Down the Rabbit Hole and out the other side
It’s Sunday night and I feel like someone has blasted my head off. In a good way. As I’ve mentioned a couple of times, the Emerging Writers Festival has been rolling all week, and this weekend was my...
View ArticleGetting my ya-yas out
I don’t understand young-adult (YA) fiction. I mean, I used to think I did. YA fiction was fiction written for young adults – or teenagers, as we used to call them back in my day. Stories about...
View ArticleThe Next Big Thing
The Next Big Thing is an ongoing chain letter / blog virus / networking project, where writers answer ten set questions about their current work-in-progress and then tag more writers to do the same a...
View ArticleHead down, bum up, build a world
I hate worldbuilding. Well, okay, ‘hate’ is too strong a word. ‘Don’t enjoy or care about’ is probably more accurate. As I’ve mentioned before, my taste in fantasy runs less to Tolkien and more to...
View ArticleThe magic of Raven’s Blood (part 1)
Chekhov’s Law is generally couched as “if one shows a loaded gun on stage in the first act of a play, it should be fired in a later act”. Here’s my corollary law for fantasy: if your wizard character...
View ArticleThe magic of Raven’s Blood (part 2)
I don’t know about you, but I spent my Sunday afternoon running through a warehouse shooting zombies with a laser carbine – all as part of the IRL Shooter / Patient Zero project, which turned out to be...
View ArticleEast and west – the people of Crosswater
Now, where was I before I went off on a tangent about my hot new collection of flash fiction (oh go on buy one it’s really cheap papa needs a new pair of shoes)? That’s right, worldbuilding. (Still.)...
View ArticleMonth of maps – Raven’s Blood
What I wanted to do today was mostly drink bourbon in bed with the covers over my head and maybe keep doing that for the next three years. But no, we must soldier on; there are new battles to fight and...
View ArticleHave yourself a Ghost Raven little Christmas
Christmas time is here Happiness and cheer Fun for all that children call Their favourite time of the year Actually, wait a second – jumped the gun on that. Christmas is still about 2.5 weeks away,...
View ArticleThe write-finer monologues
So what’s up man? Cooling, man. Chillin’ chillin’? Yo you know I had to call, you know why right? To reprise the opening lines from the Wu-Tang Clan’s classic track ‘Protect Ya Neck’? Well, yes, but...
View ArticleThe big push – an update
Dateline: 28 April 2014 Status of Raven’s Blood draft: IT’S FINISHED IT’S FINISHED IT’S FINISHED 45 CHAPTERS (AND AN EPILOGUE) 82 954 WORDS IT STILL NEEDS TO BE THOROUGHLY PICKED APART BY BETA-READERS...
View ArticleOkay, now what?
So, you’ve finished writing a book - Really? Me too! What a coincidence! …sorry. Couldn’t resist. In my right mind I’d lead things off more strongly, but I’ve spent the last week staring blankly at...
View ArticleVision thing
Folks, I have something to show you, and I AM EXCITE But first, some context. For as long as I’ve known him, Cam Rogers‘ writing workspace has been the centre of a visual explosion, his walls bedecked...
View ArticleRevise-wise
I don’t revise my work very much. Wait, scratch that, it makes me sound like a terrible writer. I mean, I revise my work all the time – while I’m writing it. I’m constantly tweaking, polishing,...
View ArticleAbel Wackets is a Jackanapes
As I revise, rewrite and generally tinker with the new draft of Raven’s Blood, one thing I’m paying particular attention to is the language – not my language, but the way my fantasy characters speak....
View ArticleHey, remember me?
Tum te tum te tum… …I’m sure there was something else I was meant to be doing… …hey, what’s this note on my calendar… OH MY GOD I FORGOT TO UPDATE MY BLOG FOR SIX WEEKS Okay, it’s not so much ‘forgot’...
View ArticlePost-Con tactical assessment
So GenreCon 2015. That was a thing. A good thing, at that. A really great chance to meet other genre writers, discuss craft and practice with new and established talents, catch up with old friends in...
View ArticleGetting to work – Raven’s Bones
As discussed last week, I’ve had a change of plan – or, more accurately, I actually have a plan for once. That plan is to put Sick Beats aside for a while to write Raven’s Bones, the next in the Ghost...
View ArticleFalls the shadow
So a month ago I came back from GenreCon all fired up with big ideas and focused ambitions. No more writing at random! I was going to GET SERIOUS. I was going to follow a PLAN. I was going to put...
View ArticleTransmission resumed
…and we’re back. — NEWSFLASH: House-hunting and moving are THE WORST. Like, worse than leprosy. Okay, maybe not, but they’re sure as hell time-consuming. The last two months have locked me into a space...
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