You can read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 at these links. FINAL PART: ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) made the task of preparing my book for publishing incredibly simple: I downloaded a template for the size I needed (as close as I could to Watched’s measurements), inserted enough chapters and formatted them as closely as […]
Read more "The Story of “Exceptional”: Final Part"You can read Part 1 and Part 2 at these links. PART 3: HOME STRAIGHT I had a few bottom lines that I wanted for my book: I wanted hard copies as well as eBooks, because in my experience with Watched, most people wanted hard copies (plus I personally wanted the physical feel of my book in my own hands); […]
Read more "The Story of “Exceptional”: Part 3"You can read Part 1 here. PART 2: THE NIGHT IS DARKEST There was a silver lining to my publisher’s rejection of Exceptional – after all, it’s the reason I’m writing this story about how I self-published it! It meant I was legally allowed to approach other publishers. As I explained in a blog post at […]
Read more "The Story of “Exceptional”: Part 2"Exceptional, my second novel, has now been published and is available from Amazon. I don’t know about other writers, but for me reaching this point for the second time is quite indescribable. A strange mixture of joy, doubt, fear, and something a bit like indifference – on to the next one, I suppose! But there […]
Read more "The Story of “Exceptional”: Part 1"Today I took a break from work to have coffee with a friend. I headed towards our usual – a coffee place across the road from Parliament – and along the way I walked over a number of messages written in chalk on the footpath: “Ban 1080” they said. Fine, I thought. People protest stuff […]
Read more "Dilemma: The Power (and Danger) of Belief"“Show, don’t tell.” It must be one of the fundamental principles of good fiction. It’s been quoted at me countless times in critiques of my writing, and it’s a criticism I personally make of various works fairly often. I’d like to explore in this post whether “show, don’t tell” as a principle is really as […]
Read more "Dilemma: “Show, don’t tell”"No, this is not a piece about male gamers feeling marginalised or threatened by the rising number of female-led or -empowering games on the market. When I say God of War is a game men need right now, I don’t mean that it’s a game only for men, one that male gamers can just play […]
Read more "Why “God of War” is a game men need right now"