VAL PENNY

Last month I attended my very first book signing. It was Books on the Beach at Blackpool run by the force of nature who is the author and...

Many years ago when I first attended The Writers' Summer School that meets each August at the Hayes Conference Centre in Derbyshire,...

It is my pleasure to welcome Charlie Tyler back to the blog today to discuss her experiences as a published author. Thank you for your...

A gripping plot can only carry an interesting story if it is carried by convincing characters. When I an creating a new character I start...

It is my pleasure to welcome back to the blog my friend and fellow author, Michelle Cook. Michelle writes dystopian fiction and I'm...

I suppose I should start this article with a disclaimer because, in reality it is mis-titled. Swanwick is a little village in Derbyshire...

This month I visited the Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate for the first time this year, largely because my...

I have had the pleasure of knowing bestselling author, Morwenna Blackwood for many years and recall the impact her amazing debut novel,...

I am delighted to have a chance to tell you about Hunter’s Rules , the new novel in my series of DI Hunter Wilson Crime Thrillers. I have...

The synopsis is every author's nightmare. If you have written a novel of 90,000 words, to condense it into a few hundred words is a...

The main setting for the DI Hunter Wilson Crime Thrillers is Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is so important that it is almost...

I tutor, lecture and teach writing. I have also penned eight bestselling novels, and have found that authors often struggle with some...

Writing gives us as authors lots of leeway to tell our story in the way we want to. We want to use humour as a way to engage our readers....

I have been writing and telling stories all my life. When I was a child, I used to make up stories for my little sister after our Mum put...

Many authors are daunted by the prospect of finding a literary agent to represent them. For some it is their main goal, others ignore the...

Do you remember when you first started writing? I don't mean writing stories, but when you were first taught to hold a pencil and write...

There are several way to plot a novel but this is one method that should help authors, whatever fiction genre you write and whatever...

As an author I am asked many questions about my craft. Is it just a hobby? How did you get into that? How much time do you spend writing?...

Let me start by assuring you that you nobody finds writing a synopsis easy. After all, if your story could be told in one thousand words,...

If you ask a reader why they chose to buy a certain book you will get a variety of responses. Perhaps it was written by an author whose...