I just deleted a scene! This rarely happens since I tend to underwrite and bulk-out the story afterwards, but every so often, I come...

Of all the things I’ve learned since publishing my debut almost four years ago, only one remains wholeheartedly, universally, absolutely...

What is 'Show Don't Tell', and when and why should we avoid it? There seems to be some discourse in the writing community at the moment...

Things I hate: reverse engineering! (Not as a concept, just as a subject, in the same way I hate maths because I’m terrible at it but...

The importance of the ending of a book—or any story—cannot be overstated. It’s the last thing a reader is left with, and can make or...

The other day, I was speaking to a friend of mine about the art of writing romance. She told me: I love a slow-burn. Almost all of my...

My debut, A Rose and the Thorn, was published in August 2019. For a poorly edited, unmarketed, published-on-a-bit of a whim book, it’s...

Please note this post includes mild spoilers for the TV series. The few of you that actually follow my blog with any regularity might be...

If there’s one thing I’m pretty darn confident in, it’s my characters. Their personalities, their arcs, their 3D characteristics—to me,...

Which POV of view should you use? How many? How often? Should you be writing in first person, third person… or even third? The easy...

Have you ever been reading a book and just not fully bought into the romance and wondered why? The characters seem great, the plot is...

Pulling off the perfect first kiss is a key part of the romance genre. Is it going to be steamy, sweet, awkward, adorable? Will it be...

Disclaimer: I despise writing action. I'd much rather do what Shakespeare did e.g. "They fight. Tybalt falls" (spoilers?) and move on....

Writing description is often one of the things that first draws people into writing. It's beautiful, it's pleasant, it's poetry. But it...

“Why write fairy tale retellings? That’s what like most indie authors do.” It’s a question and accompanying statement that most authors...

Preamble I do not profess to be an "expert" writer. I am not, in truth, even sure what such a thing looks like. Do we get a badge at some...