David Nicol's Blog

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****OFFER CLOSED*****
(UPDATE 21/05/2020)

After being shared on instagram, facebook, and twitter, no one that fit the criteria (jobs NOT already covered by #portraitsfornhsheroes) interacted. So I’m withdrawing the offer. I’ll be deleting this post in a further 7 days.
******OFFER CLOSED******

I’ve watched as may artists have offered portraits for NHS workers (mostly nurses and doctors) using the hashtag #portraitsfornhsworkers. This is a lovely gesture to those at the frontline of the current coronavirus pandemic. However, the initiatives aimed at NHS staff often overlook that many other people have also continued to work throughout this time.

 

What I would like to do is offer to create an individual portrait for some of those who have not been able to work from home and have been essential in supporting the NHS through infrastructure, logistics, and the often unseen workers who provide essential services to all of us.

 

The following is not an exhaustive list and I will add to it as necessary, but if you have been working throughout this time at your normal place of work as key worker then you’re included:

 

Critical Infrastructure workers – Communications, Power, Logistics (any delivery/supply chain), Construction (essential infrastructure only), and ancillary support to those roles
Security/Legal workers – Armed Forces, Coastguard, Mountain rescue, Prison staff, Probation officers, security guards, public defender service
Third sector/outreach – Food bank, refuge staff, drug/alcohol keyworkers, chaplaincy services
Education – anyone whose role requires them to be in a school throughout this time
Laboratory and ancillary staff
Any hospital worker who is not included in the original #portraitsfornhsworkers scheme (domestics, porters, drivers, laundry staff, etc)
Food supply chain workers – farmers, pickers, packers, retail workers
Council workers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m trying to be as inclusive as I can but I don’t know every job that’s out there, so if you’ve been in a key role and aren’t listed then please contact me.

 

How it’ll work:

I’ll be using a random picker app to select someone from those who are interested (I won’t be able to do everyone’s portrait as I’m also working full time as a front line NHS nurse)

Follow me on Instagram @davidnicolart
DM me “I’m a key worker” and you’ll be entered into the draw

When I have a suitable amount of interest I’ll run the draw (22nd May at the earliest).

If you’re selected I’ll contact you via DM for a photo. 

Be aware that your photo will either need to be you in uniform, or “at work” if you don’t wear a uniform. The portrait will be produced in either pencil, pen, or other mixed media, and I’ll send you a hi-res scan of the finished work (and the original via post if you like).

That’s it. Thank you to everyone who has helped keep the country running in spite of the government’s response to the crisis.

 

 

The post Portraits for Keyworkers appeared first on David Nicol Art.

Introduction

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Waistcoat gluten-free cronut cred quinoa. Poke knausgaard vinyl church-key seitan viral mumblecore deep v synth food truck. Ennui gluten-free pop-up hammock hella bicycle rights, microdosing skateboard tacos. Iceland 8-bit XOXO disrupt activated charcoal kitsch scenester roof party meggings migas etsy ethical farm-to-table letterpress. Banjo wayfarers chartreuse taiyaki, stumptown prism 8-bit tote bag.

Story

Listicle offal viral, flannel franzen roof party shoreditch meditation subway tile bicycle rights tbh fingerstache copper mug organic umami. Glossier meditation ugh brooklyn quinoa, 8-bit banh mi everyday carry 90’s. Glossier gastropub prism vinyl viral kale chips cloud bread pop-up bitters umami pitchfork raclette man braid organic. Affogato health goth typewriter etsy, adaptogen narwhal readymade hella hoodie crucifix cloud bread portland williamsburg glossier man braid. Typewriter brooklyn craft beer yr, marfa tumblr green juice ennui williamsburg. Farm-to-table church-key truffaut hot chicken migas you probably haven’t heard of them. Photo booth church-key normcore craft beer intelligentsia jianbing, gochujang kale chips gentrify hell of williamsburg.

Conclusion

Venmo fixie knausgaard readymade. 3 wolf moon blue bottle sartorial blog. Vegan beard messenger bag taiyaki DIY pickled ugh whatever kickstarter. Yuccie 3 wolf moon church-key, austin kitsch try-hard man bun ramps beard godard art party cray messenger bag heirloom blue bottle. Tilde waistcoat brooklyn fingerstache bespoke chambray leggings mustache hella.

