Torrie McLean's Blog

Even the most seemingly open-minded of us has preconceived notions of what’s right and wrong, whether it be in the literary world or any other – but in setting out ‘rules’ for what we read, are we closing doors and shutting off our minds from new experiences?

Genres have their identifying factors, that is as it should be. How else would you even begin to define a genre? But surely those should be just that – identifiers rather than limitations.

Stylistic choices aside, there also seems to be a perception in some quarters that even the broad themes have rules – the most obvious being that romance should not stray too far into dark places and that happy ever afters should be the order of the day. What does that amount to though – boundaries only to be expected, or formulas that lean towards the bland and predictable?

I personally have to say that I do not understand the desire to know how a novel will end before you’ve even started. And I understand the authors who spell out their plot in the synopsis even less ...

Excerpt from new blog on the 'rules', who makes them, and who gets to break them here: http://torrie82.wix.com/torriemclean#...

Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a princess ... [TRIGGER WARNING: Contains dark themes, psychological torture, extreme violence, and scenes of a sexual nature. Does have HEA.]

You wouldn’t do it, would you? Set out to tell someone a story, give away the end and warn them about all the bits in the middle that you’re unsure of how they’ll be received?

“So Snow White, yeah? Don’t worry, some bloke snogged her back to life in the end ..."

Some tales are in the telling. Everyone knows how Romeo and poor ‘ole Jules end up. It doesn’t affect the countless remakes. No one’s expecting the Titanic to veer past that iceberg and make it safe to the Big Apple.

But nine times out of ten, you need the tension to make the story.

Excerpt from new blog on whether we're becoming better storytellers than story receivers here: http://torrie82.wix.com/torriemclean#...

I've been kinda spreading myself a little thin with random blogs here, there and everywhere. So, it's not the most sophisticated of set-ups, but in future I'm going to house most of my posts here:

http://torrie82.wix.com/torriemclean

I've been a LJ user for year, then tried my hand at WordPress, and then discovered GoodReads, but I think this is just the best option for now.

It'll be home to any literary ramblings and info specific to my writing. Right now, the cover has just been uploaded for Addiction - the sequel to Ink and the final instalment of the Haven series - if you fancy a peek.

Torrie x

So, I’ve been pretty careful in this blog until now because it’s kinda been a balancing act ...

I liked the thought of trying to keep up with a blog at least semi-regularly, but I didn’t want it to just become some vacuous advert for my book(s). And I like reading too much to want to censor myself of all opinion, just in case someone thinks I’m a writer getting pissy about some review or other.

With that in mind, I’ve kept it all to pretty broad strokes.

But now it’s time to get personal.

Well, a little anyway.

Ink, as readers will know, was my first foray into actually publishing something I’ve written. And it was scary as hell. Regardless of what you thought of it, I was very conscious of the responsibility that comes with asking strangers to pay money for something you’ve created.

What if it’s rubbish? I asked myself that a lot. I knew not everyone would like it, such is life. But what if it was really, relentlessly, terrible?

With that in mind, fuck knows why I thought a sequel would be a good idea!

Actually, I don’t have much choice in the matter because Ink was always supposed to have a follow-up and I can’t leave my girl Callie hanging. I’m pretty fond of her by now.

So, yes, there will be a sequel.

When?

Ah, now, don’t hate me, but I’m not going to be drawn on that just yet. Which should not be taken to mean that it’s a lifetime away or anything, I’m just not ready to stick a deadline on it just yet.

I know “proper” writers have to meet deadlines, but the reality is that while I’m doing this around another full-time job (that actually pays the bills), I’m going to take whatever time I need to make sure I’m not churning out something that isn’t as good as I can make it.

When I give a date, I’ll stick to it. At this precise moment in time, I can’t give a date that I can say for certain I’ll be able to meet. I will keep you updated though.

And there are some little hints I can give you about what’s to come.

The sequel will be called Addiction and, yes, Callie and Colton both feature – as do Sam and Taylor.

I can also confirm that there are no current plans for a third book in the series. While I guess the door never really closes on revisiting somewhere like Haven way down the line, Addiction is intended to wrap the series up.

So there ya go, something a little more personal – and now I really should go get cracking on getting some “proper” writing done! ;)

“If you were here right now, I’d kick your ass, Greene ... And then I’d kiss the hell outta ya.” – Callie Delaney, in Addiction

Sometimes I marvel at the sheer number of books people can get through. I love reading and, as a child and into my teens, would have considered myself a “big reader”.

