On remembering that hands consist of more than just fingertips
I’m doing my little bit to reclaim the concept of manual labour for myself and for creative people in a very literal (and literary) fashion.
On the corruption of relevance, or the Plastic Cheese Effect TM
Oh, how I loathe that word — relevant! — and the noun that accompanies it — relevance! I encounter them both a lot in the cultural sector, and they give me the ick.
On behaving like a pineapple, or, realising when it’s not all about you
What better way of challenging these unhelpful feelings than by taking my clothes off in front a room full of strangers?
On my Golden Apples Theory TM
I’ve been saying for years, usually to drama students in training, that audiences are always locked in a race with whatever they encounter.
On knowing when something is finished, or not having written a 90,000-word novel in a month (Part 6)
Maybe there’s an interesting distinction to make between something that’s finished for now and something that’s finished for good.
On being a proud precocious schoolboy and refusing to fuck the plot
You’re not accountable to them. Only to yourself. So, really, you might just as well uphold your own truth in the first place — in writing, and in all other things.
On writing every day and not writing every day
While I’ve never, ever gone in for writing every day myself, it is something I have encouraged some other people to do, under certain circumstances.
On waving goodbye to 2024 and saying hello to 2025
In the space of thirty-six words, they have consolidated everything I'm going to keep reminding myself to do in 2025.
On writing and sharing a ghost story for Christmas
In recent weeks, I've been prioritising actual writing (of new creative work) over what we might uncharitably call pretend writing (such as this blog).
On writing better ghost stories than ChatGPT, and stealing like an artist
I took part in a workshop led by Liam Brown, exploring AI’s capacity to write good ghost stories — and by extension, our own. Who would do better — us, or it?
