Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Category Archives: Writing


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Writing a little/Writing a lot

Yesterday I overheard an interesting discussion, and that’s what I’d like to tell you about, but first, a heads-up.

Writing_a_Novel_Cover_FinalI mentioned in the past the StoryBundle as one of the tools that I am using to keep reading in these times of money shortage and other disasters.
They have an offer up called The Write Stuff Bundle 2017 which is highly recommended – you get books about writing by the likes of Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Lawrence Block and Dean Wesley Smith, among others. You also get an 80% discount on Writer’s Café, an excellent writing software. You don’t pay much, and a share of your money goes to a charity.
Nice and smooth1.

Now I mention this because the bundle includes Dean Wesley Smith’s Writing a Novel in Seven Days, that is quite fun to read, and proposes a very interesting challenge.

Which brings me to the discussion I overheard yesterday, the gist of which was

It is better to write just a few stories rather than write a lot, what really matters is that the little you write you sell to a big publisher and then you land a big prize

And this is a theory I do not subscribe to. Continue reading →


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Language and Stories

I’m writing a story.
It’s an alternate history short story for a forthcoming project.
I will not disclose the details, but I can safely say that it’s a story that features Carole Lombard – because I love Carole Lombard, and she’s the right woman in the right place, so to speak, for the story I want to write.

Annex - Lombard, Carole_09

Scanned by Frederic. Reworked by Nick & jane for Dr. Macro’s High Quality Movie Scans website: http://www.doctormacro.com. Enjoy!

The story that I am writing, in fact – 1000 words done last night… and that’s what I want to talk about. Continue reading →


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Falling forward

Things happen.
Yesterday my publisher let me know that the first Hope & Glory novelette is doing pretty badly.
There’s still five novelettes to go, on the other hand, and now I’m curious to see what will come down next.
But let’s be honest – it’snot the sort of thing a writer likes to hear.
In the meanwhile, The Guardian published a short piece, by an anonymous writer, called What I’m really thinking: the failed novelist.

quote-for-a-true-writer-each-book-should-be-a-new-beginning-where-he-tries-again-for-something-ernest-hemingway-59-97-26

Now I cannot and I will not make light about the obvious distress and pain that transpire from the Guardian piece.
I do not subscribe to the opinions presented and the choices made by the writer, but what the heck, I do respect those anyway, because, as the poet said

two things you should be slow to criticize
a mans choice of woman and his choice of work

Or their decision to quit that work, I add.
But there’s something I’d like to add… Continue reading →


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Writers write

The hard thing, of course, when things go bad, is to keep writing.
Because the bills are stacking up, money is running low, the bank clamours for heads on a plate, and instead of doing something serious and proper like looking for an honest job here you are writing stories.
One ends up feeling guilty, and writing becomes harder.

But I have just delivered (and two weeks before deadline! Yay!) a 8000 story pitching Django Reinhardt against the Nazi.
File under historical fantasy.

keep-calm-but-write-fast.jpgAnd I am about to work out three more pitches, one for a novella, and two for two novels. Stuff I’ll pitch in May and then later, after this summer. Pitch, outline and chapter breakdown. Historical fantasy, most likely.
And I’m about to send to my editor the fluff for the Hope & Glory handbook, on which I have been working this month, and by April the 15th I’ll also deliver a 50.000-words short novel to a very patient publisher.
And I’m revising a science fiction novel, and a short story about a Kaiju.
And I’ve just been involved in a fun project about alternate history, deadline May the 15th.

Shameless.
I should do something serious and proper – like trying to sell my paperback collection, or do the rounds of the local schools looking for a post as a substitute teacher.
And I’m doing it! But in the meanwhile, I do what writers do.
I write. Faster.


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Clio’s Days Off

An interesting question was raised a few days back from my friend Giulia, that manages the Liberi di Scrivere lit blog (only in Italian, sorry).
The question was, more or less

how much leeway do we have when writing historical fiction?

Meaning, how much can we change, distort, manipulate or basically rewrite historical fact to fit our narrative?

Now, I’m sure my friend Claire covered this subject somewhere on her Scribblings blog (and if she did not, she should), and Giulia’s question received lots of answers, some I liked, some I liked a lot less.
And right now I’d like to expand on my answer, that did go more or less like this: Continue reading →


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Distraction-free

WordPress implemented a new blogging interface a few days ago.
It’s pretty cool, it’s designed to be distraction-free, and basically on my countryside connection it makes posting a blog a one-hour affair instead of the usual fifteen minutes.
Because the interface is beautiful, but it’s heavy on my connection resources.

NewWordPressComPostEditor

But this is not the real problem – I already write my posts using a text editor caller ReText (but any plain text editor or notepad works) and then copy-and-paste them in WordPress anyway.
But while I was waiting this morning for the interface to load, I found myself with ample time on my hands and started thinking…distraction-free? Continue reading →