Category Archives: Writing & Publishing

‘Although reading is linear, writing is not.’ Rudy Rucker, The Transrealist Manifesto Where have all the manifestos gone? Art is like motor racing, whilst winning is all well and good its the chance of witnessing a bloody great crash that makes it compelling. Or being in one. Without the odd revolutionary manifesto every once inContinue reading “Transrealism”

Once again the National Short Story Prize have neglected to include me on their shortlist. The nerve of it! Instead they chose this lot: ‘Slog’s Dad’ by David Almond ‘The Morena’ by Jonathan Falla ‘The Orphan and the Mob’ by Julian Gough ‘How to Get Away with Suicide’ by Jackie Kay ‘Weddings and Beheadings’ by HanifContinue reading “The Short Story”

An interesting enquiry to Miss Snark the mystery literary agent. How do you deal with embarrassing novels from earlier literary personae? And when, if ever, do you raise them with an agent? One of the positive consequences of having crashed and burned on multiple novel writing projects is that none of my unborn children madeContinue reading “Career Management”

A catchy little 12 point guide to  selling your self as a professional writer by Meg Rosoff. My personal favourite… ‘Contrary to popular belief, editors and agents are gagging for good books.’ Meg Rosoff Imagine you’re being paid 35k a year as an editor for Random House. You’ve got three kids, a husband / wifeContinue reading “Sell Sell Sell”

If you were harbouring any ideas about the wonders of being a first time novelist, read this. So its a tough world out there. Does this really take anyone by surprise? Are there people out there who think establishing a career as a professional novelist is just a matter of pitching up on an MAContinue reading “Its Tough Out There”

An interesting breakdown of the literary fiction genre by Toby Litt. Its refreshing to see someone usualy heavily associated with LitFic abandon the partisan position and admit that at bottom is just another genre. Toby is in a good place to comment, being represented by the Mic Cheetham agency who happen to also have IainContinue reading “The Litt Fic Genre”

Note to self: send story to Anne Vandermeer, new fiction editor of Weird Tales. Full release here

There is a great little post over at Tobias Buckel’s blog about hustling for freelance work to support a writing career. I’m not sure I’d advise taking out a six month loan (thats about 10 – 12k!) unless you are uber serious, totally confidant in your writing skills and have at least a few publicationsContinue reading “Word Hustler”

Agent and former leading SF / Fantasy editor John Jarrold on the route to publication. More information about John here Or see the original thread at the TTA Press forum here ***** This does vary from company to company, but here is the general route for a new writer: Basically, every editor in London willContinue reading “99% Crap”

I’ve long observed a natural pattern fall into place with each new writing project. Writing session one passes in a haze of bedazzled excitement as the possibilities of the story at hand hand unfold in your imagination like a glorious summer bloom. Session two is usualy tinged by the belief that you aren’t quite getting down onContinue reading “Handling the Hate”

M John Harrison has posted an interesting response to the question of realities within fiction on the TTA Press forum. Believe it or not I’ve actualy spent quite a bit of time debating this issue myself. Not that you could tell that by my contribution to the thread. I agree with MJH, but it doesn’tContinue reading “The World in a Drop of Water”

I’ve had an odd evening. I did the last set of edits on the story for the Beeb (now finished and with producer..yay!). I sent a longer version of the same story to an editor of a US magazine that I had sent a paper copy to months ago but they had lost it, andContinue reading “How Many Writers Can You Fit In A Mini?”