As I mentioned last month, I’ve been doing a bit more reading lately on how to write fiction – looking for a few good tips that will make my novel writing life that bit easier (because let me tell you, in case you don’t know, it’s definitely not easy!).
Unfortunately, I find it hard to find how-to books that suit my writing style. I’ve had two out from the library, hanging around on my desk and, well, to be honest all over the house, and I keep picking them up and …

Now that I feel like I’ve got a lot more experience writing fiction, I find reading books about how to write fiction a lot easier – partly because there are a lot of things I already know so I can skip over some bits, and partly because when I find a useful tip, I can immediately think of a situation in my own writing where I can apply it.
Novel Shortcuts: Ten Techniques that Ensure a Great First Draftby Laura Whitcomb was a book I wasn’t sure about at first. In …

There’s nothing worse than reading a novel and coming across a factual error.
I’ll always remember reading a book-I-won’t-name where the narrator explained about where my hometown, Perth, was situated, and what you would reach if you travelled in each direction, as the crow flies. For some reason, the narrator had us hitting the west coast of Africa instead of the east, and it bugged me so much – I re-read the section three times to be sure I had understood correctly – that it tainted my opinion of the whole …

“Are you bored yet?” This is the most common question that people have been asking me since I’ve become a bit housebound thanks to some pregnancy dramas. At first, I was a little surprised to be asked. Then it kept happening, and I realised that obviously a lot of people think they would be bored if they were in my situation, “stuck” at home.
Of course, I’d much prefer to be still at work teaching, and also able to get out of the house a bit more (although I don’t miss …

Listening to an interview with one of my favourite authors, Kazuo Ishiguro, recently, I heard him say something fantastic:
What I want to emphasise is that for novelists … I think that your peak is likely to be somewhere in your mid 30s to your mid 40s. A few years after footballers!
But then the pressure came on …
You have to really go for it when you’re in your 30s, and you have to ignore older people who patronise you as though you’re some kind of little chick that’s about to hatch. …

I wonder if other writers have this in common with me: when I think about the music that I like, a big reason I might like a particular song or artist is because of the lyrics. Others might remember a band for a great drum beat or an excellent guitarist, but pretty much all I remember of music is the lyrics; I’m guessing that’s because I’m so focused on words.
Down here in Australia we have a fantastic public radio station called Triple J (you can stream it from anywhere by …

Pat me on the back, please, because I have finally got past my read-it-in-one-sitting procrastination problem and am now editing, bit by bit, my first novel manuscript.
If you’ve been paying attention over the past year or so you will know that this poor novel has already seen quite a few incarnations. It began as the scrappy product of a frantic NaNoWriMo experience in November 2007 and then got brushed up and rewritten with a few additions (at one stage, five extra chapters) for submission to a couple of contests. Each …

I didn’t really mean to, but I’ve been having a feast of writing how-to books passing through my life lately. Usually I try to ration that kind of stuff out – because the one thing that’s a whole lot better than reading writing how-to books is definitely just WRITING – but the writing’s been in a bit of a lull and a bunch of how-to books that I’ve had on reserve at the library for ages just all arrived at once.
Which means this week I’ve been devouring Stephen King’s On …

This is a post of two extremes. To start with, I have to rant and rave about published books that include spelling or grammar errors. I hate that. I really hate that. This week I’ve been reading two books that were both self-published – one a novel, one a non-fiction book – and both are riddled with errors. I’m not talking just the odd missing apostrophe or one or two misspelt words, but the kind of errors that would leave the pages obliterated in red ink if I was doing …

Don’t worry, I haven’t entirely sunk into a can’t-finish-a-novel depression – I just liked the idea of entering the How to be Miserable contest being sponsored by life coach Tim Brownson. But in fact, trying to becoming a fiction writer can certainly produce its moments of misery, so if you’re in the business of wanting to be miserable, here’s how:

Set yourself a goal of becoming a published fiction writer. Being just a writer is hard enough, but wanting to be published? It’s a guaranteed path to misery. I don’t know …