Amy Barrett's Blog, page 2

Tips to write fantastic female characters

It is so hard to find a book with a female lead that doesnt make me want to scream. There are many of them that end up being bland, vain or have no life outside of their boyfriends. I dont know why it is so hard to write an appealing female protagonist but its a minefield for writers. So, here are my tips for writing woman in your fiction.

Give her a passion other than men

People are passionate about one thing or another. As humans we do things just because they bring us joy. So, by giving...

“Mageborn” Book review

Cover image belongs to the author of course.

I am a huge fan of fantasy romance so Mageborn by Jessica Thorne is right up my alley. Yet I was not prepared to love this book quite as much as I did. So, without further delay, here is my review of this gripping fantasy novel.

Good parts

Here are a list of a few of the things that were amazing about this book. (I dont have the time to list them all.)

Magic and the Mageborn

This book is full of people with magical powers. From those who summon...

Writing Believable Characters

There is a lot involved in writing believable characters and most of it is background work that your reader will not see. However they will see the effect of this work; the best characters that you can make. In order to help with your character creation here are my top five tips for writing believable characters. These are things I have learnt during my time doing a creative writing degree and writing novels. I hope they help you.

Give your characters flaws

This is maybe one of the ...

“After we Collided” Movie review

“After we collided” is a teen romance film that started out as a Wattpad novel. I would like to start by saying that I am actually a huge fan of these teen romance movies. They are my guilty pleasure whenever I am hungover or tired. Often, it is the predictability of them and gushy romance that is very comforting to me. Having said that, “After we collided” takes the cliches and tropes and packs them all into the same film. Imagine if every dramatic plot point in every romance film you had e...

Radio Interview about my Novel

Recently I did an interview on Chat and Spin Radio about my novel “Monsters and Invisible Men”. I talk about what inspired the novel, what it is about and why I wrote it. Take a listen here (My interview starts at around 30:00)

Expanding on the radio interview



Tell me about you and your book?

I am a new fantasy and urban fantasy writer. “Monsters and Invisible Men” is my first published book.

It is an urban fantasy novel. There are two main characters, Ivan and Nick. Ivan...

Music to Write To List

A lot of non writers I talk to are surprised that I have a list of music to write to. Yet it is invaluable to me. I am a regular on the question and answer website Quora. Here I often get asked what I do to overcome writers block. Anyone who has seen my earlier post regarding the cast of my novel will have noticed that I had a theme song for each of my characters. (https://amybarrettauthor.com/monsters-and-invisible-men-the-cast/#comment-15) This is because I use music to get past writers bl...

Self-Publishing Update

Things that have gone well with Self-publishing

So far there have been a few things that have gone well with self-publishing. One of these things is the support groups I have found on Facebook. One in particular has been wonderful. It has provided a huge community of writers for me to learn from. It is a very interactive group that always has something going on. This is not a page for selling your book but rather for support with any questions you might have about the self-publishing pro...

How to keep a reader interested

I get this question a lot, “how do I keep a reader interested?” Its a rough one to answer because it can often depend on the type of reader you want to attract but I will offer my general rules here.

Evoke emotions in the reader

People will be interested in something they care about. Therefore, if you evoke pity or anger in the reader then they will want to know what happens next. This does not mean annoy them with the first line or give your protagonist the saddest backstory there e...

NaNoWriMo Beginners Guide

For those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo is the challenge to write 50,000 words in a month. This might sound very intimidating but here I will give you a list of things you should do to prepare for NaNoWriMo. Hopefully this list will make it easier for you to reach that word count. So lets get started!

Make a plan for your novel

This is one that I had to learn the hard way. I am the kind of writer who writes things as they come to me. This means that I never make a plan. However, Na...

Ackley Bridge review

I have just finished the two seasons of Ackley Bridge that are on Netflix Ireland/UK. This is a show about a community that is made up of Asians and whites. The people of this fictional Yorkshire town have been divided for ages. The show starts with the opening of the Ackley Bridge school where the communities will mix for the first time. We follow a cast of diverse characters as they navigate their teenage years in this community.

Issues Raised in Ackley Bridge



Race

As you might ...