writing
-
Starting in the year I was born, Lake Superior State University has been compiling a list of words that should be banished from use. I feel there must be some sort of connection. The 35th annual List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness was published this year. There…
-
Finish Sacrifice! Yep, that’s basically it for this year. I want to get Sacrifice into a suitable state for sending to agents and I want to do that by the end of August. I’m going to aim for 2000 words a week and that should get me to 75000 words by the end of March,…
-
A few posts ago I promised a comparison of the first series of True Blood and the first novel of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series, Dead until Dark. The UK airing of True Blood has now finished and I thought I’d better get on with it before I forgot entirely. The purpose of the comparison…
-
It’s been just over a year since I started writing this blog so I thought it might be appropriate to do a little reflection. When I started my intentions were several.1. To have a regular writing practice which would provide some much needed discipline and get me in a writing mood.2. To create an online…
-
This Show, Don’t Tell post from Drunk Writer Talk is one of the clearest examples of what the ubiquitous writing advice ‘show, don’t tell’ actually means. The penultimate paragraph was so well stated that I’m reproducing it here: Both women’s reactions really showed me something. Both were equally compassionate. Both felt terrible for the little…
-
This week I’ve been reading lots and may actually have had a breakthrough on the work-in-progress. Self-editing for Fiction Writers, Rennie Browne and Dave King. This was a really useful book and the sections on inner monologue, sophistication and voice were illuminating. I think in an effort to avoid expository lumps and explaining dialogue or…
-
A couple of weeks ago I read a blog post by Joe Abercrombie asking if characters always have to change for the better and if happy endings are absolutely necessary. Given that I’m reading Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers it seemed particularly relevant and I’m going to try to answer the questions.…
-
A few days ago, the Dictionary.com Word of the Day was lucubration. By way of illustration, this quote was included: A point of information for those with time on their hands: if you were to read 135 books a day, every day, for a year, you wouldn’t finish all the books published annually in the…
-
I’ve been working on my novel today (applause, applause) and generated some new material. The scene I was writing is quite dramatic and it reminded me of something that’s been lurking in the back of my head. As I’ve been editing my novel, I’ve been losing the sense of impact. There are some shocking moments…
-
Haven’t posted here in a while. I’ve been away (lovely weekend in Portsmouth), been sick, and just been busy. Consequently I’m behind in my reviewing, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing other writing related activities. I’ve joined Critters Writers’ Workshop and I’ve done one critique and uploaded no stories. I’ve been working on…
Boudica Marginalia 