A few days ago, I mentioned a story idea based on D-Day, the Second World War landings in Normandy. A place I love, and a fascinating and momentous occasion in our history.I've been thinking of a way to tell a…
Category: writing
Page turners
What makes a story good? I see this question asked by many people, of many people. An author is perhaps the worst person to ask for an answer. If they are any good, they aren't working to a formula. They…
Coming alive
There's a moment - and every writer knows it well - where the characters step off the kerb and start walking for themselves.No matter how tightly the story is plotted, how rigidly the character's actions and appearance and thoughts are…
Jolly Rancher
Amarillo at sunset. The light was low, a long day of driving behind, but I wasn't going to drive past in the dark.One of the most surreal sights of my life. A line of classic Cadillacs planted nose down in…
Camping by Writerlight
There's a longstanding piece of American madness which has somehow managed to infect the world. Every November, hundreds of thousands of writers commit to writing a novel in a month. And a couple of them actually manage to complete the…
Corn
Once upon a time I had a tutor who told us a story, by way of indicating the importance of mood and emotion. He said that he had been caught up in an instance of road rage, and had given…
Morning glory
Every morning there are routines and rituals. Coffee, feeding the magpies, getting dressed - not necessarily in that order! - and doing a little writing.For some reason the morning is my most productive time. Before dawn, even, which isn't hard…
Die Notizbuch
Someone posted on Twitter - or tweeted, I should say - a photo of their writing environment. A pen and a notebook.That's all write for some, but my writing is a horrendous scrawl, unless I slow down and calligraph. And…
Happy talking
One of the most subtle and difficult things to write is dialogue. All too often it sounds stilted and forced. Perhaps worse, all the characters sound the same.I found a discussion on Reddit where the style of a character's speech…
The power of persistence
Yesterday I talked about writing 2 500 words every day, publishing a 7 500 short story twice a week, putting together a collection of shorts every month, and adding to a monster omnibus collection that will eventually be thousands of…
