App-ing Around with Egan and the Goon Squad

     The movement of fiction from paper into pixel is the (on-going) publishing change of our time. First real books, then e-books, now apps designed for use on our favourite fruity tech platforms. The mind boggles.

     So, I was sent the app for 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' by the lovely people at Constable & Robinson and was unsure what to expect. What does one normally expect from a book app? A few chapters and a bio? A related game and some snippets of the author's other work? Suffice to say, I was cynical yet curious (ex more, of course). But, to my pleasure, I found the entire book. And I liked it as an app. Here's why:







Virtual People Can Be Your Friends Too

     I realise that I am now going to sound like a massive geek and a crazy person, but what the hell. Here it is. I think a little-thought-of avenue of inspiration for writers might be playing the computer game The Sims. Best if it's the newest one, so Sims 3. I know how it sounds, but bear with me for just one sec…

      The Sims is an open-ended life simulation game with no explicit goal or focus beyond navigating your 'Sims' through time. All the trials and tribulations of a real existence are there, such as relationships, wants, desires, jobs, children, choices and strife. You can live a character's entire life for them, or just dip in and out for snapshots and the choosing of the house, the life, the wife. You can make them the toast of the town or the saddest, most apathetic slob who meets a bad end by eating month-old waffles or falling into the ladder-less swimming pool that allows them no way out. Now, does this sound like anything else to you? Creating a character, populating their world with people and then deciding whether they live or die? It sounds like a story, doesn't it? Yes, yes, it does.








Does Writing Have to be Political to Matter?

 As you may recall, I recently had my flash fiction piece 'Snow' nominated in the 3 Quarks Daily Art & Literature prize 2011 and that I ranked as high as a semi-finalist before not making it through to the final six. The finalists who did get through (found here) became these eventual winners:

1. Top Quark: Namit Arora, Joothan: A Dalit's Life
2. Strange Quark: Edan Lepucki, Reading and Race: On Slavery in Fiction
3. Charm Quark: Elliot Colla, The Poetry of Revolt 







Book Quote Friday: Releasing your Inner Bitch

     This passage from 'The Pursuit of Love' actually made me snort in bed the other night:

     ‘For dinner, Linda wore a white chintz dress with an enormous skirt, and a black lace scarf. She looked entirely ravishing, and it was obvious that Sir Leicester was much taken with her appearance – Lady Kroesig and Miss Marjorie, in bits of georgette and lace, seemed not to notice it. Marjorie was an intensely dreary girl, a few years older than Tony, who had failed so far to marry, and seemed to have no biological reason for existing.’







Find The Ideas You Want To Work With

     Something I’ve not heard bandied about much on writing blogs and the like is the idea of reading philosophy to find the ideas that you want to work with in your fiction. I think it’s perhaps quite a good one as without ideas, stories can’t exist. And who have the best, biggest, most out-there and profound ideas? Philosophers, of course.







Some Things Don’t Get Lost in Translation

     At least, I don't think so. Another thought: never underestimate people, even famous ones. For instance, what do you really think of Carla Bruni? Press play below.







Floating Over Tokyo

     Now, I had planned and written this post about a Japanese photo blogger prior to the events of last Friday, but I think, publishing it as I am today, that it's only appropriate that I place it within its current context. 

     Like everyone, I am truly humbled and horrified by the earthquake, subsequent tsunami, nuclear reactor uncertainty and the height of the likely death toll.  Combining that with the resultant economic worries and the psychological and emotional impact of losing one's loved-ones, posessions and homes, it's clear that those in Japan will need to stay in our thoughts and our prayers for some time to come.