writing tips

Writing tips from a debut author

Being called a debut author is a funny old thing. It’s delightful, thrilling, and just a wee bit daunting. In 2019, I won the Big Issue x Avon Books Crime Writing Competition, for which the prize was a two-book publishing deal. To say I was excited would be a gross… Read More

Submit to us via #PitMad

We’re taking part in #PitMad on Twitter today! #PitMad is a Twitter-focused pitch day for writers, particularly diverse voices, to pitch their novels and ideas to a large group of editors actively looking for new writing. How to take part To take part, simply write a short… Read More

How to Write your Author Biography

Being asked for your author biography can be daunting – perhaps you have no idea how to summarise everything about yourself into a paragraph or two, or maybe you think you won’t have anything to say! It’s important to remember that whilst publishers will use your bio to get a… Read More

The Submission Journey

De-mystifying the process from submission to publication! What should I consider when submitting to Avon? Avon is the home of commercial fiction – which means page-turning, entertaining fiction. Whether it’s historical, crime, thriller or women’s fiction, these books have a ‘hook’ (or elevator pitch) that intrigues the reader,… Read More

It’s NaNoWriMo Time – Sam Carrington’s Top Tips

It’s NaNoWriMo time!   This will be my seventh year joining in the madness to write 50,000 words in one month. Yes, all those words in just 30 days! I’ve had mixed success with my attempts. I’ve only ‘won’ once – but for me, it really is the case of… Read More

Where I Write with Sue Moorcroft

Where do you write most often and why? I’m lucky enough to have my own space to write – my study. It’s small and looks out over my back garden. Although it’s not exactly tidy, I know where everything is … or, at least, that everything’s in there somewhere. It gets… 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

The Good and Bad in us all

As I get ready to publish my thirteenth crime novel, which is the second book in the DS Grace Allendale series, Tick Tock, I’m already wondering what my readers will think of it. I always like to find the light within the darkness, even though I write crime thrillers. I’m… Read More

Puzzles and Plots

Some intuitive writers sit down at their desks with no more than the wisp of an idea in their heads, and let the story unfold as they write. That’s never been me. I don’t write a word of my books until I have worked up a clear outline of the… Read More

When I met DS Josie Masters again

Hello, old friend! It’s been a while…’ Bringing back a main character in series fiction is an odd feeling. Life as writer has moved on, but the protagonist of one’s creation has remained in a sort of limbo world, needed no more after the final page of the previous book. Read More

5 tips on how to make the most of setting in your novel

Location always plays a pivotal role in all my novels, whether it be the ravished shores of Thailand during the 2004 tsunami in The Atlas of Us or the eerie underwater world of submerged forests in My Sister’s Secret. And it’s no different with my latest novel The Family Secret, which is set in… 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