Heide and I are big fans of index cards as collaborative writing tools. Not only can we use index cards (or file cards or postcards or whatever) to jot down story ideas and arrange them as we wish, kind of…
Blog Archives
Demonic index card games
Posted in 2013, How-to's Tagged with: Collaborative writing, CS Lewis, Demons, Hell, index cards, The Screwtape Letters
Five habits of successful writing partners
Iain and I have been writing collaboratively for nearly a year now. We’ve written fiction and non fiction. We’ve planned, plotted and edited a LOT of words during that time. Clovenhoof, our novel is now very close to publication. We’ve…
Posted in 2012, How-to's, Writing Tagged with: Collaborative writing, communication, index cards, shock tactics
Plotting your novel collaboratively
Before being written down, all stories are plotted out. Some writers plot in enormous detail, generating more words in plans and background text than in the finished work of fiction. PG Wodehouse wrote pages and pages of preparatory notes, sometimes…
Posted in 2012, How-to's, Writing Tagged with: Collaborative writing, genre, high concept, index cards, Life of Pi, PG Wodehouse, planning, plot
Creating Characters Collaboratively
In terms of creating interesting and viable characters, the first thing collaborators need to decide is how many central characters there are in the story. There are tracts on creative writing that say that any story has only one central…
Posted in 2012, How-to's, Writing Tagged with: Collaborative writing, creating characters, index cards
Index Card Games
I’ve used index cards (or file cards or postcards) as part of my fiction planning for at least the last ten years. They serve a number of really useful functions. Firstly, I can jot down on them ideas that I’ve…
Posted in 2012, How-to's, Writing Tagged with: artsfest, Birmingham Writers Group, building characters, collaboration tools, Collaborative writing, index cards, planning, plot
Judging a book by its cover: The title
Names are important. They shouldn’t be but they are. In their brilliant book, Freakonomics, US authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner compile top ten lists of children’s names that are most likely to indicate low income backgrounds and…
Posted in 2012, Books, Reflections Tagged with: creativity, hymns, index cards, inspiration, judging a book by its cover, Milton, selling your work, Titles, William Blake
Your Satan Song Titles Needed!
So, here’s Satan, alone in his crumby flat (literally; Satan likes biscuits and does not do hoovers). He’s at his desk, the floor around him littered with dozens of screwed up pieces of paper like a flock of crap origami…
Planning in more detail
Sharpies at the ready In order to do some more detailed planning, we met up to have a chat in a pub. Most of the discussion so far has been by email, or in the company of the rest of…
Posted in 2011, Writing Tagged with: arc story, Birmingham Writers Group, Collaborative writing, index cards, nothing wasted for writers, planning, plot, three act structure
The Adventures of Mr Clovenhoof
After the Birmingham Writer’s Group meeting last night, we sat in the pub and played the index card game again. We asked everyone around the table to write a chapter heading from our novel beginning with the words, “Mr Clovenhoof…”…
Posted in 2011, Writing Tagged with: Birmingham Writers Group, Collaborative writing, index cards, planning, plot
Approaches to Writing
I want to write a number of blog posts about how we might go about plotting this story of Satan’s life as a mere mortal. However, that requires me to explain (to myself, if no one else) what my approach…
Posted in 2011, Writing Tagged with: A Reich that will last a thousand years, Collaborative writing, creating characters, index cards, organic writing, planning, plot, setting
