I’m recovering from sunburn from a camping trip last weekend. Turns out you shouldn’t use out of date lotion! Who knew? It was great to catch up with friends and family though, and I got to enjoy the Chiltern Hills just north of London. Here I am, getting burnt.
Happy Writing Birthday Me
It was three years ago this month I started writing. What a journey! It’s been a massive learning experience, and I am only now getting any good at it, but have enjoyed it immensely thus far. What have I learnt? That there are a million things to juggle in writing a novel. Characterisation, plot and prose were things I came naturally to, while realism, energy and structure have been more laborious lessons. Although I have only released a novella, I have nearly finished an epic, I have written another two unreleased books, and I have penned some damn fine poetry and sassy tweets along the way. So all good so far. Now that I know what I’m doing, hopefully I can unlock the prolific badge too.
The Truth about Truth
Truth is stranger than fiction, people often say, but ironically, truth is the overriding thing readers crave in fiction. An anathema? Possibly, but it’s more true than ever in Fantasy, possibly as Fantasy is further away from reality than pretty much any other genre. Whether it’s a greater truth about life, or the illusion of truth and believability in plot and character, without it, fiction is flat and dull, and not something we want to read or watch. As a writer, it’s my number one goal to stop that truth bubble popping. I hope I’m getting better at it.
What’s ahead?
This month I should get to the end of this revision pass of Bindcrafter I, the working title of which is now ‘Hope of the Makers’, the Makers being the Devotion to which our hero Guyen is assigned. Other Devotions include War, Culture, Corpus, Merchant & Scholar. The Spanish version of Deliverance at Van Demon’s Deep should be hitting shelves; aside from the writing I shall be enjoying the sunshine, getting ready for festival season, and catching up with Killing Eve and Good Omens on the television. Good Omens feels especially perfect at the moment.
