Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai

Tag Archives: House of the Gods


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Our dinosaurs are different

Terribly late, today – I’ve been writing, because as I said, the sprint for House of the Gods is on. NaNoWriMo has nothing on ditching 20.000 words in a 35.000 words draft and having to rewrite the lot in two weeks.
But I am making it – even if I find it a bit taxing, physically.

But anyway – one thing I’m having fun with is, of all things, the good old Tyrannosaurus rex. Because really, you can’t write a novel featuring dinosaurs and leave old T rex *out of it.
*Iconic‘s the word.
But why not have fun with it?

t-rex_2

And the best way to have fun with the old T rex is, believe it or not, through science. Continue reading →


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Final sprint for the House of the Gods

The clock is ticking – and while I struggle to close two long overdue projects and juggle other engagements1 – the deadline for the delivery of the first draft of House of the Gods looms closer.
I’m pretty excited about this book.
First because it’s a novel, and I’m notoriously a short-fiction sort of guy and writing a novel is an adventure in itself.
Then, because it’s the first job for a high-profile international publisher, so I have to show my best game.
And finally, because it’s a pulpy story full of adventure and dinosaurs and you know how much I love this sort of stuff.

coelophysis-group-1024x837

It’s also the first story in which I have adopted a different approach to writing. Continue reading →


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Getting friendly with dinosaurs

I can’t waste time any longer – in five days I’ll start writing the first draft of my new novel, an adventure yarn that is called House of the Gods and comes with a nice nice nice contract attached, which I have already signed1.
The story is fully outlined, the basic research is done, I have a folder full of clippings, links, and Wikipedia pages.
And pictures.
I’ll start working on it next monday, and I’m planning 5000 words per day, for ten days.
It won’t be so smooth – I’ll pick up speed as the story proceeds.
But I’m seeing it happen in my brain, like a movie I’ve watched too many times.
Now I’ve only to put to paper (or file) the plot of the movie, like I’d tell to my brother, or to a friend.
Nice and smooth.

Frazetta tyrannosaurus

So, in these final few days before I dive in, it’s time to get in the mood.
And because House of the Gods will feature dinosaurs2, I’m going back again to Robert Bakker’s The Dinosaur Heresies.
If it was good enough for Michael Crichton, it’s good enough for me. Continue reading →