Blog Posts

  • Blog Chain: All the Things You Are

    Thanks to Chris Beckett – Arthur C Clarke aware winning author of Dark Eden and too many excellent short stories – I’m a link in…

  • Why I Write

    I can tell when someone I’m teaching is going to be a programmer, I can tell it by the way they lose themselves when they…

  • Creativity 1: Groupthink

    On a number of occasions, usually when I’ve been at work, I’ve been part of a group asked to think up a new slogan or…

  • Six Tips on Submitting a Story

    If you don’t submit a story, it will never be accepted Read the submission guidelines The editor is always right. If they found your story…

  • My Emacs Writing Setup

    My Emacs Writing Setup

    A few years ago, due to the interest in my post on Writing Tools, I published an HTML document on my Emacs writing setup.  I…

  • Six Tips on Beating Writer’s Block

    Go for a walk This is the age of the word processor, you don’t have to write your story in a linear fashion. Write a…

  • Concatenation: If Only…

    If you haven’t visited the rather excellent Concatenation website before, you might want to take a look: http://www.concatenation.org/ There’s lots of very interesting stuff on there,…

  • Recursion

    Recursion

    “Overflowing with provocative ideas, Ballantyne’s debut displays enviable mastery of both suspenseful storytelling and technological extrapolation.  Mark him as a writer of considerable promise” Booklist…

  • Year’s Best SF 18 (ed. Hartwell)

    Year’s Best SF 18 (ed. Hartwell)

    If Only: Year’s Best SF 18 (ed. Hartwell)

  • Six Tips on Showing not Telling

    Remember, the reader isn’t stupid; you don’t have to explain everything. They’ll probably understand what you’re getting at. Describe effects, not causes: she shivered not she…

  • Six tips for Writing Character

    Giving a character a colourful hat or a stammer does not make them into a character. It may fix them in the reader’s mind, which…

  • Connoisseurs

    Everyone’s a connoisseur nowadays. Patisserie, whiskey, cheese: all the little pleasures in life are seen not be enough, they need to be ranked and properly…