My wife said to me last night: “Why are you in such a good mood?” “I’ve finished my first draft!” Which possibly shows how tense (grumpy?) I’ve been over the 9 months I’ve been writing this book. But also shows how people who don’t write novels (A.K.A. normal people) don’t really get the depth of …
Coming out from under the weight of the first draft Read More »
Writing a novel is bit like running a marathon, except you do it entirely sitting on your arse and no one hands you bottles of water when your energy’s flagging. You do, however, frequently shit yourself. It feels like I’ve been working on my current WIP for ages, but I didn’t start the actual writing …
Detail. It’s all about the detail. I’m talking about writing historical fiction. You have to get it right. At the same time, you can’t put too much in. Too much detail and the reader gets bogged down. Sprinkle a few gleaming highlights, like fairy dust, through your story and, hey presto, you’ll work your magic. …
It came to me today that I must have published around a million words of fiction, with 11 full-length novels and 4 novellas behind me. I’ve certainly written more than a million, if you also include all the unpublished books (too many to count, one or two of them very long indeed). Of course, there’s …
I’ll be honest with you. As a writer, I generally only share good reviews. This is because I want everyone to love my books, and it hurts when someone doesn’t. Also, I want to sell as many copies of my books as possible, and sharing the not-so-good reviews isn’t really going to help with that. …