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Robin

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Hi all, I'm Robin.

Who am I? Well -- surprise, surprise -- I like to think I'm a writer. Naturally, I also have a day job :) ; I run the stakeholder management team (communications, PR, customer management, and various other nefarious duties required to get our evil doings done), at an air traffic control centre somewhere in deepest, darkest Europe.

My background is mixed - I won a few prizes as a kid for creative writing, but then decided there wasn't much future employment opportunity in the English field, so I went on to study Astrophysics. That was a major lesson in life. Just because you're pretty good at maths and physics, and you have an interest in astronomy, doesn't mean those aspects should be combined.
(Only much later did I discover Alastair Reynolds' solution for combining prosaic science with real prose).

Do you have any idea how boring it is, spending months gathering sufficient data until you are able to calculate the temperature of a star 222.8 light years from Earth? Well, for me, it was incredibly boring. I mean, who really cares? So boring indeed, that I decided to do something much more interesting -- that is, ensure that aircraft travelling with 1000mph closing speeds don't actually close.

Now this was fun; video games with people's lives, if you like. Air traffic control.

Lots of stories (some comical, some more leaning towards the horror genre) from a career 'pushing tin' for fifteen years, or so. Then, typically for me, I decided I was bored again, so I went into development and later, management roles (up to my current post).

Throughout all of those years I kept writing. I've lost track of the number of short stories and novels I've started/sort of completed. One of the great benefits of life as a shift working controller, is plenty of time off to read and write! Writing has remained my passion, my hobby; perhaps because it's so damn hard to get it right.

I took a few creative writing courses, and I've read many books on the writing craft in the meantime -- my favourite being a book by Walter Mosley, closely followed by Stephen King's legendary guide. At a certain point, I decided that the biggest weakness I had, was exposition. I needed to make my writing much tighter, and since (perhaps you get the idea by now), I was bored at work, I signed up and completed a Law degree over several years. Hard work, but I do think it helped.

Subsequently I wrote a number of short stories; a recent effort called "The Apothecary's Tale" was published in the British Fantasy Society Journal at the end of last year. It's an allegorical agitprop, about the life and death of the United States, based upon my experiences travelling around that beautiful country for several months at a time.

That success spurred me on, and I persevered with an idea I'd had rattling around for a while. And this time, I was determined to push myself through not just the fun creative parts, but also the 'boring' editing and redrafting too. I've now completed draft nine of a 100,000 word novel called... well, actually, I don't know what to call it yet, but that's part of the reason I'm here... , which is a post-apocalyptic thriller with, again, a background of an allegorical agitprop.

Which brings me to today, and my membership here. I was wading through the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook recently, when I came across Redhammer Management (literary agency) and Peter's advice: come to Litopia. And my hope is that here, I can learn a little more, gain more valuable feedback, until I'm pushed off the edge and sending 'Whatever it's called' out to agents. That's the plan.

Good plan. But now what do I do?
Greetings to all.
 
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Hello, welcome, and that's an awesome story! Like, "I'm an astrophysicist who decided to keep planes from smashing into each other (you're welcome), and because I still didn't kick enough ass I got a law degree for fun.

Then I wrote a book about it."

I work in shipping and receiving. Wherein I have to do very little, and spend my time writing books. See, that doesn't have the same ring.

Now, my well-accomplished chum, we all gnosh about writing and writers, and create connections that we will one day be very glad we forged!
 
Welcome to Litopia. I think I just did my (interesting) reading for the day, I think you could have another novel there! I look after my wife, and the rest of the time I try to write; depends largely on inspiration, some of which you should find around here ;)
 
Hi all, I'm Robin.

Who am I? Well -- surprise, surprise -- I like to think I'm a writer. Naturally, I also have a day job :) ; I run the stakeholder management team (communications, PR, customer management, and various other nefarious duties required to get our evil doings done), at an air traffic control centre somewhere in deepest, darkest Europe.

My background is mixed - I won a few prizes as a kid for creative writing, but then decided there wasn't much future employment opportunities in the English field, so I went on to study Astrophysics. That was a major lesson in life. Just because you're pretty good at maths and physics, and you have an interest in astronomy, doesn't mean those aspects should be combined.
(Only much later did I discover Alastair Reynolds' solution for combining prosaic science with real prose).

Do you have any idea how boring it is, spending months gathering sufficient data until you are able to calculate the temperature of a star 222.8 light years from Earth? Well, for me, it was incredibly boring. I mean, who really cares? So boring indeed, that I decided to do something much more interesting -- that is, ensure that aircraft travelling with 1000mph closing speeds don't actually close.

Now this was fun; video games with people's lives, if you like. Air traffic control.

