Yesterday on a bus, I went past an office building with ‘SEO’ on its windows. It had a few other web-based keywords up there as well, possibly in the hope of getting a jump on advertising on Google Earth, so I don’t think it could have been the innocent offices of a firm called South […]
Read More Florence Fusspot and the NinjaI’m sorry I’ve been neglecting this blog since July. Let’s just blame Mr Foo the Lovable Pixie for that and move on. Here’s an excerpt from yesterday’s writing: “I have knowledge you need. You have knowledge I need. Truce?” “I have knowledge you need, and water you need, and a vrykol to carry you out […]
Read More Return of the blogThis week I will be guestblogging over at the lovely Madame Guillotine‘s gaff about historical nonfiction, which is pretty much the love of my reading life. If you recommend me a biography of a city or a historical woman or, heck, even a tulip, the likelihood is that I’ll download a sample from Amazon and […]
Read More Guest blog upcomingToday I bought stock art for the Firebrand cover and started messing around with it. Here’s a sneak preview: Yes, it’s a headless woman, but since the book actually does involve the heroine complaining at one point that getting skirts up is easier than getting trousers down and that bustles just make everything more complicated […]
Read More Firebrand cover art sneak previewSo, Firebrand is off with Team Beta and out of my headspace for the time being. Heavy Ice is still mired in the mud of ‘Why didn’t I realise two years ago that this needed a lot more worldbuilding and a villain who Kallisty would actually have problems with?’ and I have a new project. […]
Read More Failing to build a coherent brandAbout half-way through the first round of edits on Firebrand, and then the Beta Crew can take delivery of it and I’ll kick it out of my head until it comes back red-pencilled. As is usual at this stage, I’m noticing things people won’t like about it and thinking ‘Well, I like it’. Thing the […]
Read More Things I Already Know People Won’t Like About FirebrandReally interesting article from Heather Massey here: Why Has Paranormal Romance Taken Off, but Not Steampunk Romance? Personally, I think the problems come down to: A) People on the covers of steampunk novels have an embarrassing tendency to look like LARPers. I don’t know why this is, particularly as there are far more vampire LARPs […]
Read More Steampunk Is Not The New ParanormalSo, the process of planing and sandpapering Firebrand into shape is ongoing, and it’s making me think about how much easier writing was when I had no clue at all what I was doing. I mean, when I started out it was just a matter of getting some words on a page. What do the […]
Read More WritingFirst draft of the steampunk thing is finished, at just over 100 000 words! Next comes getting it to a state where I’m prepared to let anyone else read it…
Read More First draft!1. Go to page 7 (or 77) of your current WIP. 2. Go to line 7 3. Copy down the next 7 lines – sentences or paragraphs – and post them as they’re written. Since I have two WIPs, you get both. Heavy Ice: Kallisty felt triumph lance up through her all the way from […]
Read More That 7×7 meme from everywhere
Ankaret Wells 