How I write my books!

I do a lot of plotting when I write, but sometimes to really imagine a scene or something special I have to draw it and try and conceptualise it in my mind. My fiancee, Lisa, bought be an awesome leather-bound notebook just for this and I have been filling it as I work when I need too.

Concept Map

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This is one of the original concept maps I made for The Black Witch which slowly grew to the map I showed you a few days ago. I did it by hand and tried to work out distances, geography, landscapes, etc.

The Sword of Astrid Dragonslayer

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This is the design I had in mind for Isolde’s sword. It’s a pretty rough drawing but I wanted to see for myself how it would look with the runes. Here’s a secret, the runes are real and I used Latin as the language. It reads “IN MANU DEI” which means ‘In the hand of God’.

Notes & Sigils

Here’s just a page of notes about things I had to remind myself to fix or change or add. I was up one night with Lisa and we were jotting down ideas for cool sigils and signs. She actually came up with this one which I later changed slightly.

The Notebook Itself!

This is the leather-bound notebook I use. I would be broken hearted if I ever lost it.

My style of writing has changed since the good old days. I still use this notebook quite a bit, but the books I write now a lot bigger with a tonne of complex storylines all interweaving. I use a program called Scrivener to write which has a virtual cork-board which is pretty cool. But you can’t beat pen and paper, it does something to the brain that makes the creativity flow.

Don’t forget, you can check out the whole Isolde Saga as a box set now. CLICK HERE to find it on Amazon