After four glorious weeks in Scotland, I am back home sat at my and eager to work on my novel. We had fantastic weather, so don’t believe anyone who tells you it only rains in Scotland! And as for the famous Scottish Midge, as I was staying near the coast I avoided their biting, itching […]
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I love autumn, and am always happy when I spend it in Scotland. And, if I can combine a trip to my favourite part of the country with a little research for my next book, I’m even happier. The air seems crisper, the vistas clearer, the sunrises, and sunsets more stunning. I don’t mind the darker […]
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Need something to help while away the dark winter nights. Here’s a short excerpt from my latest novel, Ring of Lies. It was dark when Grace left the solicitor’s office. Numbness had finally set in. She moved without thinking, without emotion as if she were one of the stick figures at a theme park—flagging down […]
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You’re halfway through writing your novel and–bang! You’re stuck. Your inspiration has deserted you. You find yourself staring at a blank page for minutes, hours, days, possibly even weeks and months. So what causes it? Many different theories have been put forward, everything from lack of focus, fear of failure, poor plotting technique, stress—and if […]
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On my recent appearance on the Rony Robinson Show on BBC Radio Sheffield, we talked about backstory or the infodump, and why telling the reader too much, too soon, should be avoided. What exactly do writers mean when they talk about backstory? Basically, it is filling the reader in on the background of your story, […]
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You’ve written your outline and/or plotted your novel. You’ve named your characters and given them a background, and are itching to put pen to paper, but what about the setting for your novel? Many seasoned novelists will tell new authors to write about what they know, and its good advice. But most people see reading […]
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