Lots of stories (some comical, some more leaning towards the horror genre) from a career 'pushing tin' for fifteen years, or so. Then, typically for me, I decided I was bored again, so I went into development and later, management roles (up to my current post).

Throughout all of those years I kept writing. I've lost track of the number of short stories and novels I've started/sort of completed. One of the great benefits of life as a shift working controller, is plenty of time off to read and write! Writing has remained my passion, my hobby; perhaps because it's so damn hard to get it right.

I took a few creative writing courses, and I've read many books on the writing craft in the meantime -- my favourite being a book by Walter Mosley, closely followed by Stephen King's legendary guide. At a certain point, I decided that the biggest weakness I had, was exposition. I needed to make my writing much tighter, and since (perhaps you get the idea by now), I was bored at work, I signed up and completed a Law degree over several years. Hard work, but I do think it helped.

Subsequently I wrote a number of short stories; a recent effort called "The Apothecary's Tale" was published in the British Fantasy Society Journal at the end of last year. It's an allegorical agitprop, about the life and death of the United States, based upon my experiences travelling around that beautiful country for several months at a time.

That success spurred me on, and I persevered with an idea I'd had rattling around for a while. And this time, I was determined to push myself through not just the fun creative parts, but also the 'boring' editing and redrafting too. I've now completed draft nine of a 100,000 word novel called... well, actually, I don't know what to call it yet, but that's part of the reason I'm here... , which is a post-apocalyptic thriller with, again, a background of an allegorical agitprop.

Which brings me to today, and my membership here. I was wading through the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook recently, when I came across Redhammer Management (literary agency) and Peter's advice: come to Litopia. And my hope is that here, I can learn a little more, gain more valuable feedback, until I'm pushed off the edge and sending 'Whatever it's called' out to agents. That's the plan.

Good plan. But now what do I do?
Greetings to all.

Thats exactly how I came across Litopia but via the childrens writers and artists yearbook for 2013, and I have been here ever since.

Welcome
 
Hello:)

A title needs time to ferment. Then, after all that fermentation, an agent or publisher might decide it's a fungus or pickle and want you to change it.

I enjoyed that lively CV read.

Thanks for that. And yes, fermentation is a method I've been pursuing since I started writing this novel, but I'm not sure if I've ended up with 100% proof, or just a bad case of wind. The story's tentatively named 'Sempervirens' - because it's partly set amongst those incredible, eponymous Sequoia, and because it's about human evolution. I just can't help thinking, no matter how apt it is, that it sounds too pretentious!?
 
Thanks for that. And yes, fermentation is a method I've been pursuing since I started writing this novel, but I'm not sure if I've ended up with 100% proof, or just a bad case of wind. The story's tentatively named 'Sempervirens' - because it's partly set amongst those incredible, eponymous Sequoia, and because it's about human evolution. I just can't help thinking, no matter how apt it is, that it sounds too pretentious!?

Anything Latin-y is tricky, but has timbre. If it was just Semper, it would still have that 'ring', but more ...chilling? It's not so good, botanically, but it works as an intimation of eternity/evolution.
 
Thanks for that. And yes, fermentation is a method I've been pursuing since I started writing this novel, but I'm not sure if I've ended up with 100% proof, or just a bad case of wind. The story's tentatively named 'Sempervirens' - because it's partly set amongst those incredible, eponymous Sequoia, and because it's about human evolution. I just can't help thinking, no matter how apt it is, that it sounds too pretentious!?
I would totally buy a book with my money called Sempervirens. Not sure if I'm a representative sample...
 
Hello, welcome, and that's an awesome story! Like, "I'm an astrophysicist who decided to keep planes from smashing into each other (you're welcome), and because I still didn't kick enough ass I got a law degree for fun.

Then I wrote a book about it."

I work in shipping and receiving. Wherein I have to do very little, and spend my time writing books. See, that doesn't have the same ring.

Now, my well-accomplished chum, we all gnosh about writing and writers, and create connections that we will one day be very glad we forged!

Thanks, Jason, nice welcome! I must say though, I don't feel well accomplished - and won't until I've managed to entertain enough people via a novel or two.

And just to say; shipping sounds very romantic, or at least the notion of the literal term, right? Something Onassisian (if that's a word) about it.
 
Thats exactly how I came across Litopia but via the childrens writers and artists yearbook for 2013, and I have been here ever since.

Welcome
Thanks very much for the welcome. I've tried a few online writing communities, and I've always ended up... well... bored. Authonomy was, to me at least, a frustrating journey of the blind leading the blind. But I already feel welcome here, and received great advice, which is a super start!
 
