#16 You Didn't, Did You + Brennan and Riz State of Play

 Happy Blog Day Everyone!

Today, I want to talk a little about where Brennan and Riz is as a series, but before we get to that, let's get to the Comic!

The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz

I think this one perfectly encapsulates Riz's opinion on charity...Well, I guess I could be more explicit but I'm not sure if I could get away with showing that! You do have to feel sorry for Bren at times like this, whereas some people trying to do good will have a metaphorical devil on their shoulder, he's got one in his pocket (though sadly he's no devil, as that would be an easy explanation).

Guess Brennan will have to learn to be sneakier with donating to charity.

Brennan and Riz: State of Play

So, it's been 6 years now since I started with Brennan and Riz (elements of the characters are older but that's besides the point) and in that time there has been 26 short stories featuring the pair, spread across 7 books. There's a full length novel with a 2nd being worked on and a 3rd being a scribble in my note book.

Looking at things that way, it's a lot of Brennan and Riz. It's probably worth mentioning as well that one of them is in an obscure book that deals with stories about the Middlesbrough football club. It's funny to think that the story I'm talking about was actually the 2nd one I came up, the first going no where despite several attempts at a workable draft. It's this story (Goblins on the Pitch) that I'd try and "Reissue" in another collected edition if possible.

Thinking back to those first batch of stories though, the first 10 (From Girl in the Water to Wild Hunt on the Road), I can look back and see a subtle shift in how I wrote them. For instance, the way Riz spoke only became more defined as I became more experienced writing him, sharpening his edges as well. If you want an example, just compare Riz’s speech in Girl in the Water to how he talks in A Boy and A Rat.

Not that was the only difference, another is their views on Valarie. This was recently brought to my attention by someone asking me about it on twitter, regarding how Brennan views her in Goblins in the Tunnel, contrasting to how he was, well, everywhere else. My own plans had changed from that story, not least of all Valarie’s backstory which was overhauled exhaustively. This had an unseen knock on effect to other things (like her own novel that I was working on, that's pretty much apocrypha now). While had I inadvertently softened him is another matter, the question of what happened exactly is a sticking point between the pair. I do have an idea in mind but it's still a little beyond the time scale of the three prequel novels, given that I picture them happening within a year of each other. 

So in short, its something I'm planning but I don't know when it'll appear (though I can confirm it'll be pretty Valarie heavy...not that some of you will complain)

Now, what's next for the pair? I've spoken recently on a story of theirs that I ultimately abandoned but by no means was that the last of the ideas. I once said that I had about 60 different ideas for then squirrelled away in a note book, and that still holds true, but I'm also adding to it constantly it seems. For instance I've taken another step closer to having the pair deal with the Lambton Worm, something I've often teased, and have them venture under Richmond Castle to see what's lurking under there. There's also the unreleased stories that are completed and just waiting to be unleashed (this is collection that I was waiting for the Redcar story to complete) and there's yet another Harvey Duckman Presents tale to debut with another two in the pipeline.

To top that off, we also have the Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz, which will receive its own dedicated blog post in about 4 weeks time, to coincide with its 20th strip.

I know there is still some gaps of course, there's no audio books for example, and this pair could really, really benefit from them. It's something I'm going to have to figure out.

I think that's it for now, paradoxically there was both a lot and not a lot to say about the pair.

If you want to catch up on the pairs adventures then feel free to check out the links below!

Till next time,

Keep on writing!

Peter James Martin

Quick Links

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 1

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Book 1: A Boy and A Rat

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 2

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1

#15 At Least He Tried

 Happy Blog Day Everyone!

Another short one this week but I do plan on a bigger piece for next week as I want to do a general look at where Brennan and Riz are after the release of Volume 2.

The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz

15 strips already, where does the time fly? Doesn't seem like 10 minutes ago where I was debating even doing the strip. I think when it comes to strip #20 (which should be late May/ early June) I'll make that the focus and talk about its genesis in more detail and the weekly battles I have in bringing it to you all.

On saying that, I think it largely goes unnoticed by the larger world which may be for the best as its not good in the slightest!

Jokes aside, I wanted to do another minimalist dialogue comic, and this one fit the bill perfectly. Definitely learning a lot of show don't tell while working on this project.

Update

Okay, in lieu of a proper blog post this week, instead I'll offer a small update on my goings on.

The short story that I've been working on is..

Still being worked on. I'd never have guessed that a short of only 5k estimated words would have taken me this long but there we are. Parts have been edited again to flow better (and not have to give the mc plot armour to avoid being arrested...twice. The more you have to contrive and explain, the more you slow down the pace. Still got some time before the deadline, so I'm not too worried yet.

Brennan and Riz stuff...See next week.

Daemon Soul...Sigh, I was supposed to be sending this out on submission but nerves have got the best of me, plus seeing people I know with far better work than me getting rejected constantly isn’t helping matters. Still, I've been doing some things in this universe, like the short I'm writing.

Other hobbies...Miniature painting has now become my defacto relaxing hobby of choice, aka the thing I do when I'm not writing. If only I was good at it...

Anyway, thats it for now, look out for next week where I dive into all things Brennan and Riz to see the state of play for the pair!

Till then,

Keep writing!

Peter James Martin

Quick Links

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 1

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Book 1: A Boy and A Rat

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 2

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1

#14 A Favour Owed + Rewriting a Rewrite

 Happy Blog Day Everyone!

So while today is more talk about short story writing, it isn't about my current project, which I'm still working on. Instead I want to go on a tangent about a Brennan and Riz story that recently stalled...Before all that though, you know what it's time for...

The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz

I had the third panel in mind ever since I realised I could do a Easter special early on when I started the Comic. What I didn't have was a storyline to go with it. I whacked my brain for two weeks to come up with what you see here. Was it worth it? Probably not.

