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Truth and Fiction in Infinite Sky
by C.J. Flood
A lot of people ask me how autobiographical Infinite Sky is, and the truth is, it’s hard to say. The story begins a few weeks after thirteen-year-old Iris Dancy’s mother leaves the family to go travelling around North Africa. Iris’s home life quickly falls into a state of chaos, with her …
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It’s All About the Setting…
by Susan Elliot Wright
As a reader, I enjoy novels with a strong sense of place because I want to be able to visualise the setting, to see the characters and events against a backdrop, whether it’s a grey, concrete city full of high-rise buildings, a wild, windswept stretch of moorland, or the golden …
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What’s in a Name?
by Paige Toon
Coming up with titles for books can be a tricky process, but it’s one of the most important things to get right. I thought you might like some insight into how we came up with my titles, starting with my first…Lucy in the Sky came courtesy of my brother, Kerrin …
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Do I base my characters on real people..?
by Jane Costello
One of the questions writers are asked all the time is whether we base any of our books on real-life events or people.In my case, that bit at the front that talks about a resemblance to real people, living or dead, is spot on: virtually everything in my novels is …
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Inside the mind of Travis Maddox – The Difference between Men and Women
by Jamie McGuire
My previous four books were all written from a female POV, and had a fan not suggested that I write Beautiful Disaster from Travis’s POV, I might not have made the attempt. When I was about a quarter into the book, I sent the manuscript to Abbi Glines (author of …
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Why I hate starting to write a book!
by Patricia Scanlan
Let me say straight away, that even after the twenty-three years that have passed since my first book, City Girl, was published, that I still love writing and am so happy to be working in a job I love. I have really enjoyed writing With All My Love, my seventeenth …
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Why I became such an incorrigible match-maker
by Helen Warner
I love February. As an incurable romantic, it feels to me as if Valentine’s Day casts a rosy glow over the whole month. My own Valentine is my husband, Rob. When I tell people that I met him when I was 8 and he was 11, the reaction is always: …
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The Power of Love
by Ali Harris
I have a confession to make. No, it’s not that I’ve spent the past month watching the John Lewis Christmas ad on a loop (I have) or that I’m a closet fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals (I am). It’s a far more serious affliction – and one that I …
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Every Time I Say Goodbye….
by Colette Caddle
For me, getting to know the characters in my story is a bit like falling in love. The first meeting: When I first came up with the characters for Every Time We Say Goodbye I had a loose idea of what they would be like but at that stage they …
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50 Shades/9½ Weeks: what do women really fantasise about?
by Rebecca Chance
What’s your ultimate fantasy? What do you want – really, really want, as the Spice Girls would put it? To be tied up? Spanked? Have someone yell at you because you dared to sunbathe topless, and whacking you across the boobs in punishment?Hmm. Or, would your ultimate fantasy be something …
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