As some promising threads remain unexplored in writing a novel, the question is what to do with the loose ends. Cut them out? Or weave a new thread through the novel?
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Loose ends
Fact or fiction?
The first draft of Alan McCluskey’s novel The Boy in the Book is complete. Read more, including an extract from the book.
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
I’ve just finished the first draft of my latest novel, The Boy in the Book.… Read more
The Boy in the Book – coming soon
The Boy in the Book, the battle of a girl and her friends against the story-mongers who spread rogue stories to manipulate the world. Coming soon.
Just passed the 100,000 word mark with four more chapters to go (of 52 in all).… Read more
Free to be who you really are…
“Real freedom is being free to be who we really are” says Épicène quoting Don Miguel Ruiz. But who are you? And are you free to be that person in public?
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Real freedom
The transgender association Épicène has chosen to highlight a quote from the Mexican author, Don Miguel Ruiz, who says (my translation), “Real freedom is being free to be who we really are.” … Read more
Colourful People now available
Colourful People, the fourth book of the Boy & Girl Saga is now available in paperback, hard cover and electronic format. Also available are free samples: Chapter One & Chapter Two.
So what’s the novel about? Here’s a very brief summary.… Read more
The new face for the Boy & Girl Saga
As I prepare Colourful People, the fourth book in the Boy &Girl Saga, for publication, I’ve re-worked the covers of all the books. See the new face of the Boy & Girl Saga above. You also get a glimpse at the cover of the new book.… Read more
When is a girl not a girl?
The division between boy and girl is not as immutable as many would have us believe. Yet, in the rigid adherence to their beliefs such people can inflict great harm as this extract from Colourful People illustrates.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
The division between boy and girl may seem self-evident, biologically speaking.… Read more
The richness of exploring multiple worlds each with many facets
The diversity of the stories I tell is too complex to be shunted into convenient, saleable categories, but there are identifiable underlying forces that characterise what I write…
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Diversity born of a fountain of story fragments
Each of my novels is born of the fountain of story fragments that are constantly bubbling up inside me.… Read more
An extract from Colourful People
Click to read an extract from the beginning of Colourful People, the 4th book of the Boy & Girl Saga.
Gina shaved the last of the hair from her head, tossing the blond curl to the floor. She squeezed a generous dose of baby oil into the palm of her hand and massaged it into her scalp, delighting in the smoothness of her skin.… Read more
Adding a touch of colour…
When a boy who dresses as a girl, but has no wish to transition, is confronted with a boisterous crowd of transgender youth in search of a safe haven.
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
From a boy lost in a book to…
At the beginning of October last year I started writing The Boy in the Book, fascinated by the way we move in an out of stories of our own and others’ making.… Read more