A Study in Starlight—Chapter One Being a Renewal of the Reminiscences of John Watson, M.D.

Started on Substack but the link seems to have disappeared. open.substack.com/pub/theshatt...

#WIPSnips 22/4:
#WIPSnips are from Book 8 of The Shattered Moon.
There are no instances of 'convoluted; I’ve gone with 'ornate' instead (three instances)’.
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I'd be honoured to be on the AI haters list, how do I get on it?

…there’s always something more appealing to do than the initial training.

#WritersCoffeeClub 22. What's a writing skill you wish you were better at?
Somehow I’ve done over 70 books (including trad, self-, and a couple of e-book only) without ever learning to touch-type. I kind of wish I had but…
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…—not that she didn’t try, as seen in Books 4 and 5. In the end, however, it was old age, couple with a degree of self-neglect, that did for her.

#WordWeavers 22/4: What would your antagonist be willing to die for?
By the time of the latest book, Perriad has in fact died, but (no doubt to her intense chagrin) she hasn’t sacrificed herself for the benefit of (as she sees it) the Guild of Dawnsingers…
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Iconic Sidney Paget image of Sherlock Holmes set against a starry background, bearing the title A Study in Starlight and author's name.

A Study in Starlight—Chapter One
Beginning a serialised novel in which Holmes and Watson find themselves very far indeed from Victorian/Edwardian London

#WIPSnips 21/4:
#WIPSnips are from Book 8 of The Shattered Moon.
There are 13 instances of ‘deal’.
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…so much now, though better weather means more temptation to get outside and leave the laptop behind.

#WordWeavers 21/4: Does the change of seasons affect your writing at all? If so, how?
It used to, when most of my work was for outdoor magazines, guidebooks, &c, and usually in tandem with photography. Naturally it profoundly affected what and where.
Not…
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…people trot out. One the other day that I particularly recoiled from was ‘know your elevator pitch before you start writing’. I can barely stomach the concept of the elevator pitch after the book is done.

#WritersCoffeeClub 21/4: What's a (maybe silly) hill you're willing to defend?
Nothing silly about opposing the industrialised plagiarism and degradation of creativity that is AI.
But also… I often find myself shaking my head at ‘writing advice’ that…
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#WIPSnips 20/4:
#WIPSnips are from Book 8 of The Shattered Moon.
There are no instances of ‘psychology’; it’s not a word anyone uses in this world.
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#WritersCoffeeClub 20/4: What have you tried to immortalise in your writing?
Don’t know, never think in those terms. I’m just trying to tell good stories that maybe make you think a little.
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…the first chapter of Book 7, for example, where she prepares a fancy sort of eggy bread for herself and Evisyn.

#WordWeavers 20/4: What is your MC’s relationship to obtaining and preparing food?
Growing up, Jerya was directly involved in: tending beehives, minding goats. Now she could easily leave it to others, but likes to keep herself grounded. See…
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…match her baggage to the circumstances—but she’ll always take as much medical kit as she possibly can.

#WordWeavers 19/4: If your SC was going on a trip, would they pack light or take too much?
Which SC? There are a lot to choose from, but Railu was the first. As a veteran of the First Crossing, she knows something about travelling light, and she’ll…
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#WIPSnips 19/4:
#WIPSnips are from Book 8 of The Shattered Moon.
There are no instances of ‘signature’, and just three of ‘signed’.
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#WIPSnips 18/4:
#WIPSnips are from Book 8 of The Shattered Moon.
There is just one instance of ‘fantasy ’—and it’s in the paragraph immediately following yesterday’s.
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#WritersCoffeeClub 18/4: Does your writing ever get away from you?
Yes, and thank goodness it does, because that’s when a lot of the most interesting stuff happens.
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#WordWeavers 18/4: If your antagonist had to learn a musical instrument, what would they pick and why?
Perriad wouldn’t. As far as she’s concerned, all music other than the Dawnsong is frivolous waste of time.
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Eighty Percent of Whom? May be ninety percent of misguided…

Some meandering thoughts prompted by the suggestion that most men either don’t read books at all or don’t read books by women.

#WIPSnips 17/4:
#WIPSnips are from Book 8 of The Shattered Moon.
There is just one instance of ‘duration’.
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#WritersCoffeeClub 17/4: Can plots which hinge on a misunderstanding be done well?
Usual caveat: I’d rather talk about ‘story’ than ‘plot’.
That said, yes, but beware the risk of making the plot feel contrived.
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…weeks’ travel; plus in Book 6 two of the MCs ventured more than a week’s sailing further East.

#WordWeavers 17/4: How far beyond the local home of your MC does your story extend?
From the West coast of the Sung Lands to the East coast of the Five Principalities, which is well over five hundred kilometres, probably three…
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Because we have met before, and here's photographic evidence. The real live Bard of Barnsley…
(Is that pretentious enough for you?)

To be invited onto Radio 4's The Verb, and to start out by saying to the host, "All right, Ian, me old mate?"