Blog Archives - A. R. Levett

Writing Advice: Natasha Lester's How to Write the Beginning of a Novel: 10 Things You Shouldn’t Do

29/5/2015

Beginnings are often a hard place to work on: what should I include or leave out, which characters should I introduce, how much should I describe the world, and so on. In this fantastic article, Natasha Lester explains the shoulds and should-nots of writing the beginning of a novel.

http://www.natashalester.com.au/2014/11/05/write-beginning-novel-10-things-shouldnt/

I know I can be guilty of numbers 5 and 7 from time to time. Which ones are you guilty of?

Book Review: Enter Night - Metallica the Biography

28/5/2015

Mick Wall’s Enter Night: Metallica the Biography is an insightful exploration of the band’s journey from kids who could barely play their instruments to becoming one of the biggest bands in history.

Wall documents the band’s uncertain beginnings of New Wave of British Heavy Metal fanatics, tennis-prodigy-turned-drummer Lars Ulrich and shy guitarist James Hetfield. The alcohol-fuelled exploits of original lead-guitarist Dave Mustaine got Metallica the attention they wanted, leading them to pioneer the thrash-metal genre. It wasn’t until the cool-headed Kirk Hammett replaced the extreme Mustaine and the mature, symphonic-minded lead-bassist Cliff Burton evolved their sound on Ride the Lightning (1984) and Master of Puppets (1986) that their popularity rose. Although going on to become one of the world’s biggest bands with …And Justice for All (1988) and Metallica (1991), it was Cliff’s death in a 1986 bus accident that set the band on the turbulent path that followed. Urged by management Q-Prime to replace Cliff and continue touring, the band never mourned their influential bassist and friend, instead taking out their grief on his replacement, Jason Newsted, who left the band in 2001 when their continued abuse became too much. Wall follows the band through their 90s musical “evolution”, their fall from public graces with Ulrich’s lawsuit against Napster, and Hetfield’s disintegration from his unresolved grief and excessive lifestyle, before commenting on their still-born album St Anger (2003), Robert Trujillo’s appointment as bassist, and the band’s return to form with Death Magnetic (2008).

Wall portrays Ulrich as someone with his finger on the pulse of the music business, Hetfield as a troubled individual, and Hammett as a chilled-out nerd. Despite the band’s aggressive attitude, Wall turns them into identifiable individuals by revealing their deeper sides. Wall precedes each chapter with his different personal experiences with the band over the decades, which adds authenticity. Historical and present interviews with band members and people important to the band’s success, including debut album financers Johnny and Marsha Z, album producers Flemming Rasmussen, Bob Rock, and Rick Rubin, as well as friends, journalists, and supporters, flesh out the story. Mustaine features prominently, lamenting about the band sacking him.

While the biography provides much depth on the band and the music industry they grew up in, early chapters overburden readers with unnecessary detail, while recent events are glossed over. Importantly, Newsted’s involvement is only briefly explored in favour of reflecting on what Cliff might have thought of the band’s evolution, making the biography a necessary elegy to Cliff.

While much of the writing is good, unfortunately it contains an abundance of run-on sentences and other grammatical and spelling errors that make for some confusing reading at times.

Overall, Enter Night is an insightful look into how who we are influences everything we do. If you’re a Metallica fan, I recommend the book. Likewise if you’re interested in reading about one of the world’s biggest bands. Anyone else probably won’t enjoy it.

3 1/2 stars.

Event: 'RETOLD: Old Tales, New Voices' Book Launch

21/5/2015

You are cordially invited to the launch of RETOLD: Old Tales, New Voices, an anthology of short stories from KSP's Writers' Circle, featuring stories from Glen Bain, Helen Doran-Wu, James Driscoll, A. R. Levett, Tabetha Rogers Beggs, and Lisa Wolstenholme. See the flyer below for the details.

Please RSVP to arlevettauthor@gmail.com by 5pm 19 June 2015.

If you would like to pre-order copies, please let me know how many in your RSVP. Pre-orders can be purchased for the special launch price of $8 each and for each book pre-ordered or purchased at the launch will reward you with two tickets in the draw for one of three prizes.

