George R R Martin talks about two archetypes for writers: Gardeners and Architects. The architect will plan and plot their story, knowing what happens to who from beginning to end before ever writing a single word. The gardener however will go in blind, knowing only the barest of details and discover the story as the [...]
Disassociated thoughts rattling around my brain today: Swords & Sorcery and the elements I love about the subgenre as well as favourite books. The fall of characters – characters who destroy their own self-worth by compromising their own integrity. Only by a little at first, but it starts a chain of events leading to their [...]
New day job means my writing schedule is all over the place. There’s a few things I’ve been working on, but nothing that feels productive. I’ve tried to at least keep the blog ticking along and I’ve also started writing a test scene for Refugee in first person but mostly I’ve been thinking about one [...]
I took a netbook with me to SFX Weekender, and despite all the fun and merriment I still managed to get a thousand words a day done whilst there. I was really proud of that, felt dedicated to my craft, a "real" writer. Then I took an 8 hour journey home, had a day of [...]
Gods continues to be an interesting process. If you’re not aware, this is the first book I’ve attempted to write where I’m discovering the story as I go. It’s a western fantasy with helicopters and spirit animals. There’s part of me that felt as if the ideas needed to ‘cook’ for another couple of years, [...]
Today, I lack focus. I have 101 ideas. Today the world holds infinite possibilities; unfortunately infinite time does not come with it. Today I want to create an anthology, start a fantasy fiction magazine, write an adventure game, put together a writer’s portfolio, write a comics script and do a few non-fiction articles. I have [...]
Sometimes real life gets in the way. It’s safe to say that NaNo hasn’t been going well. And yet, I guess it has. I had bold plans, grand ambitions, and then like the monster at the end of the movie that *isn’t* quite dead, work problems raised their ugly head again and sent me into [...]
When I decided that I would take my writing seriously – really try and make a go of it – I decided that I would always take risks, that I would never play it safe. For the most part, I’m glad I did that. I probably didn’t realise it at the time, lost in the [...]
Some days you have good days in NaNo, some days you have bad. Yesterday was a bad day for me. I woke up feeling mentally exhausted from day one, more so than I expected. Day 2 is also a day of doubts: did I pick the right project? Do I like these characters? Is this [...]
So the first day of NaNo went pretty well, with a 4000 word start. That’s less than I would have liked but I started on Gods which I’m less familiar with and so was finding my way a little. I even found time to spend the evening raiding with my Warcraft guild. That’s one thing [...]
