Hands up if you’ve heard a variation on this theme: Romance is all very well but I prefer books with a plot. Sorry, I just don’t write that much sex. I prefer to concentrate on character development. (As Moira Rogers Read more
A piece of writing advice you see a lot is to do a character sketch, which is sometimes presented as a questionnaire. You’re meant to write down physical details (yes, do make an easily found note of which side the Read more
I just published Jackdaw, an everyday tale of lost love, betrayal, murder, walking on air, justice, vengeance, doomed escape, and heroes and villains swapping places till you don’t know which way’s up. Author Angel Martinez documented her reactions to the Read more
*They shouldn’t. There was a kerfuffle last week around an author’s blog post about the ‘obligations’ of a reviewer to the author. (The author has withdrawn the post, so I am quoting purely as an example of the principle–let’s not Read more
I’m sure we’ve all had it with the end of year round up but, you know, it’s December. We’re all knackered. Out of ideas. It’s this or a wacky article about Christmas hi-jinks, probably involving weak jokes about ugly knitwear, Read more
Received wisdom of traditional publishing: Short stories don’t sell. They win literary prizes like stink, but they don’t sell. You can write short stories but only a magazine wants them. Write novellas and it’s even worse. WTF does a publisher Read more