A Shiver of Snow and Sky Blog Tour

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the A Shiver of Snow and Sky blog tour! I had the pleasure of reading this magical book the other week and I absolutely loved it. Lisa Lueddecke's writing completely sweeps you away to an icy land where warnings are painted red in the skies so I'm very excited to be hosting a fantastic guest post from Lisa on magical world-building today and I have 3 copies of the book to give away to three of my lucky readers over on Twitter!

Magical World-Building by Lisa Lueddecke

If there is one part of writing I am here for, it’s the world-building. With A Shiver of Snow and Sky, I had elements of the world long before any of the story came to me, but because the world was so concrete and realized, the story fell seamlessly into place. I always knew that the northern lights would play a huge role, and I always knew that I wanted the sky to speak to those on the island, and so the rest of the story just followed, like it had existed all along and was just waiting for me to find it. That was very much the sense I got while writing this story: that I was discovering something that had always existed in my mind, and it was very exciting.

When I’m creating a fantasy world, I tend to picture landscapes, settings, and jot down notes on the imagery. Sometimes I scroll through pages and pages of pins on Pinterest, or do image searches for relevant words, or just free write in a notebook for a while to brainstorm ideas. For A Shiver of Snow and Sky, I wrote down a list of words that would complement the world (and I still have the list.) This was what I wrote down.

 Barren 

Biting 

Bleak 

Crackling 

Crisp 

Crunchy 

Fluffy 

Foggy 

Frosty 

Gray 

Isolated 

Leafless 

Lonely 

Misty 

Nippy 

Numb 

Overcast 

Evergreen 

Mittens 

Gust 

Shawl 

Quilt 

Layers 

Tea 

Knit 

Bundled 

Bare 

Spice 

Blue 

I knew early on that the world the book was set in would be every bit as big a character as the actual characters, and it would be the first one I’d need to fully understand before I could move on. I think the setting-as-a-character thing is true of all fantasy, if not all books! If readers can’t believe in the world you’ve created, it leaves room for them to not believe in your book. Writing down that list of random, wintry words helped me to set the tone for the book I wanted to write, even if I didn’t expressly use them in the story. It’s also very important to fully understand the parameters of the world you’re creating, because it will set the standard by which you mean to continue. If your world has rules regarding magic, for example, you need to either remember not to break those rules, or understand how those rules can be broken. (Breaking those rules does not have to ruin anything; it can be an important plot point, if you have a firm understanding of how to pull it off!)

Magic in world-building does not limit itself to books with systems for using magic, such as Harry Potter, but worlds that contain magical or fantasy elements that need to be outlined and understood. Without going into too much detail for those who haven’t read the book yet, much of that for me was based around my use of the northern lights as a voice of the Goddess, whereas much of the day to day world in which the characters lived could be explained away as an old Norse village, or similar. The most important thing for me to get right in writing this book, and which I sincerely hope I did, was to create a world in which, while daily life might seem simple and normal, there was the idea that anything could happen, and anything was possible. Whether that was through references to their superstitions or campfire tales, I wanted the world to feel richer than what they saw and lived every day, because as a reader, having that feeling that anything can happen is something that keeps me turning the pages of any book. If there’s more than meets the eye, more to discover, and more to learn, you will have my undivided attention!

In closing, I believe that building a magical world is all about layering: start with something simple, like a basic setting, and add to that slowly, fleshing out the bones. I started with the idea of a wintry island, then layered in the idea of the northern lights, the villagers’ superstitions, stories about the mountains, and I just kept going until I had a whole world (and I’m still building it!) I think I’ll always feel like I have more to add to the world, but I’m happy with what I’ve done so far, and I’m so excited to be back on the island working on the next book.

For your chance to win a copy of A Shiver of Snow and Sky head on over to Twitter to enter! 

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RT & Follow @JessHeartsBooks to enter
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— Jess Haunts Books👻 (@JessHeartsBooks) October 5, 2017

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99 Red Balloons Blog Tour

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the 99 Red Balloons blog tour! Today I have a guest post from the author Elisabeth Carpenter sharing her typical writing day.

My Writing Day by Elisabeth Carpenter 

Before I ever started writing, I imagined a writer’s daily routine consisted of walks in the park dreaming-up ideas, then writing furiously in a steamy café. I’d picture said writer spending evenings tearing up bits of paper in frustration, drinking whiskey and contemplating the unfairness of having such a tortured soul.

The reality – or rather, my reality – couldn’t be more different.

I’m writing this post in the summer holidays and, as a mother of a very lively six-year-old, there’s currently no fixed writing routine. I write when he’s quiet (this might be for five or forty-five minutes), or if he’s asleep. So I’ll share with you my usual writing day, which will commence when normality has been resumed in September!

After dropping my son off at school, I’ll usually catch up on Twitter and Facebook. At about nine thirty, I’ll fire up the laptop either at my desk or in the living room. I’ve been working from home since my youngest son was born. My partner, Dom, is also based at home, so I have to close the door if I don’t want to be interrupted! I dream of having a summer house in the garden to work in and have already chosen the furniture in my head.

I usually start with a basic idea for a manuscript, which is usually just a few lines. I keep ideas on scraps of paper, on my phone or in notebooks. As I’ve about thirty notebooks, sometimes locating these ideas can be a bit tricky. I’ve given up trying to keep them in my head – after a day it’s gone!

