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Download free audio trailer of the first 4 chapters
‘Spellbinding… hypnotic… groundbreaking…’ My Memories of a Future Life is getting rather fab reviews on Amazon – thank you! If you’re curious what all the fuss is about, you can listen to the first...
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Writing literary fiction – podcast and video interview with Joanna Penn
Today – roughly 24 hours ahead of schedule if you saw the note on the red blog – I’m at Joanna Penn’s online home, The Creative Penn. Joanna’s one of my favourite podcasters and her interviewees run...
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Put through my paces by Guys Can Read: literary writing, storytelling and the...
Today I’m back at Guys Can Read, the weekly podcast books discussion hosted by Luke Navarro and Kevin McGill. Luke and Kevin adore fiction, period. They review everything from Jonathan Franzen to Star...
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Your life will, in the future, be someone’s past – audio interview at Bookcast
Oh yes it will. Or so my novel asserts. I’m proud to be interviewed today by Washington journalist Bill Thompson for his new site The Bookcast. He put me through my paces with all the big questions –...
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How to self-publish an ebook and get a traditional book deal – guest spot on...
When I was first discovering blogs – and looking for a home for my own fiction – I discovered The Write Lines on BBC Radio Oxford. Presenter and novelist Sue Cook brought together experts from UK...
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The long and the short of writing novels – guest spot at Beyondaries
How long does it take to write a novel? Years, months, a Nanowrimosecond? I’m riffing on this idea today at Beyondaries, the ezine of Port Yonder Press. Port Yonder is one of those publishers whose...
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The ABBA of plotting: video at Beyondaries
I’m at Chila Woychik’s Beyondaries ezine today, musing about what it might have been like to take ABBA’s back catalogue and try to write the plot of Mamma Mia. Those of you who’ve followed this blog...
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Why fiction characters matter and how we make them memorable – video and...
Why is all good fiction driven by characters? How can we widen our repertoire so our fictional people aren’t carbon copies of ourselves? What kind of research can give us greater understanding of...
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‘Roz from the land of Harry Potter’– an otherwise serious discussion of...
When Americans interview Brits in sweltering summer heat, their thoughts turn to Harry Potter, the Beatles and the Queen. But we do also get down to serious matters. My host, John Rakestraw, had got...
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Dialogue special part 1: how do we get characters talking?
This weekend I guested on John Rakestraw’s Google writing hangout. He sent me a bunch of questions about dialogue, and I wrote so much in preparation that I got an epic post. Then when we got nattering...
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7 stages of writing a book – video discussion at IndieReCon
Do you need help to get your novel started or finished? Four of us experienced scribblers talk about how we stay creative through the tough times and reveal our secrets for drafting, fixing and...
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Self-publishing answers: from writing to finding your readers – podcast with...
This seems to be ‘back to basics’ week on this blog. On Thursday I scrambled out a fresher’s guide to ebooks in response to questions at a speaking engagement. And this podcast, recorded the previous...
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So You Want To Be A Writer? New radio show to get you started
Every week, my bookseller friend Peter Snell gets customers who ask him nervously: ‘how do I write’ and ‘how do I get published’? Sometimes they give him manuscripts or book proposals. I get emails...
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How to keep writing when time is scarce – 6 tips and video chat at #IndieReCon15
We all have periods when our creative time is nuked. Day jobs, family responsibilities or out-of the-blue crises can make our writing goals streak away into the impossible distance. Even if writing is...
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Magic ingredients for a great plot – video and podcast at The Creative Penn
What is plot? What ingredients are essential, regardless of genre? How do we use themes effectively, and subplots? What makes a satisfying ending? Author-entrepreneur and heroic podcaster Joanna Penn...
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The Masque of the Red Death discussed at Literary Roadhouse – podcast for...
If you’re friends with me on Facebook you’ll already have seen this picture. Years ago I held a fancy dress party with the theme ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’. My costume was The Masque of the Red...
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‘Janys in Venice, Tina in Canada, EJ in New Mexico…’– global audience for our...
Our show on Surrey Hills Radio just got this lovely write-up on a new website, This Is Wild. I’m not sure how we fit the wild agenda, but the interviewer has cited our enthusiasm for all things of...
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Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff … under discussion at Literary Roadhouse...
This book is being read everywhere, apparently! Or it is in the USA, which is home of Literary Roadhouse. They invited me to be part of their book club podcast, where we spent a good hour getting our...
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How to write a gripping, unforgettable plot – video podcast guest spot with...
Think of all the kinds of novels we might write … from a sensitive character study to a sprawling epic to a nailbiting thriller … are there any common factors they all have? There are. They’re my...
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How to find your author voice – interview with Joanna Penn
Hello! I’m slightly late posting this week because I knew I had this waiting. Joanna Penn invited me back to her podcast to thrash out a thorny topic – how to find your author voice. We discuss what...
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