author

Books that provide an escape by Sue Moorcroft

I love books that carry me away. Some provide armchair travel, which is something I’ve valued more than usual in the past couple of years, but others take me to a different time or headspace. Here are five that have stayed with me. Tempted by the Runes by Christina Courtney… Read More

Going to the Flicks in 1941

Pam Lecky, author of Her Secret War, discusses film in 1941. Like most young people in the forties, my heroine, Sarah Gillespie, in Her Secret War, is obsessed with cinema and spends all of her hard-earned, but meagre wages, on film tickets and cinema… Read More

Alfie the Lockdown Cat by Rachel Wells

We suddenly find ourselves in very strange times. There is a virus sweeping the world, which is bad, and people are getting very sick. Everyone is scared, and the situation is not like anything I have ever experienced before; it’s incredibly sad. In order to protect ourselves we… Read More

The Inspiration for One Italian Summer by Lori Nelson Spielman

Authors are often asked how they come up with ideas for their novels. My stories generally derive from some tiny kernel of truth, some piece of real life that I expand and shape and polish into its own unique story. The initial inspiration for One Italian… Read More

Balancing Fact and Fiction

Using Real-Life Experiences in My Novels The Missing Wife is my fourth psychological suspense novel and as its publication day fast approaches I’ve been thinking about what ‘goes in’ to my novels: where the ideas come from, how the characters are developed, how I choose their traits and back stories,… Read More

Submitting a Manuscript to Avon Books

Writing a book is not an easy process. But trying to get your book published is even harder. Oh boy, the joys of trawling the internet or subscribing to and then poring over the magazines and well-meaning books about how to submit your treasured manuscript for publication… I’ve always loved… Read More

The Magic Phone Call by Joanne Sefton

As an unpublished writer, one of the things I loved to do (usually to avoid doing something productive like – you know – actually writing stuff) was read blogs and articles in which real authors told the tale of their journey to publication. Most contained encouraging messages (‘Armfuls of rejections… Read More

From Cat-lit to Chick-lit by Faith Bleasdale

For the last few years I have been lucky enough to write cat fiction as Rachel Wells. It’s a series, for adults, about Alfie, a doorstep cat – the first book is named just that – and I love writing it, being a huge cat fan. Bringing Alfie to life… Read More

Social media: the good, the bad and the ugly?

As I write this, the publication of One Little Lie is just around the corner and I am getting ready for the chaos, excitement and nerves to kick in. Being a digital-first author, the internet – specifically social media – will be the main focus for me getting the word… Read More

5 Tips For Building an Author Brand

When I chat to other authors, the biggest challenge isn’t a massive plot hole they’ve just encountered or an impending deadline. It’s how they can market their work effectively without eating too much into their writing time. I know how they feel. There is so much out there for us… Read More

Unleash Your Dark Side

From the age of 14 I was obsessed with women’s fiction. I dreamed of writing books like my heroes – Maeve Binchy, Patricia Scanlan, Sheila O’Flanagan and then, as I grew a bit older, Marian Keyes. I wanted to tell stories… Read More