Today, on the morning of July 4th, my book had its own Independence Day. My book has been freed. What am I prattling on about? Let me step back a week. Last week I celebrated the completion of the first
Continue readingA few weeks ago I had to design the huge, climatic scene for my latest book. Doing so had scared me for ages, and it's amazing how long I can procrastinate for. I wanted every character from the book to
Continue readingAs you may have noticed, I have an unusual spelling of the name Graham: it is in fact a Scottish spelling. This was never a problem for me when I lived in the UK where this spelling is almost as common
Continue readingSomebody recently asked me how much the final draft differs from the first. Great question! Here is a snippet of the first and final drafts: First Draft She sat up, her head held high. Alice wasn't
Continue readingWell, all right, not the real world, just the world I am currently writing about in my second book. “Oh,” you say, disregarding the whole thing, but for an author this is a big deal. When it
Continue readingToday I am guest posting on this subject over on Novel Rocket. This is a site well worth following regularly – full of great advice about writing, and fascinating author interviews. My thanks to
Continue readingCan you write more than one book at a time? I asked myself this recently. I have a bundle of outlines for books that I want to write, and not surprisingly when writing on my current book slows down, I
Continue readingMost non-writers assume that to be a successful author one must write New York Times bestsellers, or contemporary novels that appeal to all readers. Of course, we know this isn’t the case. Certainly,
Continue readingSo you’ve written your book and revised/edited it, probably more times that you can count. Then you sent it to a professional editor (if not, you should), and incorporated their changes. Finally, you’ve
Continue readingThe book series. Many authors view them as the Holy Grail, the chance to hook an audience that are practically guaranteed to buy every book, so as to read more about their favourite characters. Very compelling
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