Sensitivity readers are hugely important in publishing today – not just for writers from minority groups themselves but also for people like myself who don’t belong to those groups but want to write about them anyway.
Making sense of sensitivity in writing Read More »
Whether it’s friends, family members or romantic partners, at some point in our lives we have to navigate relationships with people who we love but don’t like very much.
When a character loves another but doesn’t like them Read More »
People have been asking me when the next one is coming out, and today, I’m excited to announce that my new dark romance novel will be out towards the end of this year.
A dark romance I wrote today Read More »
When I came up with the idea for my next book, I had to decide if I was up to the job of writing the story of a 67-year-old New Yorker. A Jewish man. I wasn’t sure if I was up to the task, but decided to give it a try. It would mean a
Generating ideas for writing a novel Read More »
One of the hardest parts of selling a new story (to a reader, an agent or a publisher) is coming up with what us marketing geeks call ‘The Elevator Pitch”. It’s also called a log line. It’s your whole story (80k+ words) boiled down into one sentence. Two at most. And coming up with a
How to Pitch Your Story in Just 20 Words Read More »
In this blog post, I’ll discuss some tips for finding the perfect title for a book – and making sure it sticks!
How to Come Up with a Book Title (That Sticks) Read More »
I’ve created a FREE planning tool you can open in PowerPoint to use with your own stories.
The shape of a story Read More »
I’m midway through the third draft of what I hope to share either later this year or early next and the story continues to twist and turn and bend into all kinds of new shapes.
Writing: How to decide on the story I want to tell Read More »
I’ve had an unreliable washing machine, an unreliable car, and worst of all roller-coaster results from a not entirely trustworthy recipe for spaghetti carbonara. And yet I persist. It’s the same with an unreliable narrator. Make the people who live on your pages too predictably perfect, and nobody will care.
Everybody loves an unreliable narrator … don’t they? Read More »
A 16-point character creation checklist. Not knowing enough about the characters in your story is the biggest cause of writer’s block.
16 ways for writers to create a rounded character Read More »
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