Once Upon a Time…

My reading material is somewhat mimicking life currently as I lurch precariously from one genre to another. Jane Austen to Quentin Tarantino? Is that even possible? It is, yes, when Tarantino's first novel ascends the world's stage. I love Quentin Tarantino. It's no secret. I will bore anyone and everyone about why I think he …

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, by Arthur Conan Doyle (CRC2020 #3)

The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle. Picture taken from the short story in the giant compendium of Sherlock On paper Sherlock Holmes shouldn't work. There's a protagonist who is not a wholly likeable character. He's a drug addict; has little regard for those around him and solves crimes of impossible complexity that leave the reader …

What the Dickens!

I’ve never been a fan. It’s one of those comments that either has people nodding furiously along in agreement or is met with a gasp. What? Not even David Copperfield...or Hard Times...but what about Oliver Twist? A classic, surely.  So, there you have it, I’m a fully signed up dismisser of Dickens, teacher of his …

And the sub plot thickens…

So, tell me, how is it that everything seems to be coming along nicely, there's a plan, the word count is ticking up, and then WHAM! a side plot just hits you out of nowhere? Churchill Barriers: Orkney. These were built in WWII to keep the submarines at bay. Enormous concrete blocks were put in …

Motivations and Inciting Incidents

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com Our designated movie night this week was set aside for John Wick. 'It ticks all the boxes' I was told. Keanu Reeves. Tick. Yep. All boxes ticked. I actually quite enjoyed this absurdist hitman killfest and am quite looking forward to the other two. I also found it quite …

Paper. Pen. Post its.

Current favourite notebook I had July all planned out. You see, I finished my second Western on Monday and thought I'd get back to it after a bit of a break and then sort out the plot holes. In the meantime I had planned to work on something else. But it hasn't quite worked out …

Introducing Characters

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com I think the idea for this post started off as one thing and has turned into another. It was perhaps originally intended to address something along the lines of 'when is it too late to go into detail about a character we've met before?' Or something similarly snappy. However, …