The Jam Magazine's Blog

More autumnal news!

So the first week of November is nearly at an end, this meaning that there has already been a good number of words written for National Novel Writing Month on my behalf, as well as many others thanks to the many, many people participating in this brilliant event. It is far too much fun.

Speaking of which, the deadline for submitting your play for UnScene is the fourteenth of November – get playwriting! Similarly, we really do need sumbissions for the Jam, so even if you have something you’ve written a good while ago, please send it. We’ve had nothing so far and we really want this year to be a good one for us. Seriously, submit anything – and don’t worry, we’ll give you constructive criticism when you send it in. We want to create a very supportive writing community for all you writers at Royal Holloway.

Thank you so much,

your Editor.

NaNoWriMo and submissions

Hello all!

This weekend is an exciting one indeed – not only is it Hallowe’en tomorrow, it’s also the last weekend before National Novel Writing Month gets going. If you’re not doing it then, well, you’re probably much wiser than I, but if you are then good luck! I’m sure it’ll be a great month for all of us, and even if the month isn’t too successful, then at least you know what NaNo is like. If you aren’t doing NaNo, then you will have more time for [segue]…

Submitting your work to the Jam Magazine! We are in desperate need of submissions right now, and getting some in in reading week is pretty much essential. So whether you’re doing NaNo or writing for any other occasion, get to it. Put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and have a fantastic time while doing it.

Lots of writing love,

your Editor.

A Message From the Sub-Editor

Hi everyone,

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for voting me in as your Sub-editor. I promise to work hard on ‘Jam’, so that together we can make it (excuse the cheap puns here!) an appetising and sweet success. A true conserve of literary wealth, which we can share and spread amongst our Holloway peers, and beyond.

I won’t bore you all at this stage with any lengthy discussion on my background and what experiences I can bring to this newspaper. Partly because I feel I should keep this short… but mostly because I’d much rather bore you all individually anyway… in person. That way I can re-tell stories over and over and keep my rather sizeable ego happy.  I’m kidding of course.

Really, all I would like to say for now is a big thank you once more for your support. I hope what I am able to offer to the publication will go some small way in repaying your trust, and I hope together we can take ‘Jam’ to new heights. I really believe we can do it together, but we mustn’t be afraid of a little hard work along the way… starting of course with the launch of our first issue in week 7. So let’s get those beautiful submissions underway!

Thank you for listening, and I look forward to getting to know you all properly in the weeks to come.

Leda

Good news!

We have a committee! The last post I made lied, and the elections were instead on Thursday. It’s all very exciting, as we now have a Subeditor (Leda Kalogeropoulou) and a Publicity Officer (Emma Jones), as well as a full Writing Society committee! Here’s to a great year of writerly fun~

As for the publication date for the magazine, it is provisionally going to be week 7 (the second week of November) – though it was going to be sooner, the elections were later than expected. But it will arrive, and it will be wonderful. THEREFORE, submissions are now open! *dances*

Your (slightly hyperactive at the moment) editor,

Phoebe.

Gothic cabaret, elections and other oddments.

Hello all! Again I hope that this week has been a good one for you writers out there, and I come bearing Jam and Writing Society news, as is my wont on a Saturday.

So!

It may be a little too late and last-minute, but there is a Gothic Cabaret event going on in Kentish Town this evening in aid of the Blackshaw Theatre Company, who are hoping to put on an adaptation of Titus Groan! I won’t be at the event but it looks like it’ll be great, and even though this is quite a late plug, my full support is with them and I definitely want to go and see the production. Link.

In other news, on Monday, there will be elections for the Writing Society and Jam positions that we’re offering. Please come along and even if you don’t want to run for anything, your vote counts!

Contact post and a clicky-link.

Hello all! Hope your first week of lectures was good! I know mine was, as well as being rather busy. But then again, that’s expected.

Next week in Jam-land is going to be very exciting, as elections for the minions sub-committee will be happening very soon! Reminder: We need a Sub-Editor for helping manage the entries and look out for when your Editor is far too busy for her blog-updating duties and such, as well as a Publicity Manager for posters, general advertising of the magazine and designing the front cover of each issue! I’m sure that with a strong sub-committee, this year in Jam will be absolutely fantastic!

And just to let you know, if you want to submit stuff for the magazine, the e-mail is thejammagazine@hotmail.co.uk

It’s October! Therefore, that means that it’s now less than a month until NaNoWriMo kick-starts. As well as having a drop-in writing session in November, I would also like to recommend a fantastic LiveJournal community created by one of my friends: Nanotechnologie – we will provide you with handy hints over October, as well as the chance to post some of your novel on a community where you can get excellent feedback and a friendly atmosphere. So if you’re on LJ, join up!

Thanks again,

Your Editor. ^_^

Another post from the Jam

Hello all! I hope you all had a fantastic summer and got a lot of writing done! I know I did. Or… tried to. Fresher’s Week is upon us and with that comes a new year of Jam Magazine and Writing Society fun. Interviews for shiny positions including the Jam Magazine’s deputy editor will take place in the second week of term, and the first issue of the Jam will (provisionally) be published in Reading Week!

Keep writing and have an excellent Fresher’s Week,

Your editor. 🙂

Bloomsday!

