I'm delighted when people write to me and say that reading Bike has inspired them to have a go at writing themselves. It's nice to think it's an inspiration, although as Bonzi pointed out, it might also mean that Bike is so badly written, they all think they can do better. He could be right.
However, for those who aren't aware, the episodes of this saga aren't planned I write them and post them, having read the previous night's one before I start. It has minimal research, I don't have time, except possibly riding a bike occasionally myself and taking part in dormouse survey work. I do occasionally cook for myself and two cats, but my meals are rarely as elaborate as Cathy's. So essentially it's made up as I go - thus, at this moment I have no idea why someone has been trying to kill Julie. It'll come up as I write one of the next few episodes I expect, which explains why the plot seems to jump about a bit.
Essentially, I'm a story teller not a writer - there are people who post here with greater writing skills than I have, my gift, if one can call it that, is to be able to knock out situations and dialogue faster than most and somehow to have it flow reasonably well. In the end it's just as onerous as writing a novel, but enables me to play with some ideas that wouldn't be possible in a more disciplined format, and to respond to current events or themes more quickly. In Freudian terms that probably means I'm stuck in the oral stage, rather than the more anally retentive novelist.
I apologise to the proper writers if I don't meet with their standards, but I also hope I keep getting notes telling me someone new has decided to have a go at writing.
My continuing thanks for all those who read and comment on my efforts, and those who press on the kudos thingy - I seem to have a few of those for some reason and to a couple of Bike nuts, who archive it all presumably as evidence against me ever thinking I can write (proper like).
Special thanks to Erin and all her helpers, whose indulgence enables me to bore the pants off the rest of you.
Comments
What a load
of whatever, I write according to a plot, and while I seem to ramble I have an idea of the destination.Ang flies blind, but most of the reason I am posting here is her writng. Credit where credit is due,
I imagine...
... that at times it might be a bit of a chore. But there is that group several hundreds large that feel bereft if there's no Bike each day, morning, night, whatever depending on time zones. Sure it rambles a bit but then so does life a lot of the time and winging it has its own attraction. It still boggles me that you manage to do it almost daily, hell I've barely written anything in months let alone every day. If nothing else you and cyclist infect the rest of us with the odd Welsh word as I try to do now and then with Aussie-isms. Beats learnin'... Hats off and curtseys and all that.
Kris
Ow, I busted my rhyme!
Bustin' out stories is quite a talent
whenever I try it I lose my balance
An entertaining tale told on the fly
yet with compelling characters and humor wry
is the exact polar opposite of writers like me
who write and rewrite so compulsively
it's like the literary 'quivalent of OCD
Youre kinda like our very own Sheherizad, Ang
Kickin down tha Bike chapters bang, bang, bang
What's cool about this site is there's such variety,
for whatever mood your in and also it's free...
~~~DJ Spacepuppy
Well shit, I guess it really CAN happen here..,
.
say what?
you -- you're just making it up as you go along? Is that any way to tell a story?
>> making it up as you go along?
That's the way the Universe works as a whole, and it all seems to make some sort of sense.
Why not?
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
-
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
Sure, why not? I do it,
Sure, why not? I do it, too, with some of my stories, though not as well as Angharad. There are lots of ways to tell a story and they all have their advantages and disadvantages.
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
All I can say Angharad; is
All I can say Angharad; is whether you "wing it" or write from a formula and format, you are indeed a wonderful author and very much enjoyed by me and everyone else I can imagine. You, and even Bonzi on occassions, truly capture love, romance, fear, real life issues, genuine family feelings, excitement, and plain old "cliff hangers". I do so love your writing style and this superb tale of "Bike". Jan
I'd often wondered
You put so much in such a short installment each day, while not a complete story unto itself it is still a rich and colorful installment in Cathy's daily life which is far from normal or boring.
I'd wonder if you were dreaming this up during your day or had some big picture outline, how much forward planning you do?
So what you are saying is you kind of pull this out of a hat or somewhere when you sit down to write it? If I had to write a single installment of Bike I'd need six weeks notice and even then it would be really terrible.
You continue to amaze me.
However you do it...
However you do it, it's been mostly fun. And, at times, very thought provoking.
It's an amazing body of work. I admire your endurance. :-)
Thanks,
Anne
did you mean someone
actually archives this for posterity? Thats if they can find my puter. and there is no password cause I would prolly forget it.
So far, arranged into 16 books
01 300 pages 124,221 words
02 298 pages 108,885 words
03 306 109,852
04 296 98,558
05 300 103,779
06 303 106,859
07 303 112,598
08 302 102,397
09 299 106,537
10 302 105,475
11 307 106,309
12 302 106,421
13 258 83,386 broke early due to 1000 episodes break
14 300 100,096
15 294 102,815
16 107 38,489 still open current
I would try to give totals, but even after taking my socks off, I can't count that high.
The folder with the first 15 books is 16.6 Mb and book 16 is at 435 Kb
There is also
The eafoab archive - http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/blog/21303/bike-resources
PS calculates that at part 11,150 there were 1,579,440 words
by comparison, The Bible has 774,746 words (Old & New Testaments etc.)
Angharad
Angharad
Missing episodes
Can we see the missing 10,000 or so then, pleeeeeeeease? Pretty please? Os gwelwch yn dda?
Oops!
