Came across the site I Write Like which compares your own writing with more esteemed writers. I uploaded the first 3 chapters of Railroaded and IWL said I write like Cory Doctorow. I then uploaded the first 3 chapters of my WIP and IWL says I write like P.G.Wodehouse. I’ve never read either of these
AuthorBen
Mid-novel crisis – Need a convertible and leather trousers
The writing hasn’t begun again because the ideas I’ve got for this ‘near future society’ needs to be hammered out. I’m trying to keep things simple but this one difference has knock-on effects which need to make sense for the whole point of the book to be understood. I’ve changed how I’m going to start
New novel binned, starting again
It may seem like a tough decision to pull the plug on a novel 7 chapters (14,600 words) long but since I first thought about scrapping it and having slept on it, it seems like the best thing to do. The problem wasn’t the themes or ideas, it was the approach I took with the
“Asphalt roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need asphalt roads.”
I like it when I see a future idea I had being brought into some kind of reality. No ideas are original, so the idea of a road generating power via solar panels is not ground-breaking in itself but still, it means I’m not a dribbling idiot…which is always nice to confirm. I get ‘Popular
Illegible Chapter by Chapter Planning Notes
I thought I’d put some of the chapter planning notes I make online. There’s no tips or advice because who the hell am I to do that, this is just to put it out there as I haven’t seen anyone else do this so thought it could be interesting. Reading blogs and magazine articles featuring
Short Story Published on 365 Tomorrows!
A momentous day! My first ever publication! 365 Tomorrows have published ‘Turning a Frontier into a Home’ which is more of a flash fiction story as it’s only about 350 words. It was originally written for a competition by ‘New Scientist‘ who wanted flash stories ‘about the world 100 years from now‘. So go check
Any start is better than no start at all
I’ve finished the first chapter of my second novel and I’ve also got a title for it. All this has happened in a couple of weeks and the first three chapter plan I had before starting has totally been thrown out of the window. One of Elmore Leonard’s writing tips was ‘Do give the work
Short Story Published!
Holy crap! Hell must have frozen over, eskimo’s must be buying ice AND arabs must be buying sand plus other such impossibilities because one of my short stories is actually getting published. Spikethecat had a competition called ‘The Last Laugh‘ so I submitted my story ‘The Lost Journeyman’. Recently I got an email saying it
Second Novel Finally Started!
Four months late but I finally cracked open the laptop and fired up Word, created a new file and wrote ‘Chapter 1’. I don’t have a title which is annoying as the file is saved as ‘Novel 2 – 1st Draft’ but it’s better than no file at all. I have a basic idea, plenty
Myows – Free Online Copyright Protection
MYOWS is a fairly new site (still in beta at time of writing) where you can upload your original work and manage it’s copyright protection. How does it do that? By uploading a piece of work you are agreeing it is yours and giving it a creation date (the date you uploaded it). You then