Writing Tips

I recently read Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. It was an excellent book, carefully structured, interesting, imaginative and with a real heart. The most noticeable thing about it is the way the first half of each story is broken by the start of the next story, until the central story, after which...  

Photo by MJ Mac One of the things that interests me a lot about writing is the way language use has changed and evolved over time. It is only relatively recently that most people are literate. Language has often been used to separate and dominate certain classes, races or groups of people. The...  

We all know the mantra. To break Writer’s Block we should schedule writing time. Go for a walk. Try a writing exercise. Set a deadline. Take a break. But what about real writers? As Oscar Wilde once said, “I spent all morning putting in a comma and all afternoon taking it out”. For those of us...  

When writing for newspapers or magazines, you should not use the serial comma: “There were balloons, roundabouts and clowns.” However, when writing for a book, you should: “There were balloons, roundabouts, and clowns.” This factoid was discovered by reading Writers and Editors, and the post...  

Yes - the observant among you will have noticed the move to an even more minimalist layout. Along side that, I finally got around to upgrading my version of wordpress. Enjoy - and let me know what you think!  

I have made an executive decision to aim for 25 000 words or more. This relieves some of the pressure to hit what is (for me, at this time) a nearly unattainable goal, whilst still keeping a good chunk of wordage. 25 000 is still an accomplishment, if a slightly less heady one than 50 000. If I...  

Classic Characters is a short series of posts looking at archetypal characters in the world of fiction. Part III deals with the little respected role of the sidekick. While Heroes and Villains are somewhat larger than life, the sidekick struggles along as best they can, carrying supplies, getting...  

Howdy guys! Well, the fruits of one part of my labour are up and running. Iron Grip: Shards is a new, fictional blog I am running with a colleague. It’s a fantasy-esque storyline set in the wartorn plains of Atelia. Meanwhile, my less definable writing (the good, the bad, and the ugly) is up at...  

Guys, many many apologies for disappearing off the face of the internet for a while. I’ve been insanely busy with work-related stuff. Anyway, I’m implementing a weekly posting system, so you shall be getting at least one post a week (Tuesdays). As for the work related stuff — well, it’s creative...  

Word count: 10,003 I think I must run away and get my four hours of sleep now. Meanwhile, here is an extract! (more…)