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Welcome to Litopia. I think I just did my (interesting) reading for the day, I think you could have another novel there! I look after my wife, and the rest of the time I try to write; depends largely on inspiration, some of which you should find around here ;)

Thanks, Alistair, much appreciate the quick welcome. I genuinely look forward to the inspiration -- not sure how much I can offer in return though ;)
 
Welcome Robin! That was a very entertaining introduction! I get the feeling you'll fit in well here :) I do business continuity for my day job, basically thinking up worst case scenarios for the bank and then how to mitigate the risk and damage. I write thrillers mostly, though I've been looking to try horror. So I plan for disasters by day and write about them by night. ;)
 
Welcome! Wow! Lots of accomplishments.
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for the welcome. As above, I'm certainly not trying to 'list my accomplishments' -- although I thank you for the compliment -- and I hope it doesn't come across that way. Rather, I'm very conscious of the fact that I haven't yet succeeded at what I really set my heart on, twenty years ago. My story is a list of cop-outs and easy wins. Growing from being a writer to becoming an author is the real challenge....
Thanks again for the warm welcome.
 
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for the welcome. As above, I'm certainly not trying to 'list my accomplishments' -- although I thank you for the compliment -- and I hope it doesn't come across that way. Rather, I'm very conscious of the fact that I haven't yet succeeded at what I really set my heart on, twenty years ago. My story is a list of cop-outs and easy wins. Growing from being a writer to becoming an author is the real challenge....
Thanks again for the warm welcome.

But it does show that you are always learning and expanding your experiences...
 
Welcome Robin! That was a very entertaining introduction! I get the feeling you'll fit in well here :) I do business continuity for my day job, basically thinking up worst case scenarios for the bank and then how to mitigate the risk and damage. I write thrillers mostly, though I've been looking to try horror. So I plan for disasters by day and write about them by night. ;)
Perfect paranoia is perfect awareness.
062.jpg

Jude Andrews said that = FACT.
 
Welcome Robin! That was a very entertaining introduction! I get the feeling you'll fit in well here :) I do business continuity for my day job, basically thinking up worst case scenarios for the bank and then how to mitigate the risk and damage. I write thrillers mostly, though I've been looking to try horror. So I plan for disasters by day and write about them by night. ;)

Interesting. We do the same at our place of course: what would happen if we lost radar tracking, right up to considering our options should we lose the entire centre through an accident. We handle approx. half a million pax per day (say 20,000 at any one time in the air), so quite a sobering exercise. I also tried writing about air traffic horrors, but frankly it felt a bit close to the bone, so after that I just made stuff up :)

Thanks for the welcome. Good to be here.
 
Welcome to a colony of worker ants. Do plunder the archives, as there's lots of good advice there.
Good, thank you. I'll start digging. I'm particularly interested in finding out about the mechanics of plot pace. I've read some crazy (I think) ideas like plotting events v page number on a graph, and then shuffling things about to make sure the momentum keeps the tension high. Any thoughts there?
 
Good, thank you. I'll start digging. I'm particularly interested in finding out about the mechanics of plot pace. I've read some crazy (I think) ideas like plotting events v page number on a graph, and then shuffling things about to make sure the momentum keeps the tension high. Any thoughts there?
This is where I always bring up my Story: The Soundtrack idea.

I pick songs from movie soundtracks that fit scenes from my book perfectly, and put them together into a CD. Usually a book runs 3 CDs, and I make track names, do cover art — the whole deal. Then I can listen to the soundtracks and get a feel for the pacing and emotion through the music — is the energy too low for too long, or two high — and the track listings work as a good plot outline.
 
This is where I always bring up my Story: The Soundtrack idea.

I pick songs from movie soundtracks that fit scenes from my book perfectly, and put them together into a CD. Usually a book runs 3 CDs, and I make track names, do cover art — the whole deal. Then I can listen to the soundtracks and get a feel for the pacing and emotion through the music — is the energy too low for too long, or two high — and the track listings work as a good plot outline.

Damn, such a cool idea. But that's got to take a fair while!? Still. I'm gonna give that a go tomorrow. Let you know...
 
Appreciated. And glad you found my story interesting. What's yours (if I may)?

My story is far less interesting.

As a kid, I always wanted to write, but was never very good at it. My brother was a natural, however.

Two years ago, however, I came up with a story idea and decided to put it to paper. Now, I've finished 2 novels of the three in my sci-fi trilogy, written a mystery novel for NaNoWriMo this year, and started a new sci-fi novel. I find the process cathartic and extremely engaging. Joining Litopia has only helped my writing develop more. It's a fantastic community with fantastic people who have plenty of great advice. In my short time here, my writing has grown leaps and bounds.

As far as a little about me, there isn't too much to tell. I'm in Houston, Texas working as a chemist. In my spare time, I write, play video games, compose music, and spend time with my wife and pets (2 cats and a dog).

Feel free to ask anything else I might have left out and welcome, again, to Litopia! :D
 
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