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- XX or XY? Do readers care about gender of author? June 17, 2013
- Guest Author – Susan Elliot Wright on Writing a Dual Narrative June 10, 2013
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- The best books on Egypt: start your reading here | Pushpinder Khaneka June 19, 2013 Pushpinder Khaneka
- A note on Neil Gaiman's politics June 18, 2013 Paul Owen
- Neil Gaiman in conversation June 17, 2013 Paul Owen
- The Forest for the Trees — Betsy Lerner
- I Love You Just the Way You Are June 16, 2013
- I’m Trying To Beat Life Cause I Can’t Cheat Death June 3, 2013
- Could It Be That It Was All So Simple Then May 30, 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
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- I'm still here... December 31, 2012
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- Two last questions for DEAR CRABBIT September 3, 2012
- The Elephant in the Writing Room
- Sunshine and Showers June 15, 2013
- Not a lot of writing but a whole load of reading... June 5, 2013
- Jon and the Pacemakers May 31, 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 real reason insomniacs can’t sleep June 7, 2013
- The myth of delayed motherhood May 18, 2013
- The extreme female brain February 21, 2013
- 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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- Partisan writing April 11, 2013
- Brain error? April 7, 2013
- Longing April 4, 2013
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- Pavilion in the Park June 17, 2013
- Sex. On Tuesdays. Or Not. June 10, 2013
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Tag Archives: sex
Beaten To It?
…but hopefully not with a paddle. I spotted this in W.H.Smith at Northampton services on the M1 last weekend. I’d realised my novel’s title is a bit of a hostage to fortune. I like it because it works in conjunction … Continue reading
Know What You Write
I’ve recently been writing a new scene for the novel involving street art. As readers of the blog will know, I’ve spent plenty of time recently learning about street art and observing it around Shoreditch (on Thursday this week I was … Continue reading
Posted in Influences, Research
Tagged Adam Neate, art, art galleries, artists, Berlin, Elms Lesters Painting Rooms, graffiti, Kim, Love Art London, method acting, psychology, setting, sex, Shoreditch, Street art, Tate Gallery
2 Comments
Apologies to Tamara Watts
The user name below, found on an office ‘multi-function device’ (i.e. printer), appealed to my puerile streak. I guess I shouldn’t laugh — maybe Mr Timothy or Ms Tamara Watts has had to deal with such sniggering throughout their lives — … Continue reading
What Happens in Vegas…
…ends up in my novel. This may be something of a surprise seeing as most of it is set in an English country pub which, apart from the copious amounts of booze drunk, is probably one of the places least … Continue reading
Posted in Influences
Tagged backstory, Beatles, contrasts, Emma, James, Kim, las vegas, psychology, Research, sex, theme
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Behind Closed Doors
In W.H.Smiths in Marylebone Station I recently spotted a new novel by Lucy Kellaway, the FT’s management correspondent, whose debunking of management theory codswallop is always entertaining. Her last novel ‘Martin Lukes: Who Moved My Blackberry’ was my holiday reading … Continue reading
Do It Like A Dude
The Angel has an old-fashioned love triangle at its heart and, while I know the eventual outcome I want to write, I’ve been gripped by an internal debate about how much of this tension should be shown in the novel … Continue reading
Posted in Influences
Tagged drugs, feedback, Jessie J, Katy Perry, Lady GaGa, Lip Service, motivation, pop music, psychology, sex, workshops
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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
Running Up That Hill
It’s quite a surprise to have  what seems an innate appreciation of an artist (in the general sense of the word) explained by reading some analysis that explains possible reasons behind a latent, unconscious bonding  – or at least have … Continue reading
Posted in Influences
Tagged 80s music, cultural references, gender, Kate Bush, pop music, sex, subconscious
6 Comments
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
Everything But The Bar Sink…
…but I did get the dishwasher in! Bearing in mind Judith Murray’s comment that ‘in some sense all novels are historical’, I decided to load my last reading with as many contemporary cultural references as I could think of. ‘Decided’ … Continue reading
Posted in General Life, Writing Process
Tagged 'The Flood', Britain's Got Talent, character, cultural references, deadlines, emotional involvement, energy, intensity, Katie Melua, Plot, readings, setting, sex, sex scene, style
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Fascinating Lessons in Writing and POV
We had a visit from another published course alumnus last night — Penny Rudge, author of ‘Foolish Lessons in Life and Love’, as mentioned in a previous post. I’ll blog later at more length about what she said about the … Continue reading
Posted in Publishing
Tagged Certificate in Novel Writing course, computer programming, gender, Penny Rudge, point of view, Publishing, sex
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My Reading Problem Solved
We had a run through of our readings in Wednesday evening’s class. I’m currently second on the bill so was one of the first to get up and read. I chose what I think will be the eventual opening of … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged Britain's Got Talent, Emma Sweeney, June 30th, Mark James, readings, sex
1 Comment
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
Oxytocin
There’s another story on the BBC website about the benefits of the ‘cuddle hormone’ – oxytocin. I referred to James’ view that human attraction was based on a whole mix of chemicals in the reading I did before Easter — … Continue reading
The Eve of St. Agnes
I bought a copy of the latest Magma poetry magazine when I was in London last week. Its cover article was ‘Favourite Erotic Poetry’. I was interested to see how I poem I took along to the March meeting of … Continue reading
Posted in The Angel, Uncategorized, Writing Process
Tagged erotic poetry, Eve of St. Agnes, inspiration, James, Keats, Kim, Metroland Poets, sex, Sir Thomas Wyatt
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‘Sweat Me Garlicky’
We had to take along a published poem (by someone else) to Metroland Poets last night on the theme of ‘Poems to Read Aloud’. There was a very varied and entertaining selection ranging from ballads by Walter Scott to Edwin … Continue reading
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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A Less Fraught Workshop?
Yesterday was the fourth of our five Saturday ‘workshops’ (I rather agree with Alexei Sayle’s famous quotation about the word — that anyone who uses it ‘without referring to light engineering is a tw*t’). As things worked out it was … Continue reading
Posted in Writing Process
Tagged feedback, readings, Return of the Native, sex, sex scenes, Thomas Hardy, tutorials, workshops
2 Comments
Silly Love Songs
In the reading I’m doing for the workshop on Saturday I mentioned a couple of pieces of background music that set the mood in a tastefully refurbished pub (‘marinated in a knowing, post-modern irony). These happened to be playing on … Continue reading
Posted in General Life
Tagged Diana Ross, directness, Kiki Dee, love, Oxford, Paul McCartney, pop music, quality, setting, sex
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