It's very difficult to put into words how I felt yesterday upon hearing about the death of Sara Douglass, a true pioneer of Australian fantasy. Even today, having had time to reflect and read some of the tributes, I feel intensely and confusedly emotional. I did not personally know Sara Douglass. I never even had … Continue reading Vale Sara
As I watch my young nieces and nephews start to develop an appreciation of books and reading, I find myself wanting to write stories for them. Not picture book stories, but novel-length works of the type I would have adored at age 10 or 11. At that age, I had so much time for reading, … Continue reading Writing for kids
Anyone who knows anything about astronomy knows that comets tend to arrive in our skies for several weeks, sometimes months. This is certainly the case with Halley's Comet, which I remember seeing on a wonderful clear morning (~4am) in March 1986, while on a school hiking expedition in the Victorian high country near Mt Bogong. The viewing … Continue reading Why research is important
I've spent the past 3.5 days at Continuum 7, Melbourne's own speculative fiction and pop culture convention, and I'm knackered. It's been an awesome frenzy of panels and meals and bottles of wine and talking and generally fuelling the literary flame. One of the guests of honour was the incomparable Catherynne M Valente, fantasy author and poet, … Continue reading Wrapup of Continuum 7
Being in the early stages of a new novel, I've been thinking a lot about openings and first chapters. They are both essential to get right for different reasons: the opening (first couple of paragraphs) needs to immediately engage the reader, while the first chapter kicks off the story and generally provides the hook. Most writers spend a phenomenal amount … Continue reading Where to start? The first chapter
It doesn't really surprise me that N.K. Jemisin's debut fantasy novel The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, has been nominated/shortlisted for just about every SF award possible, including the Hugo and Nebula. It's a beautifully written tale not in the common style; in fact, the author breaks a few taboo rules and gets away with it. Yeine, … Continue reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Literary agent Rachelle Gardner recently ran a readership poll on her extremely popular blog and has now published the results. Of particular interest to me (and her, as it turns out) is that 26% of writerly survey respondents write science-fiction/fantasy (SFF), making it the most popular represented genre. The next most popular was general/'non-genre' fiction (21%), followed … Continue reading Why I write fantasy
Today I attended the launch of Eona by the lovely Alison Goodman. It's the sequel to fantasy epic Eon, a tale of dragons and power and imperial politics set in a fantasy land inspired by medieval Chinese and Japanese mythologies. I'm actually reading Eon (also known as The Two Pearls of Wisdom) at the moment, and can't … Continue reading Eona launch at Glenfern
Over the past year or so, I have had the great thrill of being able to purchase and read debut novels published by several members of my writing group, SuperNOVA. I can't express how exciting it is to live vicariously through their experiences. Even though each of these novels was completed prior to its author joining … Continue reading Books by friends
The rise of 'paranormal romance' as a best-selling genre has me reflecting on the role of 'romance' in the wider speculative fiction genre and fantasy in particular. I think it's fair to say that most fantasy novels written over the past few decades incorporate romantic sub-plots, and I'll admit without shame that I for one like a good dash … Continue reading With a dash of love
Ellen Gregory 