Departing from the usual blog posts, I have been racking my brain hard, trying to figure out what to buy this Christmas. A grand gesture was – and is – required, you see. Finally, after rather too much eggnog and an evening in front of the TV watching the Disney version of Christmas Carol, IContinue reading “The Days of Christmas (an adventure in 12 parts)”
Tag Archives: Creative Writing
Something Odd I Learned About DNA
Researching the book, I learned something new about DNA modification. Even the simplest bacteria can do it. All this time, we thought it was hard. There is a soil bacteria called Agrobacterium Tumefaciens, which sounds like a Greek playwright, but which has in fact been performing genetic modification of food for millions of years. WhatContinue reading “Something Odd I Learned About DNA”
A Question of Tense – part 3
If you’ve read Parts 1 and 2 of this blog title, you’re probably sick of hearing about verb tenses by now. I’m going to start thinking about something else, I promise, but here’s the last thing I’ve got to say on the subject. Suppose, we are sitting having a drink in a cozy pub andContinue reading “A Question of Tense – part 3”
A Question of Tense – part 2
Now I’ve had some time to stew on the question of ‘tense’ and its relation to narrative voice, I’ve come to an unexpected conclusion: ‘Tense’ isn’t a part of narrative voice, unless you deliberately mess with it.’ I was struck by the number of books I’ve read recently in which the tense changes. ‘The Goldfinch’,Continue reading “A Question of Tense – part 2”
A Question of Tense
OK, now getting close to the end of Week One of the book edit. I’ve hit all the 6 a.m. mornings, so feeling quite proud of myself. However, the problem of voice and style, and in particular tense have been troubling me much. I have four narrators and they refuse to stick to one timeContinue reading “A Question of Tense”
