Directing Little Wonder Radio Plays means I have read several hundreds of play submissions. Many of them are bursting with passion for their themes: anti-patriarchy, anti-feminist conspiracy, dealing with Alzheimer’s, coping with loss, divorce, corrupt politicians, global pandemics. This is great! Passion is great!
At the same time, everyone in the human race suffers from a little beastie known as confirmation bias: we are more likely to believe things we believe already, and we like to hear stuff that tells us we were right all along.
So, everything is great, right? Passionate people write plays (books, poems, films) for people who share their passions to agree with. Unfortunately, everything is not great. Nine times out of ten an excess of passion results in crap writing.
In this article I am going to explore why your passion is sabotaging you, and what you can do to make it work for and not against you.
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For a such a grand shared experience, it amazes me how very different our lives are living through the COVID-19 Lockdown.
My wife and I live in a two room flat just outside Paris. Which is nice. We were due to complete the purchase of a larger flat the very week the the lockdown started. Which is either lucky or unlucky, depending on how you feel about it. I spend my days in a room trying to entertain three small children who want nothing more that to go outside. How the hell do I write in these conditions?
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This article was written by the awesome Claire Peacey, a professional artists who specialises in book covers and RPG Art: check out her website at https://cpeacey.wixsite.com/autumnsky. I highly recommend her if you need a cover for your book; I certainly intend to work with her again!
There’s a certain lack of truth to the phrase ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ – whilst this may be a wonderful metaphor for looking to the core of a person, it’s rubbish for actual books. The cover is the first and foremost thing we do choose them on.
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The second book of your Dark Renaissance series, “Blood Under Water”, has recently been released. What’s it about and who will like it?
Giulia Degarno, former thief and assassin, and her friend Hugh, an aging knight, travel to the city of Averrio to start a new life. When a dissident priest is found dead in a canal, they’re framed for the crime. Giulia has only a few days to solve the killing and clear their names – but a powerful conspiracy opposes them, and they are up against enemies who are more than human.
It will appeal to anyone who enjoyed Up To The Throne, Giulia’s first adventure, and also to fans of dark fantasy and grimdark. It’s also got a strong noir flavour, so if you ever wondered what a private eye story would be like set in a fantasy equivalent of Venice, this is the book for you!
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A RomCom in Space – easy, right?
Dumped, my new radio play, was released last week. In this article I’m going to talk about some of the things I like and don’t like about what I wrote, and some of the techniques I used to make a romantic comedy on an exploding spaceship hold together (all of which you are welcome to steal.) But first, if you haven’t listened to the play, now is a good time – because the article contains spoilers!
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