If I’ve got something to say, I write it and then link to that post: Write Once, Then Link.
Follow this link if you want to read more about the thinking behind these posts. If you’re digging around and looking for the topics I’ve covered, you’ll find every page is categorized and tagged with either or both person tags and content tags. There is also a separate tag for authors/screenwriters.
If you’re unsure how this tagging can help you, then read this article.
last updated: 14 October 2018
Some music is evocative of time or place. There are two tracks that, whenever I hear them, I think: Leathan Wilkey in Paris.
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...continue reading: Leathan Wilkey’s Soundtrack
last updated: 10 October 2018
Antonio Lauro was a talented twentieth century composer and (classical) guitarist and yet is comparatively unknown. Change that—listen to some of Lauro’s work.
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...continue reading: Music of Antonio Lauro
last updated: 6 October 2018
Writing a book involves sitting still for long periods of time while tapping buttons. One result of this button tapping is a story. Another result is physical strain which may lead to repetitive strain injuries. This piece looks at some of factors that should be addressed when setting up a comfortable work environment for spending long periods of time looking at a screen and typing.
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...continue reading: Ergonomics for Writers: the Basics
last updated: 5 October 2018
In essence, the process of writing a book involves sitting still for long periods of time while tapping buttons. One result of this button tapping is a story. Another result is physical strain which may lead to repetitive strain injuries. Here are some of the steps I have taken to make typing a less painful activity
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...continue reading: Authors and Typing
last updated: 5 October 2018
If you’re using a higher-end keyboard, perhaps the most significant components are the key switches—the boxes containing the contacts that meet when a key is pressed sending a signal telling the computer which letter was just typed. You should choose the appropriate switches to suit your typing style and preferences.
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...continue reading: Mechanical Keyboard Switches
last updated: 3 October 2018
Write Once, Then Link. Here’s a brief explanation of this blog.
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...continue reading: Write Once, Then Link: an Explanation
last updated: 6 September 2018
When you’re away from home or the office, it’s great to leave the computer behind. But what if you want, or need, to do the computer thing when you’re not in familiar surroundings? The most obvious answer is to drag a laptop along. I have a preferable option…
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...continue reading: Computing On the Go
last updated: 6 September 2018
Five questions can reveal the core of a story. These five questions are my canary in the coal mine—unless I can answer the questions, then I don’t have a grasp on the story. And once I do have a grasp, then these questions are my map and guiding star to ensure that I focus on telling that story.
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...continue reading: Five Questions
last updated: 6 September 2018
Any winner-takes-all election has a simple implication: If you can’t get your side elected, then you lose. If you lose, then there are consequences. This is neither good nor bad—it’s simply how it is and the same principles apply irrespective of which side of any party divide your loyalties lie.
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...continue reading: Politics 101
last updated: 3 September 2018
Per-Olov Kindgren is a guitarist and arranger, who brings familiar material to a new instrument, taking advantage of the unique nature of the classical guitar to offer a new perspective to familiar melodies.
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...continue reading: Per-Olov Kindgren
last updated: 2 September 2018
I use Pocket several times a day. For me, it’s a tool much like a video recorder…but for reading. It allows me to save articles so that I can read them at a time that suits me.
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...continue reading: Read It Later
last updated: 29 August 2018
Hugo uses a command-line interface so you need to type text to make things happen—there’s no graphical interface to click with a mouse. While the command line is scary, it does bring some flexibility. However, to use the program, you need to get familiar with the commands that Hugo will understand.
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...continue reading: Hugo: Draft and Future
last updated: 24 August 2018
RSS is a tool which allows you to make your content widely available. You can publish once on your website and then see the content republished on many other sites and through other channels. This can give you access to a wider audience than you may be able to reach on your site alone.
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...continue reading: Why RSS matters
last updated: 23 August 2018
Content marketing is a practice that has been employed for a long time but which has acquired enhanced utility in the internet age. Here’s a brief introduction and some thoughts about how you can adopt this simple, yet effective technique.
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...continue reading: An Introduction to Content Marketing
last updated: 22 August 2018
When building a website, there are two main choices if you don’t want to hand code: a static site generator to create a static HTML site or a database-driven content management system. You can choose one or the other, not both. Here’s how I think the comparison comes out.
