How to Write Scenes by Steve Catto

Last Updated: 02 June 2024

I was never any good at school, especially not at English. I found it boring and I never understood the purpose behind reading a book and then taking it to pieces to see how it worked. To me, that spoilt the story, it destroyed the magic. I did like to read stories, just not the ones that the school wanted me to.

Perhaps the story books I read in my childhood gave me the ability to visualise and create. I don’t know, it might have been the television programs, but whatever it was I always visualise as part of the creative process, and I visualise the story as scenes in a movie. That means I see each scene in my mind, and the task then is to convert that to words, and that is where I find that the artistic part comes in. Perhaps it’s easier to describe that process using a specific scene from Snowflakes.

Interview: Nico Lee

Last Updated: 02 June 2024

This morning I have comedy author Nico Lee on the blog for a chat about writing, books, inspiration and his novel A Good Lie Ain't Easy.

The Writing Process by Richard Abbott-Brailey

Last Updated: 02 June 2024

The inspiration for this book came from a history documentary about the retreating Spanish Armada, and how much of it was dashed upon the rocks during the worst storm in around 100 years. I tried to imagine what it might have been like to observe these ships being thrashed against the rugged coastline of the west of Ireland; perhaps looking at the bodies washed up on the shore. And then Azarias Tor was born – an accidental time traveller, whose father lived in a future some 170 years ahead. And the rest is history - or is it? I then developed the idea that a corrupt body is designing their present day world, our distant future, by manipulating the past, our history, and their history, to suit their own needs.

Book Review: Surrender by Sonya Hartnett

Last Updated: 02 June 2024

AD* | I am dying: it's a beautiful word. Like the long slow sigh of a cello: dying. But the sound of it is the only beautiful thing about it.

As life slips away, Gabriel looks back over his brief twenty years, which have been clouded by frustration and humiliation. A small, unforgiving town and distant, punitive parents ensure that he is never allowed to forget the horrific mistake he made as a child. He has only two friends - his dog, Surrender, and the unruly wild boy, Finnigan, a shadowy doppelganger with whom the meek Gabriel once made a boyhood pact.

But when a series of arson attacks grips the town, Gabriel realises how unpredictable and dangerous Finnigan is. As events begin to spiral violently out of control, it becomes devastatingly clear that only the most extreme measures will rid Gabriel of Finnigan for good.

Who Gets to Write What in Fiction by Andrea Jones

Last Updated: 02 June 2024

The shadowy, shape-shifting possibilities of Brexit and the Trump administration have had some positive effects – in publishing at least.

Diversity is in demand. Agent and editor calls for ‘own voice’ narratives are at an all-time high.

Some observers call it a trend, and that’s the wrong word. The movement is more well-intentioned than ‘trend’ suggests.

More likely it’s a way to resist. To prove that we don’t live in a monochrome, monosyllabic world. We have vibrancy, colour and nuance. And we want to hear, see and read these things in people’s own words.