Cover Plans: Episode 1. The Usual

When I decided to publish Other Plans myself, one of the things I was looking forward to was getting my own covers, and having an old pal and design whiz to do it for me.

Having put up with many outbreaks of dinner party angst and bar stool breakdowns over a couple of decades (decades, Jesus...), when I gave Darren a couple of extracts to read he was able to tell me what I was writing about more clearly than I'd been able to express it myself. The disparity between what you hope for in life in your twenties, and what you get. It's not that what you get is bad, just... not quite what you had in mind.

So with that, the idea for the series covers developed, two related images, one representing the dream. one the reality. He had some ideas for pairs, I had some vague notions too, then he went away to work on them. Now I don't see what he's come up with until I finally get an episode written and ask him for a cover so it's a bit of a nice surprise as to what I get.

What I'm planning to do is write some thoughts sparked by each cover as they come in. Might be stream of consciousness drivel, but let's see how it goes.

It might be some new Rorscharch method of writing blurbs...

Dry Martinis and Flat Whites

 

Is it time to dump 'chick-lit'?

Feels like nearly everybody knows chick-lit is a terrible term.

Many readers don't seem to like it much, most writers REALLY don't like it at all.

And I'm not talking about the content here, I'm just talking about the label. Why would you name a genre based on the supposed age and gender of its readers? Or is it named after the writers?

Either way, it's condescending, inaccurate, outdated, restrictive, patronising.

But here's the thing -- it's catchy. It broadly gets the idea across. It fits on the description tag on a real or virtual bookstore shelf. 

And what are the alternatives out there? Women's commercial fiction? No better, just wordier. Rom-com? The book aren't necessarily primarily funny. Romance? Still not wide enough, and has its own identity issues.

But in another creative field there's a genre...

Any Other Questions...

As the first Episode of Other Plans is published, I thought I'd tackle some of the frequently asked questions I receive on this new project of mine...

Hello young man, I like the cut of your jib. So tell me, what's this koo-koo sounding Other Plans all about?

Good question, thanks for asking. Other Plans is a comedy drama serial in six-ish parts. Taking inspiration from old TV shows like thirtysomething and Cold Feet it follows the lives of a gang of friends and family as they deal with real life not quite matching up to their expectations.

Everyone's a critic...

Since I decided to start this intermittent blogging project (top tip -- put irregularity and unexplained absences into the name of what you're doing, and you can get away with anything) I've been conscious that I'm leaning towards writing about other people's creative output.


And not always positively.

Just Emin it.

OK, seeing what happens if I set 10 minutes aside at the start of my writing routine to blog to get thoughts flowing. From the looks of the post title, my thoughts may have congealed.

Last night we watched a BBC 4 show called What Do Artists Do All Day, or something like that. A kind of Day in the Life documentary about Tracey Emin.

Before I watched it I knew nothing about Emin. I think I was in a pub with her once. I was aware of her only as a controversial name at the time, my more arty pals were very excited though.

She was really inspiring in the way she approached her work, the art and the business side. She was confident, open, decisive, patient, hard-working. I liked how she talked about her painting and how it could have two conflicting thoughts on the same subject go into it, and another surface level where it's just a funny idea.

And her painting was really good.

Even on a TV screen you could get a feeling for the power of it.

I shouldn't be trying to get into art criticism. I don't have the vocabulary.  Or the critical faculties. Or...

I remember at one point, though,  being amazed by her life drawing -- a stroke of a brush and there was a back! It was just a line, but it was a clear, real, representation of a person's body. Maybe something you learn on day one of art school, or something you can just do naturally as an entry requirement, but I was unexpectedly taken aback by the possibility of it. On the paper, a man. It almost seemed animated.

But what I liked most was when she talked about the pressure of the practical business side of her job: getting exhibitions ready, meetings with accountants, job-type stuff. When that happens she tries to get into her studio early, so she can work on the art, the stuff she loves.

I get up early to write too. And while Emin's creating amazing painting exploring raw internal emotions, and leaving herself open to anyone to interpret and judge her very being, and I'm trying to come up with jokes about dishwashers, her dedication and creativity made me want to get up 10 minutes earlier. From me, there's not much higher praise...

Running, writing, and rap

Writers running, and then writing about running, seems so common it's probably a cliche. But there does seem to be good reasons why the two activities go well together.

I started running in October last year. Well, actually September last year, but a week heading out in ancient Nikes with no arch support meant I knackered my back and had to start again a month later, when walking didn't cause step-by-step electric shocks of pain. 

I'd been put off running for years by a sentence that seems to come up whenever there's news about marathons on the radio or telly: 'collapsed with a formerly undetected underlying heart condition'. But when I realised the groaning noises I made whenever I had to get out of a chair were no longer purely ironic, I figured it was time to start living dangerously and began a couch to 5k programme.

And right from the start I felt I liked running for the same reasons I like writing.

Reviews of what I can remember of films I saw a few weeks ago...

I've decided I'm going to write my impressions of films down in case I start to forget ill-thought out opinions on subjects of no consequence. The following contains huge spoilers for Gone Girl and Boyhood. Although as I'm the only person likely to read it and have already seen them, it shouldn't be much of a concern...