Stuart Aken's Blog, page 348

Face to Face

With increasing numbers of literary festivals offering chances to meet experienced writing practitioners, I thought I'd look at the value of such one to one events.I've been writing for more years than I care to count, starting with illustrated articles for the photographic press in my late teens before moving on to fiction. In all that time, I've repeatedly heard how face to face meetings with acknowledged experts can be inspiring. Until last year, I believed this was all so much hype...

Interview with Author, BethAnn Buehler

BethAnn's world revolves around family, friends, and her love of writing.  When not working on her next story, she can usually be found having breakfast at a local restaurant with her parents, enjoying a caramel latte with girlfriends or neglecting her responsibilities as wife and mother because she's thinking about her next story. 
She writes romance with an erotic bent and gets most of her ideas from talking with friends about what everyone really wants for Christmas---the perfect...

Avril Field-Taylor and her WIP

Image via WikipediaAvril Field-Taylor writes crime novels, and, like her contemporary detective, Georgia Pattison, sings. But, she also writes alternative history crime novels and is currently working on a series set in Tudor Britain featuring Luke Ballard, apothecary and elemancer. Yes, like you, I know what an apothecary is, but an elemancer? Well, it's a magician who uses the elements to perform magic. And Luke is involved with the court of King Henry IX, the son of Henry VIII and Anne...

Interview with J Russell Rose

"Storytelling is an ancient and honorable act. An essential role to play in the community or tribe. It's one that I embrace whole heartedly and have been fortunate enough to be rewarded for." Russell Banks, author of  The Darling ,  The Sweet Hereafter . Like Banks, J Russell Rose is a story teller who embraces the honourable act wholeheartedly. Born and raised in Virginia and travelling far and wide, he has returned to the mountains that he loves and now spends a great deal of his time...

Author Interviews, Revisited.

I have been running the author interviews on here now for long enough to review the process. So far, more than 20 published writers have shared their ideas, inspirations, methods and thoughts with us. There are another 8 lined up so far, with promises of more in the pipeline. What has come across from those so far posted has been the incredible mix of opinion on topics that beginners might have expected to be uniform. The attitudes to grammar are really varied, as are those regarding editing ...

Author Interview with Lila Munro

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Lila Munro is a writer of contemporary romance currently residing on the coast of North Carolina. She is currently under contract for two novels with Wild Horse Press, and a third with Whiskey Creek Press. When she's not writing, she enjoys reading everything she can get her hands on, trips to the museum and aquarium, taking field research trips, and soaking up the sun on the nearby beaches. She loves to hear from her readers.
Tell us about your current title.
The...

Writers Plus Writers Equals Writers

Reading the following article from the weekly newsletter of Funds For Writers Small Markets, by C. Hope Clark, I thought it deserved as wide an audience as possible. So, with her kind permission, I reproduce it here for your consideration. The website, by the way, has been one of Writers' Digest 101 Best Websites for Writers for the past 10 years.
Writers have an incestuous relationship with other writers.
Ever noticed how writers sell to each other? Read each
other? Study each other?I can't...

Interview with Author, Sarah Barnard

Sarah Barnard is a single mother living, working and writing in Middle England. She describes the place as a bit like Middle Earth in its beauty but without the walking trees. She tries to live a green life, growing some of her own crops, keeping chickens for eggs and doing as much reducing, reusing and recycling as she can. A Pisces and a rooster, depending on the preferred zodiac system, her favourite colours are green and purple. She's been writing since a very good friend dared her to...

Goodreads, A Community For Readers & Writers

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If you've never visited the Goodreads website, you've missed a real treat. This is a place, ostensibly, for readers to list, comment on and share their opinions about books they have actually read. It's also a place for authors to promote their own titles. But it is so much more than that. The insights from real readers are so useful for a writer and give wonderful guidance to other readers about what might be worth trying and what is definitely for the bin. The variety of ...

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