NEW: For Alexander (Henry Sterling Grieves)

In these tough times, I've managed at least to work on my craft a bit more. Some of it, however, is of course staring out of the window, trying to tie together the character motivations and backgrounds and . The usual writer stuff. Out of that comes some sunshine. In this case, it's wondering about …

Review of Hounds of Autumn

They say that the moor has eyes. It is 1890, and the windswept moors hold dark secrets. Chloe Sullivan is an amateur inventor whose holiday takes a dark turn when her friend and colleague, one of the few female mechanical experts in the British Empire, is murdered. A black mechanical hound roams the moors, but …

Engaging Characters: Their Likability & The Longevity of Their Novels

It’s always interesting coming across studies like these, that combine psychology with the interest in reading. After all, the best characters are the most complicated, the ones we, secretly, love to psychoanalysise.

The Misfortune Of Knowing

What attributes help a writer develop engaging characters?

To explore this question, researchers at McMaster University, York University, and the University of Toronto designed a preliminary study in which subjects (students enrolled in an intro psych course, obviously) wrote brief character sketches based on a head-and-shoulders photograph of a man.* Then, a second set of students rated how interesting, likeable, and complex the characters were.

In the results, published last month in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, the researchers found — unsurprisingly— that character sketches written by people who expressed an inclination to write fiction were more interesting and complex than the sketches written by people who didn’t express an inclination to write. While the characters produced by self-described creative writers were more interesting and complex, they were not more likable, causing the researchers to conclude:

[L]ikability of characters was distinct from other aspects of an engaging…

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Happy Book Birthday, RULES FOR THIEVES

My critique partner, Alexandra Ott's, debut novel is out today, MG Fantasy RULES FOR THIEVES! Eee, exciting. Look at that glossy cover! (And did I mention I had a hand in choosing the title? 😉 ) Twelve-year-old Alli Rosco is smart, resourceful, and totally incapable of keeping her mouth shut. Some of these traits have …

Beautiful People: H’s Cathy

*gasp* What is this, an actual Beautiful People post on my blog in 2016? I know, I’ve been as lax in keeping up with the writing tag as a printer sans ink, partly because I’ve not tackled any new big novels for a while and instead have been trying to focus on the importance of …

HOUR OF MISCHIEF Review

(What's this? Another review? Well, I read on the way to work, okay.) Born in a whorehouse in the slums of Fortuna and burdened with a prosthetic arm, seventeen-year-old JANET REDSTONE doesn’t think she owes the Clockwork Gods anything—which is why she makes a living stealing from their temples. But when she lands her team …

I Am The Most 3D Character I Know.

Don't be surprised there's no Photo of the Week today/yesterday*. I was working on my dissertation; I was in my department since two and only got home at 8. Anyway, I was talking to someone earlier, and with my answers to their questions, I realised that my different motives and personalities would seem to pull me …

Beautiful People: The Resolutions Edition

Hello, blogosphere. 🙂 Today, I’m linking up with Cait and Sky’s beautiful monthly linkup Beautiful People. And this month it’s about the authors – new year, new goals (supposedly). So I guess that makes me a Beautiful Person. What were your writing achievements last year? I culled and rewrote so many darhlings… I got some …

Beautiful People: the Friendship Edition

For this month’s Beautiful People (hosted by Cait and Sky), I’m going to look into the friendship between two characters (the main characters, in fact) of mine in my work-in-progress short. Kazia and Joel haven’t known each other for so long, but they soon become firm friends, and a bit more… How long have they …

Beautiful People: Lady Chronaire

Beautiful People this month is focused on summery questions. Ahem. Which is apt for the pouring rain we’re having in Scotland today. Since I’ve just finished my novella for Camp NaNoWriMo (with its Pinterest board), I’m going to talk about my protagonist, somewhat ironically named Summer. What’s their favourite ice cream flavour? Summer doesn’t tend …