Tag: women writers
Love Letters
The first letter I ever wrote to my maternal aunt Ruth, was in 1965. I don’t remember what possessed me to write to her. The risk was great and the reach was far. The letter was no doubt desperate, confessing my troubles to someone who was related, but whom I barely knew, someone I had […]
Blending History Into Fiction
Research can make your story accurate, but you have to dig deeper to give it life. The last major revision of my new novel THE TASTE OF AIR (Red Adept Publishing, Sept. 2016) changed the points of view to focus on the three women at the center of this story. Sisters Nell and Bridget were […]
Viewpoint: Gender Bias In The Literary World
In a recent interview with the critically acclaimed Irish author John Banville, he was quoted in The Irish Times as saying “I have not been a good father. No writer is.” Granted, it may be a bit unfair to quote people out of context, but the twitter-storm blew a fury nonetheless. I was heartened to […]
A Woman Fakes Her Death on 9/11: The Story Behind the Story
They say you need to be able to summarize your novel with one, solid sentence. I’ve always had a hard time with that. I feel the need to go into paragraphs of description, with lots of “First this happens and then this happens…” Then, in 2009, I stumbled upon the kind of idea that has an […]
Why The Publishing World Is Not Closed To You
Several months ago, I had the opportunity to hear a famous author speak at a live event near my hometown. I had just finished reading her most recent best-selling novel, and I was awestruck. To me, she was a Writer with a capital “W.” Her writing was beautiful, thought-provoking, luminous. I arrived ready to absorb […]
How I Name My Characters
The first thing I do when I begin a new book is to open a folder on my desktop and give it the name of the lead character. I don’t use working titles. With over 20 books, I forget titles, working or otherwise. But I never forget a character’s story when I hear her name. […]
Courting Your Characters: Subconscious Writing
I think of writing as a courtship with my characters. I often ask them questions out loud and usually, after some wrangling, these personas will reveal themselves by page 40. By that point, if I don’t know their deepest desires and what they’ll regret most on their deathbed, I know I am in trouble, that […]
Using Fiction to Find Light in the Darkness
When I sat down to write my latest book, I knew very little about the plot. All I knew for sure was that it needed to start with an unprecedented tragedy—a state of international heartbreak and desperation so raw that the world would be at a total loss for what next. Because that’s the question […]
The Appeal of Flawed Characters
To effectively create fictional characters, it is necessary to be an observer. Writers study people—their physical appearance, mannerisms, speech patterns, personalities, life experiences, motivations, and resulting actions. A writer can be inspired by a particular individual, or he/she might combine aspects of several people to create one character. As book-readers and TV-and-film viewers, we crave […]
An Unconventional Signing: Unbound
I am a signed author with Unbound! I’ve been waiting for this moment since I was 6 years old. Now for the unconventional part. My publication is only guaranteed if I raise just over £10,000 in pledges. And as soon as money is involved people can become laser focused on that issue. Because ‘money’ can […]
Recent Comments