Browsing All Posts filed under »Research«

This is a Public Service Announcement. This is Only a Test.

October 19, 2011 by

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So it turns out my capacity to talk about myself, my writing, and stories in general is more or less infinite. Nobody is shocked. Well, me, a little. I never intended to write here this regularly.* It creates expectations. (That should be read in a deep and portentous voice: Expectaaa-tionss…!) I’d just started to wonder: […]

Time to Play WORKAHOLIC: YES OR NO?

October 11, 2011 by

0

Rick: How’s it going? Me: Um… realising I’m a workaholic? Rick: Heh. Worked out how far you are ahead? Me: Yeah. Rick: So what are you going to do with your enforced two months off? Me: Not! Rick: Pan-less? Me: Haven’t finished! Can’t! Words! Rick: (don’t explode) Me: Yeah. God. I started to think about […]

We Can’t Be Friends Until I Make You Laugh

October 10, 2011 by

6

I have this seesaw in my head. And everything I’m about to say has to cross the seesaw. To do so it has to answer a question. And the question isn’t: Is this a good idea? or Am I going to upset someone? It’s not: Is this completely idiotic? or even Does this make the […]

It’s K-A-N-D-A… Wait. Where Was I? A-N… Crap.

October 6, 2011 by

2

Is it wrong that I’ve started to think of query letters as rejection requests? Even receiving them requires more concentration than I really want to impart. I mean, I have to read them. And they’re electronic so I can’t even set them on fire or impale them on a spike or anything. Worse than that, […]

Schadenfreude All Over the Place

October 5, 2011 by

2

So the last couple of nights I’ve been watching a whole group of people fall apart emotionally. And laughing. Because I am a horrible, horrible person. Or because I’m a writer. Which, in this instance, I think is sort of the same thing. I mean, the falling apart is totally justified. It’s in response to […]

How to do Research Without Really Trying

September 30, 2011 by

4

I don’t do any research for my writing. I used to say this quite regularly. It’s not true. It’s just a delusion that I was quite attached to. This is because I thought all research was looking things up in books, writing down details and copying them faithfully into your story at the relevant parts. […]

Life Advice for the Unwary

September 19, 2011 by

2

I spent the weekend not working. I know, we’re all shocked. But it meant I got to spend some time reading. (Yes, that’s what I do when I’m not working. Okay, I also take naps. And there may have been a thing with a bonfire and my ears freezing. But that’s not the point.) Since […]

Trying to Commit Art

September 12, 2011 by

10

Footnote There was a period of time where every author I considered analysing as part of my doctorate promptly dropped dead. From an academic point of view that’s sort of useful because all of a sudden you’re dealing with a closed body of work, but from a, you know, human point of view it was […]

This Comes Under the Category: Science = Hilarious

September 6, 2011 by

5

So according to this article I have gay fingers? And according to this one drinking could fuel me to previously unforeseen creative heights. And according to this one Fight Club’s Jack is really Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. This comes under the category: science = hilarious. Along with ‘the cosmos tastes like raspberries and smells […]

Listen to the Voices

August 27, 2011 by

4

Me: Don’t listen to the voices. You know how that turns out. Arkem: Cake and parties? Me: No. That’s where blood in backstories comes from. Arkem: Oh. This is good advice. I give excellent advice. Like, Don’t and Panic. In the correct circumstances you should totally follow those. Same with the thing about the voices. […]