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Chapter 4 done. 18,300 words - supposed to be around 16,000, but fortunately chapter 5 will be shorter. Throw in the fragments I've got for later scenes, and I'm just short of 19,500 words in total.
The chapter started off very unfocused for me; it's the first chapter that's really structured around events just on a plot level, intercutting ( Read more... ) -
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Chapter 3 done, a couple of days ago now. About 12,800 words - though some of them will be moved into Chapter 4 or 5, because I'm about 800 words overlength and that scene will ramble less if I factor a chunk out.
I've just written 5000 words in four days, which is astonishing for me in recent years. My sudden burst of speed - besides being due ( Read more... ) -
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Chapter 2 drafted. Total 7589 words. After the better part of a month off between Christmas and my parents' visit, I'm finally inching back into the saddle. I'm currently about 400-500 words below my estimated length, which is good because the next few chapters are going to be longer.
This is still such a strange book. I'm longing to write ( Read more... ) -
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Chapter 1 drafted. Total, with the prologue - 4640 words. Meaning I'm already 600+ words over, and this was supposed to be one of the short bits. I'm already poking around in parts three and four for story threads I can cut without sacrificing the good stuff.
My earlier worries about a general lack of poetry have somewhat abated; I'm finding ( Read more... ) -
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Two days into the new book. First draft of the prologue - 980 words. I'd been aiming for 600-ish, but the implications of what I was saying kind of expanded on the page. I'm afraid this is going to be a recurring motif throughout the writing.
One of the big challenges I'm going to have with this book is writing for such a practical, stoic, non- ( Read more... ) -
Twice Upon A Time: The Novel
For the third time in my life, Paul Cornell has written exactly the words I needed to read.
The first time was early in 1992, when the blazing hot prose of Timewyrm: Revelation kept me awake - sitting in a hotel bathroom to finish devouring the book long after my roommate had wanted to go to sleep, compelled to keep reading by the feeling that a ( Read more... ) -
Frankie Thomas on Tom Corbett
Reconstructed here for future reference: Frankie Thomas' article about starring in Tom Corbett, Space Cadet from Starlog magazine issue 39.
ETA: other Tom Corbett interview pieces here and here!
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What I Want
In the midst of this latest attempt to persuade Americans to do nothing about their gun problem, I was struck by someone asking:
“Explain exactly HOW you intend to get America's numerous owners of guns to surrender their arms should the qualifiers for ownership be chsnged, without riots or causing civil war?”
And that got me thinking.
How do I ( Read more... ) -
"Hell Bent" Revisited
Well, it’s only taken me two solid years of hindsight, but I think I’ve finally figured out a way to make Hell Bent work a lot better!
At the end of Doctor Who series 9, I adored Heaven Sent, but thought its resolution in Hell Bent was the dampest of squibs. But the thing is, it’s the kind of misfire where I have nothing but sympathy and ( Read more... ) -
Why it matters why it happened
Well, it's official. The White House has confirmed to CNN that they deliberately excluded any mention of Jews from their statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day because they didn't want to privilege Jewish suffering over the other people who were killed: Read more... )