Andrew Ferguson
Children's/YA Author
Archives
Super Snappy Speed Reviews – Games Edition
Posted on March 10, 2021 Leave a Comment
And so, for this edition of Super Snappy Speed Reviews, I’m going to give you seven mini-reviews focusing on the stories found in computer games (mostly retro games, because I’m an old dinosaur like that). As usual, the games I have reviewed here have been selected entirely at random from my own collection of dusty relics and do not necessarily have anything in common apart from the fact that they are all games (although you’ll be lucky if any of them are less than ten years old!).
50 Quotes About Fiction
Posted on March 9, 2021 Leave a Comment
1. “I like telling stories.” — Hunter Parrish
2. “All fiction has to have a certain amount of truth in it to be powerful.” — George R.R. Martin
3. “Literature is a luxury; fiction is a necessity.” — GK Chesterton
Author Interview: Nancet Marques
Posted on March 8, 2021 Leave a Comment
With a little help from everyone’s new favourite video conferencing app, I am now pleased to present this little video of Nancet Marques and I shooting the breeze about Chino and the Boy Scouts, life in Scotland and the proper shape of sausages.
Spotlight: Chino & The Boy Scouts by Nancet Marques
Posted on March 8, 2021 Leave a Comment
Chino and the Boy Scouts introduces the mysterious world of Summerhill, a western island state with high immigration from the world over and a mysterious connection to India…. What at first seems like a fun, if academically hazardous venture, spirals more and more into a world of danger and magic, as the school’s hidden past and depths reveal themselves to the ironically unprepared scouts
Can’t Afford Scrivener? Try yWriter.
Posted on March 6, 2021 Leave a Comment
Many years ago, when I decided to make my first serious attempt at writing a novel, I did what a lot of enthusiastic beginners probably do: I searched high and low for the perfect novel writing app. I didn’t know about Scrivener back then (in fact, I’m not even sure it was available for Windows at that time) but I did come across another app in a similar vein called yWriter by Spacejock Software.
Fiction: Reality Refined
Posted on March 5, 2021 Leave a Comment
There are two kinds of story in this world. Those that are not at all true to life and therefore are completely unsatisfactory, and those that create the illusion of being true to life but, in fact, are not. Very few stories (even those meticulously and faithfully based on true events) accurately reflect real life once they’ve been structured in a way which allows them to be communicated, because real life is far too much of a jumble for that to be possible.
100 Word Story: Little Thieves Are Hanged
Posted on March 3, 2021 Leave a Comment
What follows here is entirely my own work and has not been published anywhere else in the world, whether on print or online, nor do I expect it to be. And so, without further ado, I give you, LITTLE THIEVES ARE HANGED by. A Ferguson
How Many Drafts Should I Write?
Posted on March 2, 2021 1 Comment
Ernest Hemingway (one of the greatest writers of the modern age) pointed out, ‘the first draft of anything is s***’. Now if Ernest Hemingway couldn’t knock out a high quality novel on the first go, what chance have the rest of us got?
5 Useful Posts on Fiction Writing
Posted on February 28, 2021 Leave a Comment
Sometimes, I just can’t say it better than my fellow bloggers. I’ve decided, therefore, that it is time for another exciting instalment of 5 Useful Posts on Fiction Writing, where I share some of the most useful, enjoyable and insightful posts on fiction writing I’ve seen from other bloggers in recent weeks.
As ever, there have been numerous posts I’ve read lately that I could include in this list. I read a wide variety of blogs on fiction and writing and could not even begin to list them all. This is just a selection of some that I have recently found particularly useful or enjoyable.
Writing Six Word Stories
Posted on February 25, 2021 Leave a Comment
If you’ve been following Penstricken for any length of time, you’ll know that I appreciate the delicate art of the six word story (don’t worry though, today’s post isn’t going to be another instalment of 6 Six Word Stories). When I first encountered this phenomenon several years ago, I wasn’t sure it was possible to cram any meaningful kind of narrative into so restrictive a word limit. Even if it could be done, I wasn’t convinced of its artistic or literary value.
I was wrong. And really, I should’ve known better. Ernest Hemingway’s(?) six word story about the death of a baby and the subsequent sale of his/her clothing proves that you can pack a mighty punch with very few words indeed. It’s no small task, however. Some of the traditional rules of writing need to be bent or artfully re-imagined to make it work.
Andrew Ferguson 