Alison Morton | Alison Morton Author

Launching books

Last week, I had the enormous pleasure of attending book launches for two writing friends. On Saturday 23 January, I drank bubbly, ate scones and cake with Denise Barnes who launched her second book, Juliet’s Story, at the University Women’s Club. The magnificent library was a perfect setting for us to hear about the research […]

On being unusual and historical...

The Roma Nova thrillers are definitely unusual. Although part of the historical fiction canon, alternate history stories ask readers to follow a speculative but hopefully historically logical path. In a way they are niche, but one which I hope will grow.

Some periods are fashionable like the Tudors, others eternally loved like Regency, others wax […]

Indie writer? Please don’t do these things

I’ve published 12 books – seven novels, two novellas, a short story collection and two non-fiction (as at 2021) – via the indie route since 2012, but in the preceding three years I learnt how to write for publication. More importantly, I learnt writing techniques: structure, plot, dialogue; how to delete adverbs, adjectives and over-writing; […]

Name that character!

Today, I’m welcoming fellow Romantic Novelists’ Association member Joanna Maitland to talk about naming characters.

After many years publishing Regencies with Harlequin Mills & Boon, Joanna is branching out into new fields as an independent author. With fellow author Sophie Weston, Joanna has just set up Libertà! where readers and writers can meet and share […]

Ruth Downie and 'A Year of Ravens'

Today, in this last ‘Ravens’ post I’m welcoming Ruth Downie, author and good friend of Roma Nova. We met in August 2013 on The Wonder of Rome blog hop (her post intriguingly called ‘First drown your ape’) and she enlightened us more about Roman medical practice in October 2014 in this post about historical truth […]