I.H. Laking's Blog
May 26, 2019
Where do you go?
Aaaand he’s back. It’s amazing how time flies. My last post here was from Somerset Literary Festival (Now Somerset Storyfest) – and that was over twelve months ago! Since then, so much has happened: I started (and have almost finished) a new novel My wife and I welcomed a new baby into the world I moved suburbs, changed jobs, and helped run not one but […]
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March 29, 2018
Somerset Celebration of Literature: A Reflection in Two Parts
This blog post will be in two parts: first, a quick review of Somerset. This will be immediately followed by the dramatic sequel: a personal reflection. Earlier this month I once again had the pleasure of accompanying Joel Martin to the Somerset Celebration of Literature. I wrote a review of my experience last year, and suffice to say 2018 was even better than the previous […]
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February 2, 2018
Finding My Voice: The Art of Losing Lewis
Voice. It’s a term I didn’t hear bandied around a lot when I first sat down and started writing, trying to to pull together the strands of story I had into some form of narrative. A unique voice is something that authors strive for, publishers long to discover, and readers cling to. This is a brief story of my search to find my literary voice. […]
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October 30, 2017
The Beast of Balkham: Updates & a Cover Sneak Peek!
The Beast of Balkham is rolling along – a story that’s gripped me for the past months is finally coming home to roost. And it’s freaky – like, ‘why am I writing at midnight with most of the lights off’ freaky. Despite freaking myself out a bit, I’ve been hard at work getting my draft finished up, which has been more challenging than I first […]
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September 25, 2017
The Beast of Balkham: a new Inspector Ambrose Story.
Some exciting news for you: I’m working on a new Inspector Ambrose story! The Beast of Balkham is the working title, and the story will see Inspector Ambrose returning to his old university town to investigate the deaths of three former classmates. This story is dear to my heart, because I’ve been planning to send Ambrose to Balkham for some time, but have never succeeded […]
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September 3, 2017
Melbourne Writers Festival 2017: The Review
It feels like the Melbourne Writers Festival rolls around quicker each year. As has become tradition, this is my review of yet another year swanning around at #MWF17. (For reference, here are my 2015 & 2016 reviews. Each year, a strong group of authors come to Melbourne for the Melbourne Writers Festival, and 2017 was no exception. Highlights of course included Angie Thomas (of The Hate U Give fame) […]
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August 20, 2017
My Experience Working with an Editor as an Emerging Author
If you’re an emerging author who’s thinking of working with an editor on your manuscript, this post is for you. This is my experience working with a professional editor on my first full-length manuscript. A year ago I set myself the goal of getting my manuscript traditionally published, despite my background in self-publishing. After a series of submissions to Australian publishers that received positive feedback but […]
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July 27, 2017
Five Screenwriting Lessons I Picked up from (Sorta) Hanging Out With Vince Gilligan.
On Monday I had the rare privilege of picking up some screenwriting lessons from Vince Gilligan live at the ACMI’s inaugural Series Mania event. Gilligan, of Breaking Bad & Better Call Saul fame had come to share some industry insights from his career, and needless to say, people were excited to hear from him. It was wonderful to get a sense of Vince’s screenwriting ethos, and also the […]
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July 2, 2017
Editing Update 2 – Where to Next? Letting the Story Tell Itself.
It’s time for an editing update! I officially finished my first manuscript (MS) edit last week! (Cue celebrations). With this in mind, I’ve been able to look back at my progress post-editor so far. This is where I’m at: About 120 notes on digital MS copy Several pages of notes in notebook Numerous physical MS notes that I’ve marked to come back to later. All […]
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June 20, 2017
Pun Network News
Years ago, before I started writing fiction, I wrote a series of regular articles with a buddy of mine at the University of Canterbury. They were called ‘Pun Network News’ (Yes, that’s a pun), and luckily (unluckily?) for all of us, I kept them. So, without further ado, I present (mostly unedited): Two articles from Pun Network News. March 2008: Pun Network News Presents: […]
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