Hello, my friends and the occasional relative! So yes, I have 43 problems to solve in my rewrites. 43 questions or comments left to myself in the text. Some are thankfully minor, a note to self to change a sentence, or even a word. (Yes, one word changes can be a nightmare, just let me …
Tag: Encouragement
The Slaves and The Djinn—Weekly Update
Hello friends and the occasional relative! (FatoR™, for future reference.) Yes, I know, this is crazy, how many weeks in a row has it been now? Five? Motivation, deadlines, and the very act of doing this update and not wanting to miss my weekly target is keeping me gloriously focused. I am aware this could …
Changes in Perspective
In the month since I released my second book I have realised something. I was afraid of hard work after releasing my first book. I know why, it was because I read advice online, watched videos that said and repeated the message that a book on its own is nothing, that an author must have …
The Writing Life: Imagining Success
Hi there folks! I did finally finish my vocalization of The Killer and The Dead today, and many improvements have been made, and a mere thirty two notes to self generated. You know, changes, continuity checks, questions for proofers and beta readers, that kind of thing. I’m still a few steps away from hitting the …
The Writing Life: Momentum
Another rapid freehand blog today. Which means five plus edits after publication - my apologies to those of you who get version one mailed to you! My face is hot. I think because I've been talking for hours. To myself. I've been reading The Killer and The Dead aloud, and I'm here to say (thankfully …
The Writing Life: Facing Uncertainty in Editing
This is definitely a doubt based post. Unofficial doubts part 6, but for the fact that I've accepted what I'm worrying about, and am going to bulldoze on anyway. This is, admittedly, a newer one for me, but a variant I think on what I have been through in the past and led me to …
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The Writing Life: Everything Requires Research
The title pretty much says it all, folks. When I’m writing, I’m constantly needing to research things: medieval clothing, swords of various eras, ships, rigging, rope names, sewer system management, tidal estuaries, mercantile societies and the role of guilds within said societies, pre-industrial food staples in different parts of the world, the burial rites of …
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The Writing Life: Finding Yourself Involved in a Comic Con
So a while ago you will recall I chatted on Jesper Schmidt’s YouTube channel about Morality in World building. See it here, if you missed it! My blog series on morality in fantasy starts here. Well, he mentioned that it was not a topic he’d ever come across when discussing fantasy fiction before, so I …
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Why I Write Fantasy: The Recurring Ideas That Won’t Let Go
I write fantasy stories because ideas for them keep popping into my head, almost always when I am in no position to write them down or record them. Life’s ironic like that. When I’m half-awake is a classic, that’s when ideas for dramatic situations come to me, cliffhangers without the set up that my still …
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Why I Write Fantasy: To be an Original, Baby
I’ve talked about various inspirations and influences that led me to writing fantasy, an urge that has stuck with me since childhood, but it seems to me that at times I am endlessly circling around the central question of this series without ever answering it. I think in part because I’m answering it piecemeal, a …
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Roderick T. Macdonald 