Recent content by The Dark One

You have terrible feelings of inadequacy and feel guilty for cheating. You need to find a way to break the cycle...

Porked? That takes me back...

Why not just write what you want and worry about its classification later?

I guess the other part of this is that we are able to recognise traits in others that we do not share ourselves (even if, in an id state, we recognise the attraction of such motivations. Run up the Jolly Roger lads!!!

Writers discuss this a lot. My view is that any invention which comes from my mind is not necessarily me but must be a figment of how I perceive the world/human nature etc. The MC in my most popular book is a very naughty lawyer who takes drugs, drinks a lot, sneers at just about everyone and...

I said they weren't mutually exclusive. I didn't say they weren't different.

No they're not. Speaking mainly for myself but extrapolating to (most) other hetero-men and also including what I've observed in hetero-women... flirty is often inspired by horny but there is quite a spectrum of horniness from non-specifically playful through to specifically suggestive. The...

Yes... that did happen once.

There is lots of swearing in my work, mainly because of the story contexts/subject matter. It wouldn't seem authentic without the correct language. There is also lots of sex in my work but I almost never use four letter words in describing sex scenes or dialogue in sex scenes. Probably because...

Yes, it's certainly a process, but life is too short to waste on bad literature.

I mostly use 1st person but not exclusively. Also, I occasionally cheat by using third when switching to scenes where the MC is not present. That's a really effective way of giving info to the reader which the MC doesn't have.

I can't in any true visceral sense relate to the OP's issue - my level of sales/fame is significantly lower than MS's - but I can relate in a theoretical/academic sense to the problem (I think) he's articulating. Indeed, the novel I've almost completed deals with the desire for fame...

After so many rejections we learn to scan across any opening praise looking for the BUT. Imagine my surprise about a year ago when I got an email from one of my country's bigger agents which started with quite high praise. I had to read it three times before I fully realised that there was no...

Good god... after a measly 31 rejections? I had at least 500 rejections across my first three novels until the fourth one was accepted - some 15 years after I started writing seriously. Writing is is extremely difficult and unbelievably competitive. That's why I always encourage people to do...

Would-be writers ask me all the time for advice and pretty much all of them are disappointed when I give it. This is more or less my usual advice... Don't become a writer if you are seeking fame or fortune. Almost certainly you will fail. The only reason to become a writer is because you love...