Roz Morris's Blog, page 71

‘Road trips require a soundtrack; so do some novels’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Linda Collison

My guest this week says she studied music in high school. She describes music as a time machine, and even indulges a wish that in a parallel life, she became a musician. (In common, I’m sure, with many of my Soundtrack guests – not least, me.) In this life, though, her instrument is words, and […]

‘Road trips require a soundtrack; so do some novels’ – The Undercover Soundrtrack, Linda Collison

My guest this week says she studied music in high school. She describes music as a time machine, and even indulges a wish that in a parallel life, she became a musician. (In common, I’m sure, with many of my Soundtrack guests – not least, me.) In this life, though, her instrument is words, and […]

How to make an audiobook using ACX

Do you want to release your title as an audiobook? If you live in the US, you can go through ACX, the DIY arm of Audible, but ACX wasn’t open to UK authors – until now. For the past month, I’ve had both my novels in production as a test pilot, and now I can […]

‘A trickle of notes can flood your thoughts with broken things’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Warren FitzGerald

My guest this week has studied music more closely than some. His previous artistic incarnation was a rock singer – both with a band of his own and performing as a session vocalist to vast venues. (If you’re very good, we’ll include a video of him so you can see for yourself.) Now he has […]

An easy way to make your plot plausible – control your novel’s timeline

Years ago, when I got editorial queries on my first ghosted manuscript, the most tricky to answer were the comments about the novel’s timeline. Scratch that; they weren’t just tricky. They were a forensic slog. I’d already checked everything that affected the central plot events – journey times, important dates and so on. But that […]

‘Tragedy and loss are cornerstones of my story’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Anne Allen

One of the special pleasures of hosting The Undercover Soundtrack is the honesty of the writing. My guests are ready to delve into their innermost creative spaces and share the bare, exacting process of turning memories, experiences and feelings into stories. My guest this week is one of those writers who drew on raw times […]

How many words do you write a day? And do you have to force yourself? How successful authors do it

This question appeared in my inbox from Adam Nicholls after I reported on Facebook that I’d managed 4,000 words of The Mountains Novel in one day. Adam DMd me, in not a little anguish: How many words do you write per day? And do you have to force yourself to do it? I love writing, […]

‘Pictures in melody’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Aaron Sikes

You could divide my Undercover Soundtrack guests into those who aren’t put off by lyrics and those who are. My guest this week is one of the latter. He says that music with lyrics is too domineering when he’s trying to write – but that orchestral or ambient electronic music sets his imagination free to […]

7 essentials for writing a good novel – notes from the Undercover Soundtrack

You’ll have seen the posts here about my blog series the Undercover Soundtrack.  Over the years, the posts consistently repeat certain bare essentials, both for reaching the writing mindset and creating a good story. Here they are, and whether you write with music or not, we all need them. To enter the zone In front […]

‘Everyone is haunted by something’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Rochelle Jewel Shapiro

No matter how many of these Undercover Soundtrack pieces I post – and by now it’s nearly 300 – I still get a thrill from reading a new one. There is such pleasure in delving into the essence of a writer’s creative soul, to be reminded that what we are doing is taking the personal […]