Uncategorised – Jack Sanger

Mind Muscle

The mind is a strange sleight of hand trick of the brain (to mix metaphors), without which it cannot exist. Damage the brain and the mind is impaired. Nevertheless, we differentiate them so that the mind becomes the subject and the brain becomes the object in their relationship. The mind represents the driver and the… Know More
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All writing is fantasy

These blogs are shoehorned into travel. I am now in England after days in Cahors, Chartres and Calais. Whether they are stylish and durable footwear is another thing. I tweeted the title of this piece this morning @profjacksanger because I was taken by the notion that whatever I have executed as a writer, whether in… Know More
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Writers and Jung

In the deepest well of the writer’s imagination is all the good and evil of the universe. In this we must be adherents of Carl Jung. In many of my preceding blogs about the art of writing (should that really be the psychology of writing?) I am taken with what that Jung proposes: there is… Know More
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The Writer is Revealed

Writing is meditation. The page is a mirror. Khayyam’s moving finger traces our changing features as we age. We write ourselves into knowledge. All of our history comes into play. Not only what we think we remember but also what we don’t know we remember. In Azimuth the assassin comes from east of Samarkand along… Know More
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Sci Fi Fo Fum, here comes the blood of a future man

Writing a short sci fi novella this last month was a pleasure. (Sex: Future Imperfecti). Pure imagination. No research save for the years of reading that no doubt helped to shape it. Twist ending. Voila. Here’s a snippet, taken after a rather visceral opening, an account of a player’s death in a game simulation: He… Know More
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Being Caught short: the novella

It was like this. Having spent ten years writing Azimuth and pouring into it everything I could regarding the metaphysical, the fabulous, the adventurous and the quirky so that it became an adult’s fairytale without fairies but with gods and heroes; no that sounds a bit of a put-off, as well – allegorical, that’s the… Know More
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Let the Good Times Not Roll too Soon

I have been heavily involved in writing a novella over the last four weeks, which led to its completion this morning, at least in first draft. It was the first time I had written sci-fi (in my Eric le Sange body), and, like most novellas, it had to have a twist ending. Somehow, the idea… Know More
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Reasons to be Cheerful Part 2

Here’s the view from my window as I write this. As you can see I am not in a bordello. Part One, if you remember, advanced the notion that the business of writing contains within it an almost mystical reward. For a man it is his, admittedly minor, sublimation for not being able to give… Know More
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Communication from Beyond

Before you get uppity and think I am an adherent of spiritualism, I am not! But since this is a meandering set of blogs about the process of writing, I thought I’d take a look at inspiration. Even for the hardened writer, never mind someone suffering from the dreaded block, there may be a brief… Know More
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A Reason to be Cheerful: staying true to your art

Even if you are not interested in the lives of great artists, I am sure common knowledge will have filtered down, like rivulets and streams into the great river of shared consciousness, that many artists we now regard as great were not recognized as such in their own lifetimes. By artists I am including every… Know More
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