Wednesday, September 30, 2009

I Should Be Writing

I Should Be Writing

Mur Lafferty, author of "Playing for Keeps" and the "Heaven" podcast series amongst other things, has recently posted an article written by me on her "I Should Be Writing" blog.

The blog is the companion to her regular podcast aimed at new and aspiring writers, one that has provided a great deal of help and inspiration to guide me on my way. The article deals with the particular challenges of writing an ongoing piece of interactive fiction like "Some Other Scotland" and how I keep track of where it is going and ensuring it stays on course.

It is aimed at fellow writers, but if you are interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the SOS podcast, you might well find it interesting even if you're not a writer. Do take the time to check out Mur's own podcasts at the site; they are quite different to SOS, but you're sure to find something of interest.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Great Hites Catch-up

Somehow I have managed not to mention a whole truckload of things in the last month. Rather than off-load them all at once, I'll stick up a series of short posts to get back on course.

First of all, since I last posted, there have been another two stories posted to Great Hites, both 'Some Other Scotland' spin-off tales.

GH Week 66 "Wearing sunglasses in the early morning."
Breakfast Hat [sos]
Sometimes people just don't want to be found. This is a short tale about what happens to Razer between wiping out the Empire State Building and finding himself in deep water.
GH Week 67 "A man with a duck-headed cane is at the door."
Hide and Seek [sos]
A detective is sent on a chase that can't end well. It is a longer tale set during the Second World War, giving the full story of the detective mentioned by Erica in Episode 16 of SOS and the previous attack on the 'Merk'.

Since these are spin-off, they will both appear in the main SOS podcast feed in the future.

In addition to those, I recently included a 100-word story in the SOS feed that was to have been submitted to the 100 Word Stories podcast. It also gives more information about the first attack on the 'Merk' in a highly-condensed form.

There was also a bonus prompt for Great Hites recently for a 100-word story, written with a tight deadline, on the subject of "Spicy Mustard". Like "Kelvin's Last Message", this is set in the future of SOS and may never come to pass. I will post the link to this when it becomes available.

Finally, just a reminder that there is a link on the right of this page that will take you to all my short stories, headed "Mick's Short Stories".