Alison Brodie's Blog, page 3

Write 41 novels a year

How to conquer word count and master time   Who isn’t paranoid about the whole time thing? Take Shakespeare for example. There’s a guy who didn’t seem to have too many problems bashing out a pacey plot and peppering it with twists and turns, witches, nutcases, murderers, adulterers and wise-cracking grave diggers.   Even so, he felt the pressure: “When I do count the clock that tells the time, and see the brave day sunk in hideous night”, he said, “…nothing ‘gainst time’s scythe can make

The top five relationtips.

    Every relationship is different.  The only fact that counters this observation is that every relationship is the same.  Are we all so boring?  The stats speak for themselves.    There are a squillion billion people on the planet (approximately) so you can’t generally generalise.  You can’t say, for example:  “Everyone who lives” – point a finger – “there, has no sense of humour.”  Or, “Everyone who lives over there” – wave an arm towards another part of the globe “is too frivolous”.    You

Exploding head syndrome

5 easy ways for Indie writers to avoid exploding-head syndrome   Do you know that feeling of having a head so full of story, plot, doubt, fear, trepidation and total ingrained conviction that you’re writing your way into a dead end?   Tell me about it!   From page two of my current novel I’ve been thinking I’ll have to start again; now on page 102 I have the same feeling. At the end of the book I know I will be absolutely convinced that the best way for this book to see the light of day is to

First Steps and Chinese Throw-Aways

Chinese philosophers always take the easy view of life. They shrink challenges that freak out the rest of us down into pithy one-liners. Take Confucius. Forget the legendary ‘Go To Work On An Egg’ and consider: ‘Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.’ ‘Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.’and the perennially useful: ‘Never give a sword to a man who can't dance.’   The other guy, Laozi (c604-c531 BC) said: ‘A journey of a thousand miles[image error]

You know you are a writer if ...

romance means finding a way to keep 2 people apart for at least ten chapters.   Thank you Grace Kahlo!

Tips on writing

  Inspiration   Tip 1.  Never tell anyone you are going to write a book.  Not even yourself.   Tip 2.  Never sit at a blank computer screen waiting for inspiration.  It won't happen.   The glimmer of a story will come to you when you are - usually - doing something monotonous; when you're least expecting it. You will feel a tingle.  Make notes.  Then forget about it. If the story wants to be told, it will keep coming back.  Take more notes.  Forget about it. Carry on doing this until your