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 …

If you happen to have been following my 2010 reading list, you’ll have found it a bit boring recently. After ploughing through a book at least every two days during most of the year, in April my reading came to a bit of a standstill. Which is hardly surprising considering what happened on 2 April. But anyway: my April reading totalled this -

The World Beneathby Cate Kennedy

However, I’m still going to announce The World Beneath as my book of the month, because it really was excellent. If it hadn’t been, …

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 …

I’m not sure if it’s reassuring or depressing, but earlier this year I read an “Opinion” feature in the National Times called Do the write thing, and it was absolutely familiar stuff to me. Catherine Deveny wrote about the thousands (or probably millions) of people who tell themselves they’re going to write a book, but never do. The key problem: my best friend (fiend?!) procrastination.
Deveny is a comedy writer (something I truly admire – I find that very difficult) and she makes her points in very memorable ways. The first …