Category: Random

Lost to the Ether

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Random

Lost to the ether. Or is it?  I started to write a small character intro story this morning. I have not felt like writing for a while, so that in itself felt really good. I then realised that it reminded me of a character I’d started working on for a story years ago. It was for an ensemble cast. I recalled developing several characters and even having written some scenes. I think that I’d left it to one side as it was maybe a little bit beyond my capabilities at the time.

Having only just recently been going through my back catalogue, I realised that I hadn’t seen this anywhere. I’m quite paranoid and meticulous about backing up and archiving everything, not just my writing. I’ve now gone back through everything I can think of and it is simply not there. It is not anywhere. What has happened!?

Well, on the plus side I’ve written nearly 1500 words and written down some of what I remember, which is actually quite a bit. I could cry over lost work but given the general difficulties in writing recently, I’m going to nonetheless take this as a win.

Is there anything else to take away from this? Probably not. As I said, I back up a lot. Perhaps this is more to do with my organisational skills being somewhat scattershot at times. Perhaps it was just one of those moments I decided to write on paper – old school. Perhaps I just thought about it a lot, which is why it is stuck in my head. Anyway, I’m writing.

*Image: By jordangrimmer

Reflections In

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Random

I’ve avoided writing about surviving through this pandemic for a great many reasons. One being that my work has not slowed down and in fact I’ve been able to continue, albeit quite differently than before. And thus, I could whinge about not having time to actual write. You know, like a writer writes. That’s what we’re supposed to do. But that has been hard. In fact, I’ve written fuck all this last year. Also, many have not been so lucky.


In the last couple of weeks, in an effort to get back in to the swing of things, I started going though some of the pieces I’d been working on – everything from drafts to stuff I should be looking to submit, from flash to shorts to novels. Having not looked at any of this for the last year it has allowed me a bit of perspective that I haven’t had for some time. We get so focused, at least I do, in the moment, in the story, in the world building, in it all. With a bit of distance between us, I started to see some of the themes that had taken shape across these works.


I’ve always considered that I wrote science fiction with a tendency to speculative fiction. It can be quite eclectic: I’m not going to be so obnoxious as to claim it is quite unique. Actually, I was quite disappointed with the quality of some writing, although, for the most part, not the stories themselves. What did jump out out me like never before were the themes, or specifically one theme that appeared to run strongly through all of them – hope.


If you had asked me beforehand what the big themes would have been, this would not have been on the list. It’s just not really me. On a good day I’d say I’m a pragmatic optimist. So holding out hope for things is sort of like a nice idea that probably won’t eventuate. Yet that was not what I’d been writing. They aren’t filled with bubbly optimism, but they all pushed and pulled one way or another on hope.


Having further reflected on this, quite a few of these projects are quite dark, which doesn’t contradict the above, it just maybe mirrors real life a little more – even with all the hope in the world, there’s no guarantee that we’ll make it out alive. Indeed, in the end, we don’t.


Given the last year, it is a bit easier to understand why I was having trouble getting going, getting involved, and putting words on the page – hope has been hard to find.

*Creator of image unknown – “everyone” appears to be using it, so if you know the creator I’d be grateful.

Who are you?

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Random

As the great philosopher Roger Daltrey once demanded – who are you? Simple enough question, but one that I continue to find myself grappling with. I’m old enough that I should know, I suppose, but … here we are.

2020 has certainly been a year to take stock and maybe even re-evaluate life; or at least that whole work-life balance thing that people tend to think is important. So, who am I? It says on my About page:

Harry was born in Australia in 1967, living in Sydney and Brisbane, before moving to Geneva Switzerland, where he has lived for nearly two decades. In that time, Harry has been a: mechanic; musician; semi-professional (Australian) footballer; furniture restorer; destroyer of houses, and once applied for a position as a sandwich artist.

That’s the amusing trimmed-down version for public consumption. What it doesn’t say is that I’ve been a writer, which is maybe a stupid omission that I’ll have to fix. I’ve been writing since primary school, mostly poems and short stories put together into books, either just on my own, or with some friends. Then it was song writing, and pretty much only that for the next 15 or so years. Then, writing science for the next 20-odd. Somewhere in that last stretch the desire to go back to fiction took a hold and this is where Harry was really born.

If you looked at this web site you would also think that I also died a few years ago. Somewhere here on this site I may have mentioned this is a pseudonym… So, while I didn’t die, my alter-ego did have me locked in the basement. I would now claim that Harry is once again free, however, his powers have not yet fully returned. Harry and his alter-ego are currently working through a truce settlement.

These things can be ugly, but at least we’re talking. Like everyone, I want 2020 to be over and 2021 to bring some relief. There’s only 2 months of 2020 left, but who knows how long that is going to take. In any case, I expect that I shall be writing more in 2021, and for that I’m optimistic.

Thumper’s Law

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Random

It has been a bit quite around here of late. Part of that is work but mostly it’s because of something I learned watching Bambi. Thumper’s Law states:

If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.

happy-sad-faces

So, for the moment, I leave you to your own devices and look forward to reentering the fray momentarily.

To unplug, or not to unplug? That is the question.

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Future Thoughts, Random

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunes, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and, by opposing, end them?

We live in amazing times. To a fairly large extent we can thank science and technology for that. What do I mean by amazing? I mean that it is surprising where society is today, how we got here and the potential we have for the future. The key word in that last sentence was potential. Despite the progress made in quality of life, health, the ability to travel and communicate, to explore and ask big questions, something has gone, or is at least going, wrong. We could be doing so much better.

