Saggy Middle

  Surprisingly I’m not writing about the dreaded saggy middle that creeps up on writers from eating too many slices of hot-buttered toast while waiting for the muse. No, the saggy middle I’m referring to is the one that becomes apparent when you’re halfway through your novel. Suddenly the fascinating plot seems contrived, your amazing …

Read more

Writing What You Know

The received wisdom is that you should write about what you know and that may be good advice – to a point. It’s important to remember that what you know may be strange, surprising and even intensely interesting to others. If you are a Druid, working as a steeple-jack and living on a barge, your …

Read more

Inspiration – What if?

The creative process isn’t always easy to pin down and put into words. Novels are a complex piece of work involving a juggling act between plot, action, characters, setting and so on. So how do they all come together to make a finished story?

Inside an Editor’s World

Instead of a guest author I thought it would be interesting to hear about the editing process from an editor’s point of view as a change from the author’s perspective. In fact Abbie Todd is both an editor and an author but here she is firmly wearing her Editor’s hat! Abbie writes contemporary, slightly edgy …

Read more

Making Time to Write

  There’s never enough time for me to write. And yet, somehow, I always manage to finish a novel in time to meet the deadline. Stop procrastinating! If you are a writer, you’ll find the time. It’s as simple as that. Stop procrastinating! Perhaps you’ve persuaded yourself it’s important to do the washing or to …

Read more