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When I began writing Just Another Week in Suburbia, I already had this scene in mind – well, not exactly this scene I’m going to post, but the gist of it. Just because you’ve gone over and over a scene in your head doesn’t mean it’s going to fit perfectly into the story when its time comes. Sometimes it needs renovation. In this case, I was just over 50,000 words into the story. The story had evolved beyond what I’d envisioned in those early stages. So had Casper. Casper had grown and developed a life of his own. I’ve seen in reviews people label Casper as ‘weak’. That irks me.…
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Lots of people – usually inexperienced writers, or those who know very little about the publishing industry – have lofty misconceptions about being an author. I can admit to having them, when I was a young, inexperienced, and naive writer. But now I’m older and wiser. Well, older. This week, I thought I’d look at some of the misconceptions that commonly do the rounds. Being an author is lucrative. I heard a joke yesterday: What’s the difference between an author and a pizza? A pizza can feed a family of four. The top-end authors – JK Rowling, Stephen King, Lee Child, etc. – would be rich. But most authors…