“Shit,” Nancy said. She stared at the blank wall in front of her as if her gaze could punch a hole through it. Trapped in a room without any other exits apart from the corridor she had just run through, Nancy was out of options. A quick glance at her P228 handgun confirmed the worst:…
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Inspiration Board: Spirit Caller
Readers often ask authors where they get their inspiration from. For me, characters often spark my imagination and then I build a story around them. I find these characters in the strangest of places: an avatar in a game I’m playing, an image I see on Pinterest or just a random idea that pops into…
What’s up with LitRPG?
I don’t really understand LitRPG. Granted, I’ve only read one novel in the genre and it was, admittedly, mindless fun – but I still don’t really get the appeal of it. For those of you who don’t know, LitRPG is literature (and I use this term loosely) based on role-playing games (RPGs), such as World of Warcraft…
Why You Should Consider Writing Fan Fiction
My favourite novel from 2017 was Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl, which is about a girl who is obsessed with a fictional world, much like that of Harry Potter, and who writes fan fiction about it which is almost more popular than the author’s books themselves. It reminded me of a time when I honed my own writing…
Looking Ahead to 2018
As we stand with Janus, Roman god of doorways, looking both back at the past year and ahead towards the year to come, it’s customary to review what we have achieved and make plans for the future. I like to make New Year’s resolutions. I firmly believe that you always need to strive towards something.…
All I Want For Christmas
The internet is abuzz this time of year with lists of gifts to buy for everyone, including the writer in your life. And sure, I wouldn’t mind another pen and notebook set, or a scarf covered in Jane Austen quotes, or a Harry Potter-themed board game, but I don’t need any of those things. There…
A Worthwhile Prize
Alanna grabbed Kael’s shoulder, wrenching him backwards. “Stop!” she hissed, pointing at the spot where he was about to step. The warrior looked down, his face paling visibly as he noticed the slightly raised edge of a round disk on the elaborately carved floor. “Trigger trap,” he confirmed. “Better keep a close eye on the…
Do You Enjoy Reading Flash Fiction?
I only learned about flash fiction about a year ago. If you haven’t encountered it before, flash fiction is the term for fully contained stories in a very limited number of words. They usually range anything from 100 to 1000 words. Personally, I prefer writing stories towards the upper reaches of this word limit, because…
Why You Should Review Books You Love
I know, I’m guilty too. It’s just so much effort to log into Amazon and write a coherent review about a book, even if it is one you loved that resulted in a three-day book hangover preventing any kind of productivity at work. And even if I did take the time to write my thoughts…
Representation in Fiction
“Representation” is the current buzzword in the world of fiction. Readers are getting more and more vocal about stories that are not representative enough and woe betide anyone who happens to write something with a straight white male protagonist in the lead. And I get it. Sort of. When I first started reading (English) fiction on my…