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...continue reading: Which to Choose: Static Site Generator vs Content Management System
last updated: 21 August 2018
If you offer a search tool on your website you probably think that it’s helpful. It’s not. It’s an abdication of responsibility on your part and is covering up a bigger problem with your website and how you think about the information you provide.
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...continue reading: Reasons to Avoid Site Search
last updated: 10 July 2018
Have you been watching The Bridge? If you haven’t, here’s why I think you should…
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...continue reading: The Bridge
last updated: 12 June 2018
For every book I have written there’s always something special for me as the author. Sometimes I’ve just tried something different and it worked and at other times it can be a character that I feel was realized especially well. Whatever the book, if it’s been published, you can be sure that in addition to me being happy with the story there are some things in there that I will like that you might not notice.
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...continue reading: A Certain Satisfaction
last updated: 12 June 2018
It’s very easy to come up with a situation for a novel. It’s much harder to come up with a story. People often confuse the two and the difference is significant.
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...continue reading: Situation vs Story
last updated: 8 May 2018
I am a British subject and my language is English, but let me suggest a heresy: American English spellings (and grammatical practices) should be preferred over British spellings.
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...continue reading: Spelling: UK vs US
last updated: 10 April 2018
When I was writing Tattoo Your Name on My Heart, I had a need for a minor character—a guitarist who plays in the fictional rock band Prickle. Luca Parzani is that character. In crafting Luca, I took inspiration from real life.
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...continue reading: Needing a Guitarist
last updated: 10 April 2018
I’m going to take a controversial line for someone who makes his living by scribbling down words: Spelling doesn’t matter. At least, it doesn’t matter as much as people make out and it doesn’t matter for the reasons they think it does. What matters is the ability to be understood.
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...continue reading: No One Cares If You Can’t Spell
last updated: 10 April 2018
We are all aware of work that is called literature today, but I wonder what will stand the test of time. What will be regarded as having literary merit by generations in 50 years, 100 years, or 400 years? I’m going to make one guess as to a work that will survive: The Wire.
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...continue reading: What Survives to Become Literature?
last updated: 13 March 2018
Authors (and other creative people) are not uniquely gifted—we get as many ideas, and in particular as many bad ideas, as the next person. However, what authors do with ideas is different. Let me tell you a bit about what I do with ideas and the tool I use to help me manage these ideas.
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...continue reading: Nurturing Ideas
last updated: 13 March 2018
I recently read Snare by Lilja Sigurðardóttir, a story about a mother who is forced to work as a drug mule smuggling cocaine into Iceland. If you haven’t read it, you should.
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...continue reading: Snare by Lilja Sigurðardóttir
last updated: 13 February 2018
In 2010, when I first started outlining The Murder of Henry VIII, I had an idea for a 500-year-old conspiracy theory about the murder of Henry VIII. The notion of the Russians trying to influence an election just didn’t seem that much of a stretch. The scenario felt plausible to me. In fact, it wasn’t simply plausible—it was something that I expected to happen (assuming it hadn’t already happened). Events since then suggest that my fiction is quite plausible.
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...continue reading: Interference in Foreign Politics
last updated: 13 February 2018
John le Carré’s 1974 novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was adapted to be a movie and tv miniseries. Seek out all three.
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...continue reading: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
last updated: 9 January 2018
From time to time I get questions about bad language in my books. There are variants on this question, but it mostly boils down to: will I be offended by something in one of your books, Simon? In short, maybe, but I hope not. Or at least, I hope you will agree that any offense reflects what the character feels and is justified within the context.
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...continue reading: Causing Offense
last updated: 14 November 2017
I’ve been watching Comrade Detective. It’s fun…at least the idea is amusing, but I’m not sure it quite sustains over the full series.
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...continue reading: Comrade Detective
last updated: 10 October 2017
Before I wrote the first Leathan Wilkey book, I had the notion of a character who was later called Leathan. I had an idea of someone who was very human. A man who connected with people on a very human level. But a man, for whom life was difficult because of his unique circumstances.
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...continue reading: Developing Leathan Wilkey
last updated: 10 October 2017
I recently posted a first chapter from a possible future book. Having posted this chapter, I had some questions from, and conversations with readers about historical accuracy and my approach to the concept.
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...continue reading: Historical Accuracy and My Approach to History
last updated: 12 September 2017
This post looks at some of my considerations and the decisions I made when writing the first chapter of an (as yet unpublished) novel which will be set in the mid 18th century.