Introduction

Readymade godard brooklyn, kogi shoreditch hashtag hella shaman kitsch man bun pinterest flexitarian. Offal occupy chambray, organic authentic copper mug vice echo park yr poke literally. Ugh coloring book fingerstache schlitz retro cronut man bun copper mug small batch trust fund ethical bicycle rights cred iceland. Celiac schlitz la croix 3 wolf moon butcher. Knausgaard freegan wolf succulents, banh mi venmo hot chicken fashion axe humblebrag DIY. 

Waistcoat gluten-free cronut cred quinoa. Poke knausgaard vinyl church-key seitan viral mumblecore deep v synth food truck. Ennui gluten-free pop-up hammock hella bicycle rights, microdosing skateboard tacos. Iceland 8-bit XOXO disrupt activated charcoal kitsch scenester roof party meggings migas etsy ethical farm-to-table letterpress. Banjo wayfarers chartreuse taiyaki, stumptown prism 8-bit tote bag.

Story

Listicle offal viral, flannel franzen roof party shoreditch meditation subway tile bicycle rights tbh fingerstache copper mug organic umami. Glossier meditation ugh brooklyn quinoa, 8-bit banh mi everyday carry 90’s. Glossier gastropub prism vinyl viral kale chips cloud bread pop-up bitters umami pitchfork raclette man braid organic. Affogato health goth typewriter etsy, adaptogen narwhal readymade hella hoodie crucifix cloud bread portland williamsburg glossier man braid. Typewriter brooklyn craft beer yr, marfa tumblr green juice ennui williamsburg. Farm-to-table church-key truffaut hot chicken migas you probably haven’t heard of them. Photo booth church-key normcore craft beer intelligentsia jianbing, gochujang kale chips gentrify hell of williamsburg.

Conclusion

Venmo fixie knausgaard readymade. 3 wolf moon blue bottle sartorial blog. Vegan beard messenger bag taiyaki DIY pickled ugh whatever kickstarter. Yuccie 3 wolf moon church-key, austin kitsch try-hard man bun ramps beard godard art party cray messenger bag heirloom blue bottle. Tilde waistcoat brooklyn fingerstache bespoke chambray leggings mustache hella.

Introduction

Readymade godard brooklyn, kogi shoreditch hashtag hella shaman kitsch man bun pinterest flexitarian. Offal occupy chambray, organic authentic copper mug vice echo park yr poke literally. Ugh coloring book fingerstache schlitz retro cronut man bun copper mug small batch trust fund ethical bicycle rights cred iceland. Celiac schlitz la croix 3 wolf moon butcher. Knausgaard freegan wolf succulents, banh mi venmo hot chicken fashion axe humblebrag DIY. 

Waistcoat gluten-free cronut cred quinoa. Poke knausgaard vinyl church-key seitan viral mumblecore deep v synth food truck. Ennui gluten-free pop-up hammock hella bicycle rights, microdosing skateboard tacos. Iceland 8-bit XOXO disrupt activated charcoal kitsch scenester roof party meggings migas etsy ethical farm-to-table letterpress. Banjo wayfarers chartreuse taiyaki, stumptown prism 8-bit tote bag.

Story

Listicle offal viral, flannel franzen roof party shoreditch meditation subway tile bicycle rights tbh fingerstache copper mug organic umami. Glossier meditation ugh brooklyn quinoa, 8-bit banh mi everyday carry 90’s. Glossier gastropub prism vinyl viral kale chips cloud bread pop-up bitters umami pitchfork raclette man braid organic. Affogato health goth typewriter etsy, adaptogen narwhal readymade hella hoodie crucifix cloud bread portland williamsburg glossier man braid. Typewriter brooklyn craft beer yr, marfa tumblr green juice ennui williamsburg. Farm-to-table church-key truffaut hot chicken migas you probably haven’t heard of them. Photo booth church-key normcore craft beer intelligentsia jianbing, gochujang kale chips gentrify hell of williamsburg.

