Tales from the Garret

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 […]

In the way such things do, a possible definition of writing success recently popped into my head: when the number of hours people have spent reading your stories exceeds the number of hours you’re spent writing them, you’ve done it. Whatever ‘it’ is. I did wonder if it’s possible to, as our American friends say, […]

We’re back in sunny Hampshire: as often seems to happen, going on holiday has left me mentally refreshed but physically exhausted. That’s probably the right way round, though. While I was away a somewhat atypical story of mine, ‘A Mirror to Life’ has been posted up at ‘DayBreak’ magazine, the online story website for the […]

Thanks largely to the hacking skills of M the Uber-Geek, we have internet access here. As ever, our week in Portmeirion is passing far too quickly. It’s featured all the usual fine ingredients: decadent meals, chilling out with friends, late-night tabletop RPG sessions, cocktails, staring contentedly out at the fabulous views and vague discussions about […]

Up late tonight packing for our regular trip to The Village. Unlikely to be much activity here for the next week or so unless we can hack the coms while No. 2 isn’t watching. Be seeing you.

As anyone who lives in the UK can’t have failed to notice, we have a general election coming up. I was sick of most of the coverage before the first week was out, but this morning, waking up to the sound of Radio 4’s Today program as usual, I was treated to the Clangers explaining […]

I don’t read as much non-fiction as I’d like to, as reading for research has to take priority over reading for pleasure. And I very rarely read any works of scholarly criticism, despite knowing a few scholars and critics; not because I’m not interested, but because other things seem to end up nearer the top […]