Thank you for dropping by my blog. I post about a variety of topics including book reviews, my author journey, the writing craft and more. All my blog posts are listed below, but if you fancy looking at a particular topic, you can check the drop down menu on 'blog' on my main site menu. New blog posts added weekly, Monday or Tuesday afternoons GMT. Hope you enjoy!
This week on the blog, I thought I’d discuss planning a mystery novel. As often happens in my writing craft series, it’s no coincidence I’m basing it on something I’m working through at the moment! As you might have seen, I’m writing a historical mystery romance project this year for NaNoWriMo. (If you’re unfamiliar, check out this blog post about NaNoWriMo I did a couple of weeks ago). To give you a flavour, it’s set in the late Victorian era (I
This week on the blog – I thought I’d tell you about my Giveaway! For 18+ UK participants only. 3 UK winners will have the chance to win a free copy of Lottie’s Locket, my fantasy novel! It will run 11th-25th November, with winners announced 26th November, 2pm GMT. On the 26th November, Lottie’s Locket will turn a year old. So to celebrate, I thought I’d host a giveaway! How to take part in the Giveaway To take part, you must
It’s NaNoWriMo time again! Where writers from all over the world flex their typing fingers and prepare for frenzied word sprints and quite possibly a few late nights. If you’re unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo (Nano for short) stands for ‘National Novel Writing Month’ where participants from all over the world commit to writing everyday throughout the month of November. The goal is to have a 50k word novel by the end. It will be my fourth time participating in Nano so as you
This week on the blog, I review To Take a World: The GhostMaker by Niamh Schmid. I only just finished this book and I’m excited to tell you my thoughts! This is the second novel by Niamh Schmid, following debut novel ‘Of Shade and Shadow’ (also authored by Rebecca Schmid). (Head here for my review of the first novel). GhostMaker is not the sequel and takes place in another world to the first book. Here there be Drogans – similar to
This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk about being an ARC reader. ARC here stands for ‘advanced reader copy’. The way it works is you receive a free copy of an unpublished book and commit to giving it an honest review. The reader then posts the review on or immediately after the publication day and perhaps shares a bit about the book on social media. Possibly the ARC reader might offer the author some last minute author feedback or
This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk more about the story snippets I’ve been sharing recently on social media. In particular, I thought I’d give some sneaky peeks into a bit more context about the character and what’s going on in the scene. Hopefully without any spoilers!. First, though, I’ll tell you how to make one, in case any writers fancy giving it a go! Story snippets – how to make one I’ve found making story snippets a relatively
This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk about editing – another in my writing craft series. Specifically, at what stage in the writing process to start editing or rewriting your WIP (work in progress). I’ve been controversial about this recently. In the last couple of weeks, I seem to be entering the editing mindset. I haven’t even finished the first draft yet! This might well go against the grain of lots of writing advice. There’s the common adage ‘write
This week on the blog, I’m excited to have my first ever author interview! I’m delighted to welcome author Marian L Thorpe onto the ‘virtual sofa’. Marian has written six historical fantasy/alternate history novels (or four, if you count the first three as one volume). You can find my review of Marian’s first three books, the Empire’s Legacy trilogy, here. Needless to say I absolutely loved it and Marian has become one of my favourite authors ever. A couple of days
This week on the blog, I review A Fatal First Night by Kathleen Maple Kab. This is the second novel in her historical mystery series, following her debut novel, a Fatal Finale (you can check out my review of her first book here). Here is a short blub to give you a flavour of the book: Ella returns Diva Ella Shane has made her operatic career famous by her ‘trouser role’ performances by playing the male leads. After the first night
This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk about inciting incidents, the latest in my writing craft series. It’s not a coincidence that I often end up blogging about things I’m trying to work out in my own writing as I look again at the beginning of my novel. What is an inciting incident? An inciting incident is the main event that kickstarts the narrative of your story. It might be your main character receives word that an unknown relative