We are all social, in the end
There comes a moment in every writer’s journey when a character refuses to do what they’re told. You’ve outlined their arc, planned their choices, possibly even diagrammed their emotional trajectory like a deranged cartographer, and then they simply disobey. This is not madness. This is writing. When characters “take over,”…
Finishing a draft is a milestone many new writers never reach. Not because they lack talent, but because finishing requires stamina, stubbornness, and the ability to ignore the seductive whispers of New Story Ideas that show up precisely when your current project becomes difficult. The middle of a manuscript is…
There’s a persistent belief that real writers write every day, preferably at dawn, possibly while wearing a whimsical scarf and a hat at a jaunty angle. While writing regularly is helpful, turning it into a rigid requirement is a fast track to burnout and creative rebellion, the kind where your…
Writing dialogue is a peculiar skill. We spend our whole lives speaking to people (some of whom we even like), yet the moment we try to write conversation on the page, it comes out stilted, stiff, and strangely formal, like two robots debating philosophy at a polite dinner party. Good…
The world of writing advice is vast, contradictory, and often delivered with the breezy confidence of someone explaining how to assemble flat-pack furniture armed only with optimism, a blunt spoon, and an IKEA instruction manual. One author will insist you must outline every chapter in advance, preferably colour-coded. Another will…
Somewhere along the line, new writers were sold a spectacularly unhelpful lie: the idea that a first draft should emerge fully formed, like a flawless literary diamond sparkling with genius and smelling faintly of accomplishment. According to this myth, you sit down, flex your fingers, and poof! out pours a…
The book I have been writing for the last year under the working title AI.gov has a new name, Project Radiant and it now into the Beta-Reading Trenches. It’s been a minute since I last surfaced here, January, to be precise, which in writer time is roughly twelve existential crises…
Life does not politely step aside to let you write. It barges in with laundry, work stress, sudden illnesses, broken appliances, and family members asking, “Are you still writing that book?” Writing during chaos requires flexibility and humour. This weekend I was running the Scout BBQ at a local village…
Every writer has a ritual. Some burn candles. Some listen to whale noises. Some summon the dark spirits of productivity. I, being a person of refinement and strong British constitution, rely on tea, a staple, a comfort, a crutch, and occasionally the sole reason I remain upright during revisions. Tea…
There is nothing quite as menacing as the blank page. Not spiders, not tax letters, not even an unexpected knock on the door when you’re wearing pyjamas at 2 p.m. A blank page has a particular smugness to it, as if it’s daring you to try something, anything, and reminding…
