Jo Zebedee's Blog, page 7
February 16, 2018
On Confidence
I think one of the hardest things, as a writer, is to become confident in what you write. Too often we seek external validation to gain confidence and, when they’re missing, it can be hard. I don’t have an agent. I did but it didn’t work out. I don’t have someone in my corner telling […]
February 10, 2018
Finding the place
I enjoy writing my sff set in Ireland, not least for the research and the finding of appropriate places. One of the reasons HBO chose Norn Iron for Game of Thrones was the access to the amount of different locations, all close to each other. For Inish Carraig 2 I’m having a lot of fun […]
February 2, 2018
On writing what you like
Firstly, look away if you want to become a bestseller. Look away if you want to make money at the writing game. This week, on a forum, someone (I’ll name and shame her, shall I? The fabulous Milly-molly-mo, although she also has a more normal name) referred to writing your own sub-genre, like Jo does. […]
January 25, 2018
On alchemy
Like most writers, I have a few works in The Trunk, the virtual box under my bed where works that don’t work lurk. I have two, in particular. One is a YA sf thriller I started when I was still repped by a YA agent and thought I should probably write something for that market. […]
January 19, 2018
Process? I have to have a process now?!
I’m a character writer. I can’t write a story until the character chooses to appear in the black hole in the back of my mind that an entire town lives in, as far as I can tell, and starts to talk to me. I don’t do character sketches. I don’t muse on what type of […]
January 11, 2018
The morass that is publishing
It’s been a week of online discussions about authors’ income, where various friends are placed, where I am placed, who has an agent, who has a trad deal, who made nothing on their last book, who made something, who made lots (ha! haven’t actually had that conversation, anywhere…). During that week I’ve learned lots of […]
January 4, 2018
On Influences – 40 years of Blake’s 7!
This week is, apparently, the 40th anniversary of Blake’s 7, that shaky-setted, pirates in space series. Apart from making me feel incredibly old, it also made me nostalgic (Rumours of Death might go on tonight for old time’s sake) it also made me reflect on where we take influences from and why. It’s no secret […]
December 21, 2017
An Inish Carraig Christmas
I’m working on Inish Carraig 2 at the moment, and back with the characters and I wondered what a Christmas would be like in that world. And here’s what it was. I’m signing off now for a couple of weeks – for all those who are doing the same, have a lovely holiday. I hope […]
December 14, 2017
What’s in a book’s dedication – and how I got dragged around Yeats’ land as a teen holidayer
A few days ago I got talking to the fabulous Anne McMaster about the title of Waters and the Wild. For those who know their poetry, they might recognise that I took the title from a line in Yeats’ poem, The Stolen Child. To explain a little about my Yeats background. My mother is a […]
December 7, 2017
On beta readers
One thing I get asked a lot when running courses etc is how to get beta readers, how many to have and what sort of skills they need to have. Firstly, though – what are beta readers? They’re readers who look at the early manuscript and tell me all my horrors. Technically there are alpha […]
