Most of my discussions about Blade Runner 2049 have been about its gender politics and depiction of women. Specifically, whether it's deliberately troubling or just troubling. Or a bit of both. That's not what I want to write about here, primarily because I haven't yet made up my mind. Instead, I'm going to take a look at the storytelling techniques the film uses to establish its future setting. Spoilers will ensue. (more…)
I’m a big believer in Simon Sinek’s Start With Why notion. It posits that before you get to the how and the what, you really need to figure out the why. This applies to any endeavour, be it personal or Read more…
Heat Signature is fantastic at telling unauthored, emergent stories. Here's a cool video all about its procedural generation of characters: https://youtu.be/y-3xJ86zNaQ And here's a personal anecdote, generated entirely by a combination of the game, my actions and circumstance: (more…)
Last weekend I was part of the Publishing Day School at Writers' Centre Norwich, speaking about online serialisation alongside an excitingly broad mix of traditional, digital and self publishers. Here's a webinar version of the talk: https://youtu.be/HrhmqBDzdtU About eight years ago I went to Eastercon, my first science fiction convention. It was a great weekend full of fascinating panels, including the likes of Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow and China Mieville. As engrossing as the discussions were, there was a narcissistic room in the back of my brain which wanted to be up on the panel, rather than sitting in the audience. Being part of the Publishing Day School, sitting on a panel alongside other writers, I achieved that goal. It was another critical step along the road of becoming a writer. (more…)
In a gaming era defined by the need to be on-going and forever, whether that be through multiplayer, procedural generation, MMO persistence, an endless parade of hats or drip-feed DLC, it's a relief to be given an out. The Witcher 3's second major expansion Blood & Wine is the developers saying "it's ok. Go now. Our time here is over." Spoilers ensue. (more…)
Something pretty amazing happened last week. I was contacted by an artist through Wattpad, who happened to be a fan of A Day of Faces and had drawn their interpretation of the lead character, Kay. Would I like to see it? Why, yes, please! Check it out: (more…)
I love Wattpad, because Wattpad turned me into a writer. I'd always claimed to want to be a writer, and had always been writing bits and pieces here and there, but I'd never published anything or even really finished a project. Writing had become something I did at work in my capacity as a copywriter, while my dreams of being a novelist flapped about in the winds of nostalgia. A couple of years after publishing on Wattpad I had a novel called A Day of Faces, 116,000 reads, a Watty 2016 award and a lot more confidence. In April I'm talking about my experience as part of the Publishing Day School at Writers' Centre Norwich. Wattpad even ended up on the International Literature Showcase last year. But it ain't perfect. In fact, there are gaping holes. It aspires to be YouTube for words, yet is failing to even replicate that platform's basic features.I love Wattpad, so hopefully this insight will prove useful to the engineers over there... (more…)
I started a Patreon last year, coinciding with starting work on the A Day of Faces audiobook, The Mechanical Crown and the How To Write Serialised Fiction guide. Given the success I'd had with A Day of Faces on Wattpad, I'd hoped it would have a steady start. As of right now, I have one patron. He's the best kind of patron: always has interesting feedback, frequently sends over suggestions for improvement, and is generally supportive. But he's my lone Patreon supporter, which makes for a slightly awkward situation. (more…)
There's a brand new cover for The Mechanical Crown which I unveiled last night. It looks like this: (more…)
There’s another Wattpad Block Party approaching, which means I’ve penned a new chapter to contribute to the month-long celebration of online literature. Previously I’ve written behind-the-scenes articles, partly because I was right in the middle Read more…