Getting Tense and confused.

2011-12-30T18:38:00.000Z

If you've been following my adventures in time and space - otherwise known as Twitter - you'll know I've been working on yet another masterpiece to inflict on the world. Very vaguely influenced by horror writer HP Lovecraft, it was meant to be a novel but has somehow ended up a short story. That doesn't matter. I see that as an admirable exercise in trimming off fat.

More importantly, you'll also know I've been having trouble with it.

Although I had the story completely worked out before I sat down to write it, I couldn't actually get into the telling of it. Consequently, some sections have ended up being written in the First Person, some in the Third; some in the Present Tense and some in the Past. Some sections have had no internal monologue. Some have had no dialogue. From this I think we can say it's been a rough and rocky road.

The odd thing is that, today, having re-written the first thousand words from scratch, I've stuck all the bits together and converted them all to Third Person, Past Tense and, by some miracle, it all fits together seamlessly. I'm not sure what the moral of all this is but it's a great relief to discover that all that effort wasn't wasted, and I suppose it shows that, when it comes to writing a story, it doesn't matter how you get there just as long as you do get there.

I still haven't written the climactic scene yet and there's a section I need to add in the middle but at least I'm in a better mood about it all now.

But what to call that story when it's done? That's always the question.

The Department of Occult Investigation - relaunched!

2011-12-12T21:54:00.000Z

Well, it looks like it's time for a change of direction.

As Liz and Alison are always too busy keeping the streets of Britain safe from the forces of evil to post on here, it looks like I should step in and instead use this venue to shamelessly plug my other projects - such as my novels, short stories and blogging activities.

Right now, as you may have heard, I have a number of books out on Amazon's Kindle Store, with more in the pipeline, and have at least two of the most feared blogs on the Internet. All of which I'll no doubt drone on about till you're sick of hearing it.

If you're pining for the adventures of Liz and Alison already, the good news is I have two books about them available on Kindle right now; Fatal Inheritance and The Weakest Link. Fatal Inheritance is a full length novel, dealing with life and death supernatural drama, while The Weakest Link is a short story in a lighter vein. Both are available wherever Amazon's available.

So, if you're new to this blog, hello. And if you're not new to this blog, hello again.

Latest news is that, over on Steve Does Comics, the exciting poll results are in from our attempt to find out just who is Iron Man's greatest ever foe. I must admit the results at least partially surprised me.