Is ‘lore’ something which excites you or provokes a roll of the eyes? If you’re not a regular reader or viewer of genre fiction, especially science fiction and fantasy, you may not even have heard the term in this context. lore/lɔː/nouna body of traditions and knowledge on a subject or Read more…
The most recent free resource pack from the National Centre for Writing focuses on PLOT and, once again, is chock full of goodies. There’s Nicola Upson on the podcast, Okechukwu Nzelu on designing the plot of his novel, Inua Ellams connecting plot to style, and me going on about how Read more…
The National Centre for Writing has been producing free resource packs for writers every couple of months this year, kicking off in January. It’s been a lot of fun to put them together and they’re packed full of REALLY good stuff. This was always the plan, even pre-lockdown, but it’s Read more…
Playing catch-up on a few interesting bits and pieces, first of which is to highlight a contribution I made to a free resource pack for writers over at the National Centre for Writing. This one was all about METHOD and featured insight from Jenny Offill, Eimear McBride, Bregje Hofstede and Read more…
I’ve never enjoyed editing. Have avoided it like the plague, in fact. Until now.
It’s November 2016 and I write the first chapter of my new book, The Mechanical Crown. After a spot of editing, I immediately post the chapter online. The next week I write chapter two and upload that, too.
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As a less experienced writer I used to obsess over plot. Plot was everything. This seems to be the case for a lot of people who aren’t writers, too — a common criticism of a film or book will be that “the plot isn’t very good”, or “the plot’s a bit basic”. When I used to write as a kid, my entire focus would be on trying to formulate a twisty-turny, intricate plot.
(more…)Holding to the pacing of my plan for Arc 7 is already proving quite tricky. I’m very aware that this is the final arc, and consequently anything I want to be in the book needs to go in NOW. At the same time, I want to make sure that the Read more…
By day I’m a Digital Marketing Manager. By night, or whenever I have a spare moment, I’m a writer of science fiction and fantasy novels. Over the years the two sides to my coin have informed and improved each other in unexpected ways.
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I do most of my writing on a computer. Most of it. A pen and paper still creeps in, from time-to-time. What follows is a broad selection of recommended tools and services which work for me – and might just work for you, too.
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