Ian Gregoire's Blog, page 16

When Silence Isn’t Golden, Music Is My Muse

Credit: Sebastian Stadler Note: This is a slightly revised update of a post I originally submitted back in 2014. * * * * * It seems that many writers have a preference for silence when they sit down at their keyboards to work on their novels, short stories etc. There is an obvious logic to […]

Hurry! Get Your Entires In For #SPFBO 2017

  Yesterday evening, British fantasy author Mark Lawrence launched the third Self Published Fantasy Blog-Off contest, issuing a call for self published authors to submit their work by 1st July. Only the first 300 hundred entrants will have their work entered so if you are interested, get a move on; at the time of writing […]

People May Be Idiots, But Don’t Push Your Luck

Credit: New York Times   Have you ever wondered why characters in the Superman comics never seem to notice that Clark Kent is obviously Superman? Chances are you don’t give it much thought, and you certainly don’t let it spoil your enjoyment of Superman. After all, you can accept the idea of an alien being […]

Word Of The Day: Loquacity

  Loquacity [loh-kwas-i-tee] Definition noun, plural loquacities. 1. the quality or state of being very talkative. 2. an instance of talkativeness or garrulity; a loquacious flow of talk: Origin/History c.1200, from Latin loquacitatem (nominative loquacitas) “talkativeness,” from loquax “talkative” (see loquacious). An Old English word for it was ofersprecolnes. Example “Leave out all these idle […]

An Introduction To Way Of The Wordsmith

Credit: Antonio Litterio   One of the best things about creative writing, in my view, is that it affords us the opportunity to use words that we would never utter in our day-to-day discourse. The obvious benefit of this is the continuing expansion of our vocabulary. In light of this, I have decided to start […]

When Do You Know You Have Made It?

  I have been a user of Goodreads since April 2013, but logging into my account over the last week has felt a little surreal. While the home page is the same, there has been an obvious change when I visit my user profile; I am now a Goodreads Author. When I first noticed the […]

Grimlock Press Is Accepting Submissions

  If you are an aspiring fantasy and/or science fiction author without a literary agent, you might be interested to know that Grimlock Press, a small British publisher is currently accepting unsolicited manuscript submissions. You can visit their submissions page HERE for further details and instructions on submitting your manuscript for consideration. Good luck!   […]

You Don’t Have To Hang Yourself With Tropes

  Note: This is a slightly revised update of a post I originally submitted back in 2014. * * * * * The term tropes has a number of definitions, but for the purposes of this post, it refers to those themes, conventions and plot devices that readers have come to expect in works of […]

Endeavour To “Finish What You Start”

  Note: This is a revised version of a post I originally submitted two years ago, before the revamping of my blog earlier this year. I’m re-posting it, now, because I’m happy to say that I eventually implemented the advice contained within, which resulted in the recent publication of my debut novel.   THE BEST […]

Writing Plans For The Rest Of The Year

  I may have mentioned that the Kindle edition of my debut novel, The Exercise Of Vital Powers, was released without fanfare a few days ago, and can be purchased now from Amazon’s Kindle Store. I may or not have mentioned I am currently preparing a paperback edition for publication later this summer, while simultaneously […]