The Dreaded Rewrite
Sometimes writing is just hard. Every word is like hefting a lump of marble onto the page. For me, the rewrite is my enemy. What’s the hardest part of writing for you?
A Day In The Life Of An Author
Worth watching for the bits with Rachel Howells in, because she’s just funny. Feel free to skip through my not particularly extraordinary day though…
Author Research and Weird Ostrich Feet
When you’re writing a novel sometimes you have to do a bit of research, and sometimes that research brings up incredibly interesting and surprising things.
In this video, my beard (which I’ve been growing for a year and a half) gets the scissors! And then I talk about a new “Mandela Effect” that I have discovered while researching ostriches. Can you describe an ostrich’s foot without Googling it? Answers below!
Swearing in Literature
In Better Angels of Our Nature, Stephen Pinker says that swearing is a sign of a civilized society. You’re not going to be hung for comparing a member of the royal family to the back end of a donkey. We have progressed beyond that. There is no doubt that there is an offensive side to the English language but you are free to use it as you please. The question is; when should it be used, and when should it be avoided?
If you are writing a picture book for three year-olds it’s probably best that the talking squirrel doesn’t have speech bubbles filled with expletives. But that’s obvious to anyone so let’s focus on fiction aimed at adults. The reason this subject is on my mind is that I’m reaching the end of writing a horror/thriller novel and as the first rewrite looms I start to think about these…
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Becoming Superman Book Review
Has anybody read Becoming Superman by J. Michael Straczynski? Or even heard of Straczynski for that matter. I hadn’t until I came across a book on Screenwriting he wrote in a charity shop a few months ago. It was old and battered, published in the late 90s.
I started reading the screenwriting book but had to stop. There was something different about this book. Something that made it stand out tonally from other books I had read on screenwriting. So I googled him and lo and behold his autobiography (Becoming Superman) was released at the beginning of September last month. I immediately downloaded the audiobook.
It is one of the best books I have read in years. And I want to recommend it to you. It is a masterclass in autobiographical writing and the best book about how a writer became a writer I’ve ever read. I was blown away by it.
If you haven’t heard of him you might have heard of some of the things he’s written. Here’s a list of some of the highlights.
Cartoons:
He-Man
She-Ra
The Real Ghostbusters
Television:
The Twilight Zone
Babylon 5 (he singlehandedly wrote 92 of the 110 episodes)
Murder She Wrote
Sense 8 (new to Netflix)
Comics:
The Amazing Spider-Man
Thor
Superman
Fantastic Four
Wonderwoman
And many others
Novels:
Three novels including Demon Night
Films:
Changeling
World War Z
Thor
Godzilla vs King Kong (coming next year)
And so much more.
The point is, this guy knows his shit. But the reason I want everyone to read it is his personal story. The way he tells his own life story is a masterclass in suspense and intrigue and great prose all by itself. His life growing up was horrendous.
I won’t spoil things here because every revelation and dark turn is worth discovering for yourself. But I think it’s safe to say if he hadn’t become a writer he would have become a serial killer. His history is full of murdered pets, a family of criminals and psychopaths, nazis and a terrible family secret, incest, violence, and madness.
The book is hilarious in parts and incredibly dark in others.
I read this as an audiobook and as audiobooks go it is perfect. The narration is outstanding. At the beginning of the book there is a short and funny conversation between Straczynski and the narrator explaining why Straczynski isn’t allowed to narrate his own book. You know from the moment you press play that you are in for a treat.
I will be ordering a hardback so I can read it again just as soon as I get paid.
There is a worry that I’ve hyped this book up far too much and it couldn’t possibly live up to expectation. But it can, and then some.
I very rarely feel the urge to read a book twice but I’m eager to start again from page one already.
Sales, Reviews and Breaking News
Where do I start? The beginning you say, ok…
I was born on a summers day in the late seventies. It was July. I would be the first daughter born into a growing family.
Only joking, I’ll start with some exciting news for my partner, Andrew Chapman, author of Tripping the Night Fantastic, The Accidental Scoundrel and now, Shelley Town RPG.
Andy began writing Shelley Town RPG at the end of September last year, the same time I began writing Wode House. It was easy for us to start our journey writing our first full length novels. With both of us being writers we never felt that we were ignoring the other or misplacing our attention. If anything it really helped that we both had such a passion for writing. We would spend most of our spare time sitting opposite each other, sharing a desk, tapping away at the keyboards…
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From launch day to now. Three days in…
When I finished Wode House I wasn’t sure whether to submit to literary agents and publishers first or, self publish with a view to seeking representation.
I decided to see if I could create a mailing list to establish and generate interest. I said to myself, if I could get at least 100 people on my mailing list with a view to hoping half of that would buy my book that I would self publish initially.
The mailing list reached 100 within hours and as such I decided to take the risk of self publishing.
Launch day was Monday, 03/06/19 and it was a complete whirlwind. I’ve sold more than 50 copies (the second goal in self publishing) and already I’m receiving phenomenal feedback.
I originally hoped one person would enjoy it. Here are some of the comments from feedback I’ve received so far:
‘Rachel, it’s brilliant’
‘honestly, I couldn’t…
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Andrew Chapman / Author and Screenwriter 