Provocations | Alison Morton Author

Writing Challenge Day 24: What to write next?

Ah, well, that’s a bit in the air…

I’m now 20,000 words into my new Roma Nova novel, so I have a good 60,000 words and a mountain-high pile of research. That will see the year out, I think.

Depending on what happens next in the book world, next I might take up writing […]

Second-hand book stalls – author's friends?

Some authors don’t like second-hand book stalls, whether run as a businesses or for a charity fête. In fact, they hate them. The author gets no royalty nor secondary right nor anything. The books are toted around, exchanged or traded like a lump of former tree for a pound/euro/dollar or two – virtually free. I […]

So, do you still read blogs?

On 4 March 2010, I wrote my first ever blogpost. It wasn’t startling, nor was it particularly erudite. I followed it up with thirteen more posts that month. Unfortunately, any ‘Likes’ and comments were obliterated when we suffered a major backup disaster in 2016. I wept, but some followers were kind enough to go back […]

Speculative heroines

Some reflections for International Women’s Day…

All fictional characters are, er, fictional. We borrow, mine, or lift characteristics from Real Life, but unless we want to get sued, the finally moulded form is a construct. We can gender mirror (I love using that expression – also made up), we can speculate, we can imagine.

Ditto […]

Sexual harassment - a perspective

This is going to get me into trouble, but I’m trying to find perspective.

It’s obvious that bullying – sexual, emotional, mental, physical or other – is wrong. Violent bullying, abuse or rape is criminal and punishable by law – rightly so. But the problem is not just about non-consensual sex; that’s the way feelings […]