Tag / creative writing

I’ve always loved reading and been interested in what makes writers write their books and novels in a certain style. Some writers, for example, explain everything to their reader step by step, introducing their characters to us by minute observation and advancing chronologically through their stories. This is particularly true of the classic novelists like Trollope and Austen. These writers often tend to use their own experiences to tell their stories, rather than relying solely on their imaginations. Then there are the writers, particularly the contemporary ones who rely totally on imagination,...

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Planting Poppy's Seed

  I’ve just finished writing my fifth novel. This one is called "Poppy's Seed" and is about a couple who have just retired. People who know me will realise that like many of my novels, it’s semi-autobiographical. In fact the heroine in this one is more like me than in any of my other books. Many writers use present and past experiences in their work. I’m not the sort of writer who can put herself into the position of imagining places, situations...

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Set in Lyme

 

I don’t know what made me set my latest novel in Lyme Regis. In fact I’m not even sure where the idea for the novel came from now, though I think that, like my short story, it started with a dream.

Night time is far and away the best time for ideas, especially that half-awake, half-asleep time that happens, just as you’re drifting off to sleep or just as you wake up. Migraines are another creative time for me. Not when I’m lying supine, my head splitting so much I can’t raise it from the pillow obviously. But when I’m recovering...

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