Thought for the Day

"There's a direct link between those who dismiss fiction as 'not real' and those who think mental illness is 'all in our head'. Thoughts; feelings; memories; dreams; the subconscious; depression; the imagination. All these are real. All these determine the way we live our lives."

~ Joanne Harris

Thought for the Day

"Art and fiction are important because they put us in the shoes of others. They create empathy and understanding, and promote education and intelligence. They allow us to share ideas and discuss what it means to be human, and unpack the fundamental commonalities we all share."

~ Gareth L Powell

Thought for the Day

“When it comes to the past, everyone writes fiction.”

~ Stephen King, Joyland

Thought for the Day

"Fiction is the truth inside the lie."

~ Stephen King

Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day

"I read very widely, both non-fiction and fiction, so I don't think there's a single writer who influences me."

~ Peter Benchley, author of Jaws

Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day

Margaret Atwood’s Ten Rules for Writing Fiction

1. Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can’t sharpen it on the plane, because you can’t take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.

2. If both pencils break, you can do a rough sharpening job with a nail file of the metal or glass type. 

3. Take something to write on. Paper is good. In a pinch, pieces of wood or your arm will do. 

4. If you’re using a computer, always safeguard new text with a ­memory stick. 

5. Do back exercises. Pain is distracting. 

6. Hold the reader’s attention. (This is likely to work better if you can hold your own.) But you don’t know who the reader is, so it’s like shooting fish with a slingshot in the dark. What fascinates A will bore the pants off B. 

7. You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip on reality. This latter means: there’s no free lunch. Writing is work. It’s also gambling. You don’t get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but ­essentially you’re on your own. ­Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don’t whine.

8. You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You’ve been backstage. You’ve seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a ­romantic relationship, unless you want to break up. 

9. Don’t sit down in the middle of the woods. If you’re lost in the plot or blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong. Then take the other road. And/or change the person. Change the tense. Change the opening page.

10. Prayer might work. Or reading ­something else. Or a constant visualization of the holy grail that is the finished, published version of your resplendent book.

Tie-in Tuesday: Coming this autumn...

3rd September 2015

1st October 2015

29th October 2015

Tie-in Tuesday: Still to come in 2015...

Thought for the Day

"Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't."

~ Mark Twain