In my youth, I went through a phase of writing rhyming love poems. I managed to find one such “masterpiece”  in my memory box to publish. At the time, I was super proud of what I wrote. Now, it makes me feel a little nauseous and I think to myself:  I must have had a lot of time on my hands. I’m not sure it’s even a love poem, more like a letter I wrote in rhyme because I thought it was cute. As you can imagine, the boy was stunned-speechless when he read it because up – until then – he hadn’t realised he was in a “deep and meaningful” relationship. On the Verge (…of a bre ..read more

What I’ve learned about writing a thriller novel Writing a thriller novel is no mean feat. I can’t count the number of people who told me I should write a thriller. This is because most of my stories involve someone getting murdered or accidentally killed. I have no problem writing a murder scene – that I can do. I certainly have no difficulty writing the chapters for my hapless murderer, Andres. But when it comes to writing the scenes about the police investigation and all the forensics inTELL, I find myself swimming in soup. Writing a thriller novel is as much about the characters as the det ..read more

First Day at Secondary School I’ll never forget my first day at secondary school. I felt as if I were floating when I walked up the smooth concrete path towards the wide glass doors with their chipped paint. I was aware of the other children staring at me because I was different, something new, something to be feared, detested, or a source of amusement. All I cared about was getting through the doors and into my classroom. I heard jeering, laughing and whispering. I remember someone trying to get my attention. I don’t know if it was a boy or a girl. My vision had gone a little blurry. They sta ..read more

An accidental dark comedy thriller This is an excerpt from my dark comedy thriller. I didn’t set out to write a comedy, it just sort of happened. I embarked on this story when I signed up for the Curtis Brown, Starting to Write your Novel course last year. It was a great course, plus I won a book for my efforts! I wonder if I should be writing a dark comedy thriller, given that I’ve only read a handful in my life, and the fact that I’ve found myself laughing out loud at mainstream mysteries and thrillers, which aren’t supposed to be funny. I guess this says more about my twisted sen ..read more

Words to avoid like the plague! As a writer, there are so many words that I’ve been told to avoid, it’s no wonder that I can get any writing done without pausing mid-flow to ask myself, is this on the list of words to avoid? And then there’s the nagging ‘habitual word usage’, whereby you take one word or phrase and ‘beat the reader over the head’ with it. I’m a fan of the word ‘but’ I believe it’s a great transitional word.  However, I use it frugally as it is on the list of  ‘words to avoid’. I once read a book, where an author used the word ‘but’ several times on every page.  ..read more

There are plenty of book promotion websites on which you can advertise your free eBook and Kindle countdown deal. Some of these will amass no sales or downloads, some will only make a dent, others will make you a sizeable profit. The majority of promotional websites will ask you to pay a fee. These fees can add up and there’s no guarantee you’ll recuperate the costs by making a tidy profit. If your budget is small, I wouldn’t advise that you spend hours, or days, submitting to every promo website. Submit to the free book promotion websites first or find a website that will charge you one fee t ..read more

About marketing your Book on Amazon Writers often ask what are the best methods for marketing your book on Amazon? Some self-published authors have phenomenal success with book marketing while others yield few results. There are two reasons why you need to market your book on Amazon: to drive books sales and to build your author platform. Marketing your book on Amazon for free Promote the book on your website. Share news about your book on social media. Get reviews. You can ask readers to review your eBook by adding a link in the last page. Don’t overprice or undervalue your books. No 0.99 eB ..read more

James Patterson On Writing masterclass Curious to discover what I was doing wrong or what I could do to improve my writing, I decided to embark on the James Patterson Masterclass. I’m not going to give away the content of the lessons because it wouldn’t be fair for those who paid up – like myself. The videos are recorded in such a way that you feel that Mr Patterson is talking directly to you and not to the camera. The writing masterclass is broken up into 22 video tutorials which include course material in the form of downloadable PDF workbooks. Also included, are case studies of the author’s ..read more

Set up your website to promote your book Your own website is the best way to promote your book. It allows you to build an audience – providing you get the right traffic. To achieve this, you’ll need to add lots of relevant and unique content, and also inject the right keywords and descriptions. Your author website could benefit from Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). You can also set up a mailing list on your website. What you should be including on your author website: An email sign up A blog A news page with the latest press releases about your books, events you’re attending A content page A ..read more

I wrote The Once Man as part of my assignment for the Curtis Brown novel writing course. The Once Man: A Short Ghost Story I drive down the narrow country road flanked by lofty trees. The road is clear up ahead. I wind down the car window and breathe the damp air. My skin tingles. I feel a chill on my neck. I slam on the brakes, put the car in reverse and drive back the way I came. I don’t know why I turn back even after all these years. I haven’t driven a mile up the road when I glimpse his ghost-grey eyes watching me. I thump on the brakes. I jumped out of the car. I charge up to the Once Ma ..read more