Lowering the tone

This should really be a Friday photo post. But, if I don't post this, I'll start squealing hysterically about how much I've taken on... and how the paralysis has set in... and I don't want to bore you all to death.

Anyway, I tried really hard to walk past this - (the security men outside Siam Paragon department store are always telling me off for taking pictures) - but you know what? I couldn't ignore it. I had to retrace my steps, hide behind a sign and take it anyway because it made me chuckle.

I read somewhere recently that the British are ridiculed by the rest of the world because their sense of humour includes being amused at body part/bodily function jokes... I was a bit sniffy at the time, deciding that I didn't include myself in that. I don't get Monty Python; it's silly not funny. But most boys I know (that's old and young) are definitely more into lavatorial humour than I am.

Until I moved away from the UK, I never even considered the notion of whether I was typically British or not.

But, hey, look at this; it seems I am after all.

It is just me.

Is everyone out there intuitive about writing novels? Do you know how to do it without being told or reading up on it - just because you’re readers (or natural writers)? Do you have an innate understanding of structure?

Am I the only one struggling to understand how and what to do?

I’ve had another moment of realisation. In our house we call it an ‘Ohhhh, it’s a scythe…’ moment. (I think this is something to do with Monty Python, but I’m not sure. I don’t really appreciate MP humour I just know that the moment something dawns on you, you say ‘Ohhh, it’s a scythe.’)

Usually I call them epiphanies but I think I’m leading us all astray. I don’t think it’s true; these aren’t Archimedes type eureka moments. I can’t call them epiphanies when actually what I’m having are plain and simple moments of clarity through the fog of my stupid brain. As the lovely Hugh Laurie says as George in Blackadder: 'I'm thick. I'm as thick as the big print version of the Complete Works of Charles Dickens.' Exactly.

When I read I see what writers do to make me feel something. I did English A Level, I wrote essays on what techniques the writer employed to achieve something… I thought I understood enough but I don’t.

So my ‘clearing of the fog’ moment was while reading ‘Story’ (Robert McKee) which I first heard about in the days when I lurked at Kate Harrison’s blog, imagining myself one day being brave enough to actually do it.

Do you know what? I thought the hard part was saying out loud ‘I want to write.’ I thought the writing bit was going to be a doddle. Ha. Serves me right.

And just as I thought I was done here, Doctor Dictionary landed his email in my inbox, telling me the word for the day is neophyte.

Hmmm, I think he means me.