Alone in the midnight alley Rositer gave the thing in the shadows a sickly grin. ‘You’re a real vampire.’ The creature loomed darkly. ‘Indeed.’ ‘You want to bite me?’ ‘We do not want. We yearn, we crave-’ The vampire swept … Continue reading →
I’ve heard more than one agent or editor say the quality of writing in their submission stack or their slush pile is not that bad. They say there are a few terrible pieces, a few that stand out, and in … Continue reading →
Bardolf had gone and Amroye was confused. This was her life, her future. Her father, kind in his own way, had duties and obligations. As did she. If not Bardolf, then – another. Lost in thought she wandered the crumbling … Continue reading →
I made a lot of mistakes in my quest to learn how to get words down onto the page. This was nothing to do with how to write in a sense of technical mastery, just simply bums on seats and … Continue reading →
Everything in writing is personal – style, subject matter, genres, themes. Half of it you don’t know you’re doing. War is a backdrop in several of my stories, though I’m not that interested in writing war stories. At least, I … Continue reading →
He’d survived it all, and more. He’d taken every hellish thing life had thrown at him and here he was, under blue skies with sand between his toes. Alf limped back from the café, two ice-cream cones in his good … Continue reading →
Ask an agent or editor whether your next novel should have the themes or settings of whatever is currently popular (vampire romance, suburban porn, etc.) and they’ll invariably say: ‘No, just write what you want.’ They’ll justify this by saying … Continue reading →
Half the world says this, the rest of us nod wisely and turn away. I used to be a wise nodder and I was thinking, ‘But what does this mean?’ It’s a good question. The earliest reference I could find … Continue reading →
There have been times when I’ve tried to write myself out of a shitty life situation. I can now report my findings – it didn’t work. What I did manage to do was write a lot. I took it seriously, … Continue reading →
Not only is Where the Sun Shines Brightly one of the winners of the 2011 Aeon Award, it’s also one of the stories from Open Waters, my collection from theEXAGGERATEDpress. If that wasn’t enough, you can read it free here: … Continue reading →