I studied English Literature at university, so reading a lot was a major requirement. But even leaving that aside, I think I’ve always just liked focusing my mind on a story as a form of escape. Especially nowadays, with work and other “proper grown-up” commitments, my mind tends to race and so I find reading a good way to clear my head of everything else and relax.

I have to lament that the amount of books I get through has decreased dramatically though. I just can’t find the time like I used to, much as it pains me to admit it. As a kid, I had a book in my hand every chance I got, but reading has now become maybe a few chapters over the occasional lunch break at work, or a couple of stolen chapters before bed.

When it comes to new releases, I tend to be late to the party and I also do enjoy revisiting old favourites – so, even if I’m getting the chance to read, I’m not necessarily adding to the overall tally.

I sometimes envy those blasting their way through book after book ...

But I have this friend, right? She’s a big reader, so we’ll chat about books over coffee sometimes. Recently, it turned out that, for once, we had actually read the same book at around about the same time. I won’t go into the detail of what book, since that’s not the point.

During our conversation, she brings up the back story of one of the main characters and tells me she loved that he ... blah blah blah. And I gawped at her. What? That didn’t happen ...

Now, I know what you’re thinking – reading so many books, it’s easy to mix them up. Nope. After a lengthy conversation on the subject, it was clear that she knew exactly which book and which character she was talking about and she remained adamant that she was right.

We checked. She wasn’t.

I don’t say that to be all: “I was right, she were wrong.” It’s no big deal - we didn’t row, nothing like that. I just found it interesting because it’s not the first time I’ve found this. Big readers who skim.

Look for it specifically when you talk to people about books, whether in the real world or online, because once you start noticing ... it comes up a lot.

“What did you think of plot point X?”

“Oh, um, I don’t really remember, but I liked how ... blah blah blah.”

Or: “How about character Y – I can’t believe he’s leaving.”

“What? We don’t know that! Do we know that? Did he say that?”

Some people manage to skim through a book, read between the lines and come up with their own interpretation. You could argue that’s all any of us do, but surely we need to be forming our opinions based on all the information that’s actually there.

I have to admit I’m not very good at reviewing because grabbing snatched chances to read during the day usually means I’m not in a position to get my thoughts down straight after. And, while I may want to let my thoughts on an overall story percolate, I’d want to at least jot down the details before they get hazy.

Maybe I should at least do the star review and come back to the rest when I get the chance – that way I can at least give an author a little of the kudos they deserve for the effort. But, while people review in different ways and that’s fine, I can’t bring myself to just note that I liked a book or I didn’t. I’m not saying I’d write War and Peace on every book I finish, but I guess I know from being on the other side of it that it’s the details that count.

And I guess that’s why I’m now more content with getting through my teeny pile of books that stick with me.

"Caress the detail, the divine detail." - Vladimir Nabokov

For a writer, reviews seem to be a taboo subject – the merest mention of which simply conjures up images of green-eyed monsters and seething vats of resentment.

I have to admit, I thought twice about even broaching the subject. Then I thought: “Don’t be ridiculous.” I’ve been a reader for closing in on thirty years and a writer for all of five minutes by comparison, how pretentious would it be to take the lofty approach at this early stage?

And yet, lest there be any doubt, this blog post is the musings of a mere reader. At no point should it be seen as a response, whether explicit or implicit, to any reviews I may have received in my short foray into published writing.

No, I’m simply curious as to the process, the different approaches people take, and what they hope to get out of it - so feel free to share your thoughts.

As I think I’ve mentioned before, I’m relatively new to the whole e-reader, e-publishing experience and to sites like this one. Therefore my previous experience of reviews has been confined to, for want of a better way of putting it, the professionals – reviews in mainstream media or by trusted booksellers. I choose my books by a combination of past experience of an author, gambles on well-written blurbs, recommendations of friends who share or at least know my taste.

And you win some, you lose some.

Personally, I’m not sure of the benefits for me of a swathe of reviews on a site like this. I would be more likely to nosy at the reviews acquired by a book I’ve already read, to see if others share my opinions, than to use them as a buying guide.

Why?

Well, look around. Pick a critically acclaimed bestseller, just as an example. It will have tens of thousands of five star reviews. It will probably have less, but still tens of thousands, of one star reviews. That’s a huge gulf in terms of opinion, in my eyes.

