Tales from the Garret

The release date of the paperback of Consorts of Heaven has been delayed and will now be 29th July. This puts it only 10 weeks before the hardback and trade paperback of Guardians of Paradise hits the shops, on 16th September. To allow for last-minute slippage and to co-ordinate with the local literary festival, the […]

That ideal world I referred to a while back would make the following tax deductible to help out us poor starving writers: 1. Chocolate. Because we need to encourage ourselves. 2. Massages. Because we spend a long time sitting in one (possibly uncomfortable) position while the words (hopefully) pour out. 3. Wine. See chocolate. 4. […]

This week, I have mainly been proofreading. Specifically, checking the page proofs for Guardians of Paradise, which is due out in just over three months. Review copies should be ready to go out far sooner. This means that the time has come to employ the marvels of t’internet to find out what, if anything, the […]

I had intended to write about the ‘two-thirds blues’, that point in writing the first draft of a novel when the initial impetus is long gone and the end seems impossibly far away. However, my protracted writing wibble of the last few weeks means I’m over that hurdle now; I’m currently working on the climax […]

Firstly: the official launch/signing for Guardians of Paradise will be, as is becoming at traditional, at the Little Green Dragon Bookshop in Alton, Hampshire. The date will be Saturday October 2nd, which is actually a couple of weeks after the book hits the shops, but does coincide with the local literary festival. More details to […]

… I got the phone call that changed my life. The one from J, who is now my editor, offering me a three-book deal. I still remember clearly the combined sense of elation and disbelief I felt, not just as she was talking to me but for about two days afterwards. It had finally happened. […]

Earlier this year, when I was giving a talk at my old uni, a creative writing student asked whether I wrote my narrative in the order I expected it to be read. I had to say, rather unhelpfully, that I did and I didn’t. For me, the pleasure of writing is the act of accumulating […]

Having built up to the monumental arrival of that first scene – the signal to begin actually writing the novel – I should probably explain that this moment isn’t always a perfect creative epiphany. OK, sometimes it is: I wrote the prologue for Guardians of Paradise longhand in one frantic splurge, in the waiting room […]

Ah yes, the first scene: the signal to actually begin writing the damn novel, as opposed to just scribbling notes about it. However, by the time I come to (and I wince at the term) create my narrative I will have committed some of those scribbled notes to electronic files, and that’s what I’m going […]

Working on first drafts always leads to periods of silent contemplation up in t’garret, because considering how first drafts come to be written is far easier than actually writing them. I came up with the phrase ‘fractal storytelling’ during one such unfocused-cloud-staring-session; however, cool though it sounds, it’s not entirely accurate. I’ve settled instead on […]