The cast list an essential part of your script. With the winner of our Breaking Boundaries competition ready to be announced later today, and our latest general competition still running, now is a good moment to look at this often overlooked part of your writing. As a writer, you must always remember that some poor bloody producer/director/casting director must pick up your words and turn them into something that works on screen, stage or radio. That doesn’t start with the title. It doesn’t start with the first line, or even with the pitch. It starts with the cast list.
(more…)
There are 7 days to go before the deadline of the Kickstarter on 30th November. As I write this, we are at 77% of our target of £2000, after only 19 days of fundraising! Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated. We are so, so close to making this dream a reality. We just need one more push.
As a treat to those interested, and a teaser for those yet to be persuaded, click below to listen to a reading of the first chapter of Vile. Then click on more to find out different ways you can help get us this book published, whether you’ve already given or are yet to donate.
(more…)
The second book of your Dark Renaissance series, “Blood Under Water”, has recently been released. What’s it about and who will like it?
Giulia Degarno, former thief and assassin, and her friend Hugh, an aging knight, travel to the city of Averrio to start a new life. When a dissident priest is found dead in a canal, they’re framed for the crime. Giulia has only a few days to solve the killing and clear their names – but a powerful conspiracy opposes them, and they are up against enemies who are more than human.
It will appeal to anyone who enjoyed Up To The Throne, Giulia’s first adventure, and also to fans of dark fantasy and grimdark. It’s also got a strong noir flavour, so if you ever wondered what a private eye story would be like set in a fantasy equivalent of Venice, this is the book for you!
(more…)
When someone watches your film or play, reads your book or short story, listens to your audio drama or podcast, they are making an investment of time. Every minute could be spent on something else: their family, the washing up, playing computer games, or god-forbid another writer’s work. Every minute they give you must give them more than they’ll get from getting up and going somewhere else. Otherwise, guess what they’ll?
Yet writers rarely think in terms of time. We talk about word limits, when we have one,
or target word counts, when we’re trying to convince ourselves we can sell our
150,000-word teen thriller. But time eludes us. In this article I’m going to
talk about how to think about your writing in terms of the readers use of time,
and points in your story where time is especially important.
(more…)
You’ve recently released your new novel, Dead Remnants. What’s it about and who would like it?
When a threat looming over the dead and the living is exposed, a ghost teenager has to race across the Wild West afterlife, phantom posse in tow, to save her friend and the world.
Dead Remnants would appeal to folks who like Joss Whedon, Stephen King, and Neil Gaiman. It’s a wild, crazy ride, filled with phantom buffalo and nefarious ghost cowboys.
(more…)
