How to write a 'damnèd, smiling villain'

Octavian (Author photo) Shakespeare’s Young Octavius

O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain! My tables—meet it is I set it down That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain— At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark. (Hamlet, Wm.Shakespeare)

“And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear, […]

A writer blogging about blogging for writers

You’re a writer, right? After you’ve slogged away at your 1,000/2,000 words, you don’t want to sit down and generate more. It’s time for wine, to binge watch your favourite show, grab some food.

Well, I’d urge you to think again.

Blogging has many advantages for a writer

First of all, it hones your style […]

Dublin Writers' Conference 23-25 June 2017 - handouts

I hope you enjoyed my talk about writing adventure fiction. Here – as promised – are the handouts!

Writing adventure fiction

Writing fight scenes

And the slides:

Alison Morton – Writing adventure fiction from Alison Morton

 

Happy writing!

 

(c) Alison Morton 2017 Please feel free to print these out for […]

Judging for Words With Jam

STOP PRESS: Winners announced!

The quality was impressive; it caused much sweating of the brow and drinking of tea. Congratulations to the three winners, but also to all those on the long and short lists. http://www.wordswithjam.co.uk/2017/07/first-page-competition-2017-winners.html ——————

A few weeks ago, I was delighted (and rather flattered) to be asked to judge the Words […]

What is an editor? Joanna Maitland reveals all

This week’s guest, multi-published Joanna Maitland, knows all about loving her characters, but to ring the changes from the ‘Love me, love my character’ series, I’ve asked her to give as some of her valuable expertise. What am I talking about? Read on…

Joanna Maitland’s first historical romance went through the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New […]