David Hewson
Stories from around the world since 1995
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Latest posts
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Finding Marco Polo in modern Venice
If a great Venetian is to be judged by the mark he’s left on the world, there’s only one winner. His name is attached to the huge and ever-growing airport that now handles nearly twelve million passengers a year… Marco Polo. When I first flew there thirty years ago it was a tiny…
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How long is a book supposed to be?
An interesting question, and one you hear all the time from people who want to get into writing. Nor is there a straightforward answer except for the infuriating… it depends. What you’re aiming at for one thing. Today in mainstream commercial publishing you’ll find most books…
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How Was Venice Drawn from Above in 1500?
Nobody could fly in 1500, yet that year a woodcut appeared showing Venice as a bird would see it: every canal, bridge, campanile and moored ship laid out across the lagoon. It is one of the great objects of Renaissance printmaking. The best part is that you can now explore it…
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What writers should and shouldn’t do on social media
There was a tale doing the rounds a few years back about an author, supposedly an established one, who’d submitted a manuscript to a publisher and had it rejected. Hardly something new — we’ve all been there. But in this case the publisher supposedly liked the book, but turned…
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How to get around in Venice
A while back I was sitting next to an Australian chap on the flight to Venice. We started to chat and I asked him what he was planning to see and do and how he planned to get around. His one must-do thing appeared to be a gondola ride and he’d never heard of the […]
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Deadlines Are a Writer’s Friend, Not Your Enemy
Here’s a famous quote from Douglas Adams… I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by. I love deadlines too. But not for the reason he did. Deadlines are, in my view, one of the most powerful tools in the writer’s arsenal, provided you use them wisely…
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On poison and ancient terrors
We like to do things differently at Venice Noir. Yes, there are plenty of sessions discussing crime and thriller fiction with some top authors. But we also want to delve beneath the surface and investigate some of the things that set the world of dark fiction ticking in the…
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Don’t Show Anyone Your Book Until It’s Done
When I wrote my first real book I did so in secret. Told no one — no friends, no colleagues, not even my wife. This was primarily because I didn’t want to admit to anyone it had failed, as fail it must, because every other attempt I’d made at writing a novel had wound up […]
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Bartolomeo Colleoni: The Mercenary Venice Couldn’t Quite Honour
Venice is full of statues. But none quite as terrifying as that of a military chap on a horse outside the imposing basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Castello. His story is quite something, a tale of conquest, treachery, a distinctly sneaky sleight of hand on the part of the…
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Why an AI Audiobook Won’t Make You Rich
Audiobooks are big these days. But what if you’re not in audio, either because your book didn’t sell or you’re self-published? Are you out of the loop? Well, not necessarily thanks to AI which is popping up everywhere right now. Yes, you can use AI to turn your work into an…
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Why free books from your library can be an author’s best friend
Here’s a question every writer gets from time to time: if I borrow your book from the library, aren’t I depriving you of income? Maybe not. In fact you may well be helping us in what’s rarely a well-paid profession. Libraries buy their ebook licences in the first place. In over…