve been writing. A lot. And not as much as I’d like. It’s also been oriented too much towards science fact and not nearly enough science fiction. I’ve also not been “spending” quite so much time on social media, which is a bit of shame because there are actually a lot of interesting people and things happening there. So, why?

Harry Tuttle, Modern Cave Dweller, flying cars, drones, public transport

Why? More specifically, why am I spending more time writing and less time telling people about it? Sometimes you have those revelations as a writer, actually in any endeavour, when you realise that you’re not that good. I was editing a lot at the beginning of the year while I tried to put some short stories into presentable, publishable, shape. My conclusion? Conceptually, I liked, actually I still like, my stories. I have a few in the closet and they cover quite a diverse range of ideas and styles. Perhaps more importantly, my writing was lazy. I am not sure whether my science education helps in being able to take a step back and judge my own work without prejudice. Well, at least not too much.

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Every Day I Write The BookS

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Am Writing

After the last cathartic post on why I’m not doing NaNoWriMo, not to mention the constant whining about not writing, I have actually been writing a lot.

I currently have three novels on the go, and as of last week another new story; so new it doesn’t even have a working title. I’m only at the beginning, 1000 words down and some planning, but it feels like it could be the start of a series, maybe shorts, not sure yet, it’s a bit of a new style for me… And that’s the thing. After not writing for a while, I’m having an absolutely wondrous time, experimenting. Experimenting with different formats and lengths, with stories spanning hard core space opera, dystopian earth-like civilisations, earth- and space-based, human- and alien-like characters, imagining technologies of the future, their evolution and impact on “humanity”. It is brilliant!

Harry Tuttle, Modern Cave Dweller, SciFi, Science Fiction, Space

I started this month well, trying out a new time management idea – writing every morning; I had been getting too tired to write in the evenings. It worked well for a week or so, but the real world (work) interrupted, so I have reverted to writing wherever and whenever I can. I’d like to try this morning regime again if/when my day job calms down a little. It was an excellent way to start the day. Whilst I complain a bit (ok, maybe a lot) about the day job, I am writing a lot there and really trying to up the quality. I’ve written at least 10000 words this month, not counting emails… on some cool science and technology (I’m trying to avoid counting but it was a good month). I think that the fiction and non-fiction writing are helping one another – after all, it’s all writing.

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The Time is Write

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Am Writing, Writing Tips

Alt: Why I am not doing nanowrimo.

I know you’re sick of hearing writers complain about not having the time to write. I would say that it is not so much that they are not writing, in most cases, but that they want to write more. My writing word count is all over the place from one week to the next. For sure I’d like to increase the overall amount that I write, but mostly I want to have more of a rhythm.

I’ve been thinking about doing nanowrimo this year but that is a 50k target in a month – more than 1k a day. I cannot guarantee that I can do that so it would be nothing but an exercise in frustration. Frustration is not what you want at the end of a writing exercise/competition. I don’t want to get to December and be more concerned with only having written 10-20k words, than just being happy that I wrote 10k words.

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I’m Harry Tuttle, Modern Cave Dweller, and This is How I Work

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Am Writing, Random

So, in the interests of getting to know me and given that LifeHacker are probably not going to ask me how I work, directly, I’ll just borrow the questions they typically ask – How I Work.

Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Current Gig: Scientist and Writer – mostly more science fact than science fiction recently but I’m trying to fix the balance.
One word that best describes how you work: Chaotically
Current mobile device: iPhone 6
Current computer: Macbook pro – getting a little old now but it’s running light and without distractions – for writing. The science gets a newer macbook air and there’s an ipad in there as well to replace paper.

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Be Afraid

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Am Writing, Writing Tips

Be very afraid.

