A while ago I had a post about playing with AI generated paintings. This is a fast-moving field, and between the recent release of ChatGPT and working with machine learning for natural language processing tools in my day-job, I thought I’d share some more insights. First, can you even tell the difference? Staying with pictures […]
Writing
Creative Writing and Product Management
And now for something completely different. No, not the Spanish Inquisition (bet you weren’t expecting that!) I’ve mentioned in previous updates how I have In Victrix drafted and half edited, and how I just don’t seem to find the time to finish it. This is mostly because of my day job — I enjoy it […]
Book Review: What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank, by Krista D. Ball
I can’t remember exactly when What Kings Ate floated past me, but given my love of both fantasy and historical foodstuffs I knew it was going to be a hit. What to expect A non-fiction that’s still light-hearted, both informative and entertaining. The author covers many aspects of food throughout history as a way to […]
Things I won’t apologise for! (and the things I do)
This is purely about writing, not about my ability to parallel park (which is excellent, I tell you). Now that I’ve finished self-editing In Victrix (and am still flush with optimistic excitement, at least till the beta’s comments starts rolling in) there are a few things that hit me, in light of previous feedback, which […]
The Editing Process (or, Playing in the Big League for Fun and Profit)
I’ve talked about my writing process (and how to make the muse work for you slash keep track of rabid characters and twisty plots), so now it’s time to talk about editing (and how to keep your sanity). For the curious, there are three reasons why I’m blogging about this: one, it forces me to […]
World-building Historical Fantasy (or, of Unicorns and Icebergs)
The Historical Fantasy Book Club is one of my favourite FB groups (shocking, I know), and back in June they invited me for an “author takeover”. I thought rather than talking about my usual topics (Romans, and their obsession with fantastical beasts and how to cook them), I’d try to create a broader discussion, one […]
Fighting Rhythms and other rants
I’ve recently finished The New Magic by Joseph Malik (review to come soon — but his first book, Dragon’s Trail, was half of what prompted me to start writing advice on writing action scenes, as an example of how to do them right). Anyway. You often hear the advice about writing fight scenes to “use […]
Why We Write
Every author gets this question: why do you write? Interview answers sometimes seem trite, but we also each ask ourselves that at times. Like those times when I actually write. Seems like it’s either fingers-flying-over-keyboard madly-cackling-about-to-be-arrested bouts, or the stare-listlessly-out-the-window and think “Why am I doing it to myself?” Well, here’s the (or at least, […]
Writing Process (or, how to make sure the muse works for you)
On several occasions recently (lecturing writing groups and chatting online) I was asked about my writing process, about anything from using pen and paper vs typing to ideation. And it hit me that a lot of it is inter-connected. I’ve talked about the tools I use and where I sit on the plotting-vs-pantsing scale, but […]
More from FutureLearn: Classics and Literary
I’ve mentioned FutureLearn before, as an excellent resource for no-stress, free-time further education. I’ve had the chance to do some more courses over the past few months, and thought I’d share my experience. Classics The first course I’ve done at FutureLearn was about a complete virtual model of ancient Rome (see here). It was an […]
FELIX THE FOX MYSTERIES 