December 2025 saw the release of a new genre to me. Grave Concerns  is a cosy murder mystery set in the idyllic village of Myrtleberry Dell. Of course, because I’m a fantasy writer, it also has a fantasy twist to it, so, as one reader put it, Myrtleberry Dell is a cross between Midsommer and Hogsmeade. The idea to write a murder mystery came to me in 2023 when I considered doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I needed something contained, rather than an add on to m

I imagine many people out there have sat in an English exam desperately searching for the allegories and hidden meaning in a piece of...

I had a picture in my head. A man is standing by my local stone bridge, his fingers woven through the chain link fence, peering into the...

It was Christmas 2016. I had been out of work for six months, and our finances were still looking good. I was approached by someone in my...

Since starting my writing journey in 2017, I have gradually added tools to my arsenal to help me grow and improve as both a writer and...

At some point in your writing career, you will come across this little nugget of wisdom. Attributed but not traced to Mark Twain, this...

I am currently writing my next series, a quadrilogy based on Norse mythology. If everything goes to plan, the first book will be...

A hundred people can read a book and give a hundred responses ranging from “That was awful, and I didn’t bother finishing” to “That was...

One of the reasons I love the fantasy genre is because it takes you out of this world, with its wars, injustices, and strident opinions,...

When I first started writing, I gave up reading fantasy stories for reasons I explain here. I didn’t feel confident as a writer to able...

You don’t have to be writing long before you hear about an annual event called NaNoWriMo. Short for National Novel Writing Month, the US...

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a pantser – someone who doesn’t plot the stories before starting to write. This means I am often surprised...

Many people would love to be a writer. Some of them even have a go. A few of them might actually finish a story and a handful will go on...

I was recently lent a book by Michael Ward called “Planet Narnia”. In it, he theorises that CS Lewis themed each of the Narnia books...

Whether I am at a speaking event, or just chatting to someone about being a writer, one question invariably gets asked: How do you come...

Right now, I am mired in the editing bog, which is slowly giving way to a polished novel ready for publishing. Many people love the...

Life has a nasty habit of getting in the way of writing. Unmanageable back pain at night has meant a lack of sleep and feeling...

You have written your book. Perhaps you have even given it to some people for feedback and made changes. You may even have paid for an...

What happens next? That’s a question I’ve been asking myself for days now. My characters have reached a place where their biggest...

Although writing is seen as a pretty solitary occupation, no-one can really be an effective writer on their own. They need people who...