Tag: featured
Writing About Female Friendships In Novels
My phone vibrates and dings, the sound so frequent that it’s almost playing a tune. The rhythm is unsteady, yet familiar. A ding here, a ding there. Two dings back to back, and then one a few seconds later. I know exactly what I’ll see when I pick up my phone: messages filled with party […]
Why Do We Choose The Stories We Write?
Under the Almond Tree is the story of an Afghan family fleeing the conflict and violence of Afghanistan in the 1990s during the rise of the Taliban, travelling back and forth on the Trans-Siberian Express in search of safety, as narrated by the middle daughter, storyteller Samar. Helped by Napoleon, the ticket collector, and […]
The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful: Being an Author on Social Media
I’m not sure if it’s because I have a background in marketing or because social media can be hugely addictive, but I enjoy the social media side of being an author. Yes, it does take time that could be spent on writing, but the rewards are more than worth the investment of time. To explain […]
Finding the Pearl: Why I wrote Ghost Variations
Why do you start to write a book? Perhaps more than that, why do you finish it? There are enough books in the world already: why do you need to add yours? The reason I started Ghost Variations is not the same reason I finished it. I can’t count the number of times I nearly […]
Dodging Bullets
When we wake up each morning, we never know what to expect. A bus might run us down. A drive-by shooter might gun us down. A mugger might knock us down. A terrorist or lone madman might blow us up. A heart attack might finish us off. And so on. None of us knows what […]
Creating Colour In Words
As a reader, I love to be transported into a world of imagination and my favourite modes of transportation are metaphors, similes and idioms. As a writer, these are also my favourite moments of creativity. I would much rather read about ‘the bruised sky’ than ‘the purple-grey sky’. Of course, the sky is not literally […]
Defending Chicklit
My name is Maxine Morrey and I write chicklit. There are those that may feel this should be stated whilst sat around in a circle with others who have the same words to utter, and upon each turn a welcome will be issued together with a polite round of applause for having the bravery to […]
Common Writing Mistakes: A Beginner’s Course
Just starting out writing? Want to make sure your work shines enough to grow a career? Here are some tips. To Market to Market, and Why You Should Not Write For It I know, I know. You go to a bookstore or read the bestseller lists and it seems like every novel has the word […]
How Objects Inspire Fiction
Just about anything can serve as inspiration for a work of fiction. Often, it’s a person, someone we knew, cared for, or had trouble with when we were younger. It can be a place, somewhere we hold dear, or couldn’t wait to escape. In my own work, a single scene has many times been the […]
Encouragement for the Mother Who Writes
As I walked in to teach at the writing workshop, I saw one of the attendees following her toddler around in the hallway. The sight of her made my heart lurch, because I had left my three children at home with my husband so that I could be there that day. While I had been […]
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