All About Me

Yes, it's cheesy, but if this is going to be a journal then you had best know some stuff about the person writing it, right? My interests and stuff.

The first thing somebody would probably notice about me upon coming across me in the street is 'blimey, he's tall'. I think last time I measured my height I checked in at about 6' 3", but I seem to have had a growth spurt since then, so who knows?

The next thing, should said person happen to talk to me, is that I will generally either seem very shy or very exuberant, depending on my mood. This sort of social awkwardness is the norm for me. Basically, it boils down to the fact that I am generally only comfortable around people that I have known for a long time or that I have something in common with, be it an interest, a workplace or a friend.

As this is a writing journal, my reading interests will probably be a good thing to list. I mainly read fiction of the fantastical variety; science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, etc. Anything with magic, monsters, aliens, space travel, time travel, giant robots and the like. Chances are, unless a book features something out of the ordinary, it will not be my cup of tea. After all, what use is reading fiction if not a form of escapism? And what use is escapism if not different from the real world? This is a general rule, however, and like any rule, there are exceptions.

I'm looking at my book collection from where I am sitting right now, and the only non-fiction books I can see are those related to something fictional. For example, Simon Pegg's autobiography Nerd Do Well, a book I bought because of my love of Simon Pegg's film and television work such as Spaced and Shaun of the Dead. Other 'non-Fiction' books of note on the shelf are: The Zombie Survival Guide, The Jedi Code, The Book of Sith, The Dalek Handbook and Who-ology. Alongside these are books bought because of the Professional Writing course I am currently on; various books on grammar, punctuation, idioms and writing in general.

These mainly fictional interests also extend to my film, television and video gaming interests. I would pretty much rather not read something that is set in a real-world scenario or environment. That is to say - modern day. Now. The time and place that I currently live in.

Inside of this limit to fiction, I will read most anything, be it modern or classic. I would just a readily read something by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Jules Verne as I would something by Stephen King or Neil Gaiman. As well as this, it does not just have to be the written word. Comics and Graphic Novels are just as viable a book as a standard paperback.

I will generally enjoy reading, watching or playing any form of media. My one rule is that it must tell a good story, or have interesting characters. This is why, in the vein of Video Games, I would rather play something like Mass Effect, which focuses on the storytelling and character development, than Call of Duty which focuses solely on the gameplay and multiplayer.

Fiction books and films obviously set out to tell a story, but television is a whole other kettle of fish. I shall put it bluntly: reality TV is the bane of my life. Documentaries? Fine. News Programmes? Fine. Even cooking, motor or technology shows? Fine. But put somebody that is very much a real person, very much boring on a stage to perform, or in a house with several other such people and I will change the channel faster than you can say 'could you turn the volume up please?' Don't get me wrong, I understand why they are popular are why people watch them, but it's this sort of money-grabbing whoring of my television screen that I just can't stand.

Which brings me onto another point: I do not often watch 'television' in the strictest sense of the world. That is to say, viewable programming as it is broadcast. Most of my media comes through my games consoles, my phone or my laptop. With the combination of DVD's and streaming apps such as Netflix, LoveFilm and iPlayer, who needs to watch actual TV anymore? Why stick on the TV and hope that there's going to be a re-run of that show you like on? Why not just pick and choose what you want to watch, as and when you want to watch it? The only thing that brings me in front of a broadcast receiving television nowadays is so that I can watch my favourite TV shows when they air so I don't have to wait for the DVD release.

Watch this space.

Lewis.

So here it is - My Writing Journal

So, this blog is going to be a Journal of sorts while I am on my Professional Writing course at University. It's going to mainly focus on my writing work from both within and without the course.

I'm currently in my sixth week of the course (well, I lie, I'm on half term, or 'reading week' as it is called) and have only just started this Journal. This is because I was having a lot of trouble from student finance, and I was forced to drop out mid-way through the third week. 

I was originally refused my loan on the basis that I had lived in Australia for three years of my life and had not been back in these isles for the necessary three years prior to my course. If a move abroad is a 'permanent' move you are not allowed a student loan.

Eventually the evil tyrants at SFE looked into my case a bit more and discovered I was no more than 14 at the time of my move to Aus and therefore however 'permanent' the move was, it was not my choice to move there. So now that they have seen the grievous error of their ways I have had my loan approved. Much to my relief I rejoined the course at the beginning of the sixth week.

So now I need to catch up on all the work (and one deadline) that I missed...

On a side note (and this blog is probably going to be so full of side notes that it could be defined as perpendicular) this is currently being typed on a really crappy (and I nearly wrote a worse word there, but I think I shall try and keep my blog PG-13) laptop. This laptop has been owned by my cousin, my grandmother, my aunt and most recently my nine year old brother. I had to commandeer it from him after the charger for my own laptop gave up the ghost, on the same day I rejoined the course. Funny how that works out. Anyway, this thing runs slower than Internet Explorer and is probably so riddled with viruses that I fear to actually plug my USB into it. In fact the touchpad somehow keeps clicking without me even touching it and putting my cursor elsewhere in the text so I keep typing where I don't want to type. The first thing I shall be getting after I receive my student loan is a new laptop...

But I digress.

This is a spin-off of my actual handwritten journal for my course, it will feature similar, but not exactly the same, topics and writing. That journal is for the self-reflective unit in the third year, to document progression in writing and yadda yadda blah blah.

So although I said that this blog will detail 'writing stuff' I'm not sure what that will entail exactly. I guess I'm kind of hoping that it will just work itself out as I write it. For now I'm just gonna list some stuff that I am working on writing at the minute.

• The first book in a series about Demon-Hunters. Been playing about with the idea in my head for years with multiple attempts at writing it with varying levels of success. Kind of Buffy meets ITV's Demons plus Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices as well as Darren Shan's the Demonata. Cookie if you know what all five of those inspirations are.
• An internet comic illustrated using Lego (brilliant use for my old collection) which has been on hiatus for so long now that it is pretty much dead. Was a post-apocalyptic story set in the near future. It had Aliens and Zombies and everything. It gathered a fairly decent forum following and I was quite proud of it. I think the idea would lend itself to a novel pretty well so I might adapt it in the future.
• A Game of Thrones/Doctor Who crossover fan-fiction. Speaks for itself. Nerd level = >9000
• Rewind: A story involving time-travel - with a twist. Kind of Twelve Monkeys mixed up with the time-traveling character from the Umbrella Academy comics.