Last week I was on a work trip. I travelled from Sydney to Broome via a connecting flight to Perth. The first leg of this trip alone was four hours. Knowing this, I decided to print one of my works in progress, The Midnight Man, because I’ve been feeling the urge to get it ready …
Obsessing over Chapter Four
As you may know, my writing is more sporadic these days. Gone are the days when my fingers regularly tapped frantically in the hope of churning out a best seller. Now there is more time to obsess over each chapter before I return to my trusty laptop. In the past I have lived with the …
That Problematic Chapter
One chapter in one of my works in progress has bothered me. It's a dramatic chapter where a character ends his affair. Every time I've read it in context with the rest of the manuscript, it hasn't made sense. It started with two men thrashing it out realising there was no room for bullshit anymore. …
Stories should have conflict.
Today's blog was sparked by a tweet from Kev St John (@Kev_away) He had given his work in progress to a Beta Reader who didn't like one character because she wasn't a good friend. He couldn't believe this response. This character is supposed to be a bad friend. That was the point. I had a …
Everything old is new again, in my writing.
I'm currently working on the second draft of my fantasy novel, Winter Masquerade. As I'm ironing out its shortcomings I'm finding the problems are the same as I originally faced with my first novel, Drama Queens with Love Scenes. At the moment my new work is novella length and I've been trying to find ways …
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Just finished a Fifth Draft
These days, that's more that I usually do. But this manuscript is special. This story, The Midnight Man, took me a year to finally start as I was revisiting my earlier works for a new publisher at the time I came up with this story. And while I'm more efficient in my writing these days, …
That Manuscript you Agonise Over
Perhaps 'agonise' is too strong a word. You see, I've gone back to work on the fifth draft of The Midnight Man, a novel I need to get right. I haven't been this obsessed with perfection since my first book. It's currently novella length and tells the story of Stan, a middle aged man in an …
The Paradox of Science Fiction (Guest blog – Rebecca Langham)
Rebecca Langham has several things in common with me. Firstly, she is a fellow author at NineStar Press. Secondly, she is Australian and lives north of Sydney in the Blue Mountains. Thirdly, we've both been emailing each other frantically because we are going to promote our sci-fi books (mine comes out in March) at the …
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Meet the Devil
He'd been sitting inside my laptop for a very long time, but finally it came time for him to strut into the world. Friends, meet Preston. He's one of the characters in Drama Queens and Devilish Schemes, the third book in the Actors and Angels series. As you can see he's fond of a top …
Exotic locations
I'm lucky. In a world where so many people don't have the means to travel, I'm in the minority. My partner, Warren, and I love discovering new cities and will plan a world trip whenever we have the funds. You see, from Australia, it's cheaper to buy a 'round the world' ticket, which usually takes …