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Four months till Dead Ringer is published – what am I doing to prepare?
My debut novel, Dead Ringer, is set to be published on 27 February 2020. That’s four months from now, which simultaneously feels like eons away and yet is also panic-inducingly soon. So, in between breathing deeply, what am I doing to prepare? – Letting everyone know that the paperback is now available to preorder from…
Embrace the idea of multiple drafts – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer
I’ve spent a lot of my writing life harbouring under the delusion that my first draft needed to be perfect. Or close enough, anyway. If my first draft was a disaster, I was a failure. I still struggle with this perfectionism, but it’s good to remind myself that my first draft of Dead Ringer was…
Write the story from the sidekick’s perspective, too – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer
During one particular rewrite of Dead Ringer, I felt like I’d tied myself up in knots. My protagonist was breaking up with her boyfriend, but he seemed to be taking it too well. I couldn’t figure out what he was thinking or feeling during the scene. So I decided to write the entire novel from…
Quiz: doppelgangers and imposters
This is a longer version of the quiz I ran at my book launch event. Test your knowledge of doppelgangers and imposters with these questions. (Answers below.) Questions Q1. Which language does the word ‘doppelganger’ derive from? Q2: Which sitcom star was accused of robbery in 2018 after his dastardly doppelganger was caught on CCTV…
The North/South Divide in Crime Fiction (guest feature on CrimeTime)
I wrote a feature for CrimeTime about the North/South divide in crime fiction and how setting can impact on a story. Name an island off the coast of England. Isle of Wight? Isle of Man? Maybe Lundy, if you’re feeling clever. How about Walney Island? It’s an island, a beautiful windswept island, off the north…
To Newcastle in a flash: my experience of reading at Virtual Noir at the Bar
One unexpected upside of a global pandemic is that it makes “travel” much easier. Virtual travel, to book events, anyway. Attending Newcastle’s Noir at the Bar, a boozy evening with crime writers, would have been difficult for me two months ago, what with the expense and travel time. Now that all our social gatherings are…