Insights | Alison Morton Author

Conflict for characters - how to make a decision

How do you make a decision? Whether it’s buying a new pair of shoes, going to law or plunging into a new life in a different country and culture, it’s a complicated question.

First of all, there’s an instinctive reaction to the decision: you see, you want, you say yes. Then your brain kicks in: […]

Why do you buy the books you do?

Wouldn’t every publisher, agent and writer want to know the answer to that one?

I’ve been on the Goodreads site, rating the books I’ve read. Analysing my own behaviour as a reader, I’ve been surprised by what I’ve picked out: historical fiction, adventure, romance, thriller, literary, fantasy, young adult, psychological, crime, contemporary, epic, speculative/science fiction, […]

Tackling the cat sick

My Twitter swarm and Facebook groupies will know that a few weeks ago I had a pretty serious operation on my foot which reduced my gadding about ability to minus 20. No more supermarket shopping, housework, gardening for a few weeks. I was also relieved of all cat-nurturing duties except for hugging and stroking.

The […]

Did the books you loved make you into the writer you are?

Drafting my latest query letter, I did a little exercise. No, not twenty press-ups on the floor, but one prompted by this particular agency’s submission guidelines. As part of the marketing approach, I was asked to thinking of two to three (i.e. three) comparable books. That wasn’t a problem, but it started me thinking about […]

Researching – how to behave

Two years ago, I wrote a post on research, setting out five steps to getting a best result. During the past two weeks, I’ve been following that same methodology to assess service suppliers and have narrowed my search to two possibilities.

I googled then sifted the results, gathered reports, opinions, financial data (from the sycophantic […]