Write what you know … and other myths exploded
I spent my Manchester years stumbling from one bar and bed to another. If I’d written only of familiar things, my debut novel would have told a very different story.
Six ways for a writer to handle the Covid pandemic
I can’t be the only writer unsure how (or if) to deal with an unpredictable global pandemic. COVID-19 didn’t exist when I started work on my upcoming novel – and given a whole chunk of the action hangs off events at a seaside cafe, I could have done without it hitting.
Writer’s block – yet another writer with yet another tip
Writer’s block is painful. Everyone gets a form of it at some point, and most writers have ways of dealing with it. A frequent fix is to ‘just write anything’ until the feeling of being blocked passes.
Writing: it’s my job to point things out
A frequently quoted ‘rule’ for writing is to write something every day. No matter if it’s good. No matter if…
Phoning in the dialogue
I’ve never claimed to be anything but an ill-informed Luddite when it comes to mobile phones. Or phones, as I…