A New Direction

Hello! I've not written a blog post for a while, but that's because I've been involved in writing of a more creative nature. I'm working on a new novel! And whilst really that oughtn't be a surprise, as that is the nature of the writer, it has actually been a while since I've put together …

On Originality

(Or, its existence, which if is, is scarce) What makes your novel unique? They say it a lot, as if originality is a rite of passage a novel must go through. Chances are, though, not much. We all know the problem the modern writer faces: of writing the novel of our heart only to find …

Winter Reading (Again)

I'm hoping, or at least trying, to read a bit more over my winter break. I guess I'm averaging a chapter a day, but with the amount of different books I want to read... And since I clearly don't talk about reading enough on this blog, I'm gonna look at that. So, what am I …

Steampunk Spotlight: Cindy Spencer Pape

I'm here with author of steampunk, paranormal, historical and romance, Cindy Spencer Pape. I put to her some questions about her steampunk series The Gaslight Chronicles, the first of which is Steam & Sorcery, and about her writing processes. Enjoy! What inspired you to start writing Steampunk novels and novellas? Quite simply, I just loved the concept. …

The Ideas That Never Make The Page

Since reading Cait’s post about the massing story ideas of hers, I’ve been thinking about those I’ve ‘lost’ over the years. I write a lot, but I think so so much more, but, of course, this means that I can't include all of them in my repertoire until I've edited and/or published what I already …

Five Years of Jackets and Phones (and murder and explosions and poisonings and Agnetha…)

It’s almost Easter 2014, and, aside from the obvious to celebrate, I realised that I technically have a writing milestone to celebrate: five years since I decided to write a novel and succeeded. Well, pretty much. So, how did I really become a writer? What was my story beyond being an only child who sat …

The Writing Process Blog Chain

Last week I took up Nicole Helm’s open invitation for the Writing Process blog chain, but haven’t until now had the chance to answer the questions. What am I working on? I am currently querying my NA Sci Fi-Fantasy Romance, When the Clock Broke, about two lovers separated by alternate realities. In any spare time …

Happy Second Birthday!

Well, what can I say? On 29th Jan 2012 I started this blog and look how it has grown! I didn't really know where I was heading, or what I was doing (or why on Earth I was starting a freaking blog!), so the posts were all over the place, but now posts and trends …

What Ogres, Onions, and Parfaits Have in Common With A Good Novel

Creative Writing with the Crimson League

Today–continuing on the topic of content edits in fiction–I want to talk about subplots. About balance between subplots. It’s SOOO hard to do. It’s hard because each subplot has its own tone, mood, and theme. Each also has its own pacing.

Ideally these tones, moods, and themes, as well as pacing, will differ somewhat from the major plot arc and from each other. After all, variety is a large part of what makes a novel readable.

Each subplot brings a different focus and different approach that ideally blend in with the rest of the work without diluting it.

Perhaps “blend” gives the wrong image, though.

You don’t want a smoothie of a novel…. A good smoothie has no variety. It’s uniform throughout. While you want uniform quality, that’s different.

The fact is, good novels blend by striation. A good novel is a trifle.

You want a TRIFLE of a…

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Things I Love/Hate about Downton

This is probably going to be a purely subjective post as it came to my head as such. With the fourth series of Downton Abbey underway, I know it has divided opinion: whilst creative and stylish, it is also, apparently, inaccurate in, for instance, the sense of how nicely the servants are treated. So I have been …