Articles

A handful of articles about writing. Some of these have been published on my own blog, and some are links to blogs where I’ve been lucky enough to guest post. I regularly blog at Storyslingers, and I will add links to a few of those articles here, too.

 

Guest Blog Posts

» Dadaism: Kick-Starting Creativity by Freeing Your Mind – written for the Paperblanks blog. Coming at Dadaism from a literary perspective, it’s a fantastic way to let go of all authorial control, something a lot of authors and other artistic types struggle with…

» Finding Your Author Voice – Written for the online bookstore Printsasia. In the beginning, it was also about finding my author voice: some unnameable quality in my writing that would make my work recognisably mine.

» Too Much Good Advice? – There are thousands or writing articles spread out across the Interwebs, covering every topic you could possibly imagine. But how much advice is too much, and when do you draw the line?

» How Social Networking Can Help Establish Authors – This is aimed at those new to social networking with an eye to writing/publishing connections and promotion. Possibly not so helpful for those already down with the Twitter-fu.

 

My Blog Posts on Writing

» Dadaism and Letting Go of Authorial Control – Rejecting logic and embracing irrationality to free up creativity.

» What if Your First Draft Falls Short of the Mark? – On over-writing or under-writing the first draft of a story.

» To Outline, or Not to Outline? – Do you prefer to outline in detail, or are you an off-the-cuff writer?

» Time Travelling, Awkwardly – A short post about the passage of time in fiction. Let’s face it, if character A stares at character B for ‘several minutes’, there’s something seriously wrong with character A. Stalker, maybe? But seriously, have you ever timed two or three minutes?

» On the Pesky Nature of Giving Advice – Why it can be dangerous telling other authors how to write.

» On Countersinking – Showing and then telling is an easy hole to fall into. Often we don’t even realise we’re doing it, but it can seriously hamper your prose.

» Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies – Vampires, werewolves, and zombies seem to have a really bad reputation at the moment. Which, okay, sounds like a bit of an understatement, but I don’t mean literally, more literary. Includes some story recommendations.