There was a recent challenge on BlueSky. Over twenty days we had to post covers of books which stayed with us, or influenced us, without saying why. I completed the challenge then thought, why not blog about the reasons why. So, I've picked three from that list. 1. Tilda Is Visable by Jane Tara This …
To hell with my outline!
Apologies for not posting for a while. My time has been dominated by listening to, and preparing promotional materials for, a new audiobook. But today's blog is a follow on from my last where I mentioned I've been panstering for a while, rather than sticking to my refreshed outline. And on the days I haven't …
Does this scene belong in my novel?
I recently bought a Blu-ray of a film I love. After I watched the movie, I explored the deleted scenes. All were good, but as the director said, all would have slowed the pace of the film because what they had to reveal to the audience was already evident in other scenes. There's a lovely …
Fictionalising my life
Stop fictionalising your life! This was advice a friend's psychologist told him to tell me. Both me and my husband are talked about often during his sessions, and his analyst has read my books to gain a better understanding of his relationship with us. In a recent writer's hashtag, someone wrote: Trying to get my …
The books for my author signing event didn’t show up.
It was the day before GLO (Gay Lit Oz). We decided not to go to the movies so we'd be home for the delivery of the books I needed for the event. It was Friday and by late afternoon, it was clear something was wrong. My publisher ordered these for me the week before, and …
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Plotting using the Snowflake Method – An Update
I previously spoke about the Snowflake Method in this blog. At the time I was working on a Space Opera but for my own reasons, that project has been put on hold. A contemporary novel has taken it's place. And I've now had the chance to use this plotting and characterisation method for longer than …
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What should I write next?
I had this dilemma recently. I began a new book in a genre which had me intrigued - The Space Opera. I have character notes which include motivations, goals, conflicts and epiphanies. I have an interesting plot, and extended story lines from each character's point of view. Then we made a sudden trip north to …
When author business gets in the way of writing
I haven't touched my WiP in six weeks. First it was simply a case of a sudden trip north to catch up with family when an invite to Warren's great niece's eighteenth birthday arrived. And even though I took my laptop, I was busy being social after being trapped in my own state due to …
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I’ve written several versions of the same short scene!
The scene is only several paragraphs long. It's the last time we're alone with just the gay characters in my work-in-progress set in the nineties. In the initial draft they talk about Australian politics at the final stage of that decade. Only one other chapter examined politics and that was in an overall 1990's way. …
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Plotting using The Snowflake Method
My last post was about a new plotting method I'm using. A few things got in the way of my usual writing days after I published that post, and somehow I didn't feel bad about missing them. It was because I didn't feel like I was working on a book. There were a few times …
