I’ve been reading one of the most thought-provoking books I’ve encountered in a very long time (it’s also brilliant, and called piteously to me each and every time I was forced to put it down, despite the fact that I felt like I was bashed over the head with one particular metaphor towards the end). It’s called The…
Month: June 2014
Writing Weather
It’s been a sunny week in Ireland. This is more important than you know. Summer in Ireland usually lasts about a week. Think about what that does to the average human psychology. You trudge through a grey world for 355 or so days a year, knowing that actual colour will only be available for…
Showbiz/Political Autobiography Book Title Generator
So you’re famous! Congratulations! You’ve spent years building up enough fans/cash/scandal/failed relationships/headlines/backhanders/gratuitous nudity, to be recognised on the street! Well done, you! Now all you need is to bung out the first volume of your autobiography. After all, a few million in royalties will give you some extra pocket money, and your bad habits have been catching up with…
How To Know If You’re In A Young Adult Novel
It sucks being a young adult. Too young to die, too adult to care. Everything totally sucks. You wouldn’t be surprised if the world around you were fictional, it’s so sucky. Though if it were fictional, you’re pretty sure it’d be better than this. Like, you could be anything in fiction: the heroine of a…
How To Know If You’re In A Literary Fiction Novel
Do you sometimes wake up feeling like life is too ridiculous to be sublime? That the truth is stranger than fiction? Or that your life, if made into a book, would be in danger of running into cliché, if it didn’t have so many beautiful-sounding words in it? Is it possible that you – Dear…
How to Know If You’re A Cop In A Crime Novel
Earlier, we had How To Know If You’re A Chick-Lit Heroine. But you are categorically not a Chick-Lit character. You know this to be true, because you’re so much darker than that. You feel you’re much more closely aligned to a thrilling, mysterious, dangerous situation. The sort of thing you find in crime novels, or thrillers. You’ve…
Tara Sparling writes 