I have no idea if I’m happy with the book all I know is that if you’ve worked on something for that long, after a while it’s almost impossible to see it through someone else’s eyes. I’ve written enough copy in my life to know that at least.
Read MoreWhen it comes to fantasy you are never going to reinvent the wheel and if you do it’s going to be a very ugly, rather unappealing wheel. You can only recraft and recreate small sections of that wheel to come out with something appealing, while keeping the doubts at bay.
Read MoreThe first book I ever read, cover to cover, entirely on my own, was Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr Fox. I was eight or nine, very behind when it came to reading levels at school and worrying my parents to death with my incompetence. I remember, very clearly, being the only one in the class who couldn’t read a single line of The Hungry Caterpillar.
Read MoreI’ve just kept one piece advice in my head, one mantra that I fixate on and has become the focal point of my editing. It’s something I heard Neil Gaiman say about editing: “the second draft is about making it look like you knew what you were doing all along.” It’s those few words that are getting me through right now.
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