Tuesday, 11 February 2025

Going out of your comfort zone

Going out of your comfort zone



Sometimes you need for the sake of sanity and progress to push yourself out of your comfort zone. It is easy to stay firmly where you feel safe, and my safe is writing books for children and doodling – mostly mammoths. But recently I’ve pushed myself out of the realms of comfortable – with a little nudge from another mammoth mad person who shares my first name – and into the world of paleo art.


This has in full disclosure included some of my more usual style illustrations of cute cuddly mammoths including making a Top Trunks display boards based on extinct Proboscidea, and comic strips on how poo fossilises and turns into coprolite. But also into something I haven’t done since studying fine art at university or perhaps my art foundation course, which is nearly three decades ago, creating accurate drawings. In this case studies of fossils and what the animals the fossils came from would have looked like when they were alive.

 

The work is considerably more intricate and time consuming, than crating cuddy mammoths, but it is as enjoyable as it is frustrating. I cracked out the good pencils rather than my usual wax crayons and got started. It was a learning curb. I found it easy to get so focused on the details, that I would forget to step back to ensure it was working as a whole, so I had to remind myself to do this at regular intervals.

 

I also felt mammoth amounts of imposter syndrome, with my brain constantly telling me that’ I am no good’. And that ‘I shouldn’t be doing it’. it got so bad that I ventured up into the attic and got down a framed print, that I had brought for my son when he was doing his GCSE art, saying ‘An expert in something was once a beginner,’ and put it beside me whilst I worked. It was to remind me that although I may have a degree in fine art, have been a professional artist, and have a lot of people who are very fond of my mammoths, I am only starting out as a paleo artist – and that I shouldn’t be too harsh on myself.

 

In general I think that the finished pieces vary in quality, but I am proud of them, especially some of the later ones which shows improvement especially considering I only embarked on this endeavour in August

So my point is that this has shown me just how important and healthy it is to explore places out of your comfort zone.












Wednesday, 18 December 2024

Interviewing Your Protagonist – (and other synopsis wrangling adventures!)






The synopsis = every writer’s nemesis! Fitting your story on one, single spaced, twelve point, Times New London font, page of text. WITHOUT fudging the margins. Whilst communicating all the plot points, story arc, character development and if well executed retaining some of the book’s voice. It is awful, time consuming and often very frustrating to create.


Drawing by my daughter CIRCA 2013!

 

A few months ago I came to the point of the dreaded synopsis writing. Usually I do a reverse snowflake – I write it all out and then cut it down. I start by halving each paragraph and then each sentence until it fits on to the page. But this time it wasn’t working so I tried a new technique.



 

Upon advice from one of my agents Callen, I interviewed my protagonist. I initially found it a hard concept to wrap my brain around, So I started by creating an image of me and my character together in a chat show style setting and  then went about conducting the interview. I was sceptical as my main character isn’t a lover of talking about herself or doing public speaking. I know this as she’s interviewed in the manuscript, and she tends to lock up and say very little.





However I was in for a surprise, for I hadn’t taken everything into account. Usually my main character is interviewed with her friends as a group, including her bestie who is very confident and verbose. However on a 1-2-1 situation, she really opened up when recounting her version of the adventures that take place in the book. FOUR AND A HALF A4 PAGES worth of opening up! I was left with a way too long synopsis, but I also learnt a lot more about the character in the process which was great.



 

But this then left me with 3 synopsises - A blurb type single paragraph synopsis. A one-page synopsis of an older draft and this epic four-page interview synopsis. I knew that between the three I could sow a ‘Frankenstein style’ synopsis together by adopting the Roald Dahl literal Cut and Paste editing method – and resorting to scissors and glue. Then I used my tried and tested of halving each paragraph until it was right. 



Taking the plunge and tackling the synopsis from an interview stance has taught me that when you are stuck and blocked, then a change an approach can work wonders.





Saturday, 30 November 2024

Remembrance Day For Lost Species by Human Activity


Today 30h November is, ‘Remembrance Day For Lost Species by Human Activity’. It a day dedicated to the species of animals that humans have had a hand in their extinction, to raise awareness about our impact on other species especially those which are endangered.


 

From the pin up of all extinction caused by humans – the dodo, where our activities, not only, wiped them out in its natural habit in Mauritius, but we now know that we shot what we knew at the time to be last living specimen, which was executed in captivity in Oxford (read more here) . To its cousin the Passenger Pigeon that once had flocks so large that it would block out the sun when they migrated across North America, which were hunted to extinction in just a few decades.



From The Great Auk, that tragically we knew we’d hunted to near extinction, and in bid to gain more knowledge about how to conserve the species, we killed the last living specimens in the name of research. To the Thylacine or Tasmanian Tiger that we hunted to extinction and carelessly let the last one was freeze to death when a zookeeper failed to let it in one winter night.

Of course as its me so I can’t not mention the mighty mammoth where is looks increasing likely that our activities played a role in their demise. Sadly the list of tragic cases like these go on.

So I thought I’d do a little post on recommended documentaries and of course books that tie in with this important theme.

Extinct – Channel Four Documentary series is free to stream and its accompanying book by Simon Furman





This series looks at six different extinct species and dedicates an episode to investigating what cased their demises. There are some where humans did not cause their extinction but others where we with varying levels, had a hand in their ultimate fate. It is definitely worth having a watch/read.




Lost Animals a Photographic record by Errol Fuller




This is a very poignant book, which does exactly what it says on the tin. It shows the last photographs – sometimes grainy or out of focus as many were taken when photography was a new science/art form, of a species before they became extinct. In many case the species were already functionally extinct with no way to reverse the process and knowing that the person behind the camera were aware that they were making a historical record of an animal that soon not to frequent the planet is very sobering.

Weird and Wonderful Extinct Animals by Cristina Banfi and illustrated by Rossella Frionfretti





This is a beautifully illustrated non-fiction picture book, which is a great introduction to the subject for children. It starts with an easy and un-scary but informative introduction to extinction, what it is, what causes it, including a paragraph about how humans can contribute of cause extinction of other species.

It than has double pages dedicated to extinct fauna, with illustrations and facts, on some there is an explanation to why they went extinct and if we as a species had a part to play in their demise. About three questers of the way through there’s a page about extinction here and now, which includes a section about what we are a species and as individually can do to stop of slow the process of extinction.


Endangered by Tim Finch




This is hefty but beautiful coffee table photographic book. That feature exquisite photographs of endangered species. This can be used as a call to arms, seeing all the animals that need our help with conservation efforts to stop them sliding out of existence. But most poignantly is the page desiccated to the already extinct passenger Pigeon, with a beautiful but sobering photograph of a taxidermy specimen of the last known of its kind that died in captivity. What a bold editorial choice to juxtapose it with the full colour high definition images of existing but endangered animals. It really hones the point, that these creatures could be next if our species don’t modify our behaviours.

I do hope some of you read or watch these recommendations. It’s a tough subject but we can learn so much from the past, and there are lesson we should definitely teach to the next generation, in order to stop these type of tragedies occurring again.

Bear in mind we human although the most destructive animals on Earth, we also are unique in as much a we care about other species. We are curios and we care for the other fauna and flora we share the world with, so lest put these attributes to good use!