He shot him twice in the back, and the figure jerked each time. Petrovitch watched the man start to turn, then slip heavily to one knee. The strange green-glowing eye of night vision rested on him. Their guns came around, and Petrovitch fired first, straight into his face.
(From ‘Equations of Life’, Simon Morden)
Science Fiction writer Simon Morden writes violent novels. Another War (2005), was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award, and 2007 saw the publication of The Lost Art which has been shortlisted for the 2009 Catalyst Award for best teen fiction. He’s currently writing his next novel, ‘Equations of Life’, which he tells us is set in a future London packed with refugees, armoured nuns, Stalin-lookalikes, and seriously hard-core science. So how does he do it?
Continue reading ‘Writing violence – ‘easier than sex’’
Rosalie Warren was born in West Yorkshire but lived for many years in Scotland before moving to Coventry in 2002. She has two grown-up children, a PhD in cognitive science, and was a university lecturer before taking early retirement to pursue her lifelong dream of being a writer. She has had two novels published. The first, Charity's Child by Circaidy Gregory Press; the second, Low Tide, Lunan Bay by Robert Hale. We asked her to talk to us about writing romantic suspense, a genre she said she ’stumbled into’.
Continue reading ‘Writing Romantic Suspense – When Love Gets Mysterious’
What is Christian Speculative Fiction? Rather than speculating ourselves, we decided to ask Christian publisher Jeff Gerke for his views. Jeff has served as an editor for Multnomah Publishers, Strang Communications, and NavPress. While at Strang, Jeff launched Realms, an imprint of Christian speculative fiction. In October 2008 Jeff launched Marcher Lord Press, an indie publishing company specialising in Christian speculative fiction. Under the pen name Jefferson Scott he has authored six Christian novels (Operation Firebrand: Deliverance is one of the best-known) and co-authored two non-fiction books. His new non-fiction title, The Art & Craft of Writing Christian Fiction, is available now.
TCW: What exactly is Christian speculative fiction?
JG: Christian speculative fiction is a fancy way of saying “science fiction and fantasy written from a Christian worldview.” There are many popular genres in Christian fiction, just as there are in the wider publishing arena. But unlike in secular publishing, where fantasy and science fiction are extremely popular, Christian publishing has not always appreciated the kind of fiction I affectionately call the weird stuff.
Continue reading ‘Christian Speculative Fiction – a ‘lost’ genre?’
In her third and final post on Writing Historical Fiction, RS Downie tells us why using fact in fiction is like wearing underwear. Ruth is the author of Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls (’Medicus’ in the USA) and Ruso and the Demented Doctor (’Terra Incognita’ in the USA), the first in a series of historical crime novels set in Roman Britain.
Research is Like Underwear…
In 1541, if you came from London, you considered Yorkshire to be a barbarian land. Once you turned off the Great North Road, the journey to York was a ‘wretched track’. The woods contained boar and wildcat and the locals still shared thatched hovels with their cattle.
Continue reading ‘Writing historical fiction 3 – using fact in fiction’
Today RS Downie continues with her second post on Writing Historical Fiction (if you missed the first on creating your historical world, why not check it out first). Ruth is the author of Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls (’Medicus’ in the USA) and Ruso and the Demented Doctor (’Terra Incognita’ in the USA), the first in a series of historical crime novels set in Roman Britain.
You can’t please all of the people…
Here’s a confession: the earliest edition of my first book contained a wrong Latin ending. I only found this out when it was firmly and very publicly corrected by a reviewer in a national newspaper. It was a small thing – just two letters – but as he said, it cast doubt on the rest of the research. He said nice things as well, and later chose the book as one of his top thrillers for Christmas, but at the time I barely noticed the positive points. I was mortified. I felt I’d let everyone down. I lay awake fantasising about recalling all the copies so I could set fire to them and then fling myself on the pyre.
Continue reading ‘Writing historical fiction 2 – doing the research’
Welcome to the first of three guest posts by RS Downie on writing historical fiction. Ruth is the author of Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls (‘Medicus’ in the USA) and Ruso and the Demented Doctor (‘Terra Incognita’ in the USA), the first in a series of historical crime novels set in Roman Britain. Now over to Ruth:
Twenty years ago I knew nothing at all about historical fiction except that some of the novels I’d enjoyed had been set in the past. I’ve learned a great deal since then, mostly from other writers and sometimes from my own mistakes. I still have much to learn and frequently don’t practise what I preach – but if you too are fascinated by the past and want to set your story there, I hope you’ll find some useful pointers in this series of articles. If you have anything to add or questions to ask, feel free to post your comments below.
Continue reading ‘Writing historical fiction 1 – creating your historical world’
Some visitors to The Crafty Writer who have been following the non-fiction history writing series have been asking for something similar on writing historical fiction. So we asked Ruth Downie, author of Ruso and the Disappearing Dancing Girls (‘Medicus’ in the USA) to chat to us about writing historical crime novels. Ruth is married with two grown-up sons. She was born in North Devon and now lives in Milton Keynes. Her first book featuring Roman medic Gaius Petreius Ruso was published in 2006, and became a New York Times bestseller (albeit briefly, she reminds us!). Her second book Ruso and the Demented Doctor (‘Terra Incognita’ in the USA) is now on the shelves.
Continue reading ‘Writing historical crime novels – interview with R.S. Downie’
Fantasy is probably the most popular of all children’s genres; however much of it is still read and enjoyed by adult readers. One only has to look at the highly successful Harry Potter series to see how much influence this type of writing has. But as a writer you need to be aware of a few facts and conventions of the genre before trying your hand at writing fantasy.
Image courtesy of ginieland Continue reading ‘Writing Fantasy Fiction’
Welcome to The Crafty Writer, published by Fiona Veitch Smith, a freelance journalist, editor, author, playwright, screenwriter and writing teacher. This site is full of information and resources to help you to become a better writer. 
