Tag: fiction

The Suitability Gap aka The Information Game

I had the good fortune to share a podcast episode with Nadine Matheson, best-selling author and lawyer. As is often the case with a fast-flowing and enjoyable chat, you find yourself discussing topics that hadn’t occurred to you until the alchemy of the moment created a spark. As we were finishing our conversation, Nadine spoke …

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What can you say apart from please buy my book? Pt 2

Sometimes you need to branch out. For a novelist, being published presents a whole new set of challenges. You suddenly have to do other sorts of writing, including writing about writing. There are online blurbs, interviews (I’ll mention in passing that I’m still available…), and the subtle – or not so subtle – art of promoting your novel. …

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“It’s never about the thing that it’s about.”

You’d think that being a writer is all about two things:1. Writing stuff.2. Getting that written stuff published or at least read.However, there’s much more to it than that and I’ll warn you in advance that I may get arty and soulful. To begin with, it’s a helluva thing to even consider calling yourself a …

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Why the unknown is a writer’s friend

Get ready guys because the sun is coming…probably. Life is uncertainty. And I’m pretty certain about that. It’s true for writing as well, of course. Characters walk a tightrope that’s fixed to idea at one end and completion at the other. Far below in those chasmy* depths lurk cliche, overworked allegory, formula and a host …

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The Silent Hills has arrived!

The Silent Hills (ISBN: 978-1-61937-015-9) is out today, brought to you by Musa Publishing. It’s a short fiction ebook about a man who finally finds a reason to stop running from his past, himself and the truth. A story of responsibilities and consequences, The Silent Hills finds Peter Marlow ensnared in someone else’s drama, where …

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Creativity, illness and The Silent Hills

A recent piece on the BBC website by Health report Michelle Roberts, caught my attention. Headlined ‘Creative minds mimic schizophrenia’, the article cited a conclusion drawn by scientists at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute.In essence, brain scans of highly creative people and those who suffer from schizophrenia show striking similarities.You can read the BBC piece here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/10154775.stmWe …

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Thieves, Betrayers and Liars!

Thieves, Betrayers and Liars. No, not politicians; I am of course talking about writers. We take whatever’s useful from the world around us. A line of dialogue heard at the bus stop, the core of a tragedy from the news, a scene that plays out before us in everyday life – we observe, we listen …

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