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’
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’
The Crafty Writer’s guest blogger, Keith Jewitt, talks to film producer Jack Tarling about writing screenplays for micro-budget films.
TCW: First of all what do we mean by a micro-budget film?
JT: There are no hard and fast rules but I am going to be talking about films costing well under £1million and in most cases less than £250,000. Continue reading ‘Writing micro-budget feature films’
Love is in the air, this Valentine’s Day, but fortunately for the survival of the species, it’s not restricted to Feb 14. As writers reflecting the breadth of life experience, we may be called upon to write love scenes. If the nominees for Literary Review’s Bad Sex Award are anything to go by, this isn’t as easy as it sounds. So The Crafty Writer asked steamy romance writer Pollyanna Williamson for some hot tips.
Continue reading ‘Writing love scenes that sizzle’
In my last post on Filmmaking: the screenwriter’s role I told you how many people, including the director, can suggest or even demand a script rewrite. So I’ve asked an up and coming writer / director for his perspective on the creative process.
Alex Kinsey is a 28 year old actor and director. Acting work has included short films, TV dramas, commercials and theatre work. He wrote, directed and produced his first short film ‘Smile’ – a strange tale of a sinister meeting in the ‘Get Carter’ car park in Gateshead. Alex directed the short film ‘Maybe One Day’ through the Stingers scheme in 2008. Another recent short film he wrote and directed, ‘The Other Woman’, can be seen on Northern Film and Media’s website.
Continue reading ‘Screenwriting: the director’s perspective’
Last week freelance writer and guest blogger Suzanne Elvidge gave us some tips on how to find work in the potentially lucrative field of report writing. This week she shows us how to go about producing the copy.
Continue reading ‘Report writing – the nuts and bolts’
Writing for the business market or copywriting can be a lucrative string to a freelance’s bow. In this two-part series, guest blogger and freelance writer Suzanne Elvidge gives you some tips on how to find the work and then tackle the reports.
There are a lot of different types of report a freelance writer might be called on to write, for a wide range of different audiences. They include
- annual reports for a company or charity;
- reports from meetings and conferences, including those looking at research areas or products;
- reviews of products or topics; and
- business intelligence and market research reports.
Like all freelance work, there is no simple one stop shop for finding all the work you need (but if you know of one, please let me know…). There are as many places to find work writing reports as there are types of reports.
Continue reading ‘Report writing – finding work’
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. 
