Writer’s block

May 14, 2014 | Writing

Today I realized that what I really want to do is write: improve Mad Water, the third installment of my Pearseus epic fantasy series, follow my beta-readers’ excellent and extremely helpful advice, think about how I want to finish my story in the last, yet unwritten,...

Science Fiction Turned into Fact

May 11, 2014 | Entertainment, Writing

Readers of my blog may have noticed my love of science fiction.  I loved reading as a child, even if I could not explain the thrill I felt when reading Jules Verne’s or HG Wells’ works. I recently felt vindicated in my love of the genre, when I read the...

More Six-Word Flash Science Fiction Stories

Apr 29, 2014 | Entertainment, Writing

Remember my 6-word flash sci-fi stories?  Knowing how much you enjoyed those, here are some fresh ones: On Mondays they turned gravity off. A paper world. Suddenly, it rains. “Can you hear me?” said Google. Cat carrier reviews. Schrödinger’s mixed...

4 Tips on Writing a Great Novel

Apr 27, 2014 | Writing

It’s Sunday and it’s raining –again-, so it’s a good opportunity to write. I know what you are thinking: it rains A LOT in Athens –it must be the third or fourth Sunday that I mention it has been raining. Amazingly enough, it seems that the weather is choosing very...

Style in Writing

Apr 26, 2014 | Writing

The inspiration for the post came to me when reading a post on the excellent Reddest Pen, called Show AND Tell. The author, Tom Mock, stood up in defense of telling; a form of expression that has become more uncool than a toothless vampire. With a limb.  And a speech...

Story-changing characters

Apr 21, 2014 | My friends' Guest Posts, Writing

What happens when you have your story all lined up, then a new character appears in your head and forces you to change not just the plot, but the whole genre of your book?  This is the question author Richard Brawer faced, who found himself writing a romantic suspense...

More Covers: The Power of Six

Apr 13, 2014 | Publishing, Writing

Following everyone’s private and public feedback on the cover of my new book, an anthology of short sci-fi stories, I’m pleased to report that I’ve now made more changes. No one can accuse me of ignoring your feedback, as I’ve changed the cover...

Beta-readers wanted

Apr 10, 2014 | Writing

Exciting news!  While waiting for my wonderful beta-readers to finish Mad Water, the third book in my epic fantasy series Pearseus, I finished the first draft of another book I’ve had in the works for quite a while now. It’s a collection of six short...

Punctuation in Dialogue

Apr 10, 2014 | Writing

Fiction Editor Beth Hill has written what is possibly the most comprehensive guide on dialogue styling.  I’m copying it from the Editor’s Blog, because I think it deserves to feature prominently as a guide.  Dialogue has its own rules for punctuation....