How writers generate ideas
One of the most common questions I'm asked whenever I give a talk is "How do you generate ideas?" The honest answer is: I don't. Oh, I've tried. Believe me, I have. I've sat at the computer all morning and…
Guest post on The Undercover Soundtrack
I am excited to see my guest post on The Undercover Soundtrack go live today. Novelist Roz Morris hosts a weekly series in which she asks other writers to talk about using music as part of the creative process. In…
The ingredients of fiction
Writing fiction is not really about making stuff up. It’s more about making sense of what you already have stored somewhere in your memory or subconscious, dusting it off, ordering it and making it intelligible to the rest of the…
Editing
There are different types of writers. Some like to write and rewrite and rewrite endlessly, refining gradually, each draft a little more perfect than the last. I am not that type of writer. I am the type of writer who…
2010 writing/reading goals
I’m a bit late to the New Year goal-setting party, but here goes. For my writing, I want to finish my second novel and get it published, and start on a third. I also want to write more short stories…
Update
All is well, despite the silence. I’ve been putting all my energy into winning a short story contest. With a £25,000 prize and a star-studded judging panel, I’m expecting the competition to be fierce. To win, I think I’ll have…
Biological debt
Saw this interesting take on the body’s energy levels. At the moment I am working nights to supplement my writing income, so energy is something I always struggle with. I generally don’t drink caffeine, but sometimes when I’m desperate to…
Present-tense novels
I was experimenting with writing my next novel in the present tense. For a while it went well. The present tense felt more immediate, a little fresher, and was appropriate to the story I was trying to tell. But gradually…