Category: Contemporary Women Writers
Writing Myths That Hold Us Back
By Jane Ward You finish one flash piece and your brain is firing; you’ve come up with a great idea for the next short story. After months of character sketches and plot walks, you itch to sit down to start that new novel. Maybe you even have a great first line. Supportive writer friends from […]
Writing REDHANDED: An Exploration of Criminals, Cannibals, Cults, and What Makes a Killer Tick
What makes a killer kill? It’s an age-old question which elicits every type of answer imaginable – from the curiously innovative to the eye-rollingly outdated. And as a true crime podcaster of 4 years, I’ve heard them all. Many of us are convinced that some people are just born monsters, others fall firmly into camp […]
An Open Letter to Authors about Signing Away the Rights to Creative Work
An Open Letter to Authors about Signing Away the Rights to Creative Work Patricia Leavy Breaking into the world of fiction is so difficult and discouraging. Authors may find themselves settling for less than they want, because they don’t think they can do any better. I learned this lesson the hard way. When I wrote […]
Can Ghostwriting Make You a Better Novelist?
Yes. Without a doubt. Recently, I was asked how ghosting reflects on my work as a novelist. That stopped me. I’d just never considered the comparison. Lots of what I’m told as a ghost, never shows up in print, often never discussed out of the room in which it’s shared. Sorry, I’m nkim,,not about to […]
A Life-Changing Illness that Inspired a Story Filled with Hope
A life-changing illness that inspired a story filled with hope My most recent novel, Take A Moment, is more than a warm and witty romance: the inspiration for it came from my own life-limiting illness. It’s my way of giving a glimpse into the experiences of people with debilitating chronic conditions – because no one […]
On Writing Love and Fury: A Novel of Mary Wollstonecraft
I know the look by now. You tell someone you’ve just written a book about Mary Wollstonecraft. Their eyes light up but then there’s a flicker of self-doubt. “Not the daughter,” I jump in, “The mother. In fact, not just the mother of Mary Shelley, but feminism itself!” I know the look because I did […]
Finding Cecily
Finding Cecily I can’t remember not being able to read. I know Mum taught me, long before school started. It wasn’t that she was a pushy mother. Just that she loved stories and wanted to give me a key to unlock them. We soon left children’s books behind. By 10 or so I’d just read […]
On Being a Writer and an Accountant
On being a writer and an accountant by Gill Darling You may not be surprised to learn that accountancy is not a subject covered much in fiction. The novel that springs first to mind is Christie Malry’s Own Double Entry by the avant-garde novelist BS Johnson, published in 1973. Christie, young and disaffected, hits on […]
Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason: House of Music
Seven brothers and sisters. All of them classically trained musicians. One was Young Musician of the Year and performed for the royal family at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The eldest has released her first album, showcasing the works of Clara Schumann. These siblings don’t come from the rarefied environment of elite music schools, but from a state comprehensive in Nottingham. How did they do […]
Women’s History In The Past and Today: Writing The Accidental Suffragist
Women’s History In The Past and Today When I decided to tackle the huge yet impassioned task of writing a novel, I immediately gravitated to historical fiction. It’s my reading genre of choice as it allows us to be inspired by what really happened and get the back story in an engaging mode. The historical […]
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