Opening Salvos #authorselectric #writing

My Authors Electric post for September is now up!

“I am just coming to the end of the editing marathon for my next crime novel In Her Defence, and nervously awaiting final corrections and comments. As always the section that has been poured over and fretted upon is that first chapter. Yes, the end matters almost as much, but I am very aware, to the point of near paranoia, of the need to start with a hook. Those opening few pages are all important, and increasingly so when so many potential readers will be using the ‘look inside’ feature on Amazon to sample your wares. ”  (To read the rest go here)

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Leading Questions #authorselectric #fiction #favouritebooks

My blog for Authors Electric is up>

“I was recently sent a Q&A interview by a publisher for an upcoming anthology Into the Night Eternal: Tales of French Folk Horror, (which (shameless plug) will include my novella‘A Small Thing for Yolanda’). As always that online interview sheet included that old chestnut ‘Which books have influenced your writing the most?’ And, as always, I was at a loss for an answer.

The books that had any effect on us at age four are never going to be the same at age fourteen, or forty-four, or sixty-four.  That said I am not sure that books read in adulthood ever affect us in the same way that they do when we are young…

To read the rest of the post go here!

 

Stereotypical #authorselectric

My posting for this month is up on Authors Electric

“Stock images are something we are used to. Images from magazines and advertising hoardings have been presenting us with images of this and that for centuries.

The representations in art are a subject all of their own and their roots stretch back as far as the first paintings etched into a cave wall. Yet the word ‘Symbolism’ was first coined in 1886 by the writers Gustave Kahn and Jean Moréas, and is something much discussed in the arts…”

to read the rest click HERE

Of Dog Food and Candle Wax

You know how it is – somebody mentions a particular subject on Facebook or Twitter, which sparks that domino effect of comments, which often stray off topic, interweaving with the original post but following trains of thought from a dozen, two dozen and more people.

You watch the thread build and add to the chatter but in your head the memories are sparked of things only related to the subject by tenuous fibres of thought. It is the catching those thoughts that can be essential to a writer.

Memories Are Not Always Made of This

This morning the author and editor Diana Athill was interviewed on the Today programme for her 100^th birthday. Happy Birthday to Ms Athill!

One of the things  that she mentioned was her first memory of falling into a puddle and being hauled out again. It set me musing on my own earliest memories. I can think of several, and because we moved house two weeks after my 4^th birthday I can accurately date myself as being three or even two years old at the time.

People Are Watching… #authorselectric

Today I am blogging over at Authors Electric about who notices us (in a non-conspiracy sense 🙂  )

Eyes Are Always On You by Jan Edwards

If you ask writers why they write most will say tell you it is a compulsion, or, as Terry Pratchett once said, ‘writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.’ If we manage to make a few bucks in the process all the better. If we come to be recognised as a writer of some merit, better still, but to do that the writing needs a reader.  So how do we get noticed?… To read the rest click here.

 

Displacement Therapy

House moving looms and we find that BT are unable to supply a telephone line until 14 days after the current house owner has moved out, and can’t supply us with a telephone number until then. Our internet provider cannot supply us with a connection until we have our new number – and there is a ten day wait. Well that was the first rendering. My other half spending half a day on the phone has resulted in shortening those time scales a little, with luck, but only time will tell by how much.