Is your writing scaring you? I’m not calling out all horror writers but people looking to push themselves, find the limits of their writing comfort zone, and push through it. It is hard to do this because we are such creatures of self-preservation, but it is typically here/there, in unchartered waters, that we find that something special. As a writer, hell, as a person, I am always looking to stand out, to be different, to look at the world in a different way. What is the point of everyone being the same? If you’re starting to worry that this is some rant from a newly-enraged teenager, then you’ll be happy to know that I’ve been enraged for nearly half a century.Be Afraid. Harry Tuttle, MCD, Modern Cave Dweller, writing

The other primary … primal?… thing that holds us back, makes us hesitate, is that we are also creatures of vanity – who wants to be seen to fail? Well, for a start, as a writer, you can fail a lot in private first, so no one can see you. Eventually though, you’re going to have to step out, stand up, and declare yourself.

This is me, this is what I write, and this is how I write.

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World building: Reality vs Fiction

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Am Writing, Random

There are times in life when it all hangs in the balance. Now, is one of them, at least for me. As the blurb says, I write science fact to science fiction, however, these two worlds do not always find a peaceful way to coexist. In life we always have choices even if some of them don’t seem like it at the time. And so it is that I find myself here, at one of those decisive moments. Concentrate on the scientist, or concentrate on the writer. Let’s be clear, science is what puts food on the table, while writing is a passionate pastime that is very much in its infancy.

Balance, Science, Writer, Harry Tuttle, MCD, Modern Cave Dweller

So on the science fact front I face an uncertain future. In six months time I might be out of a job OR I might be spearheading an initiative that will take most of my time for the next 15 years. There are a lot of “ifs” to fall into place for the latter. So it appears, at least for the next 6-12 months, that the “decision” is not so hard, or at least not so complicated – I need to concentrate on the science. My apologies but this will have to remain cryptically anonymous for the moment.

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Just write it!

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Am Writing, Writing Tips

Recently, I realised that I was about a third of the way into the first draft of my first serious attempt at a novel. As one could imagine I wasn’t happy with it. There is some great stuff there, but stylistically I have a lot of work to do. I had thought this through, planned out everything and had very clear ideas about my characters and various key points in the plot, but … I realised that I was probably trying to run before I could walk.

#MCD #amwritingThen out of the blue I see a tweet from Ksenia Anske on the danger of outlining. Indeed, why should I plan how I’m going to write a book, I never plan anything. And so it was that this fell just before I forced myself to take a break from my other full time job. How better to celebrate than to just dive in and say I’m going to write for two days. What a fantastic experience. I had no idea what was going to happen. I started –

First, the stars fell from the sky, now, it would appear it’s our turn.

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Looking for Darkness

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Am Writing

 I want to wander through a story thick and dripping with an almost claustrophobic atmosphere. I realised that, while my writing is going well at the moment – the story is opening up, the characters are developing –  one of the most important elements still needs some serious development.  Surveillance Dystopia Currently, the atmosphere is almost non-existent. It is there, and of course this needs time to develop, but if this is some dystopian society on the brink, where is the pain, the suffering, the need for change, revolt and revolution?  

I want you to feel like you are living in a fish tank. I want you to see the camera watching your every move. I want you to know that they know exactly where you are. They even know what you’re going to do before you even think about it. I want you to feel that.

5000 Words … and We’re Rolling!

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Am Writing

I never thought that milestones would be so important. As I progress, it is not so much just the number of words that is exciting me, it is how I feel like I’m getting better with every page I write. On top of that, I knew when I “finished” composting that the skeleton for the story was tight. Now I’m just watching it unfold and all the parts falling into place. I just wish I had more time to write. At the moment it is maybe one day a week that I can put in.

Starting to map out the feel of the city. It is pretty clear in my head but I’m looking for more detail. I found this nice image by SolarSouth that I might see if I can use for inspiration. The devil is in the detail.

And so it begins

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Am Writing

It has been a couple of days, but I finally came out and admitted that I was going to write.

I started scratching out ideas for this book on the 22nd of December 2013.

Already I have had some rather productive brainstorming – current working title:

In the Shadows

Goal is to keep track a little of how this project and my writing progresses.

[This was previously from my private blog on December 24 2013 and reposted here .]