Author: Nicola

Nicola Martin is an award-winning author of psychological thrillers, short stories, and non-fiction books
Make your protagonist the type of person who jumps into the fray – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer

Make your protagonist the type of person who jumps into the fray – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer

In life, I’m a risk-averse person. I always weigh up my options and try to act prudently. In novels, I’ve found that prudent characters make for boring protagonists. Dead Ringer got immeasurably better when I added in a second narrator, Jem. She’s reckless and rebellious and will always throw herself into the fray. For this…

5 best books on writing for beginners and beyond
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5 best books on writing for beginners and beyond

Whether you’re starting out in creative writing or looking to fine-tune your writing craft, there are a wealth of reference books out there. Here are five that I find invaluable: Self-Editing for Fiction Writers – Renni Browne and Dave King The first time I flicked through Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, I was unimpressed. A chapter…

Don’t give ’em a reason to stop reading – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer

Don’t give ’em a reason to stop reading – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer

One of my favourite pieces of feedback I’ve got on Dead Ringer is: “I stayed up past my bedtime reading it.” During one of my later re-drafts of the book, I did something bold. I re-cut all the chapters. I made them shorter and I changed the places where the chapters ended. My purpose (and…

Why do mediocre novels get published? My theory (and what writers can learn from it)
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Why do mediocre novels get published? My theory (and what writers can learn from it)

There’s little more frustrating than picking up a book and realising it’s BAY-AD. The characters are cardboard cut-outs. The action is melodramatic or unbelievable. It breaks every rule in your well-thumbed writing craft books. “How did this get published??” you wonder. If you’re a writer yourself, you might follow it up with: “If this can…

Embrace the idea of multiple drafts – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer

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…

5 tips for killing it in your next podcast or radio interview

5 tips for killing it in your next podcast or radio interview

I’ve been doing a few radio and virtual interviews recently to promote Dead Ringer and I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. Here are 5 things I’ve learned to help you rock your next radio/podcast interview: Smile Yes, doing interviews is nerve-wracking. Yes, you might be struggling to think of what to say. But…

You’ll have to rearrange your life in order to write a novel – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer
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You’ll have to rearrange your life in order to write a novel – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer

If there’s one myth about writing that I hate, it’s the myth that great novels were written in snatched 5-minute bursts. “Get up earlier and write while drinking your morning coffee! Write in your lunch break! If you’re not writing while simultaneously making a risotto and changing a duvet cover, you obviously don’t want it…

My favourite thing about being published in The People’s Friend is…

My favourite thing about being published in The People’s Friend is…

…the illustrations! It’s magical to open up the magazine and see a short story of mine brought to life with a lovingly-detailed illustration. My short story, ‘The Garden Detectives’, appears in the current People’s Friend Special. It’s a mystery with a difference. Instead of hunting down a killer, Siobhan and Tom are on the trail…

To Newcastle in a flash: my experience of reading at Virtual Noir at the Bar
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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…

Build compelling characters using reality TV archetypes

Build compelling characters using reality TV archetypes

For guaranteed drama, take a leaf out a casting director’s book and use reality TV archetypes to build fascinating characters for your novel or short story. I’ve already outlined the lessons that writers can learn from reality TV. That was big-picture stuff. This is more granular, as I will outline specific types of people you’ll…

5 writing lessons you can learn from reality TV

5 writing lessons you can learn from reality TV

Here’s a writing assignment for you: turn on the TV! The reality TV casting process provides a devilishly fun way to improve characterization when writing your novel or short stories. Whether it’s Survivor, Big Brother, Housewives, or Love Island, your favourite guilty pleasure reality TV show doesn’t happen on its own. Every reality show is…

Joining a writing group will save your soul – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer
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Joining a writing group will save your soul – Things I learned while writing Dead Ringer

When I look back and try to identify the ONE thing that took me from slush pile to publication, it’s joining a writing group. Specifically, a workshop critique group. This was a big, scary step for me, because (like most writers) I haaate having my writing critiqued. At the time, it felt like someone was…