Posts Tagged ‘writing’
Sunday, October 8th, 2017
Absolutely delighted to report that my shortstory ‘White Rabbit’ has won the British Fantasy Award 2017 for short fiction. It was published in Black Static #50 and illustrated by the insanely talented Vince Haig (who also took this photo of me roargrowling in victory). Back copies still available! The same issue contains Gary Budden’s [...]
Tags: black static, british fantasy award, british fantasy society, magazines, short stories, writing
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Monday, April 3rd, 2017
You know it’s time to start writing your book when words bleed through the palms of your hands, in mirror writing, and lightning sparks from your fingertips. It’s one of the more obvious symptoms.
I’ve been dreaming of this book for a very long time. It’s just a book. But like dreams, it makes [...]
Tags: books, dreams, novel, plotting, pretentious rambling, writing
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Tuesday, January 17th, 2017
We would like to make it clear that the clown problem has been effectively neutralised. Clowns have been eradicated from our towns, cities, and countryside.
Should you see a clown, please report to the authorities immediately, in order that you can be inoculated against further sightings.
In the event that you repeatedly see clowns that [...]
Tags: clown sightings, clowns, personal, short stories, writing
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Saturday, December 31st, 2016
Because books didn’t let us down in 2016. Books didn’t allow Poundshop Cruella to take over the UK. Books didn’t elect Dipshit McHairdo as US president. Books didn’t exacerbate and instrumentalise divisions between people. Books didn’t conspire with evil dictators around the world to usher in a new age of fascism.
Because books are good.
Tags: books, brilliance, novel, reading, reviews, talent, women, writing
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Wednesday, October 5th, 2016
Now that fcon is well and truly over, convention dictates that I should write a blog post in which I drop the names of all the groovy people I met in Scarborough and talk about the cool stuff we did together… or at least the cool stuff we did near each other, or the [...]
Tags: blogging, books, brilliance, inspiration, novelists, short stories, weird, women, writers, writing
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Thursday, April 7th, 2016
1: Start writing. An idea is not necessary at this stage.
2: Keep writing. Pay no attention to mundane matters such as plot, character, setting, structure, or story. Just keep writing words until you have around half a million of them.
3: Now take those half a million words and throw. them. away.
4: Stare [...]
Tags: books, novel, plotting, shitty first drafts, stupid ridiculousness, writer's block, writing, writing advice, writing is rewriting
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Sunday, January 31st, 2016
Winter is cold and depressing (my favourite). I continue to fill my empty existence with reading and writing. My field notes from January:
My Black Static story “White Rabbit” has been well received, and even garnered a very nice mention in the Guardian! It’s good to see Black Static getting some recognition in the [...]
Tags: black static, blogging, books, brilliance, novel, reviews, shitty first drafts, short stories, writers, writing
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Monday, December 14th, 2015
It turns out that I’m not too modest to mention that White Rabbit, my very first story in Black Static, made the cover. And what a cover! The utterly brilliant artwork is by Vince Haig, who has done another superb illustration for the story inside. One of the most wonderful experiences a writer can [...]
Tags: black static, brilliance, illustration, short stories, small press, TTA Press, Vince Haig, writing
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Saturday, November 14th, 2015
1. You have to invent your own genre, what happens if you don’t is that they subsume you into theirs.
(By genre, I mean everything.)
2. You want them to like you, but you know that your magic is not for them.
3. They inveigle you. They distract you from the scratch at the cellar [...]
Tags: advice, bluebeard, books, domestic fiction, domestic magic realism, genre, instruction, magical realism, manifesto, subtle doors, tales of woe, writing
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Wednesday, October 14th, 2015
A brief update on what’s what and what’s not in my world… I finished the first draft of my novel at the end of the summer holidays, which meant I had three whole days of holiday left before starting back at work. I spent those days in a whirl of shock and delight [...]
Tags: black static, blogging, crimewave, magazines, novel, short stories, ttapress, writing
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