Tag Archives: writingtips

The rules of write #2

Posted on January 31, 2023 by darrack1

I’m not a great fan of talking about characters in terms of ‘her/his truth’. Though it is a concept I understand, my problem with the concept is it is by nature restrictive. Which is to say that the concept states that I, a white upper working class British man in his early fifties, should not write about the experience of an African American soldier born in the early 1900’s in the southern states of the US, because I can not know, or speak for, that characters ‘truth…’ Continue reading →

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Piano Man, A Guest Post by Will Nett

Posted on January 20, 2023 by darrack1

Like most authors, I’ll do almost anything to avoid writing. Buying a piano a couple of years ago seemed as good an idea as any. I’d always fancied having a crack at it, but would not have gone out of my way to find one, so when a friend was selling one, and another had a van in which to deliver it, I was first in line. Continue reading →

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The rules of writing… #1

Posted on January 18, 2023 by darrack1

This is a bit of a rant I know. This is also just my opinion, yours might differ… But if you think any writer should only write that which they personally experience due to their gender, sexuality and skin colour, then yours is an opinion I don’t give much of a damn about, because I believe you are fundamentally wrong Continue reading →

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NaNoWriMo: Or how to first draft 2022 edition

Posted on October 25, 2022 by darrack1

With the 1st of November a week away here is my usual mildly self-aggrandising of attempting to offer some advice to budding writers, or as it is otherwise known the story of how I wrote my first novel. It is also the story of how I wrote my nineteenth novel. Continue reading →

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Another gimlet, please, Ivor. A Guest post from Will Nett

Posted on October 6, 2022 by darrack1

William Nettleton is a fine name. Still a ‘Sir’ in front of it and it brings up images of a big game hunter in the 1800’s with an elephant gun nestled under one arm , smoking a pipe of suspicious … Continue reading →

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Talking books…

Posted on September 27, 2022 by darrack1

“Are they available in audio…?” I get asked for the fifth time that day. At which point I start to explain, in my usual fluid, utterly self-confident, and in no way panic-stricken way that unfortunately they are not… I’ll go … Continue reading →

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Valuing the craft

Posted on July 29, 2022 by darrack1

This is about the third time I have published this particular blog. I feel it remains relevant, indeed is more relevant with every revision of it. It is just an opinion, and just mine, it does however feel as important … Continue reading →

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Irrational typesetting hatreds

Posted on July 15, 2022 by darrack1

Bad typesetting irritates me, though that is an understatement. I should make a point of saying typesetting is a subjective matter. There is no such things as the ‘right way’ to typeset a book, and just because I consider something … Continue reading →

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The problem with Eddings

Posted on June 5, 2022 by darrack1

As is often the case my nightstand is looking slightly dishevelled with the number of books currently sprue across it in random piles. This is because, as well as been an eclectic reader in taste, I read eclectically. My life … Continue reading →

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A failure to Beware!

Posted on March 7, 2022 by darrack1

A year ago I discovered an oddly entertaining fact. I was born on the day Howard Philip Lovecraft died. Why I found this oddly entertaining is a long story, but in essence, I’ve joked for a long time that I … Continue reading →