Tag: writing fiction
-
How I Fell Out of Love With Laptops and Returned to Desktops
In my last blog post, I wrote about the changes I expect to make through the course of 2022. I’ve been laying out some of these changes since 2020 when the pandemic first allowed and then forced me to review my freelance services.
-
Some 21st Century Character Archetypes
This first appeared in 2012. New version edited and updated. I read a lot of books and I watch a lot of films and TV series, typically in the evening to wind down from spending all day on the laptop working. I’ve identified several tropes of the modern age. I don’t know if any appear…
-
Feed a Writer AND an Artist: Buy Books New!
“Do you know how much it costs to pay an artist to design a custom cover for your book?” Was a question I recently asked of somebody in a book group. This was in response to how “cheap” self-published and indy book covers look, and that they “put readers off”. While readers are drawn to…
-
Why Regional Food Culture Matters in Your Fiction
Food, glorious, food. Who doesn’t like it? We need to eat to survive but there is so much more to food than mere sustenance. I started writing about food on this blog when researching for my Romans vs Aliens novel (preliminary title: Children of Phobetor). The article on Roman street food remains rather popular. I…
-
A Sense of Place: London, The Eternal City
It’s been almost two years since I wrote about creating a sense of place in your urban landscape when writing, but I want to revisit it following a most recent trip to London where I climbed the O2 arena and was able to take in a good portion of the city while on top of…
-
How Should A Zombie Story End?
Compiling the epilogue to Dead Heat on my train journey back from Cornwall today, it occurred to me just how few well-known zombie stories – in film particularly – finish on a high, or at least with some sort of conclusion where the zombie apocalypse ends – or perhaps my zombie education is simply lacking?…
-
Dealing with Company Names When Writing Fiction
This is one that got me thinking. I wrote another 1500 words of DNF this afternoon and finally, my protagonists were able to get hold of their mobile phones. Naturally, they found all of their networks were down and I included a conversation – as we all do – discussing network coverage. I was stuck on whether…
-
Myths About Writing a Novel I Dispelled While Writing A Novel
We’ve all heard them, those little myths we get from the internet or someone who knows someone who heard that it’s the proper way to do things and you couldn’t possibly get it right or become a better writer if you don’t follow the rules. But what rules? And who set them? Here’s some I…
-
So You’ve Decided to Write a Sequel
Last week, Roz Morris posted this article on when you should or shouldn’t write a sequel. I agree that we have become far too sequel minded as Hollywood churns out guaranteed moneyspinners and fails to take risks on new projects in these financially difficult times. I have created only two sequels to my work. The…
-
Writing the Seasons: It’s Christmaaaaas!
Welcome to the year’s first Christmas special! Perhaps not as hotly anticipated as this year’s slice of Doctor Who but I’m sure you’ve all been dying to know what I think of how we portray the season in our writing. I’m sure some of you are about to start or are currently writing festive-themed short…
MG Mason Creative 