Category Archives: Writing

No, seriously. What would make you quit writing?

Posted on April 23, 2011 by joelyblack

At the beginning of the week I was in full catastrophe mode and wanted to jack it all in for the sake of a few bad reviews. As per usual, by the following morning I was still a little ragged … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal, Writing | 2 Comments

Writing Diary: The real secret to writing pain

Posted on April 22, 2011 by joelyblack

Book: The Impostor Words: 10,170 A while ago I wrote a post about how to write torture, back when I thought I could write these authoritative posts on writing technique. I’m over that now, but something has come back to … Continue reading →

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This is just an excuse to talk about having a great lunch

Posted on April 21, 2011 by joelyblack

In another lifetime, which feels about a million years ago now, I taught first year undergraduates how to survive life at university. Well, I hopefully imparted a few ideas. To be honest, I don’t think I was that great at … Continue reading →

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Ideas and where they come from. Accidental ideas.

Posted on April 20, 2011 by joelyblack

I’m still no good at titles for blog posts. I’ll get there one day. Anyway, this is all about ideas and where they come from. Inspiration, that kind of thing. Actually, it’s about accidental inspiration (which is probably most inspiration, … Continue reading →

Posted in Amnar, Personal, Writing | 1 Comment

Writing The Impostor: Facing some fears about writing it. Permission to suck.

Posted on April 19, 2011 by joelyblack

I keep saying “I’m going to start The Impostor now…” And then I don’t. I have the file set up on Scrivener, it’s all ready to go in the draft folder, sitting patiently underneath The Inheritor, the book it follows. … Continue reading →

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The red velvet rope: lessons in value.

Posted on April 18, 2011 by joelyblack

The saga of Author vs Starred Reviews continues. Author gets reviews, they are poor. Author freaks out and thinks her work is trash. Author panics and decides never to write again… Author forgets to call on the advice of wiser … Continue reading →

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Six easy steps to self-sabotage. A good comment.

Posted on April 18, 2011 by joelyblack

I was nervous about posting yesterday. Posting here (gasp!) and posting my true feelings (gasp, gasp!). Revealing vulnerability, how frightened I am about going for this big dream of mine. So scared, in fact, I’m getting good at sabotaging it. … Continue reading →

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Amnar: The Expulsion is published. Sorting out reader confusion.

Posted on April 16, 2011 by joelyblack

Yes! It’s here for people who’ve been asking because they can’t access the web much to read the serial in its current form. It’s also available if you want to skip to the end and find out what happens on … Continue reading →

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Writing Tip: Seven tips for creating a super-hot hero

Posted on March 7, 2011 by joelyblack

Arandes Nashima changed the whole nature of Amnar. Although Io is popular, nobody divides or ignites my readership like Arandes. I’ve sat at dinner tables watching debates rage over his behaviour, his attitudes, and what it all means. And the … Continue reading →

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Writing Tip: Six tips for writing torture and suffering

Posted on March 4, 2011 by joelyblack

This post was inspired by a conversation I had with Ali Luke of Aliventures, about the problems of writing really good torture scenes. The very topic makes any decent person squirm, but writing something like Amnar, scenes where one or … Continue reading →

Posted in Tips, Writing | 2 Comments