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
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
I’m delighted to welcome Tasha Locke to my blog this week. Tasha graduated from Bristol University this year with a degree in English Literature. I… Read More »My Mother’s Secret: Stories within the Book
It’s hard to believe, for me at least, but after doing little else but think about the characters in My Mother’s Secret for a year and… Read More »My Mother’s Secret – Launch party!
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
This is a blog post I wrote on the importance of setting for The Asian Writer, and I thought would be most appropriate as I’ve… Read More »In a thriller, nowhere is safe…
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
There are 25 different kinds of cake name-checked in My Mother’s Secret, from Daim cake bought over the counter in Ikea, to scones with cream… Read More »My Mother’s Secret & Cake!
I love reading and writing – obviously! And I then love meeting up with people to chat about what I’ve read, maybe over a… Read More »My Mother’s Secret – Book Club Questions
My Mother’s Secret is out now! It’s available to buy in bookshops or from Amazon. You can read some extracts from it if you’d like… Read More »My Mother’s Secret is out now!
Happy Earth Day! Today, we’re celebrating our extraordinary planet, and trying to end plastic pollution. In a month I’ll be heading to one of my… Read More »Hiking for writing II
It’s perhaps no surprise that two of the settings in my third thriller, My Mother’s Secret, are based at National Trust sites. For me, the… Read More »In praise of the National Trust
I’d love you to come to my book launch party if you can make it! It’s 7 p.m. Friday 11 May at Waterstones, Bristol. There’ll… Read More »Party like a writer!