Writing the Warhammer Tie-in: Details

When I am writing a tie-in novel I try never to assume that the reader is familiar with the background. This sounds strange, I know. After all, the developers have spent years building the world, the artists have provided us with beautiful illustrations so we know what everything looks like and hey, players have spent hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours enjoying the game. They know what an ork or Chaos Warrior looks like, don’t they? They may have read dozens of Warhammer novels already. It’s a fair assumption that someone picking up a Warhammer novel is going to be a Read more…

Trollope On Writing

A few weeks back I alluded to a quote from Anthony Trollope’s Autobiography about three hours writing per day being all that was needed from an author. Being as methodical as I am lazy I have eventually dug up the actual text. “All those I think who have lived as literary men,–working daily as literary labourers,–will agree with me that three hours a day will produce as much as a man ought to write. But then he should so have trained himself that he shall be able to work continuously during those three hours,–so have tutored his mind that it Read more…

The Serpent Tower

The Serpent Tower is an impregnable fortress built by an ancient, pre-human race, bristling with terrifying, magical weapons, watched over by unsleeping, sorcerous sentinels. It has never fallen to siege. Now it is the lair of the sinister sorcerer Lord Ilmarec who holds Princess Kathea, rightful heir to the throne of Kharadrea in his lustful clutches. In order to save his own life, Rik must penetrate the ancient secrets of the Tower and rescue the Princess from her uncle. And all the while he is pursued by an undead horror born from the vilest necromancy, created with the sole purpose Read more…

The Importance of Setting Your Sights Low

On the Internet recently I have been reading a lot about how you need to work hard and set yourself lofty goals in order to make it as a writer. I have been bombarded by people telling me that you need to sweat blood and work all the hours God sends. If necessary you must neglect your family in your quest for writerly glory. After all, you’ve got to make sacrifices if you want to succeed and who doesn’t? You need to constantly write and constantly promote. If you don’t, there are people who will and they will all do Read more…

Getting to Know Macharius (Part One)

As you’ve probably deduced from my previous posts, I am currently writing a trilogy about Lord High Commander Solar Macharius and the great crusade he led at the start of the 41st Millenium. It’s something of a daunting task portraying the conqueror of a thousand worlds so how do I propose going about doing it? Well, not by telling the story from his point of view, that’s for sure. Macharius is a military genius and I am not, despite what I may occasionally claim  across the gaming table and when leading another doomed defence of Iceblood Tower in Alterac Valley. Read more…

Guardian of the Dawn

Guardian of the Dawn is my personal favourite of all the sword and sorcery short stories I have written. I can still remember sitting down one evening at the table in the living room in our old shabby flat in Modrany and starting to write it.  It came out of nowhere as many stories do. I began in the middle, with Kormak in the forest about to confront the elder world demon. It was a scene that surprised me with its odd echoes of Kipling in the language used and a formal structure of challenge and response between man and Read more…