Posts Tagged "digital fiction"

The Focus and The Freak, Concentrate

Posted by The Author on 15 Apr, 2012 in He Writes | Comments Off

I’ve been working for some time with the eminent Vancouver-based writer and sibling of mine, Darren Groth on a series of short young adult novels. The first of these is now available on the Kindle platform.

I’m often asked how we go about collaborating on a work of fiction. While all books are collaborative to some extent, shared authorship duties are relatively rare in our game. To be honest, it took us quite a while to figure out a collaborative approach that worked for us. We tried a few approaches unsuccessfully. Although our styles of writing are not that different from each other, the trick is finding a way to make them flow together. What we realised is that every project needs a champion and, while sharing text is relatively easy, a story’s vision can’t be doled out in a 50/50 split. Concentrate, a young adult novel, marked the first time we worked as a writing team, each of us taking on roles as necessary to serve the story. Here’s how I described the process three years ago:

We have tried collaboration before a few times. We tried taking alternate chapters. We tried taking on different characters. Nothing really worked and I consigned the whole endeavour to the ‘revisit one of these days’ file. Little did I know Darren was hatching his own variation on the concept.

What we eventually hit on was taking alternate drafts. The result was similar to writer-editor only with the editor taking a far more active role adding character layers and additional narrative. Our model was less ’50 per cent text each’ and something more like what Joel and Ethan Cohen do: share the writing credits where one or the other might take the lead on any individual project. Seems to work well for them. Why not us? We are already brothers after all.

Column Inches

Posted by The Author on 14 Nov, 2011 in He Writes, Stuff That Happens | Comments Off

I’ve started a regular column in Brisbane newspaper the Courier-Mail pointing to cool or interesting things in the booky-technology area: apps, audiobooks, webby things, and so on.

It appears to be a print-only experience thus far, but locals can check it out in Saturday’s LIFE section.

Each column includes links so, if you can’t get a copy of the paper, you can at least see what’s piquing my interest this week via the link timeline.

Speech at The Reader

Posted by The Author on 19 May, 2011 in Digital Publishing, Stuff That Happens | Comments Off

I recently spoke at The Reader, an if:book Australia symposium on booky/digitally stuff. Hardly surprising that I spoke when I was the one organising it, but still worth a mention since I squeezed a few good riffs on digital publishing cliches via a drinking game.

Chugalug.

Simon Groth from if:book Australia on Vimeo.

Here it is

Posted by The Author on 3 Apr, 2011 in Here Today, Stuff That Happens | Comments Off

It’s been a long time coming, but Here Today is now available in both print and digital.

The novel was shortlisted in the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards in the emerging Queensland author category.

Astrid Reinhart is a stand-in therapist seriously out of her depth. Martin Finn, a successful novelist whose stroke has left him with the rare ‘locked-in syndrome’, wants Astrid to help him write his story — one letter at a time. Featuring stories published literary journals, Meanjin, Overland, and Island, Here Today is an affecting and sometime comic reflection on life with an unexpected twist in its tail. Like the stories of its characters, Here Today is a novel that demands to be heard.

Download the novel for your preferred ereader for free or order a print copy for US$17.95 plus postage.

New story published: Polysomnogram

Posted by The Author on 10 Sep, 2010 in He Writes, Stuff That Happens | Comments Off

The kind editors at Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k) have once again confirmed their taste and style, choosing to publish my story Polysomnogram in their august electronic pages.

A polysomnogram is a test performed on people with suspected sleeping disorders; in this case narcolepsy.

Polysomnogram is an exploration of the ideas and techniques I would use for my second novel, None of the Other Flies Follow My Crooked Lines. Juggling work and a young family, I found my writing hours relegated to the hours of eleven and three. I suspect stories about sleep disorders were a natural consequence.

Whenever I told people I was working on a story whose main character has narcolepsy, people often assumed I was writing a comedy. Although the story has what I hope are amusing moments, Ryan’s narcolepsy is never played for laughs, though it is a handy device to rely on when your scene runs out of steam and you need a quick transition to the next.

So? What are you waiting for?

Read Polysomnogram (should be a permanent link).

Enjoy the rest of Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k).