Something struck me the other day about the nature of academic ethics in New Zealand and some of the people who flourish by exploiting the conceits of that subculture. Check out these two stories – both are true. 1. A few months ago a gang member arrived in a Blenheim KFC where he saw a … More How academics get away with bullying
OK so I saw Rogue 1. To me it was one of the best Star Wars movies ever made, up there with The Empire Strikes Back. In the specific, it was a sci-fi war movie – pure and simple. And it showed what usually happens in war – where people usually end up dead. It … More Star Wars without the Force – reviewing Rogue 1
I reviewed a book the other month for one of New Zealand’s magazines, whose author had no idea about how to control his tenses. It was a history book, but he relentlessly muddled up past and future tenses – the rogue word was ‘would’ and ‘would be’. This is death to historical writing for a … More How to avoid mixing up tenses in your writing
What music do you listen to when writing? Can you listen to music at all? It’s one of the most powerful tools writers can have at their disposal – especially for unsticking the muse. Put another way, you’re pretty much guaranteed to write something different while jouncing along to Katy Perry than if you hurled … More Using music to defeat writers’ block
I’ve long thought that the problem of getting stuck while writing is inversely proportional to the looming deadline. As long as you’ve got plenty of time, the muse will flow – but as soon as you’re working to x-words completed per day, with a hard deadline a few weeks off, the muse decides it’s time … More Why we get writers’ block
Have you met the self-crit demon yet in your writing? The one that nags and dogs every word you write, whose special power is paralysis. Most writers do meet it, but not all realise that it’s actually there as your friend – if you can make it so. Meeting and greeting the self-crit demon is … More Defeating the demon that lurks under your writing desk
The problem writers face when assembling dialogue is the fact that written and spoken English are two different things. Actual spoken English is almost incomprehensible if you transliterate it – a mess of half-phrases, fillers, pauses, switches of direction and broken sentences. The reason’s that verbal communication is only part of the spoken story – … More How to write compelling dialogue
