An Overview of Scrivener with Mark Eyles
Given the success of my first interview with my good friend Mark Eyles, I decided to get him for another round of questions, this time on programmes useful for writers.
I had to start with Scrivener.
Scrivener is the legendary software created by Literature and Latte used by world-class writers and novices alike, and my personal choice of word processor.
How to raise the stakes in your writing
As viewers, or readers, do we perceive any difference between risking the lives of ten, a thousand, or a billion people?
No, not really.
How can we raise the stakes of our stories when the threat of total destruction has already been unfolded?
What does it mean to be a millennial?
Before Tuesday, I knew I was a millennial, but I didn’t know how much I was one. I didn’t know how much that generational voice was embedded within me.
Mark Eyles Interview
Four years ago, I joined the Hampshire Writing Society and met tons of interesting people and aspiring authors, and even made a few friends. One of them, Mark Eyles, in the same time it took me to write a novel and a half, self-published a duology of novels and a graphic novel. We meet every month to talk about all-things-writing, and when his work became available in paperback, I decided it was time to ask him some questions.
He is an amazingly creative person, and a conversation with him never fails to inspire me. Please enjoy my first interview with him!
12 Lessons I learned from my (1 year old) daughter
A child teaches you a lot, if you can observe, listen and pay attention, so I decided to jot down 12 lessons that my daughter Minerva taught me during her first year on this planet.
Fear of the AI
I don’t know if you’ve heard about the new, exciting tool issued by Open AI, ChatGPT, but, apparently, it reached one million users in five days. (This, by the way, was my worst attempt at sarcasm. Of course you have heard of it. Who hasn’t?)
How audiobooks helped me live in my second language
Picture this; back in 2017 I was 27 years old, had never worked a day in my life, was living in a foreign country barely speaking the language, and struggling with the expectations of being an adult while expending 95% of my energies trying to understand the jokes of the people around me.
It was exhausting.
Travelling, Digital Nomads and Life Purpose
Yes, I’m talking about parenting again. But also about life purpose, travelling as a form of discovery and what 2 months in Italy taught me.
Francsart 1st Birthday
Almost exactly one year ago; on the 1st of September 2021, I published my very first story on this website.
To all my readers, thank you.
Stay tuned for what’s coming next and read the most popular articles of the year!
The Pace of Summer - Humans and their Environment
It’s been years since the last time I spent more than a few days in Italy during the Summer.
I had forgotten how present, how real, how alive a season can be.
The Helsinki Bus Station Theory
The Helsinki Bus Station Theory is a popular metaphor used by the Finnish photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen to explain the artistic journey towards originality.
It is powerful.
It is true.
And I live by it.
26 hours on the road with my wife, baby and dog
I’m ok.
I am, seriously, but I’ve been awake too many hours in the last 3 days to write a full-length article; I hope you’ll understand.
Instead, I wanted to share the fact that even my life is following the 3 act structure.
How? I’m glad you asked
Why Quantity Leads to Quality
The more I dived into writing, the more I understood the concept that “Quantity leads to quality,” but I needed to find my own “pottery class” to fully appreciate how improvement and practice are closely linked, even in subjective pursuits, like art.
What Happens at a Great Writing Festival
A second-person account of my day at the I AM Writing Festival, Winchester, in June.
That’s a festival like no others, and the amazing Sarah and Elane managed to exceed my already sky-high expectations.
I hope to see you all there next year!
Don’t be ashamed of what you like
At the end of the day, you don’t have to like Dostoevsky to consider yourself a reader. Read what you like, watch what you like, and listen to the music you like. Life is too brief to worry about judgment.
What we can learn from “Inventing Anna,” by Shonda Rhimes
How did Shonda Rhimes glued me to a story I shouldn’t care about on paper?
This is a hard question to answer. Frustrating, even, and yet compelling, just like “Inventing Anna,” a Netflix Original Series retelling the true-ish story of Anna Delvey; a con artist who almost deceived the entire city of New York.
What it’s like to have a kid
I’ve always assumed that becoming a parent was like an on/off button. One day you’re an irresponsible teenager with a mortgage, the following you crack dad jokes and get aroused by the sight of barbecue grilles for sale, but I was wrong.
Love to Automate, Automate to Love
Automation of labour has been, since the industrial revolution, probably the worst nightmare of the working class. But if for decades the threat was only addressed to manual skills, easily out-powered by the relentless force of steel and fire, the advent of personal computers has extended the menace from muscles to brains.
The Advantage of Responsibilities
My wife’s my greatest supporter. She goes to the extent that, I think, I wouldn’t be writing at all if it wasn’t for her. She wanted to make sure that I would write as much as I could while relieved of father's duties; and yet, this has been my least productive week since my daughter was born.