It was a dark and stormy night ... How important are first lines?

Many writers turn themselves in knots about this one. The golden rule of writing dictates the first line must grab the reader. This seems like common sense, but it also sounds like a bucketful of pressure! Really? A book MUST hook readers with the first line?

Must a book grab you from the very first line?

A writing update – two new quests!

Yesterday, I packed off The Borderlands: War to the editor. After spending every waking moment on it for the last four months it's wonderful to look to new horizons.

Like an adventurer leaving the comforts of the village, I'm off to find new stories!

A Writing Update

It's been a while since I've posted an update on my writing progress, and apparently, some of you would like to know more about how the sequels are coming along. So, here's an update and a bit of a schedule of what I intend to release this year.

A sneak peek of the cover design for The Earl's Daughter – Subscribe to my newsletter to see it in full

A place to write

Where are the best places to write? In On Writing, Stephen King states that above all else "your writing room should be private, a place where you go to dream." But many writers have espoused the very public notion of writing in cafes. JK Rowling famously stated in an interview:

"It’s no secret that the best place to write, in my opinion, is in a café. You don’t have to make your own coffee, you don’t have to feel like you’re in solitary confinement and if you have writers block, you can get up and walk to the next café while giving your batteries time to recharge and brain time to think. The best writing café is crowded enough to where you blend in, but not too crowded that you have to share a table with someone else."

Writing in a cafe - a popular choice for many writers.

 I've wondered about the cafe idea, but I've yet to try it. The idea of an endless supply of earl grey is very tempting. I guess the most important thing for me is that I have peace and quiet - which actually means no one wants to talk to me.

So, this is where I currently write.

My current writing place - in front of the fire.

I sit on the couch. The dog usually curls up on her rug, while the cat nestles in her basket. The fire warms me in winter. I get up every now and then to make another cuppa. And it seems to work. Except when there are people around. Then it never works!

Our house is very small, so when we've got a house full of people it's impossible to hide away somewhere when I need to write. So I have a little dream I'd like to share ...

I want to build my own writing space (or more accurately, coerce my partner, Peter, to build it). We live on a small farm so we've got the room.

Whilst getting ideas (procrastinating) for the perfect writing space, I stumbled across this little gem of a blog that has some great pics of the writing rooms of some very famous authors. I've included some of my favorites here:

Edward Albee works on his next masterpiece.

Edward Albee is one of my favourite playwrights, and he wrote one of my favourite plays, 'The American Dream'. I love his old style writing desk and chair. 

Virginia Woolf had a room of her own.

Virginia Woolf had a writing hut in her garden, which is exactly what I want!

Edna's poetic hideaway.

Poet Edna St Vincent Millay had a writer's hut in the forest - even closer to what I want.

Neil Gaiman's source of inspiration?

Neil Gaiman's woodland writing gazebo is almost a perfect match for my little dream.

I've made a board on pinterest to help me dream up my what I want. I think a blend of the following two might be perfect:

Will my dream become a reality? One day I hope to write all about it in a future post :)

Tap, Tap ... Testing

It's pretty dusty here, and I apologise, but very soon I hope to have this blog back in shape.

So I've had an accidental hiatus from all things writing. Apparently this can be a type of writer's block. And maybe it was for me. For some reason I just stopped writing and focused on everything else in my life. I've been writing for the past two months now, quite solidly too, and I've been enjoying it. Why I stopped over six months ago, I don't know. It just happened.

On the plus side I've got a lot of energy for my writing now, and I was able to look at the first draft of my current work in progress ('The Raven') with fresh eyes, deleting all the crap and identifying what needed fleshing out. This is why I always like to leave a draft sit for at least a month before picking it up again for editing.

On the negative side I have dropped some deadlines I had set. The sequels to both 'The Viscount's Son' and 'The Borderlands: Journey' will now be published much later. And I'm sorry to anyone awaiting their release.

So while I was away from my writing desk the writing world kept on turning. I've had a million emails, and if I haven't got back to you please feel free to send me a line. I've had more reviews on both my books, and even earned my first ever 1star rating! I think I've made it now :)

Anyway ... Better get back to dusting!

Writing Update

I thought some of you might be interested in what my current WIPs are. So this post is about what I'm writing now and what I hope to publish next.

I've written a standalone fantasy novel called 'The Raven'. It has nothing in common with Poe's famous poem of the same title, but I hope it's just as dramatic. Here's a rough blurb for the story:

It is the darkest time in winter and the beginning of Ilun - when suns, stars and moons all disappear from the sky. In the Wolf clan a baby is born and she has a gift that only the clan's soragan, Izhur, can see. But the Circle of Eight is not pleased with the ill omens the baby signifies and orders Izhur to enact the babe's fate.

The story is set in a prehistoric world and follows the Wolf Clan over a span of years. This will be the first of many novels to come set in this newly created world. I hope to publish it before the end of the year.


I'm currently writing the first draft of 'The Earl's Daughter', which is the follow up novel to 'The Viscount's Son'. I'm having a lot of fun learning what happens next. There is a new character who is giving me lots of surprises and I quite like him - hopefully readers will to. I aim to have the first draft finished soon, then it will be workshopped and edited. But, hopefully I can publish it at the end of the year.

#AmWriting - in pics 1

When writing there is always an element of research - no matter the genre or setting. For me, a part of research is to look at images that show the visual detail of what the characters are seeing. Often these images are beautiful or gruesome; whatever they are I frequently want to share them!  So that's what this post is about. I hope you enjoy these images as much as I did :)

This week I've been editing my standalone fantasy novel called 'The Raven'. In this novel we follow the life of a clan who live in tree shelters. These mud-hut like structures have to be built in old trees with thick boughs that could support such a shelter. Like this one - beautiful pic!

I've also been writing the sequel to 'The Viscount's Son' in which a new main character stops by Notre Dame to observe the gargoyles on its rooftops. Fascinating!

Pictures - they're a great way to research.