Category: Contemporary Women Writers
Fairytales
Once upon a time…how comforting is this timeless beginning, immediately sending us back to our childhoods, tucked up in bed and listening to a story. Narrative is part of the human psyche, the way we explain the world to ourselves and each other. It’s perhaps no surprise that recent research, published in the Royal Society […]
First Frost: An Interview with Sarah Addison Allen
In Sarah Addison Allen’s First Frost we return to Bascom, North Carolina, and the magical Waverly family first featured in Garden Spells. Addison Allen’s books feature a splendid use of magical realism that immerses us into the hearts and minds of her characters. We spoke about the nature of belonging, magic, and writing. What drew you back […]
Why I Decided To Write About Mental Health
I decided to write a memoir about my own experience of debilitating depression because I felt that I had something to say that might help someone. Although I was desperately ill, had suffered two major depressive episodes and been hospitalised, I did recover. I now consider myself well, and wanted to share what I had […]
How To Create Tension
It’s all a bit tense… You might think of tension in a novel as being obvious ‘edge of your seat action’: the FBI agent running down the rabid serial killer, the guy dangling by his fingernails off a window ledge. In fact, all great novels are powered by tension of some kind or another. It […]
Writing Through Grief
Two weeks ago, my wonderful mother died. Suddenly, unexpectedly, she passed away in my arms. One final slow exhalation and she was limp. Gone. Grief has bowled me over, set me totally off course. It was the week of publication for THE FORGOTTEN SUMMER and I was bouleversée, as the French say. Devastated. Nevertheless, I […]
Females on ships in the age of sail – from women dressed as men to lone travellers
My second novel, SONG OF THE SEA MAID, is set in the mid-C18th and my main character Dawnay Price needs to travel in order to do what she wants to do. She is a scientist – or as they’d say in those days, a natural philosopher – and she wants to study the flora and […]
Call Yourself A Writer – Right Away!
When is it the right time to call yourself a writer? Anyone can call themselves a writer, but let’s say you’re serious in that you try to write regularly, and possibly submit work. You’re probably unpublished. So now’s the time to practice telling people when they ask what you do, that you’re a writer. Or […]
How Reality TV Makes Me A Better Writer
I spend my days sitting in coffee shops, craning my neck to clearly hear the conversation happening at the table beside me. Out of the corner of my eye I watch people on the subway and wonder what they’re thinking, and in restaurants I take note of how people move and eat. This might all […]
Jane Eyre’s BFF
With Valentine’s Day approaching, I have been reflecting on love. Not on romantic love, but on the love between friends. I have been thinking about friendships new and old. After grappling with some serious health issues for almost half my life, I realize the importance of those who have stood by me when the chips […]
Q&A with Michelle Gable
Michelle Gable is the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestseller A PARIS APARTMENT and her new release I’LL SEE YOU IN PARIS both published by St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books. She has been a treasured WWWB sponsor, and I’LL SEE YOU IN PARIS is a WWWB featured book for February 2016. […]
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