Lorraine Wilson's Blog, page 2

Dark Academia - Tropes, toffs and tribulations

This is an old blog that I wrote over on my website when I first started writing The Salt Oracle in 2023. I’m reposting it (updated) now, as I figured it might be fun to share given you all now know what the book is that I’m talking about here!

So Dark Academia. What is it, why do we love it, why do we hate it, and why is The Salt Oracle both DA and really not?

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It’s a perennially popular genre, isn’t it? Whether you consider it as born out of Tumblr vibes or Donna Tartt’s The Secret ...

Diary - The Salt Oracle

Well, my loves, I promised a proper introduction to my next book, and ta da! Here finally it is!

As you may have gathered from the last newsletter, The Salt Oracle is coming out in November this year, and is set in the same post-internet digital ghosts future as We Are All Ghosts In The Forest, but is another stand alone. Because of my appalling series staying power (or lack thereof) I am rather loving the rise of same world standalones at the moment and am delighted to have accidentally fallen i...

Double cover reveal funtimes

Happy weekend!

Writing update - after a week and a half away from editing, Ihave just returned to the editing cave, making last revisions to a book we’re hoping to get out on submission asap. My wee break was mostly filled with much needed rest, but I also did some exciting outlining for two planned books. One of these will likely be the next wip, the other is a pure side-project tangent book that I’m just playing around with as some pressure-free fun.

Now! In the last two newsletters I’ve said th...

Debut year, motherhood and making space

Greetings from a tentatively Spring-like Fife. Today on the blog, I’m bringing you something a little different - an interview with an amazing debut author and friend, Annabel Campbell. I was lucky enough to read her book some time ago, and the vibrancy and thoughtfulness of her characters have stayed with me, so I could happily have chatted purely about the book itself here. But Annabel is a woman of miracles because she has debuted and become a first-time parent within the same few months, wit...

Interiority, quiet stories and 'tv brain'

Morning all,

I am crawling out of the editing cave to ramble about interiority today. Please blame any incoherence on my brain currently resembling overcooked spaghetti.

Proof I do stop editing and leave the house occasionally

A wee while ago I read two fascinating articles on here.

The first was by Kern Carter, who interogated a few extremely successful books and posed the question - have we lost trust in readers? They were talking about a trend in modern books towards explicitly stating the the...

Diary - All The Birds Will Be Hostile

Hello beloveds,

Welcome back to the first diary update in a while. Last time I visited the diary series for Birds it was to say that I was between agents, and that this book - meant to be on submission - was instead in abeyance as the whole agenting thing played out.

As I mentioned in a recent blog on why agent-author relationships end, I am now happily with my new agent - Julie Gourinchas at Bell Lomax Moreton Literary Agency. So all those halted plans are now on the move again. It’s not an inst...

A year in review, a year in anticipation

Welcome to 2025! (late but don’t judge, we have approximately 16 milliseconds of daylight this time of year, I’m 90% dozy bear)

Being as I talk the talk about resilience and not falling into the traps of comparanoia or shifting goalposts, I figure I ought to walk the walk with a wee review post about where I am and how I feel about that.

First though, a lil book sale treat - my publishers for We Are All Ghosts In The Forest are running a 99p ebook sale for firsts-in-series from now until the 18th...

Bookish love wrap up, 2024

Season’s greetings, travellers.

I hope the solstice and the turning of the year are treating you well, where-ever you are. I am holding onto the bright spark of hope that is the fact that tonight is longest night, so tomorrow the light will start to return.

I am usually pretty late getting my Christmas bookbuying post up, but this year feels more last minute and hectic than usual so I’ve given up and decided this will do just as well for post-Christmas bookshop sales recommendations - I can’t be...

Changes to subscriptions

Hi wonderful subscribers,

I hope you are all doing well and able to take time to enjoying the run up to the holidays amidst the *everything* that this time of year brings.

I realised the other day that it’s just over a year since I launched my blog/newsletter here on Substack and that I needed to review where I am and what’s working or not working. The …

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The Needfire - Cover reveal time!

Hi all, I am writing this from under a heated blanket AND a cat, for extra cozy after getting home from the last of my November events last night. I am delighted to be hosting MK Hardy on the blog today - they are the powerhouse talented duo behind a book that is going to rampage through your hearts next year. The cover of this creepy, brilliant debut novel - The Needfire - is being revealed across the interwebs today and MK Hardy have jumped onto my blog to introduce themselves, their book and ...