The things we despise
tell us something uncomfortable about ourselves. Take cliché in writing: it must come very near the top of my most-hated list, yet my daydreams ooze it like sap. Despite my...
Teach your readers how to read your book,
or another lesson learned from films. Film critic David Thomson, as cited in Ben Yagoda’s The Sound on the Page: Montage to me is one of the most fascinating areas...
Using clichés
Some stages in learning to use clichés: Never In the voice of a character – people think and talk a great deal in cliché – use sparingly, who wants to...
Another Mortal Ghost review
This is getting quite fun. Somebody has suggested that I add a list of reviews to the sidebar, but the page is overloaded as it is. My taste in websites...
Let nothing go
Someone who works to deadline may not have this luxury, but I’m convinced that if you’ve got the slightest doubt about anything in your writing – a word that doesn’t...
Taming the criticism beast
For Frank, in gratitude I’ve written some fairly scathing reviews – and hope that at least they were fair even if I don’t really like to think of them as...
Pieces of me
Not to be outdone by the glories of writer stardom, I present a selection from my own surreal scrapbook. My first writing implements An early portrait My first novel My...
It’s a go!
It’s hard for me to believe, but it actually looks as if Esther’s film based on *Noise* is actually going to be made. She’s just been awarded a grant from...
Why do I write YA?
Having been asked this frequently, I usually give the pc answers, the ones you read everywhere. But there are others. Remember how it felt to be good at school, way...
The limits of competence
I’ve been thinking for a long time whether I should discuss Jenny Davidson’s first YA novel, The Explosionist, which has been receiving wonderful reviews from bloggers, a great deal of...
Am I a writer?
Most of us crave acceptance and approval, and I’m no different. Every morning when I sit down at my desk, I need to give myself a firm talking to. It’s...
Creative procrastination, or how to get something done for nothing
Most writers probably know the battle with procrastination, and those who succeed – whatever your definition of success – eventually develop all sorts of coping strategies. Writing is damned hard...