Helen Lowe's Blog, page 54
September 9, 2020
About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players In “The Wall Of Night” Series — Meet Kolthis
USA
The About The Characters post series focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, in large part because:
“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”
~ from my Legend Award Finalist's Interview, 2013
Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood — in alphabet...
September 6, 2020
What I’m Reading: Bingeing Kate Atkinson…
In commencing this post, it was in my mind that I’d read a couple of other Kate Atkinson novels, Life After Life and Started Early, Took My Dog “really very recently”, only to realise — gulp! — that Life After Life was 2015, while Started Early, Took My Dog was a 2012 read: oh, my!
All of which proves that it was high time I read some more Kate Atkinson, since as will be clear from my earlier posts, she’s a writer I enjoy reading.
The oddity in the reading selection I’m discussing today is that ...
September 2, 2020
On Supernatural Underground Now: Worldbuilding in Fantasy #8 — Elizabeth Knox’s “Southland”
The first of the month has rolled round again, and that means not only my Supernatural Underground blogspot, but time for another post on Worldbuilding in Fantasy.
This month, I’m featuring a master worldbuilder, fellow NZ-er, Elizabeth Knox.
Elizabeth has written eleven books, but the world I’m featuring is “Southland”, the setting for all three YA novels: Dreamhunter, Dreamquake, and Mortal Fire.
To find out why I like it, click on:
Year Of Worldbuilding in Fantasy #8: “Southland” in Elizabeth...
August 30, 2020
Inside the Writing Life: Further Reflection On Writing Transitions
USA
Last Thursday, I discussed writing the ‘transitions’ between each section of my books (because I’ve just been writing one, hey-hey!)
In replying to Kristen B’s comment, I also noted that even when I think the transition is done, it often pays to reflect a little before diving into the next section. This isn’t just because (as duly noted last week) transitions can be “tricksy”, but because—for me anyway—the entry trajectory for a new section is never about “what” will happen. I always have a ...
August 26, 2020
Inside The Writing Life: ‘A Game Of Two Halves’
Sometimes you have to look both ways…. (via Wikipedia: Statue representing Janus Bifrons in the Vatican Museum)
A month ago, I talked about completing a plot milestone in the writing of WALL#4 and a little bit about that process, including moving on to the ‘next’ chapter or section.
Those of you who are The Wall Of Night series’ readers will be aware that I tell the story in sections. When it comes to that process in writing terms, I have to paraphrase a NZ All Black (the national rugby team) ca...
August 23, 2020
What I’m Watching: “The Mandalorian”
Subtitle: Great visuals and I really love the idea of the series, but…
…am I allowed to say, “meh”?
I certainly didn’t hate the eight-part first season, but I found it pretty bog-standard viewing fare. The “defend the village” episode (4: [official title] Sanctuary) was pretty much lifted straight from the Seven Samurai playbook, and there’s a nigh-identical episode, storyline fundamentals-wise, in Merlin, as I recall…
I found the characters largely “by the numbers”, too, so it’s probably not su...
August 19, 2020
About The Characters: Meet The Minor Players In “The Wall Of Night” Series — Meet Kion
UK/AU/NZ
The About The Characters post series focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series, in large part because:
“I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”
~ from my Legend Award Finalist's Interview, 2013
Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood — in alp...
August 16, 2020
What I’m Reading: “Rosewater” by Tade Thompson
Last week, I discussed Tade Thompson’s Rosewater in the context of a post on Framing The Book. I also mentioned that I had enjoyed reading the book and encourage readers to do likewise, if only to better grok my remarks around “framing.”
Fair’s fair, though, I thought (during the course of the past week), I should really provide a little more context about the book and why I enjoyed it. 
August 12, 2020
Back In Those Covid Times Again
Those shutters are back up again…
I think we’ve been pretty lucky here in NZ, when you look at what’s happening in so many parts of the world, to have enjoyed 102 days with the only new Covid cases being those of returning NZ-ers in managed isolation and quarantine.
Reality bit on Tuesday, though, with four new cases that look remarkably like community transmission, and yesterday (Wednesday) we moved from Level 1 (everyday life as usual within the country but heavily controlled borders) to Level...
August 9, 2020
“Framing” The Book
In my recent post on Irwin Shaw’s WW2 classic, The Young Lions, I talked about how the purpose of a title, generally speaking, is to “frame” a book for readers, with the (again general) purpose of serving as a “key” to understanding.
My point with regard to The Young Lions was that I don’t believe the title does frame the book in that way, which either means there is no rule after all, or that this book is one of the exceptions that highlights (if not ‘proves’) the general thesis. 
