Identification, writing and empathyFollowing on from my last post, and having emailed to and fro with a couple of wonderful writers who are either languishing or writhing in the throes of the issue of ‘am I writing like me, or am I writing like somebody else’ (and they know who they are and which of […]

Who do you write like? Or even, like whom do you write? When we start writing, we often do so in a more or less conscious imitation of a writer we admire. For some of us it’s because we’ve read everything that writer has written (and if they’ve died, everything that will be published by […]

Many writers are nicer than many other people That may not be true – it may simply be that I meet writers, and as a result, know how nice they are, but – as a swingeing and ugly generalisation that I will not be able to defend in any sensible fashion – I find writers […]

Promoting the literary life for all Nik Perring tagged me with this and although I don’t usually do these, I’m sort of interested in the question here – from a different angle, I’m always wondering why people do the various literary things they do, and this is another way of exploring that question. So I […]

The Grist Short Story Competition You know, sometimes you want to spit. We all know that writers are low down the food chain. Watch the BAFTAs and be convinced (the writers are the ones in the rented tuxedos, all the actors and directors and producers have bespoke ones) of our relative insignificance. But you expect […]

These are better days …Largely thanks to Montezuma’s chocolate (their dried banana and milk chocolate turtles appear to have a wonderful effect on my mood), good friends and running. Okay, the good friends bit – thanks to everyone who emailed or posted comments. Knowing that all writers (or all creative types generally) have these wheel-spinning […]

Posted by on Feb 5, 2009 in graphic novels, teaching, Terry Pratchett | 5 Comments

Fannying Around on the Far Side* This is how I think of times like this: fannying around on the Far Side – where nothing is quite real and conversations are utterly surreal and while nothing much happens, the not-happening seems fraught with portent and nasty things with lots of legs hiding in wardrobes and just […]