*g* It’s a slightly inflammatory title, I admit, but I do have a point, though it would be clearer if I rephrased it as “History and Historical Fantasy, is there a difference?” I’m discussing this over on the Samhain Romance blog https://www.samhainpublishing.com/2013/03/history-and-fantasy-is-there-a-difference/ and although I wouldn’t say I was 100% serious about it, having seen…
Having got your big idea and decided how long your story is going to be, it’s time to actually get started. A lot of people say they start with characters, but I think the idea must come first. For me, character creation starts with three things. The character’s role in the story, their name and…
Over on The Macaronis blog we’re having a day of posting excerpts and articles to do with our characters’ relationships with their mothers. I’m ashamed to say that this topic has made me realize how little my lads have to do with their mothers. Alec from Shining in the Sun being the notable exception, since…
So, you know how Captain America fights the evil organisation Hydra in order to save the world for the forces of freedom? Was someone in Random House trying to give us a subliminal warning about their new ebook-only imprint? http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/03/06/note-to-sff-writers-random-houses-hydra-imprint-has-appallingly-bad-contract-terms/ Obviously, I don’t have a problem with not getting an advance. I rather like knowing…
Eagle eyed viewers may have noticed that there is now a little picture of The Crimson Outlaw in the sidebar of this blog, under the “Coming Soon” heading. That’s because I’m delighted to say I have signed a contract today with Riptide Publishing to publish this. Look for it in August 2013. It certainly won’t…
Last week, I started to talk about the structure of stories. At its most basic level it’s true to say that a story has a beginning, a middle and an end. But there are other things that you might want to think about before you start to make a plan for how to write your…
I’m afraid I had a bit of an evil chuckle over this one. I scared myself writing some of the scenes, so I’m glad to know it was all worthwhile 🙂 http://meanfatoldbat.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-wages-of-sin-by-alex-beecroft-mm.html It took me three tries to read it. Not because it’s poorly written. Oh, no, it’s just as beautiful, poetic, and immediately engrossing…
So, I’ve got the contract for Too Many Elf Princes, and we haven’t quite started on the copy editing process yet, but on the content editing side, my editor said to me “I’m curious about Kjartan’s relationship to his mum, can we have a bit more explanation there? Oh, and could you beef up the…
I found this on Nathan Brandsford’s blog His is naturally much more exciting, but here is the Pulp-o-Mizer cover for my blog Make your own here And since we’re on the subject of fun but silly, this made me laugh this morning too: http://www.snotr.com/video/8965/
This may be a timely reminder of how awesome you all are, and how you should not let society convince you there’s something wrong with you. It was for me 🙂 In our family, sitting together in the same room while browsing the internet on our phones/tablet/laptop can be sometimes substituted for sitting together in…
