Stefland's Blog on WriteWords
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Interview with Ethan Pack on Scott Pack's website. I was lucky enough to do a school visit in Windsor recently, and one of the father-and-son combos that were present were Scott and Ethan Pack (Scott is the publisher at The Friday Project). Ethan read Changeling and asked if I would mind answering some questions. Here is the interview. Read Full Post
When do you stop? When do you decide that enough is enough?
I'm editing and writing at the same time (copy edits for Changeling: Dark Moon, finishing Changeling 3), and my head is in a bit of a spin.
I quite enjoy editing (yes, I know that makes me a bit of a weirdo, but hey...).
I'm a putter-inner. Most authors are taker-outers, but I'm in the other camp. By this I mean that many authors write huge first drafts, and then for the second draft they set about pruning, trimming (or sometimes even hacking) the manuscript down to make it as streamlined as possible. I, however, tend to have a first draft that I know needs adding to, and constructing my second... Read Full Post
Interview with Write Away My interview with Nikki Gamble of Write Away is on their website now:
http://www.writeaway.org.uk/component/option,com_mtree/task,viewlink/link_id,4529/Itemid,99999999/
Read Full Post
Begin at the beginning... The beginning of a novel, and how to go about it, poses some interesting problems (for me at least). There is a popular school of thought that says that you need a momentous opening: a dead body, a car crash, a fight, the loss of a loved one, the accidental detonation of a small thermo-nuclear device in a packed marketplace...you get the picture.
The belief is that without an opening of this sort, you could lose the reader before the story has had any chance of developing. Certain genres lend themselves to this more than others: you need a dead body early on in a crime thriller, a relationship breakdown is a good way to kick off a rom-com, a heart-stopping and intense scene involving supernatural creatures would be a doozy of a way to kick off an adventure-horror, like… Read Full Post
It's a question that I get asked time and time again: Where do you get your ideas from?
And the truth is, for me at least, I don't honestly know.
I've been thinking about it more and more since watching a presentation by Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity that really pushed all of the right buttons for me, because she argues that... Read Full Post
The best emails that I get are from fans. They ask the best questions, make the best suggestions, and write the most honest and insightful reviews.
So today I thought that it would be nice to blog about them. After all, if people can be bothered to take the time to write to me, it's only fair that I should return the compliment (I do reply to every piece of fan-mail that I receive).
I think for every writer... Read Full Post
Is there anybody out there? I'm twittering as well now. Just when I thought I was getting a handle on my social networking habit (it's just the odd status update [sniff], I can handle it), I've gone and joined Twitter. I justified this on the basis that it should take so little of my time that I'd be able to do an SAS on it: get in, get the job done, and get out again.
It's bloody addictive though.
I went on this morning with the Read Full Post
Editing and revising your story when you haven't looked at it for six months is like drilling your own teeth out with a rusty dentist's drill. Okay, it's not that bad - the drill isn't rusty. And you have some oil-of-cloves to dab on afterwards.
You make changes, knowing that they will have a knock-on effect, creating more work and more changes. And all the time you are asking yourself, Read Full Post
Interview with Falcata Times I was recently interviewed by Falcata Times (I knew I'd make it into the FT one day) about how I came to write Changeling, what my influences were, my loves and hates, my favourite characters to write for, and how fish show me nothing but disdain.
To get a pre-publication look at the interview, you can go to Read Full Post
What colour are edits? Red. Yesterday I received the editing notes for Changeling: Dark Moon, and I went through the usual raft of emotions that every author goes through once they realise that their submitted novel is not quite as perfect as they had thought it was. Now don't get me wrong, I know my books aren't perfect when they arrive on my editor's desk, I think that almost all authors know that (what the hell would be the point of having an editor otherwise?). But it still... Read Full Post
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Stefland