Apologies to those of you who don’t read Harry Potter, but I am father to three boys, aged 4, 8 and 11 so it is common currency in our house. Thinking about the series of books (and films, etc.) I realised something. By the end of the book, a lot of things that were axiomatic… Continue reading Burning down Hogwarts!
Tag: novel
Enhanced books
I was looking for something to read this morning so I picked up a Kate Mosse. I vaguely remembered that she’d started one of the big fiction prizes (the Orange Prize for Fiction) so I flicked through the back to find her bio. I was a bit surprised to find that there was more than… Continue reading Enhanced books
Editing strategy
Everything I’ve read about editing suggests that you should write lots and then cut out the superfluous words to create tighter, leaner prose. I think Stephen King aims to lose at least 10% on the first draft rewrite. I have a problem with this. Ever since I was at school, I’ve always been very terse… Continue reading Editing strategy
Breaking the rules
Having written my last post about rules and structure, I’m now going to reply to a couple of the comments about breaking the rules. I think in any form of craft or art work breaking the rules is essential, but with some very important provisos. First of all, you must know the rules and preferably… Continue reading Breaking the rules
Structuring a novel
I’ve had one of those realisations that initially seemed like an overnight bolt of lightning. But when I analysed it I realised that it’s been brewing in my subconscious for several months at least. Let me explain, I subscribe to various twitter and Facebook feeds aimed at independent and self-published authors and last night, have… Continue reading Structuring a novel