Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Ficts or Faction? What do you prefer?
So, bestselling novelist and Holywood doyen Michael Crichton has won (another) award. So what you cry. As reported elsewhere (here and here), his novels State of Fear and Jurassic Park have received an annual Journalism award from The American Association of Petroleum Geologists.
The award is suposedly made 'in recognition of notable journalistic achievement in any medium which contributes to public understanding of geology, energy resources, or the technology of oil and gas exploration'.
Ergo - we can easily resurect dinosaurs from bits of Amber and fossil (that could make your next trip to the Suffolk coast a bit more interesting), global warming is just a scientific conspiracy (the reason that sea levels are rising is that people are pushing their rulers deeper into the water). Oh, and George Bush has an I.Q. to rival Einstein. Okay, so one of these 'facts' was not investigated by Crichton's 'journalism', but the other two were.
Now is a very confusing time for writers, as the following examples prove:
1. If I write a memoir, in which I've made bits up and sell it as fact, my career will be over and I'll get invited on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
2. If I write the same book and sell it as fiction, no one will publish it.
3. If I insult some religeous beliefs I will have to go into hiding and their will be riots around the world.
4. If I insult other religeons, no one will notice.
5. If I stand in the high street and make generally derogatory claims about a section of the population I will end up in court. I may be equitted, or convicted. I possibly depends on how neat my beard looks.
6. If I stick odd bits of pseudo-science in best-selling novels I will win awards.
7. If I write good science-based books I may get a cult Sci-Fi readership.
8. If I write books about a period of history that (rightly or wrongly) challenge the accepted version of history, I could go to prison for three years and be banned from entering a number of countries around the world.
So, what am I going to do?
A: Try to write another non-controversial article about potatoes!
The award is suposedly made 'in recognition of notable journalistic achievement in any medium which contributes to public understanding of geology, energy resources, or the technology of oil and gas exploration'.
Ergo - we can easily resurect dinosaurs from bits of Amber and fossil (that could make your next trip to the Suffolk coast a bit more interesting), global warming is just a scientific conspiracy (the reason that sea levels are rising is that people are pushing their rulers deeper into the water). Oh, and George Bush has an I.Q. to rival Einstein. Okay, so one of these 'facts' was not investigated by Crichton's 'journalism', but the other two were.
Now is a very confusing time for writers, as the following examples prove:
1. If I write a memoir, in which I've made bits up and sell it as fact, my career will be over and I'll get invited on the Oprah Winfrey Show.
2. If I write the same book and sell it as fiction, no one will publish it.
3. If I insult some religeous beliefs I will have to go into hiding and their will be riots around the world.
4. If I insult other religeons, no one will notice.
5. If I stand in the high street and make generally derogatory claims about a section of the population I will end up in court. I may be equitted, or convicted. I possibly depends on how neat my beard looks.
6. If I stick odd bits of pseudo-science in best-selling novels I will win awards.
7. If I write good science-based books I may get a cult Sci-Fi readership.
8. If I write books about a period of history that (rightly or wrongly) challenge the accepted version of history, I could go to prison for three years and be banned from entering a number of countries around the world.
So, what am I going to do?
A: Try to write another non-controversial article about potatoes!
Saturday, February 18, 2006
The Friendship of Strangers
Firstly, sorry to everyone that's it's taken me so long to get this blog up and running, but the good news is I've had a lot on lately. For full details, take a look at my website:
www.freelance-writer-and-author.co.uk
I'm still quite busy, and next time I might have some more news about a new venture that, at the moment, may or may not go ahead.
At this point I think I ought to make it clear I'm just an ordinary guy, but I seem to have acquired a famous pen-pal. Well, they're on TV anyway, although if I honest I guess most people won't have heard of her (and they're the clues you're getting)!
I won't go into the details of how we got corresponding, but it started with a normal, polite letter to her agent of the type that anyone can send. Just goes to show that anything's possible.
Oh, and stop by the website as it's just been updated with more examples of my work.
Richard
www.freelance-writer-and-author.co.uk
I'm still quite busy, and next time I might have some more news about a new venture that, at the moment, may or may not go ahead.
At this point I think I ought to make it clear I'm just an ordinary guy, but I seem to have acquired a famous pen-pal. Well, they're on TV anyway, although if I honest I guess most people won't have heard of her (and they're the clues you're getting)!
I won't go into the details of how we got corresponding, but it started with a normal, polite letter to her agent of the type that anyone can send. Just goes to show that anything's possible.
Oh, and stop by the website as it's just been updated with more examples of my work.
Richard
Sunday, January 15, 2006
Check back soon to see when this blog goes live.
In the meantime, visit my website at www.freelance-writer-and-author.co.uk
In the meantime, visit my website at www.freelance-writer-and-author.co.uk