Game Review: 'Beyond: Two Souls'

17/5/2015

Like Quantic Dream’s previous game, Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls is an interactive psychological thriller that moves players with its emotionally sensitive supernatural story about protagonist Jodie Holmes (Ellen Page).

Jodie has a psychic link with Aiden, an incorporeal being from the Infra-world (the land of the dead) who she has lived with since a young age. The game tells their story from their first, scary encounter when Jodie is a young girl, to when Jodie, as a young woman, uses Aiden’s powers to work as a CIA spy, while, at the same time, finding Aiden’s presence unbearable in some life situations.

Players can switch between Jodie, who interacts with the world as you would expect her to, and Aiden, who can move through walls, interact with certain objects, and offer Jodie psychic connections with dead characters. These abilities serve to help the player progress through the game’s environments and obstacles. Most of this is controlled through simple button presses or controller movements, which an onscreen prompt alerts players to.

Most stages need to be explored to progress the story or are simply interactions with other characters, but others offer different experiences, such as a car-chase, fighting, stealth, and shooting. These differing styles of gameplay create a conflicting tone the game’s tone at times, however, they offer players more variety and help drive the narrative.

At certain points during the game, players are given the ability to influence the story, allowing them to choose how Jodie reacts to certain events. This is novel and immerses the player more. However, unlike Heavy Rain, many choices are inconsequential. Yet, where this made Heavy Rain a cumbersome beast, it makes Beyond: Two Souls a more manageable story. Although this means the story is more linear, it creates for a more cohesive and enjoyable experience.

The story is told out of chronological order, flashing from the past to the present and back again. While this can be a little confusing occasionally, it flows really well and creates the sense of disturbance Jody experiences. Unfortunately, some story elements, such as the infra-world, are not fully fleshed out, yet this doesn’t prevent it from being an enjoyable experience. Further, the nonlinear narrative creates a few issues where characters who died suddenly show up in a later scene, but fortunately this is so rare that it isn’t story breaking.

The story deals with themes of loss, of parents, friends, and a normal life, rejection for being different, and the need to let go of loved ones. Although the story leans on Hollywood clichés at times, it authentically represents the emotional life of a gifted young woman.

The actors playing the lead characters, Page as Jodie and Willem Dafoe as Nathan, give convincing portrayals of their characters throughout the game, both through their voice acting and the motion capture their character’s movements are based on. This adds to the games emotional centre. The supporting cast also give great performances.

The soundtrack enhances the game’s emotional elements, much like a Hollywood film’s soundtrack does, revving up for the action scenarios and becoming more subtle during emotional moments.

Graphically, the game offers near photo-realistic depictions of the characters and environments. For the most part, they run very smoothly, however, slowdown is present in a few effect-ladden areas. Fortunately, this doesn’t detract from the gameplay.

People seeking innovative gameplay mechanics will find this game lacking, since it is essentially about pressing buttons when prompted and making choices at the appropriate moments. However, those seeking an engaging interactive story won’t be disappointed. Recommend.

4 Stars.

'Daddy's Little Girl' review

8/5/2015

Julia Latchen-Smith’s memoir, Daddy’s Little Girl, tells the story of the author’s experiences being sexually abused by her father from the time she was eight until she was a teenager. Julia’s initially normal family becomes dysfunction after several moves and her mother becomes obsessive about keeping the house clean. Her coldness drives her towards her loving father who takes advantage of his daughter during their time alone. While the few instances of sexual abuse Latchen-Smith documents are horrifying, the memoir focuses on Julia’s emotional turmoil, and is more powerful for this. The primary struggle Julia suffers is knowing that her father’s actions are wrong, but not wanting to lose his love by telling others. For much of her youth, she struggles with keeping their “secret” and the desire to tell others. Julia confesses a few times and receives help from friends and agencies, but before long she misses her family and is pressured into dropping the case so she can return home. The story continues into Julia’s adulthood, where she struggles to maintain a good relationship because of her father’s abuse, which eventually leads to prosecuting her father.