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...continue reading: Getting the First Chapter Right
last updated: 12 September 2017
I recently posted a first chapter from a possible future book. Having posted this chapter, many people were kind enough to give me their comments. I had some very interesting conversations with readers and want to share a flavor of those exchanges.
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...continue reading: Reader Comments on My Historical Novel
last updated: 8 August 2017
I’m working on a new (as yet untitled) series of books that will see me return to London as a setting. I thought it might be interesting for readers to see a work-in-progress while it’s actually in progress.
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...continue reading: Introducing My New Historical Series
last updated: 8 August 2017
This is a very early draft of the first chapter from a novel which will be set in the mid 18th century.
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...continue reading: New Historical Series: Chapter One
last updated: 11 July 2017
On the face of it, Sexy Beast is a gangster movie. In truth, it’s a love story. Sure, there are all the elements of a British gangster movie, a retired criminal living in Spain who is drawn back for one last job—a safe deposit vault heist. But dig deeper to the heart of the film and there is a love story. Gal Dove loves his wife Deedee, and is only forced back to take the job to protect Deedee.
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...continue reading: Sexy Beast
last updated: 11 July 2017
In Pollute the Poor Boniface plays Sylvia, a tune from 1972 by the Dutch prog rock band Focus. The track is an instrumental with a strong, quite joyful melody, but there’s a mournful undercurrent. It’s one of those tunes that speaks without using words—and, of course, since there are no words, you can imprint your own interpretation.
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last updated: 13 June 2017
I was asked the question: Do you wear anything when you’re writing? The question was less about whether I wear clothes, or otherwise, and more about whether I wear anything in particular.
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...continue reading: Do You Wear Anything?
last updated: 13 June 2017
Did you know that leather floors are a thing? Instead of carpets, tiles, or wood to cover the floor, you can have leather. Yeah, I didn’t know either.
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...continue reading: Leather Floors
last updated: 13 June 2017
If you’ve ever wondered about the order of the Leathan Wilkey series of novels…
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...continue reading: The Leathan Series: Order of Reading/Writing
last updated: 9 May 2017
If you haven’t watched BrainDead, can I suggest you do: it’s hugely entertaining.
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...continue reading: BrainDead
last updated: 9 May 2017
I set my second series—the Leathan Wilkey series—in Paris. I knew I wanted to set the books in a different city, I just wasn’t sure which city. All I really knew was that Leathan wasn’t going to be in London. And much of the reason for this choice is that, despite the many similarities, Paris is very different to London.
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...continue reading: Why Paris
last updated: 11 April 2017
The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow is a great book. If you haven’t read it, fix that and read it now.
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...continue reading: The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow
last updated: 14 March 2017
It’s approaching ten years since then nearly-four-year-old Madeleine McCann disappeared while on a family holiday. Yet somehow, despite there being so few facts—or maybe because there are so few facts—ten years after she was last seen, the disappearance of Madeleine is perhaps the mystery of our time.
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...continue reading: Madeleine McCann: 10 Years Later
last updated: 14 March 2017
Many readers have a preference for paper books, but there are good reasons to consider electronic books.
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...continue reading: Reconsidering eBooks
last updated: 14 February 2017
Many people think jealousy and envy are the same thing? However, the two concepts—the two underlying emotions—are very different notions.
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...continue reading: Jealousy and Envy
last updated: 14 February 2017
Amazon dominates. You’ve probably noticed. But if you’re looking for ebooks, Amazon is not the only choice. I’d like to make the suggestion that if you’re queasy about buying from Amazon you take a look at Kobo.
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...continue reading: The Alternative to Amazon
last updated: 14 February 2017
In any story, the protagonist needs to fail—at least on some level. Here’s one aspect of my approach to protagonists.
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...continue reading: The Protagonist Fails
last updated: 10 January 2017
If you are prone to expressing yourself out loud, you may soon find your commands are obeyed with washing powder, cat food, and toothpaste arriving at your door.
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...continue reading: Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?
last updated: 10 January 2017
I had an idea for a second series of books which became the Leathan Wilkey series. I wasn’t certain about the location—Budapest and Sarajevo were possibilities—but the most likely location was Paris. So I went to Paris to have a look.
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