There’s a thin band of cream silhouetting the cranes that hover over the half-built office blocks in the city centre. I head home, below an… Read More »My Mother’s Secret – Location
Today I ran a lesson about villains for homeschool with my nine-year-old daughter. She loved it and created a supreme baddie: Galactica, Queen of the… Read More »How to create the perfect villain!
In May 2017 we bought a house in Somerset. It was originally built in the 1950s and for almost two years we’ve been renovating it.… Read More »Blueprint for a house…and a story
What would you tell yourself if you could? The Royal Literary Fund recently gave me the opportunity to write and record a letter to my… Read More »Letter to my younger self
My writing talisman is a beautiful painting by artist, Elaine Jones. It’s of Cornwall – have a look to see why I love it so… Read More »My writing talisman
The Royal Literary Fund has recorded a mini -podcast with me on how I write – with a black coffee, and some dark chocolate and… Read More »How I write
In a few days time I’m heading to Ted Hughes’ old house, Lumb Bank, in Hebden Bridge, to teach an Arvon Foundation course on how… Read More »How to write a thriller
I’ve just returned to working for charity, First Story, this month. First Story’s aim is to change young people’s lives through writing, particularly those… Read More »Becoming a coach
I’ve written as a Jesuit priest in Outer Mongolia, a nine-year-old in inner city Bristol, a child abductor, an angry teenager, a man in his… Read More »Diversity in Fiction
Book blogger and health journalist, Victoria Goldman, asked me to tell her what my essential writing toolkit is for her blog, Off-the-Shelf Books. Here goes: Office… Read More »My Writing Toolkit
I’m giving a talk on plot at Novel Nights on Wednesday 23 Many. This is a wonderful monthly event, organised by writer, Grace Palmer, in… Read More »The octopus and the pirates
Six weeks to go until My Mother’s Secret comes out! For an author waiting to see how her book will be received, this is a… Read More »My Mother’s Secret – What other writers are saying
Happy Mother’s Day! This blog is dedicated to those very special women in our lives, without whom, we would not exist. My first thriller, Bone… Read More »Mothers & Daughters II
Did you know that many publishers won’t read past the first few lines of your manuscript? Harsh but true. Agents may read a page or… Read More »First Lines
Well, I start the day with a large black coffee and some dark chocolate! Writing a novel feels like being an ultra marathon runner. It’s… Read More »How do I write?
The short answer, is because I have to! I’d write if I was shut in an attic at the top of a dark castle – … Read More »Why do I write?
I’m delighted to welcome fellow Corvus Books author, Holly Seddon, to my website for a Q&A with me. She’s the author of Try not to… Read More »The Stolen Child – Sanjida Kay & Holly Seddon in conversation
In my thriller, Bone by Bone, there are three generations of female characters – Autumn, who is nine years old, and is being bullied at school; her mother, Laura, who, like her child, is shy and unconfident, and her rather more forthright mother, Dr Vanessa Baron-Cohen, a well-known anthropologist. The bond between mothers and their children, particularly their daughters, is usually the strongest one that exists in human beings.
Mothers shape their daughters, but daughters often rebel against being moulded. I was interested in exploring this most tight and intimate bond; how some women raise their daughters to be like them, and their daughters then reject their values, but in doing so, may make mistakes of their own with their daughters – a tale familiar to some of us! As Oscar Wilde so glibly said, ‘All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does, and that is his.’
BONE BY BONE SUPPORTS ANTI-BULLYING CHARITY, KIDSCAPE I’m so delighted – Bone by Bone will be out in paperback this week! I’m donating 10 % of… Read More »Bone by Bone supports anti-bullying charity, Kidscape
