Windgat – an interview with Dugald Macdonald
Windgat – Dugald Macdonald with his bestseller In a wonderfully frank interview that’s not at all windgat, Dugald talks about getting the idea for his book, researching it, writing it, and watching it become a bestseller. Most importantly, he’s got interesting things to say about the writing process. So Dugald,…
The word knob
It’s been a long time since I’ve heard someone use the word knob – as in ‘you knob’, ‘you idiot’ – let alone write it. So when it popped up recently in a student’s assignment, I was intrigued. Was the word making a come-back? Decades ago, in the early 1960s,…
Who’s who of SA crime fiction
Who’s who of SA crime fiction (Photo by Jan Antonin Kolar on Unsplash) This who’s who of South African crime fiction features novels by writers working in English or translated into English who set their novels in southern Africa. Under the broad category of crime fiction, I have included a…
A short history of SA crime fiction
SA Crime Fiction (Pic by Max Kleinen on Unsplash) Despite the vibrancy of thriller and crime fiction elsewhere, not much has happened in SA crime fiction over the last five decades. Until the 2000s. This wasn’t exactly surprising as the cops have been more or less an invading army in…
Food for thought 4
Food for thought (Pic Mathilda Langevin on Unsplash) Food for thought: Well, not food at all but drink. Because, let’s face it, there’s a lot of drinking that happens in novels. I really like associating my characters with a type of drink and often the brand too. It adds to…
Searching for Sarah
Searching for Sarah: Dominique Malherbe goes looking for her aunt. Lawyer, writer, blogger. Dominique Malherbe is a name to be reckoned with. I’ve known her for a number of years and watched her reputation grow. And now comes her biography/memoir, Searching for Sarah (from Tafelberg). It’s her third book, following…
Food for thought 3
Food for thought (Pic: Rudi Fargo on Unsplash) Food for thought: it’s a touchy subject cannibalism because if anything speaks of extreme characterisation (Hannibal Lecter, for instance) then it is those characters who eat other characters. I came across this issue while writing Power Play. I was using Shakespeare’s Titus…
The writing process 4
The writing process: starting a story (Pic by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash) The writing process can get off to a slow start. You might wander around for hours, days, weeks, trying to find a way into your story. So, with the Writing Reality course a week away, a good topic…
The writing process 3
Interviewing as part of the writing process (Pic by Marten Newhall, Unsplash) Two weeks ago (in The Writing process 1), I quoted extensively from John McPhee’s excellent book, Draft No. 4 , about the writing process in general. This week, for those keen to join the WriteOnline Writing Reality course…
