Character building, or what?

The most frequent question readers have asked me since the launch of INCEPTIO in March has been: how did you work out the characters?

Karen/Carina has been buzzing around in my head for a while – about fifteen years. So in the end it was a choice between seeing a psychiatrist or becoming a writer!

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“Tom-ah-toes, tom-ay-toes” could wreck your book.

Reviews are lifeblood for any author and I fall on the ground worshipping any reader who has taken the time to compose one. Sometimes, they’re posted independently, on people’s blogs, or a group’s or writing association blog, or on the “big beasts”, Goodreads and Amazon. If you’re really, really lucky you’ll get in the national […]

Women writing books

Today starts a very special month when I’m featured in the online literary magazine Women Writers, Women’s Books. And I’m very excited to be in the company of Isabel Allende, Nicola Morgan, Roz Morris, Joanne Harris, Claire King and Judith Kinghorn, to mention a few.

It started with a tweet. […]

Struggling to write in the promo sea

Those Who Know say the best way to keep your work in front of readers is to write another book. As I’m in the middle of letting everybody know about (let’s be honest, marketing) my new book and trying to reach as many potential readers as possible, I’ve snatched a few minutes out to think […]

How long does it take to develop a story idea?

In the underground passage, Capua Amphitheatre

I’ve been asked many times how I came to think up Roma Nova and the thriller story behind INCEPTIO. When I mention it started when I was memerised by a Roman mosaic at the age of eleven, people are surprised to say the least. The full story […]