It’s a book that topped charts and captured the hearts of a significant number of people – and yet many others appear to have down-right hated it.

As vamps go, I'll take Angel, Spike, or even Edward Cullen any day over the original ... – a soul-shattering review of Bram Stoker’s Dracula

I’m not talking about a specific book here, but there’s a general truth in that. Books are divisive, that’s as it should be. But what am I missing out on if I just happen to see a host of those one star reviews and take them at their word? Maybe I’ve just bypassed what could have become my new favourite – one of those books you come back to again and again, discovering new insights and revelling in the comfort of old familiarities.

How can the same book be worthy of one and five star reviews?

Of course we are all entitled to different tastes. I wouldn’t dream of suggesting otherwise. But I would go as far as to say that there cannot really be such a vast discrepancy – and that there wouldn’t be if reviews fulfilled their true purpose.

I have a friend who is a well-respected film critic, essentially a professional reviewer in a different medium. I’m not going to name names, but I love his work. He combines a flair for writing and a passion for movies to make anything he reviews a must-see.

What? I can hear you protest, surely he can’t review honestly and be so positive about everything? The answer is simple. He isn’t.

I’ve read reviews which tore his chosen film to shreds and left nothing but an eviscerated mess behind. And he did it with such style and still retained such enthusiasm for his subject that I wanted to go see it for myself, if only to see what got so deeply under his skin.

He also strikes a powerful balance between the subjective and the objective. He reviews everything from the latest leave-your-brain-at-the-door blockbuster, to animated flicks aimed primarily at kids, to the most cutting edge art-house cinema.

They are not all to his taste, so that must be set aside. In other words, you don’t have to like something to respect its power and lure. A true reviewer writes, not to collate his or her personal thoughts or feelings about a subject, but to offer insight to an audience – one of which they may not even be a part.

If you simply don’t like something, can you set that aside to examine its mechanics in the cold light of day? Can you accept you may not be the target audience and see through their eyes instead?

That’s not to knock the simple sharing of views and opinions, but I find the two styles to be very different beasts. And I know which one I trust.

Balance is crucial when it comes to writing. There’s that whole delicate balance between staying true to the story you set out to tell and bearing in mind that you want other people to read and enjoy it.

But just as important is the whole life/work balance of a writer.

I have to admit that, in a sense, I find this site surprisingly daunting - one big reminder that there are way more awesome books out there than there is time to read them. I mean, there are major classics that I haven’t read. Books that would make you go: “You haven’t what?! Read it, read it NOW!” And then there are the classics in the making, all the wonderful and as-yet-to-be-discovered offerings lurking just around the corner. And then there are those little gems, never destined for the bestseller lists, but that just let you get lost for a couple of hours ...

Recently, I haven’t made enough time for that.

Sometimes, I feel guilty about sitting back to read – feeling like I should be writing, being more productive. And that’s on top of working a “proper” full-time job and making a wee bit of time for family and friends.

But I’m starting to realise just why it’s so true that if you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to write.

It’s not to dip into the works of others for inspiration, trying to re-hash stories that have already been told. It’s about making time to remember how it feels when you find that perfect book that sucks you in – and wanting to give someone else that same experience. It’s not about recreating the ideas of others – just the same feelings they evoke.

Time to lose the guilt and get lost in someone else’s world.

They say there are a limited number of stories to ever be told; that only the names and faces revolve. And sometimes the tale is admittedly in the telling – when the ending to a story is either so obvious or so well-known that it’s not what the reader is there for at all. They may know how it pans out, but what’s keeping them hooked is the mechanics of it all. Like Game Of Thrones readers tackling the TV version, at least before the writers started throwing everyone for a loop ...

But sometimes the twists and turns serve their purpose well, keeping the reader in the dark and searching for glimmers of light as they try to make guesses as to the conclusion. I love that. I love trying to figure it all out and I especially love when writers don’t cheat. In other words, when they manage to lead you down the wrong path, but with the benefit of hindsight, you can go back and find that the pieces do fit together - that it would have been possible to solve the puzzle of the story, if only you had read the clues right. I love that because it makes a second read, maybe even a third or more, still hold fresh value.

And I love it because, much as I like twists and turns, I don’t like knowing that it would have been absolutely impossible for the reader to see it the ending coming. It doesn’t feel fair somehow.