Rewriting a Rewrite?

So I was working on my current writing project (a short story for those just joining us) when I came to the realisation that I was going to have to rewrite the beginning yet again. The cycle may be familiar to other authors. You start writing an idea you had, one that you absolutely love. Over time, things change, the direction of the story changes and you realise, maybe with horror, that the start of the story no longer even syncs up with the rest. What do you do in this case? Why, you rewrite it.

I've spoken in the past that I ended up rewriting my current project, and it will not surprise you that I've ended up doing yet more rewrites, though these are to less severe degree than the first few. You might think that this is the most reworked story I've ever done...Well you'd be wrong about that.

Before I started work on this story, I was in deep on a Brennan and Riz short, and that one, had been reworked a lot more...

Let me set the scene.

The story was to be the finishing touch in another volume of Brennan and Riz short stories. It was based off an idea that I wrote down in my initial batch of 60+ ideas, a list I wrote back in 2018. It was based off some folklore from Redcar, that the wind made a strange sound as it blew through a exposed shipwreck. That was all I wrote about it then, something small that I hoped I could expand into a 3,000 word story or so.

At one point I'd intended to write it alongside other seaside based tales, I'd plenty from Whitby and Saltburn to make it an attractive proposition, but other writing projects took precedent, such as A Boy and A Rat thus the idea slunk away, till it was needed again.

Cut to last year when after a lengthy rewrite of its own, A Boy and A Rat finally debuted, I turned my attention back to what was then going to be Volume 2 of the Brennan and Riz anthology. At the time, the word count had come to 55,000 or so, well under the word count of the first collection. Needing a couple more ideas, I returned to the list for inspiration, where Iocked eyes on the idea again.

The writing started well, opened the story in thr middle of the action to tease events before diving back in time, and things were progressing well. Then I had the idea to reference an earlier story that dealt with similar themes, first rewrite happened. Still, no big deal, I carried on writing. 

I ended up taking a small break as I was feeling burned out on writing the pair, switching gears to other stories around this time (like the original draft for Ghost Duty) till earlier this year when I finally returned to it, revitalised by the news that the publisher had signed off on Volume 2 (abeit in a completely different fashion than what I was expecting). This is where the rest of the rewrites started to kick in.

When I returned to the draft, my thoughts turned to the antagonist of the piece and what they were doing it for. My original intention wasn't holding up (not to mention that the length had exceeded the limit of 3k words) so I'd decided to bite the bullet and upgrade it to Novella length, well, at least 10k. This, again, required a rewrite. Then, came perhaps the biggest problem, I progressed to the climax of the story, when for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to completely do a 180 on the antagonist, something not too dissimilar to what happened with the Wrym in the Abbey story. This, you guessed it, necessitated more rewrites as I needed to seed the character I'm early and come up with a completely new villain, to help set up a surprising new status quo at the end. At this point, the story was creaking under the strain of all the changes, old sections changing abruptly into new ones.  Plot threads awkwardly ending or being introduced. Things happening to justify the plot...It became a tangled mess. Don't get me wrong, the new characters I created will still be used...this idea though probably won't be. Its a sad but needed trait to recognise when something isn't working and needs to be culled.

So what's next for this Brennan and Riz tale? It may have an ending but it certainly doesn't have a beginning or an middle. For now, I'll continue with this other short story and when that's finished...who knows? Maybe I can get the inspiration to start afresh, with a clear goal to work from in the beginning.

That's it for this week.

Till next time,

Keep writing,

Peter James Martin.

Quick Links

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 1

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Book 1: A Boy and A Rat

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 2

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1

#13 Who Wouldn't Want One + More Short Story Writing!

 Happy Blog Day Everyone!

Another week has gone by, I'm wondering if something is gobbling all the time up as it certainly doesn't feel like 13 weeks have gone by since I restarted the blog!

Regrettably, it is another short one, as I'm in the middle of writing up a guest blog in my indomitable style and there's no new releases on the horizon for a while yet...

Still, you do have a brand new comic to slightly entertain you!

The Comic Tales of Brennan and Riz

It's only now that I look back and realise that I missed a trick by not having the giant rat be completely golden, next time maybe. I still feel like the Comic has yet to find it's feet but what do you think? 

Anyway, moving on!

More Short Story Writing

Work continues apace on my current short story, and wouldn't you know it, I've rewrote it 3 times now! Let me explain my process For my moment.

When I'm writing an idea, I'd normally take it to completion, wanting to get the skeleton down, and then I'd make my changes, like a sculptor with a block of stone. Sometimes however, I can't do that. To continue my sculptor analogy, I'd chiselled too far then what I'd needed, rendering the whole project worthless. It's times like that I resort to the early edit, erasing wholesale words that I'd just literally put to page. I've gotten better at identifying when this feeling will hit, normally when the words aren't inspiring anything but spite.

In this case however, I didn't engage in a full annihilation of the story (which I have done. Kill your darlings? I've committed mass word murder) rather, I'd reframed it. Changing the tone slightly, while trying to reinforce the themes, something I'll do again once it's finished. This has left me well under the half way point, but I'm trying not to rush this.

One thing I'm also aware of, is that this will be the 2nd Daemon Soul (if I hadn't mentioned this already, then yeah, it's connected to this particular story of mine) story set in the 80s, following on from a short I wrote a year or so again. One that was ironically based off a song (two songs technically). I do wonder if I have any more in me for a future 80s anthology! Not that anyone would read that... Would they?

Anyway, that's all for this week. Hopefully I can reach the half way point next week but till then,

Keep writing.

Peter James Martin

Links

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 1

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Book 1: A Boy and A Rat 

The Strange Tales of Brennan and Riz Volume 2

Malarkey's Imaginomnibus Volume 1