Posted by on Nov 16, 2009 in book review, Jim Murdoch, nanowrimo | 3 Comments

Sooo… the things I wanted to talk about: Jim Murdoch’s new novel, Stranger than Fiction. I really enjoyed this, and Jim’s profoundly idiosyncratic view of the world is always fascinating. I tried to come up with one of those pithy one-liners that you are supposed to use to encapsulate a project for the movie industry […]

October – a writing Indian summer? Right, final reminder for Fear of the Dark – should be a night to remember! Tickets are £5 or £4 for concessions available on the night or in advance from the Marlborough Theatre, Brighton or fearofthedark.eventbrite.com Apart from that, I’m suddenly full speed ahead on Year of the Ladybird […]

NaNoWriMo approaches … Sadly I won’t be doing National Novel Writing Month this year, I’ve just got too much on. But I did complete it for four years and was Brighton (and Hove actually) coordinator for three of them. If you want to write a novel but aren’t sure if you can, especially if you’ve […]

Endings and beginnings … Tomorrow will be a bittersweet day for me. I shall be handing over the reins (or even reigns) of Brighton (and Hove actually) National Novel Writing Month to my excellent successors, Fiona Wallace and Alex Allsworth. After three years I thought it was time to step aside and let somebody else […]

Posted by on Dec 1, 2006 in nanowrimo | No Comments

It’s all over … … bar the party. National Novel Writing Month has finished for another year, and for me this is a key year as I’m stepping down as Municipal Liaison for Brighton (and Hove actually). I’ve done the job for three years and reckon it’s time to give somebody else a chance to […]

Posted by on Nov 22, 2006 in nanowrimo, novel writing, research | 6 Comments

How far would you go? I’ve never thought of myself as an adventurous person and the idea of living in a tent, eating unknown animal parts and travelling huge distances off the map are all terrifying to me, which is why being accused of being ‘research rabid’ has come as a bit of a surprise. […]

Posted by on Nov 21, 2006 in nanowrimo, novel writing, writer's block | 2 Comments

The value of compression Writing a novel in a month is a daft thing to do. It’s a lot of fun and it teaches you a great deal about the process of writing a novel which comes in useful when you step back to write a real novel in a sensible time-frame, but it’s an […]

Posted by on Nov 14, 2006 in nanowrimo, novel writing | No Comments

The Panic Jar One of the things I’ve instituted for Brighton (and Hove actually) NaNoWriMo this year is the Panic Jar. At meetings, the writers put plot inspirations into the jar and when anybody gets stuck, I take one out. So far only one inspiration has been used ‘One of the characters loses something valuable. […]

Posted by on Nov 13, 2006 in nanowrimo | 3 Comments

Why I love NaNoWriMo We’re nearly at the middle of the month and at least half a dozen of Brighton’s novelists have cruised past the halfway point (25,000 words) and entered the home straight. Others are struggling a bit, or a lot. One has just written a norse/horse love scene Another has introduced poetic interludes […]