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Scottish author Jim Murdoch discusses writing, his own and other authors, and muses at length about his fascination with the perversity of language. Veering from the nostalgic to the acerbic his blog will amuse anyone with a love of language.

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Recent Posts Tagged With 'writing'

  • Who in their right mind writes a sequel?

    Posted on Monday August 10th, 2009 at 01:05 in writing, sequel

    Margaret Mitchell only wrote one book. It took her ten years and won her the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. To some extent it has been overshadowed by the 1939 film adaptation that won 9 Academy Awards. You can imagine the pressure she would have been unde...

  • This post has no title

    Posted on Sunday March 29th, 2009 at 20:25 in titles, writing, 1984

      A good title is a work of genius. – Emmanuel Haldeman-Julius In the modern world of business, it is useless to be a creative, original thinker unless you can also sell what you create. – David Ogilvy Titles have a number...

  • Are you an imposter?

    Posted on Sunday February 15th, 2009 at 19:35 in writing, inner critic, imposter syndrome

      The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. Bertrand  Russell   I am an imposter. At least I feel like I am. I feel like I'm pr...

  • Author cameos

    Posted on Wednesday February 4th, 2009 at 01:05 in writing, stan lee, animal man, author surrogate, mary sue

      It's becoming a bit of a trend, an author cropping up in a film adaptation of his own work. Part of the joy in watching a film based on a Marvel character is waiting to see where they manage to write creator – or more often co-creator â...

  • Taking a thought for a walk

    Posted on Monday January 19th, 2009 at 03:22 in writing, validation

      I've read that there are two types of literature: one that takes the reader away from the mundanities of everyday life on a journey of imagination; the other that probes the complexities of human psyche and experience in such a deep way that...

  • Inspiration is a good idea

    Posted on Sunday January 11th, 2009 at 21:55 in inspiration, writing, idea

    I don't seek, I find – Pablo PicassoThere are far too many words, don't you think, that we use without really being able to define or at the very least without being able to define easily? Love is one. Inspiration is another. It's easy enough to pr...

  • The long and the short of it (part two)

    Posted on Monday December 1st, 2008 at 03:22 in writing, sentence

    In our last post we looked at the arguments for and against long sentences. Now let's have a look at how far some people have been willing to go.What is a sentence? Up till this point I've taken for granted that we all know what a sentence is. An Ame...

  • The long and the short of it (part one)

    Posted on Wednesday November 26th, 2008 at 21:09 in writing, sentence

    There can be no 'correctness' apart from usage. —C. C. Fries, American academicLenin Nair is an interesting guy. His name alone is interesting. And, yes, that's who he's named after (I had to ask). He runs a blog called Cute Writing which I read fr...

  • What it means to be a writer

    Posted on Sunday October 12th, 2008 at 03:22 in writing, scottish writing

    Me at about 24 years of ageI don't really do the biography thing very often. I don't think I'm an especially interesting guy. I keep wishing I could come up with witty anecdotes like Ken Armstrong but I guess I've either lived a very boring life or â...