Tony McFadden's Blog, page 7
February 22, 2020
Gravity, and its Suck-ness
For those of you paying even the slightest bit of attention to world events, we had some bushfires in Australia recently. Like in half the fucking country — or at least half the country that had fuel — was on fire. Got sort of close to us, but as I told the kids, there were two suburbs, with fire hydrants and, for now, running water it had to get through before it got to us.
Plus, I have good content insurance, so even if the house did burn, we’d all get new shit.
Then, after the fire and...
January 18, 2020
New Year, New Me!
Like hell.
(I should be working on my book.)
On January 2nd I marched into my local physical fitness centre, pushed past the throngs of guilt-wracked folks looking to tone their arms or gut or quads or whatever, and cancelled my gym membership.
Kinda took the poor lady at the counter by surprise. I was swimming strongly against the flow, like a salmon heading upstream, but without the spawning part.
I had heard that cancelling a gym membership was akin, difficulty wise, to scaling Everest,...
January 10, 2020
Life Slice: #426
I should be writing my book. But I spent three hours plotting the final act this morning and that’s enough for today. Plus, it’s too hot to think, the laptop is toasting my nuts and my arms are sweating on the keyboard. Generally uncomfortable. I’ll be sleeping in the buff tonight, on top of the sheets, at the mercy of any mosquitos which may have found their way in.
And no, I’m not going to turn on the air con. You should have seen the electricity bill last month.
I don’t miss the Canadian...
January 2, 2020
Hello, 2020
About a decade ago (very late 2009, early 2010) I started tearing apart the first draft of my first book, restructuring it into something more resembling a three-act structure. That September (2010), I put it up on Smashwords (and KDP about six months later) and I was “published”.
That book — Matt’s War — is still a favourite of mine. I worked on it for years, afraid to finish it, thinking it was crap. It might be, for all I know. Writers (and painters and composers and other people who...
October 6, 2019
The Structure of Stories
I bang on this a lot, and if the truth be told, this is only a minor component of a good story, but one most often missing.
Stories have a structure. Generally, three acts. There are other structures, but they all resolve, in one way or another, to three acts. There are certain things a reader (or viewer, for movies and television) expect in Act 1. There are things readers and viewers will absolutely not accept in act three. And there are ways a story transitions from one act to another that...
August 22, 2019
The Murder of Jeremy Brookes
McGinnis Investigations has been operating a small but successful shop in Campbelltown, an hour south of Sydney, Australia for over a decade. Business has been what you’d expect in a sort of rough town in a sort of rough country, with an ever increasing circle of rough and tumble clients spreading the word that Dan McGinnis’ team could get the job done, but only above board. Nothing shady, nothing illegal, frequently successful and frequently just skirting the line .
But nothing could prepar...
August 21, 2019
And We Start Anew Again
A nimrod managed to gain access to my website and trashed it. It was at such a state, and the compromise so deep, it was easier to clear everything out.
So everything has been cleared out.
I’m looking at this as a positive. I was tired of the layout and this is as good a chance as any for a refresh.
