For those following at home, you'll know I'm negotiating work life, social life and writing time. Well, I've finally started Winter Masquerade. At time of writing this blog I've completed several paragraphs of the first chapter. I know it's not much, but it's something. I already have the chapter by chapter breakdown and have several …
Outsourcing ideas from a 10 year old
This post was originally published while I was still working on Winter Masquerade. This ebook novella has since been published. Click HERE to find out more. My current work in progress is delayed. I have to complete assessments for a course I attended, so my current novel is still in its planning stages. I have …
Trusting my author instincts
Something has changed in my approach to writing. Or perhaps it's just a change for the book I'm currently working on. I usually meticulously plot chapter by chapter, but for the sequel to Social Media Central, that's not the case. Maybe it's because it needs twists and turns as its a dystopian thriller. It's better …
Words. They have power!
I've often blogged about my favourite editor, Mary Belk. She was assigned to my first novel and totally helped me re-imagine it. But I realised something the other day. I have no idea what she looks or sounds like. That's not unusual as I have the same relationship with my current editor, Jason. I wanted …
Slipping between genres.
"You're mixing genres." This wasn't said to me as a negative. It was an observation from an editor when I had the initial draft of my first novel assessed. At the time, I didn't realise this was such a big deal. Cinema had made an art of combining genres for a long time. Surely, literature was equally as experimental. But …
Plotter or Pantser?
I was asked this question for an author interview recently and had to look it up, even though I worked out what it meant without quite knowing how pantser worked into the concept. For those still uninitiated, a plotter plots their books before they type a single letter, and a pantser flies by the seat of …
5 Tips for Writing a Novel
Although I'm not a newbie in the world of novels, I'm far from being a best selling author with a plethora of titles under my belt. But that doesn't mean I haven't learned from my own experience. Professionalism please! A while ago I hosted other writers sharing short stories about the Afterlife on this blog. I …
Getting to know your reviewers
Over a decade ago I heard an interesting radio interview. The guest did his thesis on how Bob Dylan and The Beatles shared a public conversation. The key was to the titles of their songs. Dylan would release a track, then the Beatles would respond to his ideas with their new hit. The dialogue would …
Other People’s Versions
They say that when we watch a movie version of a novel we have read and loved, we’re never truly satisfied with the result. It’s because our own little film version has played out in our head as we read the book. Nothing else seems to compare with our original concepts. One night, two friends …
Eight Drafts, and the one we don’t talk about…
About ten years ago I started writing a fantasy novel on Thursday nights, as that was the only free time I had (My partner, Warren, had started playing tennis on those nights). It was handwritten in a journal and called Staging Life. I had written about five chapters when a friend bought me a ‘How …
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