Andrew Ferguson
Children's/YA Author
Archives
Throwback Thursday: Using Magic in Fiction
Posted on August 27, 2020 Leave a Comment
Magic (as I’m loosely defining it here) features heavily in fantasy. The forms magic can take from one fantasy story to another, however, greatly vary. If you think I’m going to give you an exhaustive break-down of all the kinds of magic that appear in fantasy fiction, you’re sadly mistaken because I have neither the time nor the inclination do so, but I do want to try and break down what it takes to construct a good one as Sanderson has.
Super Snappy Speed Reviews: Cbeebies Edition
Posted on August 9, 2020 Leave a Comment
As ever these reviews reflect nothing more than my own personal opinions and impressions, squished, squeezed and diminished into just a few short sentences. The shows I have selected have nothing in common, save the fact that they are all fictional stories for very young children and are all found on Cbeebies.
TV Review: Norsemen
Posted on August 2, 2020 Leave a Comment
A bizarre little show, undeniably low-brow in some respects and with off-beat humour that only really managed to tickle me slightly. It took a little while to get started, but once it finally did get going, I found myself quickly starting to love it.
Throwback Thursday: The 5 Circles of Inspiration Hell
Posted on July 30, 2020 Leave a Comment
Wise and learned authors know that before you can sign that publication deal and pick up all those awards, you’ve got to actually do something with your wave of inspiration to turn it into a fully fledged story. Initial ideas (especially plot bunnies which unexpectedly pop into your head) are always full of holes, not all of which can be easily plugged. It takes effort to craft it into something that really works.
Those experienced and wise authors I mentioned will know exactly how to handle their ideas and will churn out a good story in no time at all. The rest of us, however, if we’re not careful, might find ourselves languishing somewhere in INSPIRATION HELL.
Abandon hope ye who enter here. Wanderers in this dismal place may find themselves endlessly going around and around the same circle for weeks, months or even years before moving onto another or, worse yet, back to one they’ve already been on. They are damned to be forever inspired without completing a single draft. As a former inmate, it is my sorrowful privilege to shew unto thee the Five Circles of Inspiration Hell.
TV Review: Stranger Things
Posted on July 26, 2020 Leave a Comment
If you’re thinking this sounds like a bit of a kitchen sink show, you’re absolutely right. The Duffer brothers who created the show seem to have painstakingly pieced together every single last light-hearted ’80s American sci-fi/horror trope they could think of and mashed them together to create this show. But you know… it’s not nearly as bad as it sounds.
Throwback Thursday: 6 Mental Cobweb Shakers for Writers
Posted on July 16, 2020 Leave a Comment
Ever sat down to write and found your imagination covered in so many cobwebs that you can’t even remember how to pick up your pen? Ever sat staring at a blank screen for hours without even the faintest idea where to begin? Ever wasted your set writing time reading patronising articles on the internet telling you writers’ block doesn’t exist (when you know better) because you just can’t quite seem to get settled into your day’s work?
No?
Well I have, and whenever that happens to me I need something to quickly shake away the cobwebs to help me get off the starting block. Therefore, I am going to commend a few of my favourite cobweb shakers to you today. I don’t know if these will work for you or not but they work for me so… you might as well give them a go, eh?
Throwback Thursday: Fiction- Reality Refined
Posted on July 9, 2020 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.
TV Review: Life on Mars
Posted on June 21, 2020 Leave a Comment
DCI Sam Tyler (John Simm) is a British police officer who gets hit by a car in 2006 and wakes up in 1973. The rest of the series catalogues his continual clashes with his new colleagues as he tries to navigate the unfamiliar world of the early ’70s and figure out how to return to the present day.
TV Review: Another Life
Posted on May 24, 2020 Leave a Comment
My wife and I were very much in the market for another space opera. And so we did the only thing we could: dipped our hand into the televisual basket of snakes that is Netflix, only to get bitten by Another Life.
Throwback Thursday: Maigret (TV Review)
Posted on May 21, 2020 Leave a Comment
When I heard that Rowan Atkinson was going to be starring as the main character in ITV’s television adaptation of Georges Simenon’s detective novel Maigret Sets a Trap, my curiosity got the better of me.
Andrew Ferguson 