Writing skills | Alison Morton Author

Game of Sevens

I’ve been tagged by historical fiction author Antoine Vanner in a game of Lucky Sevens.

It’s a bit of online fun for writers that pulls us out of our sheds where we sit scribbling away for hours on end and lets us reveal a little our our current work in progress.

Here is how it’s […]

Tough heroines

“Boadicea Haranguing the Britons” by John Opie (1761-1807)

‘Tough’, ‘feisty’, ‘kick-ass’ – clichés, ironic or signposts? And, provocative question, would you apply them to men? Perhaps the first one and possibly the third, but I can’t remember reading about a ‘feisty hero’.

That aside, how do you recognise a tough heroine? Boudica, queen […]

How to get the reader to read your book

Unless you write for the sole purpose of personal fulfilment (no bad thing in itself), you probably hope other people will read your work. When you publish a story, either as a freebie or commercially on multiple channels (Amazon, Kobo, Waterstones, iBooks, etc.) and in multiple formats (paperback, hardback, ebook, audio), you’re not only putting […]

Roman CAPITALS

Writing guest posts, emails and tweets about INCEPTIO, PERFIDITAS and soon, SUCCESSIO, I’ve been asked why I write the titles in capitals. Some bloggers and respondees have written the book names with title case, e.g. Inceptio, Perfiditas and I’ve gently pointed out that it’s not quite correct.

So here’s the reason…I’m not SHOUTING, but following […]

HNS Short Story Award 2014 - a reminder!

Deadline 1 April 2014!

The Historical Novel Society seeks to support writers of new historical fiction by the HNS International Awards – a series of competitions for previously unpublished short stories and novels.

The 2014 Historical Novel Society International Award, with a prize of $2,000, will be for an outstanding historical short story. […]