Date: 2008-02-11 19:46 Subject: Extreme Dreams Security: Public Tags: extreme dreams, novel, oisin mcgann

Okay, so I let the updates slip a little bit, but that doesn't mean I haven't been writing. More on that later, though.

I've started watching a TV show called 'Extreme Dreams with Ben Fogle'. Ben Fogle appears to be an ex-military guy who is into taking on extreme challenges. In this series, he's trekking across the Sahara desert in Syria with a bunch of apparently random people. It's a kind of interesting concept for a reality TV show, and Fogle's enthusiasm and dire warnings of danger give it a fun edge.

But, but, but...

I'm really not interested in the whiny teacher. I'm not interested in the personality-free model. I'm not interested in the man trying to 'prove himself a hero' to his son (who is way too young to care about anything other than the fact that his dad has disappeared off to wander across a rocky desert, I should imagine).

What I'd really like to hear more about are the Syrian bearers and guides who we occasionally catch a glimpse of just on the edge of the camera, who are doing the same trek without the benefit of all the high-tech gear the British people are using and whose names we never even find out. And, when one of the Syrians is stung by a scorpion, it might have been nicer to have spent just a little bit of time talking to him rather than focusing on the teacher flapping around and having a panic attack. We are told the Syrian doesn't die, but no one seems to much care, and all they can talk about is what it would mean to the expedition if one of the British people got stung.

It's as though we can't possibly relate if we don't have people of our own nationality in the constant centre of frame. We have to have people 'just like us' if we're going to relate. You get the same thing in movies and books, the insertion of 'one of us' so that we can, supposedly, deal with the subject. Personally, I think that's insulting to viewers and readers. Not only could I be interested in the Syrian guides and their lives, I think they'd make a hell of a lot more interesting viewing than the whiny teacher.

#

I've just started reading Ancient Appetites by Oisin McGann. I'll say one thing for McGann: he does seriously kick-ass action scenes. And another thing: he's got a wildly inventive imagination. I've only got through the prologue so far, but I'm hooked.

#

On to the the writing. Well, I got ahead of schedule, then I fell a bit behind, but now I'm back ahead again. I think I've got through the toughest part--the transition to the new section of the book--and things are moving swiftly again. I figure I'm still on target for the 20k words by the 20th.


'Dragons of Mars' progress:



February 20th target:



Of course, the chances of this coming in at 75k words diminishes by the day. But that's what second drafts are for, right? Right?

4 Comments | Post A Comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend | Link