Conclusion

Venmo fixie knausgaard readymade. 3 wolf moon blue bottle sartorial blog. Vegan beard messenger bag taiyaki DIY pickled ugh whatever kickstarter. Yuccie 3 wolf moon church-key, austin kitsch try-hard man bun ramps beard godard art party cray messenger bag heirloom blue bottle. Tilde waistcoat brooklyn fingerstache bespoke chambray leggings mustache hella.

A post I saw on facebook recently made me consider the responsibility of the author when writing characters that buck societal norms. In the current social climate where whole swathes of people are dehumanised and referred to as “the enemy” written and spoken words can be taken out of context and, in some cases, provide the necessary motivation for certain people to act on their fantasies. As such it’s incredibly important for authors not to glorify acts of violence against any identifiable group.

In order to combat this, authors should have very clear behaviour and motivation parameters for their characters.  An example would be Batman, a vigilante who works illegally to bring those that the law can’t catch to justice.

On the flipside of the virtuous Batman is The Punisher. While Batman thinks nothing of breaking a few bones, The Punisher is all about the killing. They both do the same thing (protect the innocent, bring the wicked to justice) and both have inalienable principles that they follow, and yet one is more acceptable than the other. Is it merely that police brutality is more palatable than extra-judicial executions?

Personally, I always found superheroes like Batman problematic in that their moral code and faith in a seriously broken judicial rehabilitation system (Arkham Asylum…. really?!) prevented them from ever fully resolving a situation. In fact it would seem that each time a villain was caught, and would then escape, they were angrier and their desire for revenge was greater which in turn caused the suffering of more innocent people.

The Punisher didn’t really have that problem: Bad guy. Bad guy dead. Bad guy’s friends/family come after the Punisher. Bad guy’s friends/family dead. Punisher does some push ups. So why is the Batman a massive franchise while (despite his more effective conflict resolution skills) The Punisher remains more of a cult/fringe character?

The answer is sympathy. How sympathetic the character is written. How much can the reader identify with the character and how much much they can support the character’s actions. Part of this is down to how well rounded the character is, their back story, and their consistency.

To continue with our two examples we have a billionaire orphaned in childhood, who goes on to philanthropic activities, and uses his massive wealth aid in his quest to punch baddies in the face. On the other side we have an ex-military badass who goes totally Paul Kersey after his family is murdered by people from his past.

From this we then spin off in a paradox of cause and effect. Batman is created through no fault of his own, but continues to battle the same villains with collateral damage each time due to the limitations of his moral code, while The Punisher is created after those he has previously damaged seek revenge on him.

Batman is arguably the more sympathetic character as he attempts to use technology to change the villains compared to The Punisher just using bullets (mostly). (Side note: as a philanthropist billionaire, why didn’t Batman put his money into rehabilitation research? Perhaps he just likes round-housing baddies into next week?). People don’t want to believe that the world is actually horrible and that humanity is good at the core.

At the point where Lament for the Living is written, there are far more Punishers than Batman/woman/girl. This is because the world gets the heroes it needs, not the heroes it wants. The challenge when writing characters that kill is how to do it in such a way that doesn’t glorify it. Even when writing a character that likes killing, you’d have to a very specific type of writer, writing for a very niche market to rejoice in the murder of others.

It’s entirely acceptable to write a character being happy about killing, but it should be justifiable and proportionate, and form part of the overall characterisation. Actions your characters take should be consistent, and while not necessarily predictable they should fall within the range of behaviours for that character. If they don’t then they should very clearly have a reason and an impact. For example, a character who has pacifist tendencies would go through a personal crisis if their actions caused someone to die, they are even less likely to voluntarily kill or murder.

Within the Lament for the Living universe some characters are more kill-happy than others, and violence or the threat of violence are used to further their objectives. In the case of Alex, while he appears to kill on a whim it is never for fun. Even resorting to an almost mercy killing at one point. That’s not to say he’s a good guy, far from it. But his killing falls within his behavioural and character parameters. There is no glorification of the act, the action has to occur to protect/prevent x, y, or z. On the Batman-Punisher scale, Alex is most definitely on the Punisher spectrum.

