“I’m just on my way,” I said. “On the bus. With you in no time.” No I wasn’t, I was striding the hotel lobby with my phone in one hand and a slice of toast in the other, hoping I…
Monthly Archives: February 2015
Fitting writing around life
Unless we’re professional writers, we can’t always prioritise writing as much as we’d like to. Always have a current work in progress, even if you haven’t found time to work on it for a while. Critiquing and brainstorming ideas are…
Cobra
It was that time when the weaver birds fly home in yellow clouds and the bats come out to breakfast on the evening insects. If I hadn’t happened to glance to my right at just that moment, I wouldn’t have…
Talent and Craft
Talent comes naturally, craft needs to be learned. All writers have some talent but very few have enough to manage without craft. Critiquing helps to identify the gaps in our talent. Develop craft by writing stories that emphasise areas where…
Pathos
Joel sat down with a sigh. Lisa muted the volume. “How was your day?” Joel shrugged. “Not terrible. What’s on?” “Not sure. I think I dozed off.” On the screen, ragged children ran in front of corrugated iron shanties. Lisa…
Greater Minds: The Simple Art of Murder by Raymond Chandler
Chandler critiques the ‘English formula’ of mystery fiction, based on puzzle solving, and credits Dashiell Hammett with a more realistic tradition. Hammett and Chandler started a distinctively American tradition in which the police were corrupt and the detective owed a…
Tagged with: Characters, crime fiction, Dashiell Hammett, Mystery, Raymond Chandler
Posted in Greater minds, Wednesday Pontification
Posted in Greater minds, Wednesday Pontification
Setting 2: Invented places
You need to know more about the setting than you will use in the story. It’s harder to invent a setting than to research a historical setting. A map of the setting keeps it consistent. Using places I’ve been is…
Tagged with: Cliché detector, Outline, Planning, Setting, Story development, Tripod
Posted in Story development, Wednesday Pontification, Writing
Posted in Story development, Wednesday Pontification, Writing
Three Parent Panic
Parliament is debating whether to allow mitochondrial replacement. It will not help people with mitochondrial disease, but will allow women with defective mitochondria to have children who are related to them. The Church of England claims the issues have not…
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