Time for me to recommend another book or, in this case, a series of books.

The Mr Gum books by Andy Stanton are, to put it mildly, hilarious! I picked up the first of these irreverent adventures for my eight ear old, read it myself, and immediately went out to get the other two!

Mr Gum is a bad man. A very bad man. And, with the assistance of the world’s most disgusting butcher, Billy William III, sets out to reign over the residents of the sleepy town of lamonic bibber. The only things that stand in his way are a nine-year-old girl called Polly, an unlikely hero in the form of Friday O’Leary, and a 15.24 cm high gingerbread man with electric muscles: Alan Taylor.

Packed with puns and gags, I defy you not to laugh out loud on every single page! A must!

Tommy

Another chance to kick-start your writing today, and this exercise is great for combatting the dreaded writer’s block (something I’ll be discussing in-depth in a future post).

Have a look around the room and pick out an object. It could be a lamp, a door, an ornament – anything at all. Now, write about it.

Don’t think you can? get creative. Who owned the object before you? Where was it made? Does it have magical or unusual properties? The possibilities are endless.

remember that no-one is ever going to read this. You can even throw it away as soon as you’re done – but maybe, just maybe, you’ll hit upon an idea that you can take into your work in progress.

Now, get writing!

Tommy

How was your Christmas break? Mine was wonderful, thank you for asking, save for having to call the RAC (breakdown service for my non-UK readers) out TWICE on Boxing day (day after Christmas Day for you Johnny Foreigners).

Now, however, as the turkey finally settles, it’s time to get back to work. I finished the third draft of the first book in the Scream Street series (SS1) on Christmas Eve, so now I’m back to the first draft of SS4. I’ve still got the second draft of SS3 sitting on my desk, but I’ll get to that after these two are submitted in the new year.

I’m also tentatively putting together notes for what I hope will be my next series. For obvious reasons I can’t talk about that at the moment, but it’s a break from what I’ve been writing over the past couple of years. I have an idea for a standalone novel for older readers, too. I’ll be getting to that at some point in 2008.

Also in 2008, I’ll be writing a book of drama games and exercises for teachers to use. A bit of a break from the fiction, but back to the non-fiction stuff I started out writing. I’m looking forward to it, and I’ve got a team of teachers poised around the country, ready to test out the content and report back. I’ll be able to say more once the contract’s signed.

Right, I’d better get back to Scream Street. these books won’t write themselves, unlike those written by a certain Mr Skipstone…

Tommy

Well, this is me signing off for Christmas! I’ll still be in my office, writing, between now and the big day, but I’ll be leaving the blog until the turkey has settled.

Have a great Christmas, and I’ll see you all soon!

Tommy

I read a lot. I must get through close to 100 books a year, which isn’t bad as I only get chance to pick one up at bedtime when the kids are asleep!

One thing I don’t do is continue reading a book that doesn’t grab me. Time’s too precious to waste reading bad writing. On the other hand, when I find a book that I love, I like to shout about it from the rooftops, and that’s what I’m doing now with the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer.

Colfer’s books about the teenage criminal mastermind and his dealings with the magical creatures below the surface of the earth are nothing but a joy to read. With clever plotting, brilliant characterisation and some of the best puns ever seen in print (LEP Recon, anyone?), you won’t be able to put a single one of these incredible stories down.

So, join Artemis, Butler, Holly and Foaly for adventures of true genius soon!

Tommy

Belated congratulations to the master of young horror, Darren Shan. The movie based on his Cirque Du Freak series of books begins filming in February. here’s the official announcement:

The “Cirque du Freak” series of bestselling children’s novels by Irish author Darren Shan has been acquired by Universal Pictures and will be adapted for a motion picture of the same name. The film is due to begin shooting in February 2008 in New Orleans under the direction of Paul Weitz (About A Boy, In Good Company), and will star John C. Reilly (Gangs of New York, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) as Larten Crepsley; Josh Hutcherson (Bridge to Terabithia) as Steve Leonard; and newcomer Chris Kelly as Darren Shan. Weitz is adapting some of the storylines from the novels for the screen. He and Lauren Shuler Donner (X-Men) will produce for their production companies, Depth of Field and The Donner’s Company.

Shan is also reworking his previously published adult horror novels. Looking forward to seeing those.

Well done, that Shan!

Tommy

From time to time, I’ll be posting writing exercises here for anyone who visits and wants to put pen to paper themselves. Eventually, I might put them all together in a separate site but, for the time being, you’ll find the exercises in this blog.

For today’s exercise, take a well-known children’s story or fairy tale – such as Goldilocks & The Three Bears – and give it a modern day twist. Perhaps the bears live in a bad area and Goldilocks is just the latest in a series of break-ins. Or maybe Goldilocks was injured and looking for help when she found the bears’ cottage. It’s up to you.

Be as creative as you can with the characters and plot of your chosen traditional story. Who knows, you may come up with an idea you could adapt for a story of your own.

Good luck!

Tommy

First drafts, eh? That initial piece of work that has finally been torn from your subconscious, kicking and screaming, onto paper. Trust me, it will be bad. Really bad.

Hemingway said, “The first draft of anything is sh*t!”, and I agree with him. But, you know what, it’s necessary.

Before we go any further, let me check something. You’re not one of those writers who sends their first draft out to publishers and agents, are you? Tell me you’re not. If you do, you’re only harming your reputation with them. You need to send time to refine your work first.

Picture yourself as an artist; someone who makes beautiful vases. Before you can begin to create your masterpiece, you have to drop a great big lump of ugly, dirty clay onto the wheel. That’s what a first draft is. A great big lump of clay. It doesn’t look nice, it certainly isn’t in the right shape, and if you tried to ship it out to sell as a vase, your career would be over in a second.

First, you have to refine it, shape it, add the decoration and decoration that makes it stand out. That’s what rewriting is.

Creative writing books will tell you to put your first draft away in a drawer for a week, a month or even longer to get some distance from the piece before you begin to rework it. If you’ve got the luxury of time, go for it. I prefer to leave it until the following morning or, if I’m on a really tight deadline, the time it take me to make a cup of tea.

We’ll discuss rewriting in a later post but, for now, allow yourself to write a big lump of clay. Don’t worry about how it looks or reads, that the plot doesn’t make sense, or that the characters are flat and unoriginal. It’s on paper, and that’s all that matters for now.

Tommy

I’m busy working away on the third draft of Scream Street book one, and it’s been an interesting experience. I’ve discovered that, as a result of writing three further books in the series with the same characters, I’ve developed both their individual voices and a style for the series as a whole.

This style wasn’t set in stone when I wrote the first book, so I’m now going back to fix it. I think it’s making it a much stronger book, and something that will be a great series opener.

Tommy