Authors Electric

A couple of weeks ago, we had  an unusual day - a first for us. Early start to the day and we were were off to Prestbury in East Cheshire, where Andy gave a talk on the history of stained glass. at a Probus group. This is one of the offshoots of  his small business  Moulton Glass , and he gives short (45 minute) presentations to community groups. Moulton Glass makes and repairs/restores leadlight windows, plus we have a presence at various craft fairs in the area, selling decorative items. We even run wiorkshops! But since he's been visiting the local WI groups, word has got out and he's now being contacted by the National Women's Register, Probus and the U3A. He's a good speaker and people seem to enjoy listening. We're currently booked throughout this year and into 2027 and branching outside Cheshire now. There wasn't that much wine! Then later on in the afternoon, it was my turn. Northwich's new local bookshop Cover2Cover invited me to host a talk about...

I am just coming to the end of the editing marathon for my next crime novel In Her Defence , and nervously awaiting final corrections and comments. As always the section that has been poured over and fretted upon is that first chapter. Yes, the end matters almost as much, but I am very aware, to the point of near paranoia, of the need to start with a hook. Those opening few pages are all important, and increasingly so when so many potential readers will be using the ‘look inside’ feature on Amazon to sample your wares.   So what constitutes the opening hook? The first page? Two pages? Three? Taking a quick glance at Kindle books the Amazon Look Inside function varies on how much of a taster you are allowed and depends on the quantity of prelims, but three to five pages of story available to read seems to be the average. When a page is around 300 words on average it’s a scary prospect to realise that the decision to read my many months of work will be judged by the firs...

It’s been an odd year so far. April already and I don’t seem to have achieved anything – writing or otherwise. I’m unsettled due to an impending house move and the creative juices are drying up completely. That being said, I’m still writing scenes for Littlewich Ways , our local community radio play series. It’s about the only thing I have any motivation for writing right now, but I’m sure things will pick up when life is more settled. And on Thursday I’m “guesting” at the Knutsford Literary Society. I wrote about this last month and I thoroughly enjoyed socialising with other authors and readers. But this meeting is my meeting. All about me. And my books. Scary is an understatement. Now I talk a lot – everybody tells me that. I embarrass my family by chatting to the check-out people in the supermarket. I’m the person in a clothes shop who tells somebody they look nice in a dress they are trying on; even though I haven’t been asked for my opinion, I feel obliged to giv...

For about twenty five years from the mid seventies to the turn of the new millennium, I wrote for radio. I have more than a hundred hours of produced radio drama to my name, including many original plays, series and serials as well as dramatizations of classics like Ben Hur, Kidnapped and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Because most producers want the playwright to be there for the duration of the production – studio time is always tight, so you’re expected to do rewrites on the hoof - I’ve spent weeks in radio studios. Kidnapped and Catriona in ten hour-long episodes involved so much time in a small, stuffy Edinburgh studio with no natural light, that the producer pinned up a quote from Kidnapped on the wall: day and night were alike in that ill-smelling cavern . We knew how poor David Balfour felt. Although the hot scones sent up by the canteen at tea time were excellent! I’ve worked with some wonderful producer/directors and equally good audio technicians. I’ve seen huge changes...