Published on August 27th, 2008 Join the conversation »
For the first few years as an aspiring stand-up comic, one must tread the rocky paths of the open spots. These are the 5 minute - or if you are lucky 10 - slots that most smaller comedy clubs make available to new comics honing their techniques.
The open spot routine goes as follows:
That may seem rather cynical view, but that is the process when reduced down to its core. It is genuinely much more fun that it sounds, however. These open spots are best handled by packing them with quick-fire gags and quips; fire stuff into the mic, then get the heck off. I found the minimal audience interaction very uninspiring.
So I moved into running a couple of (very) small clubs and acting as compere. The compere spends several time slots working with that night’s audience, warming them up, cooling them down, and generally creating each appropriate segue from the previous to the next act. Most importantly, there is an evolving relationship over the period of the show.
I’m getting to the point, thank you for hanging in there…
I experience a similar problem in the difference between writing a short story compared to writing a novel. But this is not centred around the act of concise writing.
I want to get to know them
Stories are about people - at least I believe mine are, regardless of their respective settings. There’s little more satisfying than learning about the characters one places into a story, understanding their nuances, discovering their quirks, ’seeing’ them play out their lives.
The short story simply does not have the space or the time for such luxuries and that is where my challenge lies. These are interesting, nay fascinating people (they must be as I am including them in my story!).
The dead end of death
This problem is particularly acute in a series of short stories I am writing and planning which will form a collection entitled “Six Deaths” - the title is something of a giveaway - and as you might guess, each character has but a brief sojourn within the pages. And there lies my personal challenge when writing shorts: I want to know these individuals, get under their skins, understand who they really are before… well, let’s just say before they up and leave.
I find writing short stories about the characters that inhabit Edwardian London in the TableRappers book(s), so very much easier and satisfying because I know them such that I do not feel I am missing out on learning about them as individuals.
It feels so utterly disrespectful to create a character for the sake of merely a few thousand words. Perhaps I just need to grow some thicker skin and be a little more ruthless with my characters. Hmm… Six Deaths, how more ruthless can one be..?
August 25th, 2008
How many complaints regarding a book would a publisher require to justify editing and reprinting what some may regard as an offensive word? 5,000? 500? How about just one…
Dame Jaqueline Wilson’s My Sister Jodie, a book aimed at the 9 to 11 age group, has sold around 28,000 copies since its release in March this [...]
August 22nd, 2008
I wrote on my personal blog about how work - that’s the bit that actually pays the rent right now - overshadows pretty much everything else, including the creative writing. When writing has to be squeezed-in to available hours, it can be tough to summon up the inspiration.
The day-to-day demands of working in the UK [...]
August 10th, 2008
TABLE RAPPERS - PERSISTENT SPIRIT
CHAPTER 25
Keynes finds himself face to face with the threat of Nathaniel at the seance. The following day, Merrick is looking for a confrontation.
Story running time 19 minutes
Available from TableRappers.com or here:
Download audio file (persistentspirit-121854-08-10-2008.mp3)
If you have a podcast or a website, please play the audio promo and promote Persistent [...]
August 6th, 2008
There has been a fair amount of discussion in this household this week about our personal processes in writing. Novels do not write themselves, and are a vast undertaking. So how would you get from scribbled inspiration to 100,000 words worthy of someone taking the time to read?
How you would achieve this, I have no [...]
July 13th, 2008
AbeBooks have quite a unique item listed for sale right now: A first edition paperback of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, plus Douglas Adams’ typewriter.
[The typewriter] bears an anti-apartheid sticker on one side of the object and is boldly signed across the front casing by Adams in his unmistakeable hand. It comes housed in [...]
July 13th, 2008
TABLE RAPPERS - PERSISTENT SPIRIT —- A posting from neildixon.com
CHAPTER 24
The guests are gathering for Martha Benson’s public seance, but one guest is far more concerned about what might be discovered behind the scenes.
Story running time: 22 minutes
Available from TableRappers.com or here:
Download audio file (persistentspirit-118619-07-13-2008.mp3)
If you have a podcast or a website, please play the [...]
July 6th, 2008
TABLE RAPPERS - PERSISTENT SPIRIT
CHAPTER 23
When Keynes learns from Merrick how long he has been missing, his fears rise to the surface and he reaches out to an old friend for help.
Story running time: 22 minutes
Total running time: 28 minutes
Available from TableRappers.com or here:
Download audio file (persistentspirit-117823-07-06-2008.mp3)
If you have a podcast or a website, [...]
June 22nd, 2008
TABLE RAPPERS - PERSISTENT SPIRIT
CHAPTER 22
Keynes wakes with confused sensations and in a very strange place. Heading to recover from his ordeal, he is questioned on his whereabouts.
Story running time: 22 minutes
Available from TableRappers.com or here:
Download audio file (persistentspirit-116406-06-22-2008.mp3)
If you have a podcast or a website, please play the audio promo and promote Persistent [...]
June 15th, 2008
TABLE RAPPERS - PERSISTENT SPIRIT
CHAPTER 21
At Martha’s request, Chief Inspector Rickard requests the help of others to deal with someone who may cause trouble, and gets more than he bargained for. Featuring the guest voice of Martin Devaughan (aka Green Dragon of BiteSizeBonus) as Admiral Alasdair Strayhorn.
Total running time: 23 minutes
Available from TableRappers.com or here:
Download [...]