Harry Tuttle, Modern Cave Dweller, fight the good fight, swords, dark ages

Seriously, people, WTF? It is like we have collectively decided that what we really need is another “dark ages”. We are still sending the faithful to foreign lands to kill to save lives. We are constantly terrified, or should that be terrorfied? The faceless terrorists and terrorism conveniently taking the place of the wonderfully effective cold war threats of communism.

Continue reading “To unplug, or not to unplug? That is the question.” →

Rumours of My Demise are Somewhat Premature

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Am Writing, Random, Writing Tips

OK, so this is a bit of a cheat blog. I usually manage a blog post every month, so in the interests of maintaining my record – which only I actually care about – here we go. I don’t have a lot to say or enlighten you with, at least as I start to write this. I also don’t have an apology. I’ve been writing. A lot. And not as much as I’d like. It’s also been oriented too much towards science fact and not nearly enough science fiction. I’ve also not been “spending” quite so much time on social media, which is a bit of shame because there are actually a lot of interesting people and things happening there. So, why?

Harry Tuttle, Modern Cave Dweller, flying cars, drones, public transport

Why? More specifically, why am I spending more time writing and less time telling people about it? Sometimes you have those revelations as a writer, actually in any endeavour, when you realise that you’re not that good. I was editing a lot at the beginning of the year while I tried to put some short stories into presentable, publishable, shape. My conclusion? Conceptually, I liked, actually I still like, my stories. I have a few in the closet and they cover quite a diverse range of ideas and styles. Perhaps more importantly, my writing was lazy. I am not sure whether my science education helps in being able to take a step back and judge my own work without prejudice. Well, at least not too much.

Continue reading “Rumours of My Demise are Somewhat Premature” →

Work Less – Work More

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Random

So this year has seen me swamped by work. Again. Still…. I’d estimate that I’ve been working around 70+ hours a week since the start of the year. This is not the first time that things have been so out of control. It is not a badge of honour, I am not proud of this, nor do I encourage it. In response to this, and the long list of things I “need” to do this weekend, I’ve been reading about how and why we should reduce the normal work week to 3-4 days, 20-30 hours etc. There appears to be a realisation that this is primarily an option for the affluent, but there is also a growing awareness that significantly increasing the minimum wage and even moving to a unconditional basic income- everyone gets to survive – is an absolute must if this is going to be tenable for everyone.

Harry Tuttle, Modern Cave Dweller, Life Balance,unconditional basic income

The problem, which is not directly mine or yours, is where does the money come from? It would appear now that we, as a society, need to pay two people to do one job. The reality is actually that we have all been taking on more and more – for whatever reason, but usually need – and doing two jobs for one salary. People’s time has been devalued, especially those at the “bottom”. I’ve been at the bottom and I’ve worked plenty of crap jobs to survive, so I do not say that with any disrespect – we all do what we have to, and what we can, to survive. So all this requires is a shift towards paying people what they’re worth, rather than what the market can afford.

Continue reading “Work Less – Work More” →

Character Defining in a Flash

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Random, Writing Tips

What makes a story? Obviously, the plot has to be there, but if the characters that have to convey this aren’t compelling, then it is all for naught. What makes a good character? Am I the right person to be telling you? Well, if you don’t know what makes a “good” character, go away and read and think and read and think, because I’m not going to tell you that here. In fact, I’m not going to tell you how to do anything. I’m going to share an approach, which I find both obvious and useful. In that sense it is not particularly novel, so think of it more as a reminder, or an endorsement.
Harry Tuttle, Modern Cave Dweller, Character, Writing tips

The problem with many ideas, not just for writing stories, is that they are in flux, they’re fluid, until they’re written down. There is something about writing down your thoughts that makes them solid and coherent. It is not enough to write bullet point lists, you need to construct proper sentences before the idea can be forced into being something coherent. If you are like me, still learning to write (who isn’t, really), then this approach also helps in that respect – because to be a better writer, you need to write. So we’re told.

Continue reading “Character Defining in a Flash” →

Reflections In

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Random

I’ve never been one for making New Year resolutions, but the end of the year, and a few days holiday, do give one the time to reflect. So reflecting I am. This year I complained a lot about time, specifically, the lack of it. Sorry. In the interests of full disclosure, I have been reliably informed that 2016 will not be coming with more time. Nor will time expander packs be available. More’s the pity.Harry Tuttle, Modern Cave Dweller, Life Balance,

It would appear that the only solution is to do fewer things. Which is exactly NOT what I am going to do. Seriously, I don’t respond well to “slow down”, “take it easy” or “don’t do so much” and similar expletives.

Continue reading “Reflections In” →

I’m Harry Tuttle, Modern Cave Dweller, and This is How I Work

Posted on by Harry T. Tuttle in Am Writing, Random

So, in the interests of getting to know me and given that LifeHacker are probably not going to ask me how I work, directly, I’ll just borrow the questions they typically ask – How I Work.

Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Current Gig: Scientist and Writer – mostly more science fact than science fiction recently but I’m trying to fix the balance.
One word that best describes how you work: Chaotically
Current mobile device: iPhone 6
Current computer: Macbook pro – getting a little old now but it’s running light and without distractions – for writing. The science gets a newer macbook air and there’s an ipad in there as well to replace paper.

Continue reading “I’m Harry Tuttle, Modern Cave Dweller, and This is How I Work” →