MacNovel on Twitter- macnovel: @isabelcostello @PeteDomican Sadly or fortunately, the post is so long it won't drive lots of traffic to you - only the bored or insomniacs. May 25, 2013
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- Plain and perfect, rich and rare: what is "lyrical" writing? May 20, 2013
- This Happy Fellow: my year at Goldsmiths May 14, 2013
- Tomorrow to fresh finds and problems new May 9, 2013
- Guardian Book Blog
- Reader reviews roundup May 24, 2013 Claire Armitstead
- A brief survey of the short story part 49: Guy de Maupassant May 24, 2013 Chris Power
- The best books on Vietnam: start your reading here | Pushpinder Khaneka May 23, 2013 Pushpinder Khaneka
- The Forest for the Trees — Betsy Lerner
- So I TUrned Myself To Face Me May 23, 2013
- Sooner or Later It All Gets Real** May 16, 2013
- I Thought That I Heard You Sing May 2, 2013
- Kathy Greethurst’s Blog
- Untitled January 10, 2013 Kathy Greethurst
- Bloody Flies by Andrew J Keir - Review by Helena Frith Powell June 7, 2012 Kathy Greethurst
- A wonderful afternoon in Avebury February 22, 2012 Kathy Greethurst
- How Publishing Really Works
- Does The Self-Publishing Review Fall For Robert Duperre? March 29, 2012
- The Self-Publishing Review Goes In Search Of The Menopause Ranch March 22, 2012
- Travelling To The Self-Published Review March 15, 2012
- Female PTSD — A Blog By A Brave Female Victim of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Help I Need A Publisher
- I'm still here... December 31, 2012
- My work here is done - after a free book giveaway September 5, 2012
- All my advice about publishing and writing September 4, 2012
- The Elephant in the Writing Room
- Balance May 17, 2013
- Now is the Month of Maying... May 7, 2013
- The Paris Winter: author Imogen Robertson visits The Elephant April 24, 2013
- Bren Gosling’s Blog (ex-City Novel coursemate)
- Short listed for the Harry Bowling Prize ! January 30, 2012 Bren Gosling
- About - Sweeping up the Village- by Bren Gosling January 16, 2012 Bren Gosling
- A taster... December 22, 2011 Bren Gosling
- Charlotte Haigh MacNeil’s Blog (ex-City Novel Coursemate and Journalist)
- The myth of delayed motherhood May 18, 2013
- The extreme female brain February 21, 2013
- Kevin MacNeil and Willie Campbell Are Visible From Space October 24, 2012
- Michael Braga Writes (ex-City Novel coursemate)
- THE SIGNS -A short story by Michael Braga Oct 2010 October 10, 2010
- Friday thoughts on a Monday afternoon September 6, 2010
- The pursuit of sadness August 25, 2010
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- Some Things That
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- Partisan writing April 11, 2013
- Brain error? April 7, 2013
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Category Archives: character
Infinite Universes
I watched an edition of Horizon on BBC2 a few weeks ago which attempted to discuss the utterly bizarre nature of what we perceive as reality once it’s considered by physicists — quantum, astro- and various other varieties. (It’s available … Continue reading
Yellow
I’ve been writing a part of the novel where Kim is painting and she uses the concept of colour association to both tell James what she’s thinking and also to send him a coded message and ultimatum, should he be … Continue reading
Posted in character
Tagged art, colour, Kim, Mark Rothko, painting, poetry, psychology
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The Pub Landlord Discovers the Art of Germany
Just like buses — you wait for a programme on German art for ages then a whole series comes along on BBC4, which started last night. This should be fertile material for anyone writing about a character who’s a German … Continue reading
Posted in character, Research
Tagged artists, BBC4, Germany, Kim, motivation, Plot, psychology, rural traditions, setting, suburbia
12 Comments
One Day
‘One Day’ by David Nicholls won the Sainsbury’s Popular Fiction prize at the Galaxy National Book Awards last week. I’ve mentioned this book in passing a couple of times on this blog since I read it in the summer. I’ve … Continue reading
Posted in character, Fictional Genres, Plot, Publishing, Structure
Tagged adverbs, Amazon reviews, book covers, character, cinematic novels, Creative Writing Classes, David Nicholls, dialogue, Galaxy National Book Awards, genre, marketing, One Day, pop music, Publishing, Structure, the Smiths, workshops, writing from opposite gender POV
2 Comments
Kim Makes An Impression
My blog post on Lip Service was read and commented on (via Twitter) by the official Twitter for the programme makers (Kudos). I know that a fair number of people have also clicked through on it via the shortened link … Continue reading
Lip Service
A fascinating aspect of reading fiction is that, sometimes despite the best efforts of the author, every reader must have a different mental image of each character — most likely a synthesis of their own experience and from triggers picked … Continue reading
Posted in character, Influences
Tagged actors, adaptations, BBC, character, character appearance, Cold Feet, Kim, Lip Service, Ruta Gedmintas, sex
1 Comment
Strictly No Sex Please in the British Literary Novel?
