Does a good novel need good sex? Some clearly do. Where would Lady Chatterley’s Lover be sans sex? Could 50 Shades of Grey work without any fornication? But for others, I do wonder if the sex has been added as…
Today was double-up day on NaNo. And I did it! I started the day with 7,093 words and finished with 16,641. I am totally and utterly exhausted, I have dashed around Paris, fallen in love, eaten too many oysters, done…
Is it really only day 4 of the novelling adventure? I feel as though I’ve been in this novel for much longer, which, I suppose in my head, I have been. I’m slightly ahead of target as I sailed through the…
‘The connection between authors, and coffee-houses must be kept up’ to misquote Boswell. Where would Pepys have been without his visits to the coffee-houses and his shagg gowne? The latter having little to do with coffee and much to do…
My first day of my first NaNo (#NaNoWriMo2016) and NaBloPoMo and I am utterly and totally exhausted. I’d like to say it was because the phantom pen has been working a long shift to get a good start to the…
Fab evening at the Horse Hospital. Organized by Travis Elborough, starring Geoff Nicholson and friends. As I embark on the great novelling escapade, I thought I would pick the brains of the novelists around the table for useful tips on…
Enough messing around with stationery, playlists and excuses ... it’s time to get serious about this if I’m going to start and finish a novel in thirty days. Tonight I’ll mainly be character building. Despite the picture, this will not…
With twenty-three days to go until the start of The Phantom Pen, today has seen the novelling action move into a higher gear. I’ve not only done some online shopping (essential books, five reams of paper and a jumbo box…
I’ve pledged to do it … How many times have you read a novel, tossed it aside in disgust and muttered “I could do much better than that”? So why don’t you? Because it’s not as easy as it looks?…