Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

I thought I would write briefly, to take a break from my reading (which has mostly been about the process of writing). A lot of the books offer similar viewpoints when it comes to the creative process; they urge writers to train their mind to access the unconscious, almost like some sort of martial discipline, and harness and manipulate it. And they talk about the benefits of being able to do so.

When I write, though, I’m not in charge of my unconscious like that – at least I don’t think I am. I don’t plan or structure anything very much, and often the process of writing is a surprising one. It feels as though, although you can attempt to harness it, the unconscious is something like an untrained animal; it is ultimately the animal that pulls you along, and not the other way around.

A project might start as one thing, and over time turn into something else entirely. But that’s what makes it such an interesting thing – writing and the unconscious both.

And speaking of the unconscious, here is an article on brain music, which I just thought was interesting, and a good way to wrap up the blog.

Zombie spiders were scary, but what I’ve just heard is equally so.

In a matter of moments, I have gone from happy, smiling James, to rotten, moody James.

All day, I’ve been writing downstairs, alone in the flat. It was down to the television to keep me company, and it wasn’t doing too badly. But then my flatmate walked in. Since I had been closeted away working all day, it had been almost an entire day since I last spoke to a real human being, so it was pretty awesome to see him.

When he sat down, though, it was clear that something had upset him. He told me about his neck, which had just been injured in a car accident. It’s whiplash, and there’s not much he can do about it from the sounds of it. The driver sped off the moment he knew my friend was not seriously hurt.

Now, this article says that there are vast numbers of people driving without insurance, and there’s certainly a whiff of this about what happened to my friend today. Or maybe he’s one of the people who forget to renew their MOT, but that ultimately leads to a car without insurance anyway. Or maybe I’m jumping to conclusions.

But suppose I’m right. And suppose this article on fraudulent insurance claims is right. Is the recession really to blame? And if it is, then can we assume that the recession is behind what happened to my friend today as well? I don’t know. After all, it’s easy to label things like that.

But driving without insurance is dangerous, regardless of who or what is to blame; it’s dangerous for others on the road as well as for the driver. Of course, I might be reading too much into it, but it’s certainly left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. And it wasn’t even me that got injured in the accident.

I have found a video on You Tube – a documentary – on Philip Pullman, and I’m glad I did, because it does not just discuss his work, it discusses how he works, and how writers do the things they do is something I’m always very interested in.

What caught my attention was the talk on third person perspective. He discussed the power of the narrator, and the usefulness of writing omnisciently; how it’s possible to pop in and out of minds, and go here, and go there. It offers so much more than the narrow confines of the first person perspective.

Until now, I haven’t paid this too much attention. It is natural for me to write in third person, so that’s how I write. I write in a very matter-of-fact way, and, it occurs to me, there is always a narrator’s voice present. And it’s true: it allows you do say things that younger characters just wouldn’t say, and it’s an incredibly useful tool.

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Elsewhere, there is a scary news story here. Especially if you are frightened of spiders – the only thing more frightening than spiders is undead spiders.
It must have come to quite a surprise to the man experimenting with them, to see them rising from the dead. But then, I suppose, it serves him right for conducting an experiment where he kills things.

Zombie spiders. Somehow, I never really expected to use those words in the same sentence.

For a while now, house prices have been falling quickly and frequently. And it has seemed endless. But recently things seem to be picking up. But, for some, I think, there are benefits to the recession – low house prices, particularly.

My brother is a student, and he pays a lot of money each term to live in a flat that isn’t really worth it. But since there will always be students who need accommodation, there will always be people who benefit from this. I suppose it’s no wonder that parents are being urged to think about buying property around universities.
And for this brother, who has no house to sell, the falling prices in housing don’t really affect him – or, at least, they are far more beneficial than they are not. He can buy a house, and know it will probably be worth more before too long.

But there are very definitely signs that things are picking up. Retail sales in the UK picked last month, after falling drastically recently. It’s no more than a tiny speck of hope, but it certainly suggests that things might be changing. For that matter, so too does this article on house prices. They have been falling recently, like everything else, but it appears to be slowing.

With this in mind, it’s probably worth waiting a little while if you want to sell your house. And, of course, on the other hand, it seems we won’t be able to buy excessively cheap houses for very much longer.

My brother said to me the other day,that being a student at the moment is a bit like being in a bubble. Things happen that you have no control over, and there are things you don’t even see because of this bubble, but inside, everything is fairly constant.

And now, finally, it looks like some of that stillness might be returning to society

I’ve said it before, and written about it before, but, I’ll say it again. To me, writing fiction is like going on holiday without a map. Of course, for everyone, the process of writing is different – for some there is a lot of planning – but for me, it’s an adventure in its own right. Because when I start, I might have a vague idea of where I want it to go, but it’s very much unplanned. And as such, it’s not unheard of for characters to say or do things that surprise me, because I get in their heads and write as I go along. For me, that’s part of what makes it so fun.

I’ve linked to this before, but I’ll do it again: Neil Gaiman has a written a short piece on where writers get their ideas, and it’s a wonderful read. I think, for me, most of my ideas stem from a simple question:

“What if?”

Recently, I saw a statue surrounded by four animals that looked like birds. And I thought … what if, somehow, this woman was protecting the inhabitants of the city. What if, when that bird comes and hangs around my house, it is only pretending to drink from my bird pond, because, really, it has been sent by the statue to look after me?

I like to stop and think about ideas, sometimes, and think about where they come from. And how they develop over time, as well. One story that I wrote quite recently is an alternate history piece, and I thought I had finished it. I showed it to a few people, and they liked it, which is always good. But then I showed it to some other people, and they pointed out where it could be better. I changed some things around, working into the piece like clay. Now it’s definitely a better piece, but the idea has become more than simply alternate history as well.

