a little fantasy * a little sci fi * a little love
As well as a Mardi Gras parade and party, there's a festival. During the 90s, sponsorship from major brands helped expand the number of events. Film, theatre, live music and sport kept us busy all through February. Of course, Fair Day was always a popular event, but you were allowed to bring a picnic, settle …
Continue reading "Researching the Sydney Gay Scene of the 90s – Part 3"
This is the true story of my holiday break. No names have been changed. Not even the German Shepherd, whose known as Jetta. Leading up to Christmas and onward to New Year, I planned to develop the plot to my novel set in the 1990s. My husband was working from home so it was the …
Writing these blogs is helping with my research. I realised this during the past week. It's a great way for me to categorise the different themes I want to explore in my novel set in the 1990s. In the last blog I talked about my first impressions of the pages I copied from the Sydney …
Continue reading "Researching the Sydney Gay Scene of the 90s – Part 2"
A whole box of microfilm was waiting for me at the State Library of NSW. A lovely librarian arranged copies of the Sydney Star Observer from the 1990s, as well as a couple of years' worth of Capital Q, at my request. Both were significant street press which covered queer issues. The former still exists. …
Continue reading "Researching the Sydney Gay Scene of the 90s – Part 1"
I tried to court an agent. As regular readers of my blog know, I've been working on a manuscript titled The Midnight Man for four years. It's quite polished, so I thought I'd use it as my calling card to seek representation. Many authors hate creating the synopsis that sits on the back cover their …
Continue reading "Trying to encapsulate my novel in 100 words"
When Covid-19 hit, I was halfway through a first draft. It was a novel set in the 1990s and I was writing it to celebrate a decade I was young enough to fully enjoy. I still have the outline but, at the time of writing this blog (28/10/2020), haven't looked at it since March. This …
A while back, I weaved a sub-plot into a later draft of my WiP, The Midnight Man. The sub-plot was suggested by a Beta Reader, but I've now ditched it, so I don't mind sharing it with you. One of my main characters, Asher (who only appears in Stanley's dreams), has an evil motive. Asher …
In my current WiP, two characters are underdeveloped. I've gone back and highlighted where I can add scenes so the reader can discover more about them. But I did this without really knowing who they are. I've written dialogue which makes them sound similar to other characters and stumbled through creating their history as I …
I finished a first draft. It's titled Virtual Insanity and is the sequel to Social Media Central. It took some time to complete as just after starting it, Covid-19 hit. My husband began a short work contract and had to work from home. I had no quiet space to write so the manuscript lay dormant …
It's been a while since I've had a Writing Tips Guest Post, and on a recent call out, Melbourne based author, Madeleine D'Este, nominated herself to fill that void. This is her advice which she's titled... THREE TRUTHS ABOUT THE WRITING PROCESS I ALWAYS FORGET I’m currently in the final stages of completing my eight …
