Like a Fingerprint

Like a Fingerprint

During a fiction writing retreat several years ago, our teacher asked us to select a passage from a favourite book – one in which we admired the writer’s style – and re-write a passage from one of our own stories in the same style as our admired author. I chose a...
Dreams Come True

Dreams Come True

I am over the moon to announce my debut historical novel The Engraver’s Secret will be published by Harper Collins Australia in March 2024 in Australia, New Zealand and UK. The path to publication is unpredictable. It can take an author in numerous directions....
Dig Deep When it Hurts

Dig Deep When it Hurts

Grief and intense sorrow are emotions we all experience in our lives. They can leave us feeling emotionally raw and overwhelmed, struggling to accomplish daily tasks. Several years ago, when I was heartbroken over a loved one’s serious illness, I put aside my writing...
Small Details

Small Details

One of my favourite pastimes is to visit art museums and focus on the small details in a painting. A pearl bracelet dangling from a wrist. A lace ruffle on a sleeve. A jewel-encrusted ring. Thick impasto paint to suggest stiff brocade. Daubs of white to indicate...
Beginnings

Beginnings

The opening chapter of a novel is the element that is rewritten, amended and tweaked more than any other part of a story. Ask any writer how many versions of an opening chapter they have written, and the answer will be dozens, if not more. Deciding on exactly where...
Narrative Distance

Narrative Distance

The first time I learned about narrative distance – also called psychic distance – I was attending a writers’ workshop in York. It was a light-bulb moment for me. Workshop teacher, author and freelance editor, Debi Alper, described narrative distance as the space...

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