Monthly Archives: June 2013

Weekend Writing Warriors: Sunday 30 June (In the Laboratory of the Night/Vampire Variations)

Posted on June 29, 2013 by

By the time the last work on the towers of Notre-Dame-de-Paris completed that shape against the sky, the night was my native country. I remember its peaked roof and flying buttresses every night, as I drift up the hill to … Continue reading →

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Apprenticing with the Dead: When history passes into ‘once upon a time’

Posted on June 28, 2013 by

A few weeks ago, I went to see the new film adaptation of The Great Gatsby with friends. Reviews had already forewarned me about the extensive use of anachronism, from the music to the costuming to the manners. Fitzgerald’s novel … Continue reading →

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Apprenticing with the Dead – Reading Tolkien 35 Years Late (The Beautiful Endgame and the Bones of Plot)

Posted on June 25, 2013 by

A week or two ago, I finished reading Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. As a pro writer, there was a whole extra layer of enjoyment in the endgame, with its gorgeous structure and its alternating notes of triumph and … Continue reading →

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Weekend Writing Warriors: Sunday 23 June (Character interview: Emma from Shape-shifter’s Tale)

Posted on June 22, 2013 by

They say that dead men tell no tales, but I’m the one to whom they tell them. Dead men, women, children sometimes. I listen to the stories, and from certain points of view it doesn’t matter if the story happened … Continue reading →

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Weekend Writing Warriors: Sunday 16 June (Character interview: Max from Shape-shifter’s Tale)

Posted on June 15, 2013 by

Erika told me everything her mom had said, how things were changing in an ugly way. She knew about the burning at the university, too, and some other things, rumors and noises. “We should be really, really careful,” she said. … Continue reading →

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Weekend Writing Warriors: Sunday 9 June 2013 (Vampire Variations)

Posted on June 8, 2013 by

The door of the laboratory opens, and the man walks in.  “And what do you think you’re doing this time of night?” Mina’s voice is calm, more than some would be. “I’m at work.” Her face composes itself. I can … Continue reading →

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Writer’s notebook: more on community

Posted on June 7, 2013 by

I’m coming to the end of a week of unexpected illness, which has made everything very much more difficult. Editing has slowed to a crawl, and the only thing I have been able to work on with much attention is … Continue reading →

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