Having just taken part in a collaborative novel, I’m quite interested to see how other people work together to produce joint works of fiction. Hayes and Nyhan take a character each and takes turns to tell the story of the Empire Girls. Empire Girls refers to the residents of a boarding house in New York… Continue reading Review: Empire Girls by Suzanne Hayes and Loretta Nyhan
Blog
Writing the past
I’ve been having some plotting problems with the novel, from its inception really. At first it seemed far too long a time span to cover before I remembered Kurt Vonnegut’s advice about starting as close to the end as possible and cut out 20 years. That was the easy part. But I’m still struggling with… Continue reading Writing the past
Seed packets from Writers’ Greenhouse
My writing group, Writing at Rosy’s, met last Wednesday. After a discussion about how walking isn’t as good exercise as you think it is, we managed to move to a proper table and start on the task at hand. Which was to examine the Premise versus Plot seed packets we’d been sent by Writers’ Greenhouse.… Continue reading Seed packets from Writers’ Greenhouse
The Secrets We Left Behind by Susan Elliot Wright
Susan Elliot Wright’s work sits very much in the ‘Like Maggie O’Farrell? You love this!’ genre. Serious women’s lit, I suppose. Chick lit for grown ups. I don’t know. Please not ‘Mum lit.’ Anyway, I can see where the comparisons are coming from – both writers feature female protagonists who deal with personal issues, often… Continue reading The Secrets We Left Behind by Susan Elliot Wright
Review: Alice Hoffman – The Museum of Extraordinary Things
I’ve read Alice Hoffman books before but not for several years and in my memory her magical-y tales of witches and fables were the stuff of light hearted beach reads. So it was with pleasure to discover, with The Museum of Extraordinary Things, that she’s changed and, dare I say, matured somewhat. The Museum of Extraordinary… Continue reading Review: Alice Hoffman – The Museum of Extraordinary Things
Britmums book review: Above All Things – Tanis Rideout
I’ll be honest. I was nervous about this one. I did indeed make the mistake of judging the book by its cover. The cover is terrible. It looked far too much like romantic fiction for old ladies for my liking. Luckily the contents of the book are far better than the cover. Above All Things… Continue reading Britmums book review: Above All Things – Tanis Rideout
Review: After I’m Gone – Laura Lippman
I like a good crime novel but once in a while you do think the standard whodunnit can be a bit of a familiar format. So writers who can do a bit more are to be welcomed. Laura Lippman is one of these. After I’m Gone is based on a true story, that of Julius… Continue reading Review: After I’m Gone – Laura Lippman
Where am I? Researching a location
A few months ago I submitted a piece for feedback – it was a conversation between two protagonists, one secretly bidding the other farewell as she resolves not to see him again. The feedback I received was all to do with how poor the location work was – about how the reader needs to trust… Continue reading Where am I? Researching a location
Street scene – for Write Around Town
This is an exercise in preparation for the Write Around Town online writing course which I have just embarked on. Draw a map of any street you know well and then write about it. This is not a destination street. It’s an “on the way to somewhere else” street. Leading from the Market Square, the… Continue reading Street scene – for Write Around Town
Austen Project – Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility by Joanna Trollope that is. An updated version. I signed up for this project because I genuinely thought it would be interesting. I didn’t subscribe to the view that this would be a dumbing down exercise. There have been fabulous modern day adaptations of Austen and I enjoyed them as much (and… Continue reading Austen Project – Sense and Sensibility
Susan E Barsby 