After the Facebook campaign that led Tony Blair’s ‘A Journey’ to be involuntarily moved within bookshops to the war or crime sections, there’s much excitement that a passage from the book has been urged for short-listing in the Literary Review’s … Continue reading
Posted in character, Influences, Writing Process
Tagged 'On Chesil Beach', Andrew Motion, Auberon Waugh, character, dancing, eroticism, experience of reading, Hilary Mantel, Ian McEwan, language, Man Booker Prize, Martin Amis, point of view, psychology, readings, sex, Strictly Come Dancing, subconscious, Susanna Rustin, tango
2 Comments
Zipping Up Kim
It’s a paradox that characters in fiction tend, naturally, to be figments of the author’s imagination but also have to be real and credible enough for the reader to maintain the suspension of their disbelief. Of course authors piece together … Continue reading
Posted in character
Tagged Action Company Challenge, Aerial Adventure, Center Parcs, character, character exterior, Elveden, Kim, Research, zip wire
1 Comment
Addressing Deficiencies
Getting back to ideas for The Angel, I think I may have plugged a bit of a hole in the plot and balanced out the characters a bit by considering introducing a male admirer of Kim when she moves to … Continue reading
Posted in character, Plot, The Angel
Tagged character, Emma, James, Kim, motivation, new character, planning, Plot, sex
3 Comments
Top Bombing
A friend of mine sent me a YouTube link to the new John Smiths’ Peter Kay advert. His observation in sending it was that it picks up a subtle difference between the sexes in that often women try to guess … Continue reading
Posted in character
Tagged character, evolutionary psychology, James, John Smiths, log lines, Peter Kay, psychology, relationships, sex
1 Comment
HR People
I’m a fan of Scott Adams’ ‘Dilbert’ cartoons and I particularly like his view of HR people. One quotation goes something like ‘I hired a new director of Human Resources to handle the downsizing. I needed somebody who acts like … Continue reading
Posted in character, Research
Tagged Dilbert, Emma, employment, global capital, HR people, human resources, iron age forts, setting, sex, stone circles, work jollies
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Kim
In The Angel my main female character is called Kim. She was called that before I decided to make her a German and I’ve not changed the name yet and I’m not inclined to at the moment. It’s quite an … Continue reading
Posted in character, Research
Tagged character, Chequers, Cymbeline, Germany, Kim, Kim Basinger, Kim Cattrall, Kimble, Lord Kimberley, names, Ridgeway, South Africa, Swan at Great Kimble
4 Comments
The Grey Goose
We had a session with Emily about how themes and connections will start to emerge in our work. I realised that I had an interesting location with Village Underground and that there was something subconscious in why I liked it … Continue reading
Posted in character, Writing Process
Tagged brands, connections, drinking, Grey Goose vodka, Kim, London Town, Paul McCartney, theme, Village Underground, Wings
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48 Laws of Power
I caught a glimpse of an old favourite book of mine on my exceptionally cluttered bookshelves and pulled it out to have another look. It’s Robert Greene’s ’48 Laws of Power’, which is, I suppose, a sort of psychology book … Continue reading
Posted in character
Tagged 48 Laws of Power, character, conflict, motivation, Plot, Power
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Kim’s Hometown
We got given some homework yesterday — to write in one of our characters’ voices about their hometown. Strangely I didn’t leave it until a few hours before the next class to think about starting it. This probably followed on … Continue reading
