For this week on the blog, I thought it might be time for another post about the writing craft – this time talking about dialogue. What makes ‘good’ dialogue in writing? It can be a tricky balance of things to achieve. Aptly, the subject of dialogue sparks much debate. Should ‘said’ be used after most dialogue, or is mixing up better (eg muttered, murmured, replied, asked answered, etc)? How much should writers use ‘action beats’? These are lines describing an action
Review of Osbert by RA Currier Just to note, I originally read and reviewed ‘Osbert’ by R.A. Currier on my blog in 2018. However, when I moved to a new site a month ago, not all of my blog posts moved across. So, I thought I would upload a few of my oldest ones that disappeared – and this has certainly made me remember how amazing this book was! Definitely need to read this one again, if I ever get space
I’ve moved home! Welcome to my new website! A few weeks ago, I had no idea I would have to design a website from scratch. However, for a few months now I’ve been considering starting a newsletter, where I send a monthly email to subscribers a new way to communicate to readers about what I’m up to and spread the word a bit about my books. It’s a bit less ‘flash in the pan” than advertising on social media and a
This book was an incredible read. This gripping historical fantasy follows the journey of Amaria, a young woman from an Amazonian tribe descended from a warrior bloodline. Amaria is beginning her final training quests that, should she succeed, will deem her worthy of picking up her shield and becoming a true warrior of the tribe. Fast paced and packed full of action, but with enough moments of stillness to reflect upon Amaria’s journey and growth. It is also immensely readable, with
The discussion around plot-driven writing vs. character-driven writing is an important one, so I thought it could be a fun topic to think about. If you’re unfamiliar with the terms, here’s a quick overview: Character-driven writing is when the heart of the story is all about the character. Their story, how they relate to others and to the world and the decisions they make, to the point where if a character changed a decision or acted in a different way, then
This week I thought I’d give you a bit more detail about my novel Lottie’s Locket, especially since on Monday 20th I signed a contract with Olympia for them to publish it – rather exciting! Lottie’s Locket is a fantasy/murder mystery for a Middle Grade (MG) audience. MG, broadly speaking, is in between children’s fiction and Young Adult fiction (12-17). I think it will be on the upper end of MG, so my ideal audience would be 10-12 year olds. Here’s
Happy New Year all! It’s just gone 10 am on this dreary January morning. Today is my first day back after the Christmas break. The fact it took ten minutes to start my laptop properly shows it’s been a while since I last wrote anything. It was lovely to have some time off after Christmas, but I can tell it might take me a bit to get back into the swing of things. Around this time of year people are making
In the words of Porky Pig, ‘that’s all folks!’ NaNoWriMo is over for another year! Writers all over the world are closing their laptops as well as their eyelids, trying to catch up sleep. If they’re anything like me, November whizzed by as I attempted to write throughout the 30 days of November, so I would have a brand-spanking new 50K novel by the end of the month. This was my second attempt doing the main event in November. It follows
The process of writing a novel can be almost as unique as the story itself. There are three broad categories a writer might fall into – a plotter, a ‘pantser’, or someone who is a bit of both. At the end I’ll let you know which one I am and how that has shaped my approach to NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, an online event in November). Plotting is fairly self-explanatory – a plotter outlines everything until they are sure where
It was quite a few years ago when I first fell in love with the Lake District. I had just started at Lancaster University (incidentally this was where I met my husband) to study Linguistics. I was soon invited on a trip to the Lakes with some friends from church. I had never visited the Lake District before, but I was instantly bowled over by the huge stretch of Lake Windermere, with towering fells in the distance. I have gone to