It may sound like I’m talking about crime fiction or thrillers in particular, but for me, the same applies to anything I read. I like being left to unravel the story, following threads and seeing where they might lead. To me, that’s the whole point of any story. The journey.

“All great literature is one of two stories - a man goes on a journey, or a stranger comes to town." - Leo Tolstoy

My pet peeve? Having it all spelled out for me right from the off-set. It smacks of those big Hollywood blockbuster films with their multi-million dollar trailers that contain all the best scenes and leave you wondering why you bothered with the film. Or someone sitting down to tell you an "amusing" story over a pint, but starting with the punchline and heading swiftly downhill from there.

Everyone wants different things out of their reading experiences, I get that. But no matter whether I’m engrossed in a gritty thriller or resting my brain with some mindless fluff, give the game away and any sense of tension is lost. Why should I get invested in characters, root for them, worry for them, if I know they all live happily ever after in the end?

Television works on the same principles for me. Spoilers are tempting. Who doesn’t want to stop living in fear that their favourite character will meet a sticky end? (Daryl Dixon, I’m looking at you, dude ...) But deep down, I know that my heart would plummet into my stomach if I accidentally stumbled across an article that laid it all on the line. The best bit about all my must-watch shows is that oh-my-god-I-need-more feeling.

But sit me down and tell me flat that there are two more seasons and Daryl lives, Beth is lunch, Rick turns walker, Carol gets dead, Maggie puts down walker Glenn, etc, etc ... My reaction isn’t going to be: “Yay, I can’t wait to see!”

It’ll be more like: “Oh. Um, fine. I guess I could go watch that Breaking Bad boxset ...” Then I might stamp on your toe. Hard.

I want to get sucked in. I want to hold my breath, I want to laugh out loud, I want to shed a tear. I want these characters you’ve created to come to life in my head the way they have in yours and, most of all, I want them to matter.

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and, generally, it’s a point well made. But as a rule never to be broken? I call bullshit. Sometimes I can tell plenty from a cover. And one thing I can absolutely guarantee – play your hand in the cover blurb and I won’t bother calling your bluff.

In short, don’t leave thrilling to the thrillers.

I think the quotes might be my favourite part of Goodreads, you know. There’s just something about a beautiful piece of prose or the perfect line of snappy dialogue.

What I think really makes a damn good quote though is when you can tell it just happened – instead of pouring over it, editing and re-editing, it simply flowed onto the page and the writer had a little grin to his or her face because it just worked and they knew it. No tinkering required.

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." - Anton Chekhov

A beautiful quote, and damn good advice.

A certain writer once said: “Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word.”

True story.

And yes, I’m batting two for two with the Stephen King references – I’d have tried to mix it up, but his advice just fits so well and I’m sure any quote you have to go looking for might be the wrong one for the occasion too ... You can quote me on that.

Since this is my first blog post (I’ve been meaning to get into the habit and now seemed as good a time as any), I figured I’d just wing it and see what ends up on the page ...

I should confess I’m really just getting started with trying to familiarise myself with Goodreads.

Until some good friends started to get into the publishing game, I was actually a die-hard ‘real’ books over electronic and so I avoided all the online forums and so forth that go hand-in-hand with that. Now here I am, having taken the plunge into e-publishing myself. Scarier than a Stephen King special on a dark night with the lights out, I can tell ya!

Got that SK reference in pretty early, did I?

Yeah, I’d pretty much read the phonebook if I thought the horror-meister had a hand in writing it.

"I’m as open-minded as the next Literature graduate, but I do have a thing for thrillers and crime fiction and horror, oh my."

But generally, I’m pretty open-minded. My criteria when it comes to what I read are pretty broad. A book’s got to hook me, but then it’s got to reel me in and captivate me. I love vivid worlds I can practically see spilling out in front of me and characters that, whether heroes or villains, make me care about them. I want to love to hate a bad guy, I want to root for the good guy. The only thing I can’t stand is indifference. Anything I read has to make me feel something.

Different genres and different books bring different expectations, but depending on my current choice, I want the shivers down my spine or the breathless anticipation. The tears or the goofy grin. I love the books that leave you an emotional wreck or those that have you flying high.

No cardboard cut-out characters, no plodding predictability and no guarantees – that’s all I ask. I don’t see the point getting invested when all trace of urgency is gone and the outcome has an overwhelming sense of inevitability.

A tale well told. That’s all I ask.