Closer to the Batman side of the scale is Tobias whose killings were, to Tobias at least, the very last resort. Necessary acts with no alternative for the protection of everyone else, and at great emotional cost to himself. Again, the world of Lament for the Living is inhabited by the heroes that worlds needs. It is a dark time, and as the saying goes it’s always darkest before the dawn.

There is beauty, even in the dark. Write the beauty.

Lament for the Living is available in e-book and paperback formats.

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I am pleased to announce that a new dystopian serial is being released here and on wattpad. It is the fictionalised account of events following Brexit told through the emergency broadcast system. With the country locked down and isolated from its allies the Faction for the People attempts to seize power from what they consider to be a corrupt and destructive government.

We listen as both sides attempt to control the emergency broadcast system to promote their message and rally their forces. Follow the official Faction for the People twitter account @FactionFor

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Follow the David Nicol Wattpad account: www.wattpad.com/davidnicol75

 

 

It has been a very long time since I’ve worked on the sequel to Lament for the Living.  The good news is that I now have the opportunity to finally get the second part completed. There is some work to do in bringing all the various bits of chapters that I’ve written and saved in different locations together.

Then it’s just a matter of:

writing the rest of the story
Edit
Second proof read
Second edit
Beta reader input
Final proof read and edit
Format for e-book
Format for print
Finalise cover art and design
Proof the final versions
Register the ISBNs
Set release date
Market release
Release

Not much to do really. In the mean time, here’s a little bit from the beginning of book 2. It provides a bit of backstory that links in to book 1 and recaps some of what has happened to get us to where we are.

If you want to be kept up to date with what’s going on, then sign up for my newlsetter. I’m not going to spam you, and I’m definitely not going to be selling your details on. By subscribing to the newsletter you’ll get the news about Lament for the Living Book 2 and my other works before it is posted anywhere else.

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Click here to download A Nibble of Lament for the Living Book 2 [image error]

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Underwood Champion font is licensed under the 1001Fonts Free For Commercial Use License (FFC)

 

It has been a long time. A very long time. And now we’re approaching a crossroads. Lament for the Living Book 2 should have been released by now, but it hasn’t. But do not be concerned, the crossroads isn’t about whether or not Book 2 is happening or not. It definitely is happening, but I’m currently in a quandary as to where it’ll be published.

Lament for the Living Book 1, The Deluge of Elias, and Hannibal House have all been published on Amazon as the main platform, with Lament for the Living and Hannibal House also being available through the outlets fulfilled by Smashwords (Hannibal House is free through Smashwords).  Amazon has been where the majority of sales of my titles have come from, but I’m becoming increasingly unhappy with their business practices.

Issue 1: They seem to have no morals regarding where they advertise, which means that their advertising helps fund sites and/or content that are completely opposite to my own personal ethics. I have reached out to them on more than one occasion regarding their advertising, and they are subject to the spotlight of Sleeping Giants whose aim is to “stop racist and sexist media by stopping its ad dollars”. I wholly back their mission, but like them, both Amazon and Jeff Bezos have failed not only to respond to our concerns, but have remained completely silent on the issue of where they advertise.

Issue 2: Amazon is inept at dealing with scammers who exploit the Kindle Direct Publishing platform and instead target and punish legitimate authors. David Gaughran has posted extensively on these scams and his own experiences of trying to get Amazon to take these concerns seriously, and do something about the scammers. He has presented masses of evidence to Amazon about the issues and their responses have been as overwhelming as they have in regard to their advertising ethics: none.  That is until now, where they appear to be taking some action against legitimate authors instead of scammers as detailed in this report by David Gaughran.

Personally I’ve been a strong advocate for Amazon in the past. I’ve got Kindles (standard and Fire), Amazon Prime, a Firestick, and they’re usually my go to place to buy everything from rubber gloves to motorbike parts. But that looks all set to change. As a platform Amazon seems to becoming more toxic and unhinged as time goes on. Their business ethics and level of competence in dealing with issues are nowhere as high as I expect them to be.

