Dec 7, 2012
‘Use the senses,’ they say on creative writing courses. It’s like a mantra: ‘Sight, Smell, Sound, Touch, Taste. Include reference to these in your writing and you can’t go wrong.’ I can already ‘sense’ you twitching with excited anticipation, and indeed there is some...
Sep 5, 2012
People often remark that I must be very disciplined to be a writer. If only they knew … (see my earlier post about life getting in the way!) But displacement activity aside, there is an element of truth in the observation. There is certainly more to writing than...
Aug 1, 2012
‘It’s the taking part that counts’ says the Olympic motto, but all we seem to see and hear is regret about missed medals, or even (amazingly) about the bitter disappointment of getting silver instead of gold. It’s a similar story with writing. ‘So, how are the books...
Jun 27, 2012
For the last year I have been lucky enough to have a fellowship post at Aberystwyth University sponsored by the Royal Literary Fund. This involved me sitting in a pleasant office on campus one day a week so that students (and staff) could come and consult me about...
Feb 5, 2012
Over the last couple of years there has been a significant rise in sales of romantic novels. For a while the industry was puzzled, but gradually the reason has become clear. With the advent of Kindles and other eReaders people have suddenly found themselves able to...