The Jam magazine and blog wish you all a happy Bloomsday! (For those of you not in the know, the 16th of June is the day commemorating the life and work of James Joyce – seeing as it’s the day that all of Ulysses is set within)

Because I am kind, benevolent, and sadly unable to think of much to say about the matter, here is a link to an article from the Book Examiner a couple of years ago: How to learn to love Ulysses.

Character Construction 3: On Mary Sues.

Note: This article will contain a large amount of snark, shouting and opinions.

What is a Mary Sue?: Annoying.

Okay, you can get more clarification than that, readers. In short, a Mary Sue is a character, whether in fanfiction or original fiction, often female, who serves as an idealised version of the author for the purpose of wish fulfillment. The character will generally be important in the story, have unusual physical traits and be over-skilled. It’s a very… fuzzy term, and most of the controversies surrounding it are due to the debate on whether a Mary Sue is a specifically fanfic-related character archetype. From my own experiences, I can tell you that it’s not, because in my youth, I wrote my fair share of original fiction Sues. The term is also rather slippery because, in general, the classification of a character as a Mary Sue (or as not a Mary Sue) depends on the reader and the writer.

What isn’t a Mary Sue?: Just because a character is flawed, it doesn’t mean they’re exempt from being one. If you’re trying very hard to stop a character from being a Mary Sue, then you might make it worse and fall into the trap of the Anti-Sue – “look, I’m a complete arse, and yet people still love me!” – an Anti-Sue can still be a Sue. But if you make a character plausibly flawed, then this can work. A Mary Sue is often an idealised character, so if you work against that idea, then it can work. Leading on from that, if your character is plausible in the ‘verse you’re writing in, then it’s easier to read them, as well as relate to them. Remember: an original character is not a Mary Sue.

How do you avoid making your character a Mary Sue?: You write.

Okay, okay, I’ll clarify some more. You write, and you don’t take everything about your character to heart. You stop being self-critical. Sometimes, knowing too much about the traps you could fall into when writing an original character (or introducing a new character) can make you paranoid. Sometimes – especially if you’ve got a new idea and really want to add characters – you think too much about the negatives. Be aware of the common Mary Sue traits, of the Mary Sue Litmus Test, of the TV Tropes articles and the many, many Livejournal communities making fun of Mary Sues and bad writing, but don’t see these as disincentives when building up a character. Be aware, but don’t be too aware. Don’t be so aware that you stop writing altogether.

Believe me, I’ve done that, and it’s painful.

Now, to end on another amusing picture!

Character Construction 2: Alignment

Note: I will be making reference to the character alignment definitions used in tabletop roleplaying games such as Dungeons and Dragons throughout this post, but that does not mean that these definitions are the be-all and end-all of figuring out your character’s moral standpoints. In my opinion, I don’t think a character should be defined by these sorts of categories in the first place. However, they’re just interesting ways to start thinking about a character’s morality and ethical outlook on life, and they’re certainly not the only way you can figure this sort of question out. But they’re a good place to start. ^o^

So. Let’s imagine that you have a character. You’ve figured out their relationship to others in the story you’re working on, they’re named, and you have their physical appearance more-or-less sorted. (The latter is not optional, as I will touch on in another post). But there’s one nagging question you have in the back of your mind – is this character a protagonist, or an antagonist? This might just be me, but I often have trouble figuring out where my characters lie in terms of morality, unless I specifically construct a character to be The Antagonist. The best place to start is to write them – as obvious as this sounds. Once you’ve written a scene featuring a character whose morality you’re unsure of and you figure out their relationship with others and their motivations, then it’s often quite clear where they stand in terms of alignment. You can, of course, plot it out in your head or scribble down potential alignments in a notebook, but if you put those ideas into practice, or just go into the Word document (or onto the page) all guns blazing, you can get better results than if you just plot and plan.

A good example of this approach, how to do it and how not to do it comes with my character Hope Fox, from my screenplay (which I will be banging on about for a lot of these articles). Now, when I was planning this screenplay out, I knew that I wanted three characters in some sort of family relationship. I knew I wanted two sisters and a brother, I knew what one of the sister’s relationships with the brother would be, but I didn’t know about the oldest. I did, however, know I wanted her to cast a shadow, so to speak, over the others. I knew she wanted to be a threat. But at first, I was going to have her as the black sheep of the family, a sort of Chaotic Neutral free spirit. However, as the other two characters evolved, I realised that Hope would be the antagonist. Then, as I wrote the first scene featuring her, I imagined her as a Lawful Evil character, abiding by the rules in order to get her way. However, she shifted a little bit in the next scene I wrote, turning more Chaotic Evil than anything else. These alignments are never fixed when writing, so you can’t go into a piece thinking “okay, I want character X to be Chaotic Evil, character Y to be Lawful Neutral and character Z to be Neutral Good”, because as the piece progresses, there’ll be interactions between the three that can determine their alignments more.

Unlike in tabletop roleplaying, it’s the interactions that define the ethical codes in writing, rather than vice-versa. Or, at least, it is for me. Feel free to disagree to your heart’s content. But for me, at least, I find it easier to determine how a character is morally aligned from the way they’re written, rather than having a fixed alignment from the start.

For the record, these (for now) are the alignments of the two sisters and brother in my screenplay: Rin (the protagonist) is Chaotic Good, Ariel starts off as Neutral Good but thanks to a spoileriffic revelation, he turns Chaotic Neutral, and Hope is Chaotic Evil.

Now for an amusing picture to finish this slightly rambly entry: