https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsPfpQuBpmE Welcome to my first ever video blog, in which I take you through my Google Docs setup and explain my thought processes behind re-drafting 'The Singularity'. I don't actually do any writing in this video — although I may upload a video later in which you can watch me struggling with a draft. Apologies... Continue Reading →
Things that get in the way
I'll say this for working at a school: the holidays are well-earned. It's quite popular these days to bash teachers and teaching staff for the amount of time they get off, but believe me: they deserve it. Imagine trying to do your job (whatever you do), with all of its paperwork, admin, on-line and off-line... Continue Reading →
Summing It Up
Writing a synopsis is, for most writers, nothing more and nothing less than an interminable, howling chore. I speak from experience, having struggled endlessly to condense my 150,000 word epic fantasy into 500 words or less. It was, needless to say, a low point in my creative process. Then I came upon this very helpful... Continue Reading →
Pinning It Down
As promised, here's a little peek at my process of writing. I'm just doing this in case anyone was curious. At the moment I'm doing my continuity edit on Coals of Fire: Ash, so this is a nice little interlude for you fine folk to have something slightly different. I'm also attempting to write some... Continue Reading →
The ‘End’
The end of the first draft, for me, is always something of a cathartic experience. The ideas that have been boiling in my head for months (and, in the case of some scenes, years) are 'on the page': I've pinned them down, given them substance, made them physical. In the case of the more abstract... Continue Reading →
Road to Nowhere
Well, I promised you a new Lifting the Lid, so here it is. Today I want to spend some time going over my actual process of writing; that is, the nuts and bolts of what happens when I sit down with my laptop or iPad and just write. So I'm assuming at this point that... Continue Reading →
Sweat The Small Stuff
(Slowly) making my way through sort-of second draft edits on Coals of Fire: Ash at the moment. It's interesting, the difference between writing fantasy and thrillers. I've never written a thriller before, so the experience is a new one, and I'm learning every day. One of the main lessons I've learned can be boiled down... Continue Reading →
Plot, Character; Character, Plot
Those of you who have been following this blog from the beginning will know that the relationship between character and plot is one of my favourite subjects. The way the two run together, informing and supporting each other, is what makes brilliant writing. In a recent post I mentioned that I had a run-in between... Continue Reading →
There’s More Than One Of Everything
The title of this post comes from Fringe, the excellent sci-fi show about parallel universes. I used it because this post concerns parallel universes of a sort: the kind that come about in different drafts of a novel. Things can change drastically from one draft to the next, and I believe the draft below demonstrates... Continue Reading →
Matthew Wainwright, Children's Author 