So here’s the crossroads: Lament for the Living Book 2 is now penciled in to be released in the Spring/Summer of 2018. Unless Amazon addresses the issues of their advertising ethics, and start using more precise tools to identify and punish spammers rather than a sledgehammer-tipped blunderbus I’ll be leaving the platform completely.

I’m not prepared to support an unethical platform financially by buying and using their products, and I’m certainly not prepared to place my work on a platform that is akin to a petty and vengeful god.  The decision will be made closer to release of book 2, but right now it’s not looking good for my relationship with Amazon.

“I have to get to the root of why you take all my favorite characters and kill them faster than an angry George R. R. Martin!” Said Christopher Smith on his Writing Process blog post.

I know why my characters lead mostly brief and sometimes inglorious lives. What I wanted to know was why Mr Martin is also a maniac parent. Like the gods of old who ate their children. As it happens, our penchant for literary murder stems from an event in our childhood.

No, it’s okay. No creepy uncles, who weren’t really uncles, are involved. For Mr Martin, it was Wonder Man. Apparently (and it must be true because I read it on the internet), the death of Wonder Man in his first “Avengers” appearance in 1964  was extremely moving for the young George.

In my case, my formative reading years were filled with The Famous Five, and The Hardy Boys. There wasn’t much killing in either of them, and if a body did turn up, it was a plot point and not a “I’m breathing and talking… oh and now I’m dead.” shocking event.

Then I read William Golding’s ‘The Lord of the Flies’. My innocence was blown out with Piggy getting his head smashed in and his brains floating away on the luminescence in the surf. But that wasn’t really it. Ralph didn’t really show any grief at the death of his friend (the symbol of stability, consciousness, and learning) he just basically went “Bloody hell, they’re going to kill me! RUUUUNNNN!” And then the army arrives. Hooray.

No conclusion, nothing. The. Army. Arrives.

For a while, I kept going over the events as if thinking about them would have saved Piggy. I came to the realisation that Golding killed Piggy because otherwise he would have had to have killed Ralph as well. Piggy, as the name would imply, was the fat kid who wasn’t good at athletic type endeavours and, from the point where Piggy goes splat, Ralph gets right into his cardio. Running, climbing, swimming. He does them all, free of the weight of his Piggy friend.

At that point I didn’t feel so bad about Piggy any more. He stopped being a ‘person’, and instead became a plot vehicle. My feelings for him, gone.

Then I started reading James Herbert and Stephen King. James Herbert’s characters seemed to die because it was their time, and that was fine. I’d be reading, and as the scene unfolds I could tell that this person or that was going to expire by the end of the chapter. Stephen King was slightly different in that his main characters didn’t usually die unexpectedly. The main character stayed alive for the whole of the story, and then he kills them at the end – especially in his short stories. I don’t think Stephen King writes ‘The End’ at the conclusion of his stories. He should put ‘And then they all died’ just to be sure that he didn’t miss anyone out.

Now the wheel turns and we come back to George R. R. Martin. Until I started watching ‘Game of Thrones’ I’d never heard of him. Yes, that’s tantamount to blasphemy (but I haven’t heard of a lot of authors). And I didn’t realise that what I was watching was actually a huge book series. What I was seeing influenced my writing hugely though.

It was counter to everything I’d seen or read before: the good guy, the just guy, the person of virtue would be struck down, while the scum and vermin continued to squirm their way to the top. It was just like real life! And it was compelling.

Bad things happen to good people (it would seem more often than bad things happening to bad people), and people die. Unexpectedly. Plans are thwarted by action and inaction, plots and stabbed and back stabbed with alarming regularity. There were no main characters. These were lives. Lives that were being lived out, right there in front of me (and now in the books which I’m currently reading).

That was what I wanted to put in my writing. I wanted my characters to be alive. But to be alive they also had to be shadowed by the spectre of death. And that IS a problem for me. Those characters that you like, that get killed? I like them too. I’m writing them and we’re having a good time and then I get to the point where someone has to die. It’s at that point that the character in question looks down and realises they’re wearing the red Starfleet uniform from the original Star Trek series…… and they know.

Want to read me killing your favourite character? Then check out ‘Lament for the Living‘

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