You can see why I'm not an accountant. The correct figure is 1150 episodes, oh well it's common knowledge I lost the plot years ago.
Angharad
Angharad
Not just an archive...
If you want to remind yourself of what happened in a particular episode, or if you've ever wondered "Where have I seen that character before?", or you want to see a selection of interesting quotes (mainly humorous), or you want to refresh your memory of a particular story arc without reading all the chapters themselves, or (some other use I haven't yet determined), there's a second resource available...
...The summary spreadsheet. I was the idiot that thought it might be a good idea to summarise every single episode - when we'd already have over 850 episodes. It's grown a bit since then, with memorable quotes, any custom episode titles, character lists (currently four: family, major, minor, uni/medical) and a counter showing how long the story's been going (years, months, weeks, days) - and is currently updated by a certain Kiwi and yours truly.
And as if that wasn't enough, said Kiwi has created a custom Google map showing the whereabouts of significant locations in the story.
The archive, summary spreadsheet thingy and a link to PS' map are all available at the link below (as well as the identical link in PS' signature block).
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
>> custom Google map
Dang! Someone could organise walking tours, busloads of tourists following guides with flags raised high, highbrow BBC programmes narrated by one of those fellows with the plummy voices, the mind boggles at the possibilities.
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
-
Cheers,
Puddin'
A tender heart is an asset to an editor: it helps us be ruthless in a tactful way.
--- The Chicago Manual of Style
good ole whats-his-name
would have to be the only voice to do it right. I can hear it now, talking to the audience telling us about the wild cvathy that is so protective of the kids, while they are all over her asking to go shopping.
Sometimes I write the 'proper' way, sometimes I don't.
The two stories I've posted here have been sequels, the first to someone else's story. But I planted a couple of hooks in her story to hand my story onto. And I left some seeds in it, to grow into the second story. It, in turn, has a couple of things in it that are going into the third story in the set. I had a definite starting oint and ending point for each.
But I am working to try and complete a long novel which began in 1973. It was written more like Bike. I had, and may still have, no idea of exactly how it will come out.
I started with a definite scenario, and added to it for 22 years before being sidetracked by real life. But much of the writing during that 22 years was dictated by things in my real life, and could not have been written until those things happened.
In the 15 years from 1995 till now, I did write some back story, more to let me see my main character better.
Now, I am filling in some blanks, and trying to write a replacement for the 2% of the story I lost in 1995 ( though I did not know it until ten years later) I'm also doing a lot of rewriting, applying some of the stuff I have learned in 18 years of attempting to teach better writing skills to people with much more creativity than I have, sort of a "Those who can, do: those who can't, teach.' situation.
With writing,creativity comes slowly if at all to me. But I like writing, and reading.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, much of my writing is like Angharad's is, write it as it comes to you.
It's just that hers comes like an express train, as compared to my crippled snail's pace.
But however it comes to anyone who writes, there is no one way to write. Do it your way.
Angharad, obviously, with Bike, this is the best way, Keep up the good, make that excellent, no, superlative work.
Holly
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Holly
EAFOAB
One of the things I like about Angharad is her self-deprecating attitude and sense of humour. It comes through in this blog-post, and through the daily Bikesodes.
I've come across a small number of authors here who in my opinion take themselves too seriously, and become rather precious about their writing. Those authors are welcome to their attitude, but won't count me amongst their readers. Each to their own, I guess, but those sorts of things do colour their prose, and for me it's a big turnoff.
And I guess that's what keeps me coming back to EAFOAB. The heroine doesn't take herself seriously, and Angharad's skill—aided and abetted by her two feline companions—manages to produce a cracking yarn that frequently has me laughing aloud, or even wiping away the occasional tear.
I recently embarked on a project to write a 50k word novel as part of NaNoWriMo. Currently it's nearly 20k words, so I don't know that I'm going to get it finished by November 30. However as it stands, it's the largest piece of fiction I've ever written. In doing so, I'll freely admit that I've taken some inspiration (and a bit more) from Angharad and what she does here on a regular daily basis.
So Angharad, I for one hope that you'll continue writing Bike. My day just wouldn't be the same without it. And on behalf of your loyal readers, thank you.
PS
Bike Resources
Bike Resources
How can you lose the plot, Ang?
It must be more difficult with GPS. You DO have GPS?
'The Archers' ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Archers_-_Radio_Soap) has been going for donkey's years and, other than some of the cast ending up in that studio in the sky, nothing much has happened.
At least some of your characters have developed. I think you do very well, particularly writing 'on the hoof'. Us dedicated band of BIKE-lovers keep coming back for more, so you must be doing something right (or is it 'write'?)
Knowing you, the solution to the Julie question will come to you when you least expect it; in the supermarket, or summat. Us happy and dedicated band of fans will again be there to wipe our brows and say a heartfelt 'Phew'.
Now does Bonzi do the typing while you earn enough to buy catfood?
S.
Ambridge!
Nothing ever happens - it jolly well does: they had Princess Margaret in it for one, plus a horse ripper, a gay chef and his partner a farmer, a rapist, a fraudster, under-age drinking, illegitimate children, not to mention Tom's organic sausages and Linda's pantos - oh no they don't, oh yes they do.
Angharad
I don't have GPS, I can get lost quite adequately with a map.
Angharad