Helen Lowe's Blog, page 145
July 11, 2015
The most important lesson …
Recently, I was asked what was the most important lesson I had learned in the process of becoming—and I suppose being—a published author.
The answer, which I found a pretty easy one, was this:
“Just this: it’s the story that matters. It’s your only pilot star.“What I mean by that is: that it is frequently a long and solitary (so yes, sometimes lonely!) slog writing a book in the first place, and no light task getting it out into the world either.
Once you do, there is no assurance of plain s...
A Teaspoonful Of Magic … “The Tyger Voyage” by Richard Adams & Nicola Bayley
Today, owing to circumstances serendipitous, I reacquired a copy of Richard Adams’ The Tyger Voyage, with the wonderful and evocative illustrations by Nicola Bayley.
Here’s what the backcover says:
“A gentleman tyger and his son set sail from Victorian England into the timeless unknown.
Together they roam across the seas, through jungles, past ice-covered mountains and erupting volcanoes and many more unexpected hazards along the way.“
I have always thought The Tyger Voyage a magical picture...
July 9, 2015
A Teaspoonful Of Excitement …
Following on from Wednesday’s Teaspoonful of Luck, today we have a Teaspoonful of Excitement — because next Monday, dear readers, both the US and UK COVERS for Daughter Of Blood shall be REVEALED!
And I have to say, I am REALLY looking forward to it!
Because although I have been telling you all that there is a book and it’s going to be published in January, having covers makes it all seem so much more Real. (Even if logic asserts that it will, in fact, be no more or less real after Monday tha...
July 8, 2015
Reprising “Place As Person” — What Does It Mean When Telling Story?
Hill Tower, Jaransor; art by Peter Fitzpatrick
In yesterday’s post on “Keeping Fantasy Fresh — & (With A Teaspoonful Of Luck!) Interesting”, I opined that “The second part of keeping Fantasy real (and fresh, and interesting) is developing those fantastic worlds…”
So in the spirit of that statement, and because I see it’s been generating a few visits lately, and because I am still deep in the mire of copyedit, I have decided to revisit the backlist and re-post “Place As Person.”
If you’ve read...
July 7, 2015
Keeping Fantasy Fresh — & (With A Teaspoonful Of Luck!) Interesting
Wall storm
Keeping storytelling fresh is always a challenge, simply because there are very few distinct stories: two people meet, a farm boy/girl finds a destiny (Carnivale, anyone?), families fall out and come together again, star-crossed love, an ordinary person is faced with an extraordinary challenge…
These are the stories that speak to us in every generation and not just in Fantasy. The difference in Fantasy is that we add magic…(Then stir!)
This is why I argue that the secret to great s...
July 6, 2015
The Tuesday Poem: “Hour glass” by Frankie McMillan
she was a corsetière
threading whale bone
through cloth
placing herself close
to the ocean
became lucrative
when whales surfaced
she saw
bustles, derrières,
the amazement of men
on their wedding night
she scraped her learning
from medical notes
collapsed lung
block and tackle
.
Frankie McMillan
Hour glass first appeared in Turbine (2012) and is included in There are no horses in heaven, Canterbury University Press, 2015.
Reproduced here with permission.
—
About the Poem: I am cur...
July 5, 2015
Still Copyediting … & A Monday Morning Reflection
The copyedit rocks on.
In lieu of more weighty Monday morning reflections, here’s one copyedit-derived reason for thinking that those who maintain that one should ‘write what you know’ may just — er — know a thing or two…
After all, if one only wrote what one knew thoroughly, think how much less research would have to be undertaken when embarking on a writing project. It would certainly reduce — or if one really got the “write what you know” thing down, possibly eliminate altogether — the nee...
July 4, 2015
A Writing Quote For Sunday, From Toni Morrison
“It is important to know when you are fretting it; when you are fretting it because it is not working, it needs to be scrapped.”
~ Toni Morrison
—
Usually, I feature these quotes because I am in 100% agreement with the sentiment being expressed. With this one, though, I am somewhat less certain, because at what point does one decide that something that is not working needs to be scrapped?
From my own point of view, sometimes when a piece of writing appears not to be working, all that means is...
July 3, 2015
Aha! Gotcha!
It’s that time…
“Got what?” you may inquire, puzzled at my authorial exuberance.
“A continuity error,” I shout, waving my arms about, “caught right there in the act, plain as the nose on Pinocchio’s face, in the Daughter of Blood (The Wall Of Night, Book Three) manuscript.”
Which is, of course, exactly why authors and publishers copyedit manuscripts. Matters of “style”, i.e. comma placement, spelling, and punctuation may all figure, but the really important aspect (imho) is this: the copyedit...
July 2, 2015
A Supernatural Underground Riff … When A Book Is “Really” Done
As you know, the 1st of every month is when I post on the Supernatural Underground.
Being under the copyedit hammer right now, this month’s post focused on that—not surprisingly, perhaps, since both my blog and the Supernatural Underground are writers’ blogs!
One might say, in fact, that posting about what’s happening in the writing life stands to reason. 
However, I did mention a few other things…
…like a whisper, among the hedgerows, that my USA and UK covers for Daughter Of Blood may be re...
