Indiana Jones and the Art of Foreshadowing
Indiana: THERE’S A BIG SNAKE IN THE PLANE, JOCK! Jock: Oh, that’s just my pet snake Reggie! Indiana: I HATE SNAKES, JOCK! I HATE ‘EM! Jock: Come on! Show a little backbone, will ya! In the classic movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, after Indiana Jones’s death-defying encounters after...
The Process of Drafting and Re-drafting
The first draft is you telling yourself the story. The second draft is you telling the story to trusted readers. The third draft is you telling the story to your cat/dog. The fourth draft is you telling the story to random strangers on the street. The fifth draft is...
How to be Convincing
When you think about it, we writers spend an awful lot of time trying to make our stories convincing. On one level we want to convince you that our stories are worth reading and, even better, worth spending good money on or worth borrowing from a library. But it’s...
Foibles, Quirks and Mannerisms
One crafty technique that should be part of every writer’s toolbox is using foibles, quirks and mannerisms in your characterisation. You should do this for two very good reasons: They individualise your characters. All humans have foibles, quirks and mannerisms. They’re the minor and unconscious ways we do things,...
Fantasy and SF Sentences to Savour
I keep a compendium of sentences that I like both for inspiration and for the sheer pleasure of reading them again and again. What gets a sentence onto my list? A number of reasons. A neat turn of phrase. An unusual construction. An arresting use of punctuation. A thousand...
Words and Nerds Podcast
Dani Vee from the excellent Words and Nerds podcast interviewed me recently. If you’d like to listen to my mellifluous and authoritative voice while I talk about inspiration, characterisation and motivation – with a particular focus on Gap Year in Ghost Town – then go here. After that, have...
Speculate 18
It was an honour, being asked to be one of the guest writers at the very first Speculate Festival, held on Saturday 28 April 2018, and such was the wave of enthusiasm at the end of that inspirational, exhilarating day that I thought I’d record a few impressions...
Why Do We Value Books That Make Us Cry More Than Books That Make Us Laugh?
Some time ago, I was in a room of thirty or so YA writers, editors and other industry people when one writer declared, ‘I know you’ll all agree with me that what makes a good book is a chance for us all to have a massive cry.’ She was...
Gap Year in Ghost Town
Gap Year in Ghost Town (Allen & Unwin August 2017) has a cover! Authors, naturally, are always nervous about how their precious work is going to look, but the very clever Craig Phillips has come up with an absolute winner. I love its combination of spookiness and street smarts, and...
Music to Write By
I like listening to and reading about other writers. I find the process of writing fascinating, and I find the multitude of different approaches empowering. There is no single magical formula for writing. There are a million ways to do it and to do it well. Take the business...