Latchem-Smith’s tale is both horrifying and enlightening. It’s horrifying because of the physical and emotional experiences she endures; it’s enlightening because it exposes what children suffer through when they have abusive parents. Her story reveals that parents and family aren’t always the best role models, that parents have power of their children through the love they give them, and that love can control us and lead us into harmful situations.

The story is as compelling as it is horrifying. Readers will cringe as Julia returns to perilous situations but understand her actions because Latchem-Smith provides readers with a lot of insight into her thinking processes at the time. It is well written and while it is very engaging for the first two thirds, the last third seems somewhat distant, probably because they occurred close to publication and she was too close to be able to effectively portray them. Still, this memoir explores very pertinent issues, exposing what lies behind closed doors, and reveals how much children depend on their parents. If you think you can stomach the moments of unsavoury material, which aren’t overly graphic, I recommend it.

3 stars.

Local Personal Branding Workshop

7/5/2015

Whether you're an emerging author or a small business, there's no doubt that personal branding is an important part of getting your name and work out there in today's e-commerce driven world. Local WA photographer, teacher, and writer, Julissa Shrewsbury, founder and director of New Work Photography, is running an intensive Personal Branding workshop on 29 May 2015 from 8.30am to 12.30pm at The West Australian Club in Perth. Having known Julissa for several years and watching her business grow, I can testify that she really knows her stuff and that you will be in good hands at her workshop.

For more details on the workshop, please check out her Personal Branding website.

KSP Writers' Centre Open Day

2/5/2015

This Sunday, 3 May 2015, is the KSP Writers' Centre Open Day. They have a full program of events, including readings from the centre's writers groups, a special presentation by Nathan Hobby on Katharine Susannah Prichard, a book launch of the Blackboy Hill is Calling Centenary of ANZAC project, a 'pop-up' bookshop and so much more. Please tell anyone interested in investing in or developing their writing to come along to see what we have to offer.

See the flyer below and KSP's website for more details.

I look forward to seeing you there.

'The Stone Gods' review

1/5/2015

Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods is a fascinating exploration of modern society, the circular mindedness of human nature, and timeless love.

The story begins in a futuristic post-apocalyptic science-fiction world, Orbus, which humanity has almost destroyed with its wars, greed, and perversions, which are taken to their extremes. This creates a surprisingly realistic world. When protagonist Billie is framed for terrorist actions, the corporate-governing body sends her and a crew to Planet Blue, humanity’s chance to start again. The scheduled-for-termination robo-Sapiens, Spike, a life-like artificial intelligence, sneaks aboard and forms a relationship with Billie. Things go awry when the ship’s captain miscalculates the trajectory of a meteor they send towards Planet Blue to kill the dinosaurs.

The story then shifts to periods in Earth’s history, such as Easter Island during the eighteenth century. Versions of Billie and Spike resurface in these stories. These sections, which fantasise history, are somewhat confusing, not matching the tone of the rest of the novel, and are it’s least compelling parts.

In the final sections, the story shifts to a near-future time after a war, called Post-3 War, devastates Western society. A corporation takes over governing society in Tech-City. Billie resurfaces as a woman training a primitive robo-Sapiens, also called Spike, who was created to make humanity’s big decisions, since humanity can’t be trusted to do this anymore. As part of Spike’s training, Billie takes her to Wreck City, where people who refuse to be ruled by a corporation live in ruins. Again, things go awry for Billie, who makes a shocking and powerful discovery.

As with many of Winterson’s novels, the final version of Billie confronts issues of maternal abandonment. This section is powerfully emotional, and, given the contents of Winterson’s memoir, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, is perhaps wish fulfilment.

The Stone Gods reflects on modern society, the destructive nature of our “war on terror”, and humanity’s constant repetition of its mistakes, despite commitments not to do so. It criticises capitalism as a self-consuming social system that seemingly offers people opportunities while simultaneously taking away their rights and freedoms. It is a very poignant and powerful story that comes highly recommended.

4 stars

Sharon Lippincott's Seven Secrets of Writing

1/5/2015

Author, teacher, and life-writing advocate Sharon Lippincott recently shared her Seven Secrets of Writing and they're all poignant. I highly recommend all budding authors check them out.

Thanks to Rosanne Dingli for the link.