Writing skills | Alison Morton Author

That Bloomin' Apostrophe!

Source: The Apostrophe Protection Society

Briefly, possession and omission. Yep, it’s that easy.

People get very hot under the collar about apostrophes, me included. First my mother, then my wonderful English teachers – Mrs Campbell and Miss Robson – eradicated any nonsense about misuse out of me at an early age. Like other […]

Across the sea to Dublin

I was delighted to be invited to speak at the International Dublin Writers’ Festival again. This year, the theme was the creative well, something essential to good writing, but a slippery one to grasp. In essence, it’s the part of you that feeds your imagination. If it’s kept at a healthy level, it will […]

Trust your reader!

When we write, we hope that somewhere, in some way, somebody will read it and embrace the message we are sending. When we receive an email from a reader saying they ‘get’ our concept and book world, or when a reader comes up to us at a book event and says it to our face, […]

Is writing and editing a novel a process?

Yes and no.

Writing a novel is creative – you have to have a purpose, some characters and a setting which all interact. Throw in a triggering act to stir them all up and get the story going. Storytellers have known this since the year dot.

A modern novelist is basically a storyteller with a […]

What to do after your first draft is written

After a well-deserved lie-in or even a day off, I gird up, send the draft to my Kindle and read it through without interruption (apart from comfort breaks, food and sleep).

I jot down quick notes or chapter references and then motor on. This way, I get the flavour of the book and find […]