Essex Book Festival 2019: Essex Authors and You
Come along this coming Saturday 9th March to the Essex Authors and You day at Chelmsford library. From 10.00 to 16.00 local authors will be holding seminars and talks. Between 12.00 and 14.00 there are opportunities to chat informally with many of the writers on a one-to-one basis and to listen to them introduce themselves […] more…
The Flammarion Engraving: Inspiration for The Invisible College Trilogy Covers
The inspiration for the background of the covers of my The Invisible College Trilogy. According to Wikipedia, ‘the Flammarion engraving is a wood engraving by an unknown artist that first appeared in Camille Flammarion’s L’atmosphère: météorologie populaire (1888). The image depicts a man crawling under the edge of the sky, depicted as if it were […] more…
One Final (Probably) Visit to Vanuatu
In December 2018 I spent a couple of weeks in Vanuatu for what may well be my final visit. My partner works in International Development and is like to have only one more assignment there. It is a beautiful country and claims, with some justification, to have the most friendly population in the world. Of […] more…
Book Review: First You Write A Sentence by Joe Moran
‘First You Write a Sentence’ by Joe Moran is a mixture of advice, mostly good, and observation, which I found less interesting, probably because, as a writer, I am always looking for the former. Advice is of course just that: you can take or ignore it according to the context and circumstances. Useful advice includes: […] more…
A Personal List of Writing Guides
Here is a selection of the best guides to writing fiction that I have discovered to date. I will be adding my thoughts on each on this site over the coming months. more…
What Makes a Good Story?
Story, rather than plot, is the reason that we read fiction. As Stephen King says, ‘it’s all about the story,’ whereas he describes plot as ‘the good writer’s last resort and the dullard’s first choice.’ There are no firm guidelines on what makes a good story. If you were to ask the opinions of a […] more…
Stationery: An Important Choice for Writers
Although the final product of an author’s work is assembled electronically, pen and paper remain important everyday tools. They provide an immediate, accessible facility to record notes, sketches, dialogue and narrative in a structured or unstructured form, regardless of location and power supply. The decision of which notebooks and pens is something not to be […] more…
Galungan and Kuningan Celebrations, Bali 2018
I was pleased to return to Bali again in June/July, especially as my trip coincided with Galungan. Galungan marks the beginning of the one of the most important recurring religious festivals in Bali. It celebrates the victory of dharma over adharma. It is a time when spirits of relatives who have died and been cremated return to Earth […] more…
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