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Earlier this week,I had an opportunity to sit down with Canadian author Jay Clarke (aka “Michael Slade”). He’s a former lawyer and the author of over a dozen crime novels,in a genre sometimes referred to as “Mountie Noir”. (It’s a great label –almost as good,IMHO,as “Tartan Noir”,which refers to . . . →Read More:Meeting Michael Slade and talking about eBooks  Comments are closed  Book Marketing,Life,Publishing,Writing  Book Marketing,fiction,marketing,novel,publication,Vancouver,Writing The HBO series Carnivale has been inspiring me. We recently picked up Carnivalé on DVD,and are enjoying season one. This series was broadcast on HBO in 2004 and only lasted two seasons before being cancelled,but not before attracting attention and kudos for its haunting stories,great cast,and movie-quality production values. Carnivalé presents . . . →Read More:On Creativity:Carnivalé and the Hero’s Journey I’m still getting used to working with Scrivener,but its design is encouraging me to organize my manuscript in a better way. When I wrote Owe Nothing,I saw individual scenes first;specific exchanges between characters,or particular story “beats”that were important to me. However,I didn’t start with much of an overall framework . . . →Read More:On Process:How Scrivener is changing how I write… Have I said how much I am loving Scrivener? I am loving Scrivener. When I started writing my first novel,Owe Nothing,my initial tools were a notebook (the dead-tree-based,spiral-bound kind) and a variety of ballpoint pens. I wrote a dozen pages at a time,“long hand”as they say.I would write at home, . . . →Read More:On Process:Getting to Love Scrivener I’ve been revisiting and researching famous stories and hero myths,starting from the most recent,pop cultural stories and their influences,and then digging down deeper into personal territory,furrowing paths that lead me to my mother and father,and to my images and beliefs of myself. I’m a fan of pop culture,comic books, . . . →Read More:On Research and Creativity:Archetypes and Inspiration… One comment - (Comments are closed) Learning,Life,Pop Culture,Process,Research,Writing fiction,Life Story,novel,owe nothing,Writing I’ve only ever read snippets of Joseph Campbell’s books on heroes and heroic tales and myths,so I never expected to find influences in his works. Yet,the influence is there. Many other writers and film-makers *have* studied Campbell (not the least of them being George Lucas). So,in being a fan of modern epics . . . →Read More:On Research:Joseph Campbell and The Hero’s Journey One comment - (Comments are closed) Learning,Process,Research,Writing adventure,Culture,fiction,Life Story,Writing In a recreation centre basement,a middle-aged man feels that old anxiety –the anxiety of having to speak in front of a group of strangers. The address he must make now is especially poignant. He clears his throat and swallows the fat dry lump that had formed there. He pictures a room filled with . . . →Read More:On Connecting to those worlds out there… Once in a while,when one feels they are in a bit of a creative slump (I suppose “downturn”is the fashionable term for it nowadays),it helps to be reminded of some of the great artists whose work has inspired me in the past. I have recently become inspired (again) by Orson Welles. I’ve . . . →Read More:On Creativity:Inspired by Orson Welles 2 comments - (Comments are closed) Learning,Life,Pop Culture,Process Art,Culture,design,Life Story,Writing For me,the energy and desire to write always seems to get bogged down in the necessity to research. It’s just part of the process. In my fiction,a certain amount of factual research is needed in order to pin characters,places and things down in a realistic,believable way. When it works,and I . . . →Read More:On Writing:Chasing Echoes and Ghosts Bathroom wall graffiti gives a glimpse of the way people think:it is drect,anonymous and comes with little sense of responsibility,similar to how most people’s backyards tell us how the homeowner truly lives. Bathroom wall scribbles hardly qualify as art or creative writing,but I can think of some that is more creative . . . →Read More:Enigmatic Memes:Bathroom Grafitti I Have Known |    | ||||
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