Lonely Heart have just put a piece up I wrote on avoiding procrastination.  Go check it out. Oh, the irony: you’re surfing the Internet right now. Is it helping you write, or whatever it is that you should be doing?  I don’t know.  Maybe not.  Don’t beat yourself up about it: I surf the web when I should be doing things that are more productive too. I’ve got a few techniques that I use that I’m happy to share.  It’s not really a recipe — it’s just how I work out whether I’m in a good place to mess about on the Internet or not.  Here’s my top five tricks. Trick one: set aside some time to write.  I put it in my calendar.  It’s regular — same time each day, same amount of time each day. Trick two: avoid assholes.  Read More …

This is not about Dr. Phil, despite how much of an admirer of his work you may be. I’ve put together a piece on writing believable characters over at the Author’s Friend.  Check it out. You ever seen one of those villains in a movie that cackles with glee, rubbing their hands together at the downfall of the heroes?  Just being a bit of a dick? The thing is, people are dicks all the time, but only super rarely do they wake up in the morning and say to themselves, “You know, it’s Tuesday: I’m going to be a dick today.” If we start from there, it gives us our first hint on how to make our characters more real.  Start with them being human, and having human drivers.  People are “evil” or “good” because they want to achieve a Read More …

You read it here first. Ok, maybe you didn’t: it’s not a new idea.  Just a little piece I did on the importance of covers for Nose In Books. Sex sells. The thing is, our eyeballs are attracted to shiny things.  It probably all started with the basics: does that food look good to eat?  It does make me question the good judgement of the first person to eat a mussel, but whatever: we make a lot of calls based on what we see.  Despite our great technology and evolved art, we’re still animals at the core.  We like to eat, sleep, and make baby animals. Like I said, sex sells. Focus, people.  Back to book covers.  This means that your cover needs to grab a browsing reader by the eyeballs, travel down the optic nerve, and hunt around a little Read More …

In a rampant aberration against all that’s holy, I’ve been interviewed on a site called Mommy Adventures. I can’t make this stuff up, people: it writes itself. It must be the shower scene.  That’s what I’m thinking.  You haven’t reached that part in Night’s Favour yet?  Best get reading then.

A so-called-friend nominated me for more work.  Thanks, Cassie. The rules are:  Answer the four questions below, link back to the person who invited you, and name the people who will be posting the following Monday. What am I working on? Outside the reach of the G Men, I’m working on a dystopian future story called Upgrade.  I’m trying to explore a little inside the concept of what makes us truly human, and how you might get back in touch with that from inside the machine.  If you were born into it, would you even know what you’d lost, and how would you know what it looked like if you found it again. Also, there are guns and giant mechs.  You can relax, this isn’t some story about a woman dying of Alzheimer’s.  It’s an action story with energy weapons and Read More …

Balance is important. You’ll remember I put something up a couple days ago about Edward Snowden, and about how good and evil are just points of view, right?  Meet…  The NSA. TED did a good job here of allowing a response from the NSA — the approach feels fair, even if the questions don’t seem quite balanced.  You can watch that for yourselves, you don’t need me telling you which one of these points of view is right or wrong.  That’s your thing, right? The interesting part for me is the insight into the political machine.  At the start of the talk, the G Man is talking about how Snowden had opportunities to address his concerns without dumping classified information onto the Internet.  The trail of tears he describes is my fucking life.  Select committees.  Managers.  Directors.  And it struck me: Read More …

I get it.  It’s been a while. Lots of silence on the blog.  Tumbleweeds, if that’s your thing.  The reasons are numerous, some good, some bad.  Let’s get on to it. The Vogels The 8th of March was a day different to many others.  It was a Saturday — not in itself terribly unusual, but!  It’s the annual day for International Women’s Day, and this year’s theme was, “Equality for Women is Progress for All.”  It was the day that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing on its way to Beijing.  Winterwell, acclaimed creators of immersive parties, held a post-apocalyptic party in the depths of the tunnels and vaults of Waterloo — they called it Beyond the Thunderdome.  Also, I got this in my inbox: “On behalf of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand Inc. we write to Read More …

On writing the supernatural: http://thereanddraftagain.wordpress.com/2013/12/07/werewolves/ There And Draft Again did an interview with me on werewolves, inspiration, and storytelling.  Go check it out!