editing | Alison Morton Author

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 […]

A book reviewer's frustration

Reviewing books isn’t easy. It takes time and attention, plus sometimes, you have to damp down the pleasure that wells up when it’s a really good read. If I’m grabbed, sometimes overwhelmed, by the power of the story, I read on and enjoy the book, then I go back and read it more analytically.

However, […]

Funny old business launching a book

First you have an idea, then you think it through, conjure up characters or sometimes try to stop them yammering at you, then you imagine a setting and stir all together into a really sticky problem.

Several months later or sometimes a year later, out comes a typed manuscript. If you’ve […]

That glorious feeling of ending it all

Perhaps you thought that when you typed ‘The End’ (if you do), you’d finished writing your novel. Well, sadly not. It’s like being pregnant and not realising you have a good twenty years ahead of you dealing with the result. Slightly less drastic with a book, but it’s still your creation, your baby, and it […]