It’s been a quiet start to 2020 for Freelancer Matt. Rather than crying into my cornflakes each morning I’ve used that time to brush up on some book marketing skills. You may have noticed most efforts channelled towards social media marketing. This marketing has led me inevitably to spending more time on “The Tube”. I’ve […]
Tag Archives: Books & Fiction
I Made Inauthentic Roman Honey Cake – My Excuse is “Research”
Anyone who knows me will know I am a big dessert person. Since 2015, I have made a Christmas Pudding every year without fail. I also occasionally feel the need to make a Spotted Dick or Jam Roly Poly. After watching the Fantastic Beasts Harry Potter prequel I made my most ambitious yet – Apple […]
The Most Difficult Scenes A Novelist Will Ever Write
Or, a recipe for psychologically torturing your characters. 250g of resenting dependency of others150g of feeling like a failure100ml of selflessness and being used by people100ml of social pressures3tbsp essence of personal injustice5 medium sized organic unrequited love pods Mix all the ingredients in a pot and stir thoroughly until fully blended, leaving no lumpy […]
Learning to Murder Your Darlings
Although most of my focus has been on releasing Salmonweird, (just two weeks away from release now!) I’ve made a lot of progress on Children of Phobetor this year. I’ve made more progress in one year than I ever thought I would for a book that’s 6 years in the making. Now I’m staring at […]
Some 21st Century Character Archetypes
This first appeared in 2012. New version edited and updated. I read a lot of books and I watch a lot of films and TV series, typically in the evening to wind down from spending all day on the laptop working. I’ve identified several tropes of the modern age. I don’t know if any appear […]
10 Books with the Best Closing Lines
(UPDATED AND RESCHEDULED POST) The opening line of a book is vitally important for grabbing the reader by the throat and making them not want to let go. But what about the final line? Regardless of whether there is a sequel in the works, the final sentence – although not as important, still requires some […]
Feed a Writer AND an Artist: Buy Books New!
“Do you know how much it costs to pay an artist to design a custom cover for your book?” Was a question I recently asked of somebody in a book group. This was in response to how “cheap” self-published and indy book covers look, and that they “put readers off”. While readers are drawn to […]
Some Dos and Don’ts for Writing a Prequel
It seems prequels, prequel-sequels and sequels to prequels that remain prequels are all the rage at the moment. This year, I’ve read Philip Pullman’s La Belle Sauvage (the first volume in His Dark Materials follow-up, but a prequel) and last weekend watched Alien Covenant. These two works have got me thinking a lot about what […]
How to Create a Book Title That Doesn’t Confuse the Reader
Last week in a Facebook book group I am in, a cover caught my eye and I enquired what the book was about. Both the title itself and the nature of the cover made it look like a fantasy or dystopia novel. Apparently, it was actually about a mother searching for her abducted son. This […]
Using Metafiction in your Writing
Metafiction is a form of metatheatre – it’s probably not a term you’ve come across all that often. However, it’s one of the oldest plot devices (usually used for comic effect) with roots in ancient Greek theatre. We still used it today and there was a great example of metafiction in last week’s episode of […]
