Tag Archives: fiction

Let’s Review: The Final Empire

Here is an admission: I have never before read anything by Brandon Sanderson. Nothing at all. Nada. Nowt. But I had heard lots and lots about how good his work was. Hell’s bells – he was even chosen to finish Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. So, with a sense of anticipation, I spent aContinue reading “Let’s Review: The Final Empire”

An Essay of Consequence

Cluck the image below and read the article – September Fawkes has done an excellent job in this article about stakes in scenes and fiction. Reading it, I felt intense jealousy over the fact that I hadn’t thought of it first. The way she has parsed the ideas has made me reevaluate my own worksContinue reading “An Essay of Consequence”

A Primer for World Building Basics

World building is one of the essential skills of a fantasy writer. And yet, it can often cause so many problems: from issues with overwriting the world to inconsistent construction to terrible tropes in world building. I pulled five videos from various YouTube channels that I have found to be useful in not just understandingContinue reading “A Primer for World Building Basics”

I forgot to add Basil!

I saw this today and, having just finished the first draft of a children’s horror novella, it did make me smile. I miss every single criterion from this graphic: my hero is very flawed, this journey is less than heroic, my antagonist isn’t ruthless – well, not totally amoral, and I apparently forgot to includeContinue reading “I forgot to add Basil!”

Subtext

Why is it so hard? When I am writing a piece of fiction, one of the things I find most difficult is drafting in the subtext. A character wants something, they ask for it. A character thinks something, they show or say it. I have always thought this problem lies with my straight-forward view andContinue reading “Subtext”

Wise words!

Neil Gaiman is among my favourite authors for his fluid style and his amazing body of work – American Gods, the Graveyard Book and others being personal favourites. I have seen this image doing the rounds on Facebook and on Twitter and thought I’d share what those rules mean for me. 1. Write Wait… Isn’tContinue reading “Wise words!”

Caged Fox – Chapter One published today (for free!)

Although delayed by holidays in the very top of England (or the very bottom of Scotland, depending on how you look at it), here is the final instalment of the first chapter of Kingdom of the Lion. Read about a poor chap, a victim of both circumstance and hopelessness, and the compatriots he is thrownContinue reading “Caged Fox – Chapter One published today (for free!)”

Counting Down the Thunder

I wrote this on the 6th February 2019 at the Wear Valley Writers Workshop in Bishop Auckland, County Durham England. The prompt was a set of odd words of which I chose ‘Bobowler’ which I discovered meant moth. Having not used the word before, I set out a story where one suddenly appears. Enjoy, ErraticContinue reading “Counting Down the Thunder”