Deborah Swift: Operation Tulip – incredible courage in occupied Holland

Today, I’m delighted to welcome Deborah Swift to the blog as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club tour. She’s a USA TODAY bestselling author of twenty books who is passionate about the past. Before becoming a writer, Deborah was a costume designer for the BBC. Now she lives in a former English school house […]

Jane Davis and The Bookseller's Wife

Today I’m delighted to welcome writing friend Jane Davis back to the writing blog. I’ve loved her books; they regularly appear in my best books of the year round up. Her first novel, ‘Half-Truths and White Lies’’, won a national award established with the aim of finding the next Joanne Harris.

Amy Maroney in 'Exile'

I’m delighted to welcome Amy Maroney back to the blog to talk about being in ‘Exile’. Amy studied English Literature at Boston University and worked for many years as a writer and editor of nonfiction. She lives in Oregon, U.S.A. with her family. When she’s not diving down research rabbit holes, she enjoys hiking, dancing, […]

Annie Whitehead in 'Exile'

I’m delighted to welcome Annie Whitehead to the blog to talk about being in Exile. She’s a prize-winning writer, historian, and elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and has written four award-winning novels set in ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Mercia, including To Be A Queen, the story of Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians.

Villains and writers –The author is *not* the character

Conflict is the lifeblood of any fiction whether it’s between characters, between a character and their conscience, between the character and their environment. Obstacles abound, fate seems inexorable, bad characters never seem to give up.

Character is shown via actions and dialogue which shine a light on their values and motivations. Caius Tellus in my […]