Author: johnmartinauthor
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Eating this biscuit requires skill
Having mentioned Tim Tams in my last post, I find myself morally obliged to deal with them properly. You can’t just drop Tim Tams into a piece and walk away. That’s like mentioning the pub and not shouting a round. The Tim Tam was introduced in 1964 by Arnott’s, inspired by a British biscuit called…
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The best fruit options for writers
Writers spend a lot of time worrying about the wrong things. Font choice. Notebook brands. Whether drinking coffee after noon is a moral failure. Nutrition occasionally wanders into the discussion. Fruit, we are told, is good for us. Sensible. Clean. Full of vitamins and virtue. But if fruit is going to earn a place on…
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Retch for the sky: why Orville’s gutted
My poor deluded friend Orville is sad. He knows now that he will never ride to the top of Mont Blanc. I keep telling him it’s academic, but that word has never brought comfort to a man in active mourning. The realisation came after Orville took possession of an electric wheelchair and he read the…
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What journalism taught me about fiction
Journalism is a fine apprenticeship for fiction, provided you’re willing to unlearn large parts of it later. Top of the hit list is the inverted pyramid. I don’t remember being formally taught this template for writing newspaper stories. I suspect it was simply knocked into me. My first news editor was a crusty old bloke…
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The advantage of starting late
There’s a myth in writing that if you haven’t “made it” by a certain age, you’ve missed your chance. It’s a young person’s story, borrowed from sport and tech, and it makes very little sense when applied to books. Writing isn’t a test of speed. It’s a test of accumulation. Marina Lewycka published her first…
JOHN MARTIN'S TALES 