distractions

31 May 2018
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Going with the Flow

As it usually happens, once I get to the bottom of a story, and I have it packed and delivered – to a publisher, or to Amazon or Gumroad – I basically collapse like an old wreck.

It’s not anything extraordinary – it happens to a lot of writers, and I think it can be applied to any creative job, or any job at all, in which you have to keep your brain on constantly.
I actually read and studied what happens during the writing process, and it is a fascinating topic.
Let me tell you about it. Continue reading →

9 June 2017
by Davide Mana 3 Comments

Writing when you’d rather go for a walk

A short post about writing, sort of a service post, one of those I have decided to enlighten you with my wisdom sort of posts that serious writers do on their million-views blogs.
Blog gurus say that your post, to be effective and successful, must tackle a real-life problem of the readers, and provide a solution.
So, here goes: say that you have to write, and you don’t feel like it.
The clock is ticking, the wordcount-meter is dead, and you’d rather go peel some potatoes for tonight’s dinner than sit at the keyboard and write.
What do you do?

Now, I don’t know what you do, of course – and I’d like to know, so please tell me!
In the meantime, I can tell you what I do.
And maybe what works for me might work for you, too. Continue reading →

11 October 2016
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

I feed on ideas

Pulpy sort of title, what?
I should write a story to it.

But the fact is, you see, I just had one of those horrible, horrible grief and self-loathing attacks as I watched a very interesting video on Youtube: Richard Dawkins interviewing Derren Brown.

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Now, this is a package that has everything to capture me: a scientist and science popularizer I like very much, interviewing a famous illusionist I follow and appreciate.
And of course Dawkins is a colleague (evolution being our plaything) and stage magic is, I often said that, strictly connected with writing. And I did some magic tricks when I was a kid.

So, why the self-loathing? Continue reading →

28 July 2016
by Davide Mana 1 Comment

An unwritten rule of writing… well, it works for me, at least, is that in the moment you see deadlines looming massively on the horizon, and you have lots of stuff to write and deliver…

a . a number of other projects suddenly catch your interest
b . you get a ton of great ideas worth developing
c . you get buried in great books to read

As I said, I don’t know if it’s only me, but the problem seems to be widespread. Continue reading →

31 January 2015
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Historical details

I’ve written about historical accuracy and fantasy in the past.
I like doing research for my stories – I happen to read good books and watch interesting video, and have a good excuse to procrastinate, all in the name of quality.

Because if I find absolutely ridiculous the armchair experts on Ancient Warfare or other assorted geeks that evaluate the worth of a story by the serial numbers on the chainmail hauberks, I find equally insufferable the worthless hacks that place Jesuits in the Crusades, or wonder what would have happened had the Egyptians not been defeated by the Roman Empire.
In the age of internet, checking out a few basic facts is pretty easy. Continue reading →