Thriller writer Oliver Johnson speaks to me about writing, editing and dreams TEN MINUTE READ Listen to the full interview or read the edited transcript below. I was looking forward greatly to interviewing Oliver Johnson.…
I’m delighted that I’ve been invited to speak for National Crime Reading Month on Tuesday 24 June. If you’re in or near North London at 5pm that day it would be great to see you…
Fall in love with the earth In my continuing search for books to recommend to you, a few months ago I read Samantha Harvey’s novel Orbital. Just two weeks ago, it won the Booker. Never…
Do you hate watching movies and TV dramas based on novels? Or love them? Why do some adaptations work, while others crumble into dust? I’ve been talking about adaptations and why some writers fail while others…
I’m at that wonderful, scary, exciting, fearful point of starting to plan a new novel. The first glimmerings of ideas are beginning to come. The romantic view would be that they are like whispers in…
Satire is having a big moment. We have satirical novels winning the Mann Booker Prize, satirical TV shows hoovering up the ratings along with satirical movies. Some politicians are deemed to be too far gone…
This week I’m talking to bestselling author Sam Blake. Originally from St. Albans in Hertfordshire, Sam has two teenagers, three cats and lives in a 200-year-old cottage at the foot of the Wicklow mountains with…
I went into my study this morning, bouncing, full of ideas for a new short story and turned on my computer. It had a message for me. COMPUTER: I NEED TO SCAN FOR TROJANS (OR…
Louise Doughty is one of the most interesting authors today. Refusing to be pigeon-holed, every book breaks new ground. Her novels have been shortlisted for the Costa Novel Award and longlisted for the Orange Prize…
The world seems to be full of courses offering to teach you how to write. I should know, I’ve attended some and taught many. This week, Jeff, fellow writer and follower of my email list…
In 2000 the movie What Lies Beneath opened to mixed reviews. Despite a strong opening, cast (Harrison Ford, Michelle Pfeiffer) and director (Robert Zemeckis), reviewers talked of its “decomposing script” and said it “ran off…
Every year, when I was between about nine and thirteen, I’d buy one. A Boots Scribbling Diary. On New Year’s Day, I’d open it up and gaze at the empty lined page, headed January 1st.…
Why does some screenplay dialogue sizzle while other lines end up like cold toast? Here’s one tip I picked up many years ago: check that you haven’t started to play ping-pong! The problem is the “di”…
Holidays are a memory, warm sunshine too, time for getting back to writing. But I know only too well how easy it is for that motivation to slip away. I came back from my own…
Why do we always have to keep learning the same lessons? Wouldn’t it be nice occasionally for something to stick? I forgot one of the fundamentals of first draft writing and it was painful relearning…
I received an email this week from a novelist who wanted to learn more about becoming a screenwriter and in particular wanted some tips on writing dialogue – whether for his books or for the…
9 ways to get your subtext muscle working for readable, rich dialogue
Planning the Mental Game for Writing Success workshop in London this weekend made me think how powerful some of the simplest writing exercises can be. Here’s one – do try this at home: