I am slipping on the Dunning-Kruger curve again, like a mountain of many peaks (each one revealing another) the further I travel, the more my journey continues; the more I learn the less I know. I contemplate my place here, writing this at this moment in time, and also here physically torn from my soul […]
Writing
The Twilight of the King
You are tired, at the edge of everything. You look down. It is dark below and darker above. A blackstar oversees everything now. But pause, ask yourself before you take another step: are you the subject or the ruler? Who controls your destiny? How long must this continue—this false reign? All he does is sit upon […]
Writing What We Are
Writing in the dark My writing process is pretty chaotic. I usually dive in with very little premeditation. I put a word in front of another like stumbling through a darkened room. After a while I am swept away by a flurry of inspiration. I think, wow, that’s brilliant, take a break, read it back and […]
The Fear and Loathing of Facebook
You know how it is, you’ve been there too. You sit down with the best intentions. There are so many thoughts brimming in your head: Today, I’m gonna to finish that story; that new chapter starts right here, right now; I’m gonna finish my first draft, yes! An hour later you’re still on Facebook. What? How did that […]
How Poetry Makes Us Better Writers
Prose writers of worlds unite As prose writers we need to become adept at developing absorbing storylines, blending action and narrative, fleshing out characters, plotting their rise or downfall, architecting large worlds, interweaving subplots, layering subtext, while maintaining reader interest. (Phew! that’s a lot to be keeping track of.) But, sometimes all of this distracts […]
The Darkness of Ideas
I am struck by a thought out of nowhere—perhaps prompted by a dream or an overheard conversation. It feels like fire. What a great story that would make! But my memory is unreliable. So I note it down on whatever is at hand: mobile phone, napkin, cigarette packet, takeaway menu, anything. The idea is like a hot […]
A Work of Infinite Perfection
He surrounds himself with blue-bottled, iron gall ink as favoured by Oscar Wilde; reproduction Baker, Cooke & Smith dip pens used by Charles Dickens; and unruled, cream-coloured notebooks such as those used by Virginia Woolf. He sits at his Edwardian writing table—a beautiful piece of finest mahogany which he is told belonged to the young […]
The Grand Illusion of Goats, Time, and Actuality
‘Daddy! You can’t write things like this, it’s redeckless! [sic] It’s so badly written, it’s unbelievable. Besides. Your sentence structures, are all wrong.’ ‘Give me that! What would you know?’ Julian was stunned that Blank 1 had managed to get hold of his book 2, but still, at that moment he loved his son and felt […]
A Year in Reflection & Designs on the Future
It’s been a year since I started this blog. Before starting it I had been writing for many years (on and off), but had never considered creating a blog. My only intention was to write a novel someday and publish it. But after some convincing from my wife, and some cursory Googling I had an […]
10 Easy Edits to Improve Your Manuscript Right Now | LitReactor
Writing that first draft can be an extremely enjoyable, liberating experience. Redrafting it on the other hand can be fraught with frustration and confusion — what should be cut and why are not always obvious. Here is a useful article of ten simple edits that can ease the process and help towards achieving a leaner, […]
Writing Practice: Using Random Words
As with any other profession, as writers, we need to ensure we practice our skills on a regular basis. I believe that a refinement of technique, the development of our own voice and style comes from regular and persistent practice. Just as an artist makes many sketches between paintings — freed from any expectation other […]
The Importance of Titles or: The Most Excruciating Part of Writing
When it comes to writing I would like to think I handle things like characterisation, dialogue, and plot well enough. A title however is a different matter. I suffer from chronic titlitis — a debilitating condition that renders one unable to think of titles. I mean I once wrote a story called The Blades of Change. You […]
Journaling for Ideas
A few months ago I brought some things back from my parents’s house. Among them were several cardboard boxes full of A5 notebooks. These were journals I’d forgotten about. Some date back over twenty-five years. Some had green stickers on, others were navy. The green ones were ‘sketchbooks’ where I practiced my creative writing and recorded […]
Cartography of Writing and the Absurd
As a beginning writer it can be disheartening when your plans resemble a torrent of tatters — and more distressing when others cannot see the tumult and mud you must march through each day to seek out your novel’s completion. It is tempting to believe that somewhere there exists a magical formula, and that if […]