Writers are often asked how much of themselves and their own experiences end up in their writing. For my part, I’d say I’ve found it almost impossible to avoid including my own feelings, experiences, and opinions in what I write. However, while I’ve often used something real as the starting point for a scene or…
Category: Writing
Dialogue Tags and Other Irritations
I’m sure most writers work hard at their craft, constantly finding ways to improve their writing, to make their work better, more appealing, and more fun to read. From my very first novel – a children’s adventure titled The Devil’s Porridge Gang – I did my best to make the novel like one I would…
What’s All This First Draft Nonsense?
Whenever I read blogs or Twitter posts by an author who’s just finished the first draft of their WIP (work in progress), I always wonder if I’m the only person in the world who thinks first drafts are just another way of saying, ‘what I’ve written is crap so I’m going to do it all…
The Upstanding Writer
I’ve written elsewhere about my habit of standing up to write, but it’s always useful to reconsider ways of working to see if they’re still effective. For the last ten years my day job has been in occupational therapy, a role which involves a bit of driving and a bit of desk work. Long-standing back…
‘The Summer House’ by Keri Beevis
My Review (3 stars out of 5) Following their grandmother’s sudden death, twins Lana and Ollie are back at the old woman’s house. But the place brings back bad memories. The murder of the siblings’ older sister Camille occurred in the summer house. While Lana identified the killer, it was her brother who discovered the…
‘The Lonely Lake Killings’ by Wes Markin
My Review (3 out of 5 stars) This is book 2 in the Yorkshire Murders series, and is the first I’ve read by this author. The story centres on the murder of a barmaid who is found dead by a lake. The proximity of the body to the home of a local recluse seems to…
On Creating a Series
I assume that other authors, like me, create a series of books (ie a sequence featuring the same characters or setting/location) so the expectation that whatever readers loved about the first book will prompt them to read the others. But do we do it simply to have the same group of characters ready and waiting,…
‘Dancing with the Devil’ by Matthew Jones
My Review (4 stars out of 5) Offered a job as an engineer at a boat yard, Danny realises he’s being asked to spy on the workers by the firm’s wealthy business partner, Conrad Szekely. But things get off to a bad start and Danny finds himself an unpopular and unwanted addition to a failing…
‘In Ice’ by Dave Sivers
My Review (5 stars out of 5) DI Nathan Quarrel and his team uncover a horrific scene in an apparently empty house in a Hertfordshire village. Finding three chest freezers in the basement, they discover the bodies of five naked women. As the investigation gets under way, the team realise they have a serial killer…
‘The Automobile Assassination’ by MJ Porter
My Review (4 stars out of 5) In 1940s Britain, Chief Inspector Mason of Erdington faces a seemingly impossible case when an unidentified corpse turns up at the mortuary. Clues lead to an aerodrome where Mason suspects members of the RAF may be hiding something. With an old mystery hanging over his head and Superintendent…
Colin Garrow 