WARNING: THESE POSTS POTENTIALLY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR ALL MY BOOKS!
The Write Stuff – Writing Tips To Help You Complete Your Book. Tip #7 – If It Works, Work It!
Your creative process is yours alone. Don’t worry what others think about how you write. Do what works for you. and if you remain engaged and motivated, then keep doing it. Equallly, don’t be afraid to change, we all need to switch it up sometimes.
The Write Stuff – Writing Tips To Help You Complete Your Book. Tip #6 – Be a Research Engine
You’re creating an imaginary world for your audience, but if it’s riddled with factual errors or comical ambiguousness then, just like reality glitching in The Matrix, the illusion will be shattered. This means you need to understand your world intimately and that means research, research, research.
The Write Stuff – Writing Tips To Help You Complete Your Book. Tip #5 – Let It Go!
ometimes we create something that we love. In a rewrite that perfect thing just doesn’t fit anymore and artificial attempts to keep it in can affect the work as a whole. Don’t force it. Be brave. Be ruthless. Let it go.
The Write Stuff – Writing Tips To Help You Complete Your Book. Tip #4 – Writing Is Rewriting!
An author mentor of mine was fond of saying “the secret to writing is rewriting” and as a beginner it’s probably the best advice I ever got. Rather than springing out perfect the first time, every piece of writing, or every good piece, was the result of many, many, many, many revisions.
The Write Stuff – Writing Tips To Help You Complete Your Book. Tip #3 – You Will Know (The Answers)!
We’ve all grappled with thorny problems in our lives. Dealing with writing issues is no different. It might take some different action on your part. It might take time. But the answers will come. It might be later today. Or in a week. Or a month. Or in six months. But the answer will come to you. Trust that.
The Write Stuff – Writing Tips To Help You Complete Your Book. Tip #2 – Slowly But Surely
Writing a book is like running a marathon. When the starting gun goes off, or when the miles start to take a toll on your body, if all you think about is the finish line you can easily become overwhelmed. That end point is so far away. Don’t think about how many words you still have left, how many pages remain ahead of you.
Instead, focus on reaching whatever milestone keeps you writing.
The Write Stuff – Writing Tips To Help You Complete Your Book. Tip #1 – Planning Is Everything
You wouldn’t set out on a long journey without a map. Or you might, but you’ll probably get lost and you certainly won’t reach your destination as easily as you would have if you had those directions. Similarly, writing a detailed outline will ensure you get that first draft out onto the page/screen with the least amount of frustration.
I’m Not Much Into Health Food Or Why Escape (The Piña Colada Song) Isn’t The Trifling Novelty Tune You Think It Is
Although it’s often written off as a goofy novelty song, Escape is a remarkable piece of writing, succinctly painting a picture of domestic drudgery on par with the driest Woody Allen observational comedy. This fable about a dying marriage has unexpected depths. Just how alluring is the the text of the personal ad that seduces the narrator? And learn how the titular cocktail was a late addition to the lyrics.
A Voyage To My Father
I spent years blaming my father for our distant relationship, telling myself that he didn’t ‘know’ me.
But it wasn’t his fault. Dad didn’t know me because I’d never given him the chance. When he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer I decided to change that.
5 Reasons…All Fictional Characters Have Super Powers
Some fictional characters are dubbed “super heroes” because their abilities outstrip others in their world. But compared to we mere non-fictionals every character in fiction is extra-ordinary. From extreme resilience to harm both physical and emotional to the ability not to poop, read five reasons every fictional character is super.
I Know What You Did That Summer and Now So Does Everyone Else
I was indecently assaulted over 20 years ago. I buried it. I tried to forget. But one night in 2018 it bubbled up from within, beginning a journey that has only now, in mid-2023, begun to end for me.
173,570 Words or How I Inadvertently Wrote a Fantasy Epic
The Mythic and the Rosetta Engine is almost 174,00 words long, making it close to twice the length of the first book in the series. But I never intended it to be an “epic”. How did it happen? And what does that mean for future entries into The Mythic Series?
Celebrating…Michael Jackson’s Thriller (40 years old today)
The success of the biggest selling album of all time began three years earlier. Prior to 1979’s Off The Wall, Michael Jackson was most famous for being part of The Jacksons, even though over the course of the 1970s he had released four solo albums and 13 singles, including the US #1 international hit Ben. However, Off The Wall was Jackson’s first “adult” record, the 21-year-old keen to produce something grown up that sounded different from the music he was making with his brothers.
Physical Education or How An Olivia Newton-John Music Video Saved My Life
1981. Gay men are virtually invisible in mainstream media and when they do appear it’s always through a judgemental lens. But then Olivia Newton-John gave the world the video for Physical and, in doing so, gave fourteen-year-old me a reason to hope.
Your Adhesive Will Turn Him On or My Most Hilarious Misheard Song Lyrics
What possessed Freda Payne to wait in a lonely room that’s filled with sand and glue? Why do ABBA think ‘your adhesive will turn him on’? Are you ready for Destiny’s Child’s spaghetti? Let’s take a stroll through the world of misheard song lyrics, where there’s a Lorraine around every corner and curried ants on the floor and in the ground.
Harry Potter and the Closet of Secrets or How JK Rowling Failed In Giving The World a Gay Hero
JK Rowling has become a troubling figure for many LGBTQI+ folk. I know Potter fans who have been stuck in a fierce struggle, trying to reconcile their cooling feelings for the author with their connection to a world they loved, to someone they gave rainbow credit for announcing in 2007 that her creation Albus Dumbledore was gay.
I’m not among those struggling. I’ve not read any of Rowling’s books. I’ve never been more than a casual fan of the Potter films. I’ve never idolised their author. And I never thought she should be given any rainbow credit for Dumbledore’s homosexuality because Dumbledore is not gay.
Get Your Hands Off The T or Why I Cannot With Rainbow Transphobia
Some of the worst opposition to trans rights comes from within the rainbow, including groups like the LGB Alliance who see themselves under threat from “new ideologies” and have literally dropped the T from the traditional acronym.
Their agenda is just the same old exclusionary message, wrapped up in rainbow-rights drag, the very same things I’ve fought against my whole life. To all trans people: I get it. I’m with you. How can I help?