It's been a while, but since I last posted about my own writing I've written loads (by my standards). Firstly, I made a few pages' progress on a folk horror novella that I really should have finished by now. Then, in a flash of inspiration, a potential recurring character came to me and I wrote … Continue reading #AmWriting – An awkward fit
Hello! Anyone else finding it difficult to write during lockdown? I've sketched out a few scenes for ongoing projects, but haven't sat down and churned out a page for weeks and weeks. One silver lining is that I'm storing up lots of different ideas for stories. Jotting them down eases the (metaphorical) pressure in my … Continue reading #AmWriting – Opening Up while Locked Down
So, one twelfth of 2020 has passed, and have I written any fiction so far this year? I have not. But, I have continued to work on the Reeds story I've written about before. My protagonist has a new name, which alone makes him feel a bit more alive and less of a cardboard cut-out. … Continue reading #AmWriting – Fixing it in the Edit
So. A further update on my own fiction. As I wrote last month, I wasn't happy with the way that my first "reeds" story had turned out: lots of atmosphere at the expense of, well, anything else really. A sign that I'm likely to be happy with something - that it might even be good … Continue reading #AmWriting – Finding the story
The river is tidal for many miles upstream, and the current strong. To an observer on the southern shore the island midway across the estuary’s breadth is deceptively close. You might think you could swim to it, and explore undisturbed its unpeopled expanse. But whatever anecdote your reaching the island inspired, the journey back would … Continue reading Firth of Tay
Momentum is everything. It's a long time since I posted anything about my own writing. It's definitely taken a back seat since I started this blog, but this year I've written two short stories and most of a novella. How has it gone? *** Firstly, the two short stories. I grew up in a small … Continue reading #AmWriting
It isn't writer's block. Stephen King once wrote about a story "being dead even as the words continue to march across the page", and I hope it isn't that, either. I think all that's happened is a loss of momentum. I've stalled. The folk-horror work was going well, until I went on holiday. But the … Continue reading Where have all the words gone?
The story I'm writing at the moment is set in the past, in a vague and never-specified summer at the end of the 80s: 1988 or 1989. Certain signifiers are there - and necessarily there - which tie it to this particular era. Thatcher is Prime Minister; the 1984-85 miners' strike is described as having … Continue reading Imag(in)ing the past
Who am I kidding? Every holiday, I take pad and pen. Every holiday, they remain untouched. I think, though, that it's important I take them. It symbolises my intent. And if I don't actually put pen to paper, then I can spend time plotting and planning, right? Well, no. Not really. Not consciously, anyway. I … Continue reading “This time I will definitely do some writing while I’m on holiday”
I tweeted a month or so back that I'd shoved all other writing projects aside (and that has included this blog, dear reader) because I'd started work on a Folk Horror story. This new work is now at around 9,000 words* and going well. I feel a twinge of guilt at abandoning (for now) the … Continue reading New fields, old land
Into the Gyre 