Lately, however, I sit down at my desk, about to write – and the words are slow in coming. I’ve got a feeling that it’s connected to the mess around my workspace; those pieces of paper, all the pens, and loose bits and bobs lying around. I look at it all, and grumble. And I wonder why the hell I don’t make use of my perfectly good folder. It’s not that I think a messy desk makes me look busy … it’s just laziness, I guess.

Many is the time I’ve bought a folder, and very much planned to use it, but forgotten. Or I’ve put it off, because using it means having a good old fashioned tidy up. But then I get lazy, and now I can’t even find the folders I did have. Even as I type this, I’m already thinking of ways to put off buying new ones. But I need to, because it’s starting to affect my writing, and that’s not good. So it’s time to investigate stationary suppliers and stationers, I think. It’s very definitely time to sort this mess out.

I think, actually, that I might still have some Staples vouchers somewhere, which could get me into gear a bit quicker (if they’re good ones), but I really can’t remember.

Better get looking, I suppose.

If you look for it, mythology is everywhere. It permeates society today, and, deep down, it seems people have an inherent interest in it. The head-without-a-body, which I wrote about yesterday, is a powerful symbol, and I was fascinated by how recreation of such a head, supposedly talking, was drawing in crowds.

So when I found this story today, it made me smile. It’s about a cow; but not just any cow. They’re calling it a “super-cow”.

It has a strong and very compelling connection to mythology. These Heck cows are an attempt to recreate Aurochs, a previously extinct type of ox, which was both huge and hugely terrifying. It is an animal that has been worshipped as a sacred animal – the Lunar Bull, and is associated with the Great Godess. So it really is a “super cow.”

So we now have these mighty beasts walking Britain for the first time in 4,000 years, which is quite a cool thought.

And to finish for now, because it’s nice to end on something funny (and true), I thought I’d mention this, by Mitch Benn. it seems that I have been quite slow in finding this — but it’s very true, and very funny.

There is a free Beyonce concert coming up in London, so I thought I would start with this, which I came across on You Tube today. Apparently it’s advertising for it, and it will probably very good if this dance is anything to go by. I quite like things like this, staged to feel almost spontaneous.

It reminds me a little bit of the T-Mobile advert in London Liverpool Street station – although, of course, this one is much bigger, and much better.

It’s an entertaining and intriguing form of advertising. I’m sure, after a while, it could get old if everyone keeps doing it, it steel feels fresh enough to be enjoyable. And musicians are the perfect people to employ it, because their music will always be different, and it opens the stage for different live, and seemingly spontaneous performances.

Apparently this talking head has been raking in the crowds. I find it particularly interesting at the moment, because I’m looking at the mythology behind heads-without-bodies for some writing I’m doing. It’s an image that’s seen throughout myth around the world. As an example, it features quite heavily in Celtic mythology, where it’s supposed to be some sort of link to a higher plane.

To see how the image still has a hold over people today is pretty cool.

If you would like some uplifting news to brighten up your day, and if you are yet to see the video of Susan Boyle singing on You Tube – you might want to check this out. And the video here, which is quite simply wonderful. In a matter of days, it has been viewed thousands of times across the world.

In other news, as I logged on to my computer today, I was greeted by the news that Jeeves, our resident butler, is returning to the Ask search engine. Although, it seems, it’s only in the UK.

Reading the story made me realise two things. First of all, that I never really knew that Jeeves had gone. I didn’t use Ask, and even though, on occasions, I saw it, and saw that Jeeves wasn’t there on the webpage anymore, I still thought of it as Ask Jeeves, rather than just Ask.

Secondly, having a know-it-all butler at your fingertips feels a little like being Bruce Wayne, or something. It’s a great idea for a search engine.

According to the article, I wasn’t the only one that still associated Ask with Ask Jeeves. In fact, the vast majority were in the same boat.

So, the man is back. And although I probably still won’t use him very much, something about it feels good. Natural, almost. Welcome back, Jeeves!

I find Moby’s new track (that I linked to yesterday) to be fantastic to write to. It perfectly blends rhythm and calming, relaxing tones, and it has been on repeat on my computer for a while now, helping me to get through a fair amount of work.

Daniel, by Bat for Lashes, is much the same. Her voice is like silk, trailing through a forbidden forest.

I stumbled across this article today, and very much wanted to blog about it here. It’s incredibly interesting, and offers hope for amputees. If people can get feeling back in their hands, hopefully it can lead to fully working hands (and limbs) down the line.

On a completely different note, this story put a smile on my face. Hopefully times will not get so hard as to need an ark like that, but I suppose you never know.

And to wrap up these random musings, if you haven’t seen Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal against FC Porto this week, check it out here. In fact, even if you have seen it, you will want to see it again. It is very possibly the best goal ever.

Work wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, after so long off. I suppose it’s usually the case – it just never feels like it’s going to be. But I’m back now, and it’s all kinds of brilliant.

Recently, the news has been dominated by piracy, with the Somali pirates becoming very much active again. So I thought I’d write a bit about it. They come packing rockets and machine guns, and it’s horrible stuff to read about; undoubtedly it will be even more scary for anyone caught in their sights.

But on one occasion, this huge group of dolphins came to the rescue. And it’s just a fantastic story. The pirates come in small boats, so they were well and truly stumped at the sight of such vast numbers, swimming and jumping in the sea before them.

That the dolphins chose that exact moment to surface, and how things could have turned out so differently if they waited perhaps just one more minute – it’s remarkable. Almost as if they knew what was happening.

Just to finish, I’ll point you in the direction of Moby’s new track, which sounds beautiful and ghostly. I’m listening to it as I write, and it’s both haunting and relaxing in equal measure.