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Posts Tagged ‘novel writing’

Rethinking Everything (Novel-wise)

Posted in Culture, Writing, tagged , , , , , on 23 Apr 2020| 1 Comment »

First, a bit of business.
My third Quarantine eBook Giveaway is live, today through Monday.
Free books! Tell a friend.

Now, onward to a writing quandary that has been rattling around in my pea-brain this week.

When I was writing speculative fiction (alternate history, high fantasy, science fiction), my process was unaffected by changes in modern life. I was writing about times past, alternatives to the present, or imagined futures, so I didn’t have to worry about current trends or innovations. At most, if a piece was set in the near-future, I might have to extrapolate forward from the day’s news, but in general, I had free rein and could build the world as I wished. (more…)

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NNWM2019: Week 4 and Out

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , on 26 Nov 2019| Leave a Comment »

The final week of this year’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) has been a mixed bag. Overall, I have to say I’m pleased with the experiment. Using NaNoWriMo as a way to simply increase my productivity has proved a much better approach (for me) than setting some unrealistic (for me) word-count goal. (more…)

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NNWM2019: Week 3

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , on 21 Nov 2019| Leave a Comment »

Week Three of NaNoWriMo has been productive. Sort of.

At the end of last week, I was facing a scene I’ve been dreading for a long time. A sex scene.

I hate writing sex scenes. (more…)

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NNWM2019: Week 2

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , on 14 Nov 2019| Leave a Comment »

My second week of NaNoWriMo went better than my first, and there’s a reason for that (apart from my getting back into the flow of writing, that is).

Like many writers, I’ve often used a soundtrack to set an audio foundation for my writing time. A soundtrack can do two things. First, it can set a consistent mood that underpins the prose as I write, and second, it can help block out the sounds of the real world and allow me to concentrate more fully on the world I’m trying to get out of my head. (On the downside, it can also ruin a particular album/artist, as eventually, due to repetition and earworms, I grow sick of what I’m listening to.) (more…)

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NNWM2019: Week 1

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , on 07 Nov 2019| 1 Comment »

It wasn’t a good first week for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), but progress, albeit modest, was made.

I suspect my challenges are the same as many of yours:

  • I have a job that requires a large chunk of my day
  • I have a partner with whom I enjoy spending time
  • I have a household that requires periodic attention
  • I have a body that requires food, sleep, and exercise

(more…)

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November Cometh

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , on 26 Oct 2019| 4 Comments »

It’s almost here.

NaNoWriMo.

National Novel Writing Month.

Oy. (more…)

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Write What I Know?

Posted in Creativity, Writing, tagged , , , , , on 11 Jul 2019| 2 Comments »

If I were to have followed the standard advice of “write what you know” (meaning only write from personal experience), then none of my books would ever have come into being. I would never have written about anything historical (how could I, if I was born in 19-hrmahrm?), or about anything set in Brittany, or certainly I could never ever have written anything to do with dinosaurs (who could?).

The only book I’ve written that had a shred of “what I know”ishness to it is Dreams of the Desert Wind. The setting was a place I lived in for a time (Jerusalem) and I drew on a lot of personal experience for descriptions of the street scenes (like the one mentioned here, with “Samovar Man“).

No, when I started writing, if I’d written only what I knew, then I’d have written a book about working in IT (now there’s a page-turner), or something set in the world of classical music. (more…)

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