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In: The Making of Numb, Uncategorized

There is a lot involved in getting a book into the world. It’s exhausting I tell you and there have been many times when I thought I’d sighed that final sigh. I’ve thought it was done and dusted. I was wrong and below is the story of the making of a story. ! I remember it now, getting to the end of that first draft and dancing a little jig and then discovering how far from the finishing line I really was. Disheartened, I wrote THE END is Only the Beginning. I had a book of sorts, but I didn’t have a story, not yet.Read More →

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In: The Making of Numb, Uncategorized

A reader might feel that a story is flawed, a book reviewer might be able to tell you why, but only an editor can help you to fix it. While, a sense of story may be crucial to homo sapiens, the ability to craft one usually isn’t. It takes work and requires help. As editor, Jenn Zabinskas, puts it, ‘another set of eyes’ is needed. ‘Editors provide a critical and impartial eye and will pick up on things that might have been overlooked or not even considered,’ she says. It’s true. A writer gets very close to a work. Immersion is required to be ableRead More →

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In: The Making of Numb

A manuscript is a poor thing. It lacks a body and a face. It’s limp, drab and utterly uninspiring to look at. That is where book designers come in handy. They give the book a visual personality, an interior which is both beautiful and easy on the eye. They give it weight, heft and a much-needed spine and Nada Backovic from Nada Backovic Design is one of the best. I spoke to her about how she approaches her work. With fiction covers, Nada says, ‘My job is working out how to translate the mood of the novel to create an appealing cover design. I likenRead More →

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In: Human Nature, The Making of Numb, Writing
Bradkay Photographics

These were the instructions from the photographer also a Brad (Delaney), who was shooting my author headshots. He said this whenever I became self-conscious, which was rather a lot. “What actor do you like?” he had asked me early on. I’d said Brad Pitt because I’d recently seen his acceptance speech at the Golden Globes and he’s not just pleasing to look at, he’s a funny guy. I like funny guys. My partner is a funny guy.  Anyway, as I’m not comfortable with having my photo taken, BD was attempting to relax me, to give me something else to think about other than how weirdRead More →

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In: The Making of Numb, Writing

To get to the end of a first draft is a marvellous thing.  It’s hard to know how it happened.  It involves a kind of alchemy.  All manner of things, known and unknown go into it and finally, there it is.  We know, if we are worth our salt, there is more to be done.  Sometimes, there is much more.  We have wandered from the path, dithered about in the wilderness, trying this and that, before we return to the true tale.  We are struck by false epiphanies, which take us places we never meant to go – the severed head of our main character,Read More →

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In: The Making of Numb, Uncategorized

It’s a marathon this novel writing thing, even if it can resemble a hysterical dash and a collapse over the finish line.  What is the writer equivalent of lactic acid build-up I wonder?   My brain is just as fried, my arse is numb and my shoulders are frozen so now I look like a person who shrugs….And all is the result of my groping and spewing and cajoling myself toward ‘THE END’. Sometimes it feels like I don’t care anymore, particularly when I’m so very close to finishing the first draft.  I want it over now, so I can amputate it and move on.  If truth be told,Read More →