quotations part one

So, I have had some feedback from readers. They have mentioned certain favourite bits and pieces from the novel. Every now and then something one of the characters says, or some thoughtful piece of wisdom from the narrator strikes a chord, and sticks in the mind. Pithy sayings carry a lot of weight in the […]

second book time

Procrastination must be the most prominent type of -ation in the toolkit of the average writer. Let’s face it, it’s true. We give it all sorts of other names of course. Writer’s block, time to research, too much research, dearth of research, inspiration search, creativity pause, between projects, another project, lack of other project, personal […]

cast of characters. part two. the prof.

Professor Graeme Standforth. Without him providing the scientific know how and know when, the how and the when of time travel could never have happened. Possibly that’s true, although it wouldn’t be his position at all… He would go into some long winded diatribe about it being inevitable that it would happen, has happened, and […]

archive 1. on finishing the first draft

It is about five years ago now that I completed the very first draft of the very first book of this sci fi series. It is fun to look back at my notes of the time. Last night I wrote on page 1357 of my manuscript the words “the end”.Today I am beginning this blog […]

rewriting

I’m currently in the process of rewriting the latest draft of the second book of the Time Anew series. Curiously enough for a series of books about time travel, the time involved in rewrites appears to not obey any of the laws, known or unknown, pertaining to the physics of time. Yeah, sometimes it moves […]

influences 1

Influences? When you are writing a novel. It is a tricky question, and not the least because pretty much everything is an influence, be it positive, negative, neutral, different, or indifferent. Every novel is a massive melange, a minestrone of melt. I think I started by thinking about “Back to the Future”. Yeah, really. It’s […]

cast of characters. part one. jasper

Yes, Jasper Jarman. He is the personage principal, he is the main character, and he is the main man. He narrates the story in the first person, initially in the past tense, and later, well … let’s wait until later. He lives for the moment, and the other moment as well. He is not an […]

what is time? part four

When you write something and already have a good idea of what it is you are going to write, is it better than when the creation just happens? Are the dreams and imaginings, the stray thoughts and the never-even-considereds somehow also there, out there, in there, waiting and percolating. OK, a comment about writing technique […]

jigsaw mcgraw

Yup, that’s me. Jigsaw McGraw. I have recently completed a jigsaw puzzle. Not a littly, but a real big motherboard of a puzzle board. 1000 pieces. What the politesse police of the English language would consider a “challenge”. What in fact is a nightmare of infuriation wrapped inside a moment or two of satisfaction gratififaction. […]

serious serialisation

OK, it’s something I learnt from my own muse. As I was writing about the adventures of the good doctor Jasper Jarman, I sent her approximately five chapters at a time, just a few thousand words really. She would read the excerpt and then a week or so later, the next instalment would arrive in […]