Insights | Alison Morton Author

Obsession or addiction?

You start your novel, get the scenes down, complete the first draft. Fine so far. Any writer knows the first draft is not a work of art, or even saleable. So the real work begins; enhanching, slashing and burning, sweating over that love scene, ramping up the fight scenes, checking pacing, inserting tension, moulding and […]

Bridging sensibilities…

Simon Scarrow always succeeds in letting me into his tough, male Roman world without alienating me from an environment so different from my own. His heroes, Macro, the blunt-speaking grizzled veteran, and Cato, the educated and younger soldier, bash their way through numerous adventures (including Eagle in the Sand) in the time of Emperor Claudius.

[…]

Diversion, FTI or accidie?

What is that strange feeling when you schedule work in that day, but at 6 pm and the nth cup of tea, you wonder what happened. Many people suffer from this. Especially writers, it seems.

Diversion is a word that comes up a lot. Doesn’t sound too bad: something that distracts the mind and relaxes […]

Saving libraries day

Today, the book world moves. It’s out there saving libraries for you and the next several generations.

If you do nothing else this dull and cloudy weekend, go and take a book out. Or audio book. Or CD. Or DVD. Go and browse the Internet for free. Ask those incredibly clever librarians for information, guidance […]

Surviving the emotional foot-stomp on creativity

The renowned Nicola Morgan, famously proud to be the first Google result for “Crabbit Old Bat” and an award-winning author of around ninety books, never fails to offer diamonds to aspiring writers. Frankness and occasional brutality are her hallmarks. But she’s usually right.

So, in my morning scan of blogs, I found her post today […]