Roz Morris's Blog, page 75

It’s a cover! The real cover of Lifeform Three

Forget the alien on fire. Delete your sparkly apocalypse. Say hello to misty woods, abandoned towns, secrets in the landscape, a forbidden life by night, the scent of bygone days and a past that is itching to be found. Say hello to a door in a dream that seems to hold the answers. And this […]

My nearly disastrous cover

I nearly made a big mistake. You remember a few months ago I blogged about the development process for the cover of Lifeform Three. Oh it was brilliantly nifty. To save you reading the original post, I made dummies of different concepts and asked people to interpret what they said about the book. I thought […]

‘The thoughts start flowing again’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Will Overby

I’m finding it so curious to see how many novelists in this series are inspired by Bruce Springsteen. He’s probably not the kind of artiste people would imagine if you mentioned using music as a muse to write, but he’s behind so many characters and character dilemmas. My guest this week has compiled writing soundtracks […]

From ‘To do’ to ‘Done’ – confessions of an organised author

I’ve had a question from Samantha Warren, who saw me at the Get Read conference, where publishing journalist Porter Anderson was interviewing me for a session on reaching readers. Some of the discussion was about balancing all the demands in our lives – social media and promotion versus the writing and production of books. In […]

‘Music to make a creative space’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, Kirsty Greenwood

My guest this week says that for the first part of her life, performing music was everything to her. She spent most of her teenage years singing two-part harmony with her sisters and was set for a career in music when a bout of depression wiped out her desire to perform. During her recovery she […]

How to write down story ideas so you can remember why they were brilliant

My cover designer, Frazer Payne, is as adept with words as he is with images. As we were fine-tuning the cover of Lifeform Three, he said to me: ‘I don’t know how you get a book finished. I have all these ideas but my imagination’s like a rope that frays into too many ends.’ (You […]

Could The Undercover Soundtrack help you reach readers? Post at the Alliance of Independent Authors

You know The Undercover Soundtrack? The Alliance of Independent Authors got curious about it and asked me to write a post. Why did I set the series up? What do I get out of it? What do the participating authors get, aside from a singular blogging challenge and another place to get their work seen? […]

‘Sex, drugs, metaphysics and rock’n’roll’ – The Undercover Soundtrack, David Biddle

Music, dead rock gods, psychedelia consciousnesses and the CIA – this novel definitely had to feature on the Undercover Soundtrack. Its title came from a Jimi Hendrix song, and germinated when the writer was just 17 years old. It took him another 15 years to write, though, when an Elvis track kicked his imagination and […]

How do I develop something special in my writing?

I’ve had this great question from Lindsey Maguire: I’m a 15-year-old high school student whose biggest dream is to be a writer. I’m a good writer, but there’s nothing special about my writing. I was wondering how I could start to practise my skills and to become better over time? How did you start off? […]

2 Tone Records and two cities riven by conflict – The Undercover Soundtrack, Catriona Troth

Coventry and Brixton in the 1980s. My guest this week has drawn on reggae and the music of the iconic Two Tone label to evoke cities riven by racial conflict. Music was a strong part of identity and hers is a soundtrack of jagged horns and simmering beats. Her novel’s title echoes one of 2 […]