Fiction and reality
More often than not, the birthday (and the birth year) of a character don’t have a great effect on a storyline, unless your novel spans 20 years and you’ve decided to use birthdays as an indication that time has passed. …
Category: Writing
Technology – a lot to answer for
I’ve always been a fan of technology. In the last ten years, I have relied on technology to earn a living (for the most part). But technology is changing faster than ever before and we are powerless against it and …
Observations
So you’ve spent a few hundred hours on a novel already and you’ve experienced all different forms of writer’s block, twice. In my case, one of the things I’ve discovered, is that my villain’s name (let’s call him Robert) just …
My muse is hiding
Writer’s block – What is it good for? For no rhyme or reason, I sometimes manage to write 3000 words a day. Other times I have trouble just getting to the point of opening the Word document that contains my …
Another sentence down
Lately, the questions I am asked most often are “how is your book going?” and “when will it be finished?” The second question has a shorter answer, so I’ll start with that. “Soon, I hope.” The first will need a …
Music – our link to the past
Have you ever heard part of a song and instantly drew in a sharp breath at the memory it brings? Or felt feelings of nostalgia as you remember exactly how you felt the last time you heard it? I’ve tried …
Story world questions
About a week ago, I was at a concert with a great group of people. During the very first song, the people sitting in the seats in front of us told us to keep quiet. Of course, this had the …
Editing a manuscript
How many times can you stare at a sentence without wanting to pull your hair out? Or worse, without feeling the need to kick the one thing that is holding this whole operation together – my trusting little laptop, the …
Great expectations
After numerous people recently described a certain comedy as the funniest thing they had ever seen, I made sure to buy a ticket and go and see it myself. Of course, throughout the film, I couldn’t help but wait for …
Do first impressions always last?
Have I ever told you about my first encounter with a Champagne house? It was in March 2010 and we were walking from the Reims train station to Pommery. After about 40 minutes, we reached the halfway mark and as …