I'm at the ideas stage. A couple of months ago I wrote a blog about the research I'll do for this. You can find it here, but basically it's a story set in the 1990's and centres around a group of friends. My husband and I have been casting people we know as characters and …
Stories should have conflict.
Today's blog was sparked by a tweet from Kev St John (@Kev_away) He had given his work in progress to a Beta Reader who didn't like one character because she wasn't a good friend. He couldn't believe this response. This character is supposed to be a bad friend. That was the point. I had a …
The Perfect Book Title
A friend of a friend came up with the perfect title. That was five years ago and I've come up with several story lines that suit this title. One was an epic tale of a young married couple that takes place over several decades. They would become friends with their neighbours, and after the husband …
For the hundredth time, I don’t write porn!
Okay, I've written one. That was as a dare from my friends and it always sells. But apart from that, all my books are, well, books. But there seems to be a misconception from the mainstream. Unless you're published by a major company then the novel with gay content you're writing must be dirty. This …
Continue reading "For the hundredth time, I don’t write porn!"
Writing ‘At Your Service’ – Guest blog by K.S. Trenten
Author K.S. Trenten has popped over to tell us who's the fairest of them all in her reinvention of the Cinderella story for the NineStar Press anthology, Once Upon a Rainbow, Volume 2. I’ve been thinking about desire, what makes a person desirable for quite some time. Certain images are used in the media, marketed …
Continue reading "Writing ‘At Your Service’ – Guest blog by K.S. Trenten"
The Multimedia Author
Three things happened in the past weeks. One involved film making, the others involved the challenges of social media. After much badgering from my younger work colleagues I finally joined Instagram. The odd thing is, I'm enjoying it more than I thought. My high school teacher friend groans about how we have several social platforms …
If filmmakers made our book trailers.
I love relaxing with the staff picks on Vimeo. My first love was cinema so having the best short films curated saves you from searching for these gems. Thought-provoking documentaries, whimsical animations and off-beat drama is usually what's chosen for you, and enjoying a short film festival at home through the television and hifi is …
The First Novel
Tomorrow I’m going to feel a sense of déjà vu as my first novel gets relaunched for the third time. My last publisher closed down, so I was very lucky that NineStar Press decided to re-contract my works. An author's first novel is special. It’s the one they sweated over. It’s the one that was redrafted …
Rejected by a Reviewer
I had a unique experience recently. There's one reviewer who I like to read, especially when he's writing about one of my books. It's one of the rare vanity moments we have as authors. What I like about this reviewer is that within his critique, he offers advice to the writer. In the past he hasn't …
Are we talking more but saying less?
About a year ago, an author friend posted up the potential cover for her upcoming novel and asked for feedback. I said that although I loved the individual graphic elements of the design, they didn't work together. To me this was a fair comment to the question that had been posed. The same question that had been …
kevin klehr 