The summer holidays have thankfully come to an end, edits on the Trowchester books can only last so long, and that leaves me with the rest of the year to write something new. So, what should it be? I’m currently writing a fantasy about three sets of people from diverse cultures who get stranded together…
A lot of people have said a lot of things about plot, and I find it difficult to say anything different. But, as ever, I’m going to attempt it anyway. Many of the how to write books I’ve read define plot as conflict. The character wants something, something is stopping him achieving that, there is…
So, you have an idea for a story. You’ve asked yourself lots of questions and you know you have a central situation in which one or two main characters find themselves, which they don’t like and want to change. The essence of any story is to have a beginning, a middle, and an end. In…
Sorry about this. I normally write my ‘Write on’ post on Sundays in readiness for the Monday coming, but was ill over the weekend, and still am, so I wasn’t able to. I will catch up as soon as I can put one word infront of another again and have them make sense. In the…
Getting Started – the tools of the trade. Hoards of people want to write a novel. Just as doctors find that everyone they meet tells them about their ailments, authors find that everyone tells them about the novel they intend to write. Authors generally nod politely, say “oh, how interesting!” and go home secure in…
It’s the nature of the writing beast that no matter what kind of writing you specialise in, someone will tell you that you’re doing it wrong. In the m/m genre they will also find numerous ways of telling you that you are doing it immorally. Either you’re being homophobic by exploiting gay men’s lives for…
That feeling you get when you open a mysterious cardboard box, unexpectedly delivered by the postman in the morning, and lift out the glossy-backed print copy of a book you wrote yourself. Actually, there is something like it, and it’s the feeling you get when you hold your new child. Admittedly, the second thing is…
I have three things to recommend today. Unlike Hugh Fernley Whittingstall’s latest programme, they are not three good things which taste great together – they’re probably better savoured apart. 1. Rather than a pantomime, we went to see Loserville yesterday in London, on the advice of our drama-student eldest. http://www.loservillethemusical.com/ Which was a great choice…
So, I’ve reached 233,253 words towards my Get Your Words Out challenge of 200,000 words in a year. Having cracked the target, I’m feeling very demotivated towards writing any more, which is something of a drawback. Next year, I can see I will have to aim for 250,000. That gives me two completed new novels…
Glad to hear that there’s good news from America both in virtue of elections and another couple of states allowing gay people to get married. American politics is not really my business, but with American publishers I feel I have a stake even if I don’t have a say in what goes on. The purple…