Mar
Vanity of vanities – all is vanity!
The header image is a narcissus flower. Geddit? Ha! I crack myself up.
Mar
Mar
Stargate Atlantis: Fatherland
A text sample from a tie-in book that was approved but never written.
The big NEW DEAL blog
So the secret’s finally out. If you’ve been following me on Twitter or Facebook you’ll know I recently finished and delivered a book. You’ll possibly have realised it’s a time-travel story, and if you’ve really been paying attention you’ll have guessed it’s called Timebomb. It’s the first of a three-book deal I signed with Hodder […]
Coming soon…
So the first draft of the next book is done! It currently clocks in at 91,437 words, which makes it longer than any of my Afterblight books. But as it goes through my editing process, then my agent’s, then my editor’s, that number will change many times. It’s been the most difficult book that I’ve […]
Readers, Authors, Fans
Two great blogs about the relationship between author and reader floated across my screen today: The first by the always brilliant John Scalzi – How to Be a Good Fan The second by Brenna Clarke Gray over at BookRiot – Readers Don’t Owe Authors Sh*t For my part I’ve not been doing this long enough, […]
Rage fatigue and professionalism
So Margaret Thatcher died. For those who don’t know who she was, she was British Prime Minister during my youth and did a lot of things that were extremely controversial. And that’s all I’m saying about it. Why? Two reasons. First, I work for the Government in my 9-5 job at the moment, so I’m […]
Doctor Who: The Anchorite’s Echo
In 2005 I was lucky enough to contribute a Doctor Who short story to a Christmas-themed anthology from Big Finish – Short Trips: A History of Christmas , which was edited by Simon Guerrier. It’s long out of print, and I certainly can’t charge for it, but I don’t think there’s any rule against me giving it […]
Scott’s 2012 state of the union
So, 2012, we meet at last! Let’s recap… I started 2010 by finishing off my Highlander scripts, then spent four months writing Childrens’ Crusade. In the second half of 2010 I spent four months working VERY hard on a screenplay which I entered in the Red Planet Prize – when it didn’t even make it […]
Of Agents and Angles
I’ve never had a literary agent representing me. All the writing gigs I’ve landed – novels, plays, articles etc – I’ve secured off my own bat. But I’ve always worked on the assumption that at some point I’d need an agent, a savvy ally who could help me punch up a level in my career […]
School’s Out – unpublished prologue
The blog Daily Writing Tips recently published Three reasons to ditch your novel’s prologue. It contains much wisdom. The following extract was part of the pitch that got School’s Out commissioned, and it stayed in the book ‘til very late in the day, but I eventually decided to cut it. My editor was a bit wary […]