Writing skills | Alison Morton Author

How do you know it's a thriller?

Would you recognise one on a dark, deserted bookshelf at midnight?

Generally, thrillers contain the following:

The hero(ine) faces death, or destruction of their way of life or sanity, either their own or somebody else’s, sometimes by accident, sometimes because it’s their job. The ‘bad guys’ whether the mob, sinister government enforcers (see INCEPTIO 😉 […]

The place where I work

I hope you didn’t expect a tidy and sleek office?

My office is a place full of paper, books, notes, pens, files, cup of coffee, lights, noticeboard, etc. Our super-tough birchwood work stations came over to France with us, plus the IKEA office cupboards which used to adorn […]

(Im)plausibility and telling whoppers

Now I’ve started telling people about my first alternate history thriller coming out in March, one person said, ‘Oh, you’re lucky, you can make up anything!‘

Er, no.

It’s about plausibility. Merriam Webster gives one definition: ‘appearing worthy of belief <the argument was both powerful and plausible>‘. Synonyms include credible, creditable, likely, believable, presumptive, […]

Grammar Nazi or dilettante?

I’m reading a book at the moment full of “prithee, varlet” language. It’s as irritating as Hades, but maybe that’s just me. The atmosphere of fear is building, the characters are forming and the plot slowly emerging.

But despite the over-elaborate language, the author’s grammar is spot on. And that’s what saves it.

Writing is […]

It's raining, it's pouring!

One of the first things we notice in the mornings is the weather. How many of those first tweets go something like this: ‘Brrr – cold as I crawl out of bed – not LOL’ ‘The sun. At last. Damn, I have to go to work.’ ‘DH now in garden shed building an ark. Blasted […]