I’ve been looking over some of my older work and I have noticed that the stories I write these days are much bigger. More words, more characters. I used to be able to happily sit down and crank out a two-hander with the intention of quickly exploring a single character point or an idea. Nowadays, […]
My mate Justin Woolley just wrote a blog post that has gotten me thinking about the way that I use my blog. Of course the function of the blog is to discuss and promote my work but I do talk about other topics every now and again, particularly the craft of writing. The first couple […]
Not long ago, somebody read a paragraph aloud to me and told me that it was really good. I must have looked confused, because the reader-aloud then said: “Don’t you recognize that? It’s the opening of Bloody Waters!” It wasn’t that I didn’t recognize my own work, it’s just that something else was going through […]
Iain Banks, another of my heroes, died last night. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22835047 Banks was only 59. He was diagnosed barely two months ago–right as he was finishing up what will now be his last book, The Quarry, which is about a man dying of cancer. Banks’ announcement about the diagnosis was calm and exhibited his usual understated […]
Jack Vance is dead. http://www.locusmag.com/News/2013/05/jack-vance-1916-2013/ Ninety-six years old–he didn’t live to see the Earth die, but that’s still a hell of a run. I only recently became a fan of Jack Vance’s, because I’m a bit of an idiot, but Vance’s work has been a huge influence on my own work anyway. How’s that, you […]