Close to where I used to live, there was the ugliest house in its long street. It was a small square single storey weatherboard, marooned on a slightly bigger square of uneven, greying concrete that filled up almost the entire empty yard behind a rusting wire fence knit with straggling weeds. That old home, with its … Continue reading Ugly House
writing
The supermarketness of it all
It's not lethal or anything, yet this vice around my head is unrelenting, despite the pain killers (making me dopey). Or that could be the cortisone leaving me sleepless. But it's just (another) sinus infection. Never mind noises are too loud, light is too bright, and standing suddenly elicits a shooting agony and a weird dizziness. … Continue reading The supermarketness of it all
Murder, they all wrote
I'm in a couple of online writing groups. The questions that get the biggest responses are not about reviews or like when to use the Oxford comma - or whether to capitalise the Oxford comma. There may not be consensus, but it doesn't capture the imagination. The most recent question about research did though. We … Continue reading Murder, they all wrote
Balancing Big Themes and Small Moments
To depict big themes, the advice to writers is to focus on small items and moments. If disease is the theme, the moment in a global pandemic is how a medico might be motivated by the sight of a toy box in an eerily empty children's hospital ward. Emotional, concrete, and reasonably relatable. Conspiracy to commit writing In … Continue reading Balancing Big Themes and Small Moments
Little victory
I want to demonstrate why, despite the many rejections and deafening silence at times, I will I keep writing and keep sending pieces out. This is the story of a short story. There was a thing, a scrap of an idea pullulating away in its own stew in a quiet corner of a sprawling mess … Continue reading Little victory
Lessons from novels: Umberto Eco
Vale author and academic Umberto Eco, thank you for your many 'little scraps of wisdom'. I can remember exactly when I first saw Name of the Rose, but I do remember when I first read it. It was as part of the recommended reading for my undergraduate degree and it was over the summer break. After … Continue reading Lessons from novels: Umberto Eco
Story decision making
It's a step and it feels like one, when launching a story into the maw of potential publishers. It used to be an actual trip to the post office. Now, not so much. What it entails is a dash to a deadline, other times a carefully considered effort to fit a piece to the journal where you … Continue reading Story decision making
Collected work – in progress
I'm in the midst of editing and putting together some of my short stories. My novella is in competition stasis and while I thought I had time to enter it in a slightly later competition for novellas I was wrong. So, because of submission overlap and the fact this second competition is accepting novellas but … Continue reading Collected work – in progress
Doctor Who: reports from afar
Hot on the heels of the news of Steven Moffat leaving after 2017, with Chris Chibnall to take over Doctor Who, there are now reports that Peter Capaldi could depart as well. Some are calling it a fresh start with a new producer in Chibnall, and it might be. The thing is, if I were taking … Continue reading Doctor Who: reports from afar
X Files: X marks the writer
I was always a fan of X Files. At the risk of revealing my age, some series were often enjoyed communally. It was virtually the only thing we all agreed on as bunch of undergrads, lapping up the ongoing trials and tribulations of FBI's most basementy duo, Mulder and Scully. It wasn't just Moonlighting, but … Continue reading X Files: X marks the writer
Writing Bec 