I don’t have a set amount of words to aim for, but I’ll be happy with 1000-2000 a day. If I have a deadline looming, however, it could be double that. Ideally, I’d allocate a month or two to edit my manuscripts after a first draft of a novel. I don’t edit as I go along, else I might never finish it. I like to keep the momentum going, but it does make the editing stage quite intense; sometimes the plot has changed or characters have evolved. This usually means I need to re-write the first few chapters. 

Sometimes it’s hard to concentrate if I’ve ‘lost the plot’. If this happens, I’ll either go for a walk with an audio book, read, or put on Netflix. It takes a lot of self-control to not watch too many episodes! At the moment, though, I’m editing Book Two, which has to be with my editor at the end of August. I finished the first draft before the start of the school holidays, so I still have a couple of weeks to work on it. Before sending it to my beta readers, I’ll print the whole thing and go through it again (for the fiftieth time, probably!).

I’ll write until three o’clock in the afternoon and pick up my son from school. No writing can be done until he goes to bed, as I can’t write with Topsy and Tim chattering away in the background. But it’s a great time right now – I still can’t believe my book is going to be published! It’s a dream come true.

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Editing Emma Blog Tour

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the Editing Emma blog tour! Today I have a brilliant guest post from Chloe Seager on growing up online and I'm giving 3 of my lucky readers the chance to win a copy of the book over on Twitter.

Online Pressures For This Generation by Chloe Seager

When I was a teenager, I don’t think I realised just how new or strange a thing social media really was. I was part of the first generation who grew up with it, and everything in my life being public seemed pretty normal to me. I remember my Mum being totally scandalised by pictures of me and my friends in bikinis ‘on the internet?!’ and shaking her head at our constant selfie-sharing. But looking back, I think I’ve gained some perspective on what a strange thing it actually can be, and what kind of additional pressures social media put on my teenage years. 

Genuinely, I went through a phase where I almost felt like things weren’t real unless they were put online. Like, if we didn’t get a photo of our evening out…did it even happen? I also went through a phase where if I had a terrible time, I would think to myself, ‘it’s ok, at least I got some pictures that look like I’m having a good time.’ Looking back, these aren’t particularly healthy thoughts for a young person to be having. What kind of value system is that? One where I comfort my lonely, sad self with the image of myself seeming happy and fulfilled? In many ways, I think I could even look at pictures of times that were truly awful and convince myself I was having fun…which is even more bizarre than convincing other people.

Thinking about it, though, it’s not all that surprising. When you’re fourteen years old and everything in your life starts getting uploaded, to start defining yourself by that content almost seems inevitable… or at least, for the lines to blur. Even if I knew logically that other people weren’t always as they appeared in their content - I got told it time and time again, and I knew that I myself wasn’t always completely truthful - all these smiling, shining pictures of other people did (and still do) make it hard sometimes. And probably for some people more than me, who was lucky enough to have a decent group of pals. A friend I met in adult life said before social media came along, she might have been at home alone on a Friday night…but no one would know about it. She knew on a vague level that other people were probably out having fun, but didn’t have to get smacked in the face with it. But once Facebook happened, not only did she know for sure that she was never invited to parties, but it was also suddenly like everyone else could see her own lack of social life. ‘Why are there never any pictures of you?’ they would ask. It highlighted how left out she was at school in a very public domain, to the point where she considered taking dressed-up selfies that made her look like she was going out. (She didn’t do this in the end, and deleted her social media instead).

I think it must be even worse for teenagers now than it was for my generation. I did definitely think about how I was coming off - what with reams of embarrassing photos being uploaded against my will, and thinking ‘I look so ugly there’ and ‘how dare they upload this,’ and obviously using it to look a certain way (a la Emma) e.g. wanting to look like I was having tons of fun even if I wasn’t, or wanting to seem like I was SUPER HAPPY AND FINE to spite an ex boyfriend or a mate I was fighting with. But I do think it’s even more extreme now. Probably the most creative choice I’d ever made on social media was what song to choose for my MySpace profile, and now each and every photo that gets uploaded has a zillion filter choices. It’s a whole different world than it was ten years ago and in general I think the emphasis is now on quality over quantity, which in many ways puts way more focus onto one’s image.

There are benefits to this, though. I asked my boyfriend recently, who never got a FB account as a teenager, but did get Insta later on. He said he didn't like the way Facebook made his whole life public in a way he couldn’t fully control, whereas with Instagram he mainly chooses what to share. In a way I totally understand that… It also gives room for you to be creative and explore your own identity, which is such a huge part of being a teenager. But imagining my teenage self with Instagram, I can see just how incredibly neurotic I would have become. It’s not just ‘here’s me on a night out,’ any more, it’s like… ‘here’s my bedroom,’ ‘here’s my plate of food,’ ‘here’s my everything’ etc etc. I think though the amount of content might have decreased, people expect to share even more aspects of their lives now than ten years ago, and naturally, the need to present oneself a certain way will become more extreme along with it.

I think social media can be wonderful but as with anything, it has its pros and cons. It’s great way for teenagers to connect, but it can also compound loneliness, and exacerbate what can already be an isolating period. It’s a great way to express yourself and be creative, and I think it allows teenagers to be more switched on and worldly than people without it would have been. But then again, figuring out who you’re supposed to be over those years is difficult enough, without doing it in public. It seems like it applies pressure for the decision to be right now, and to be fully formed. Whilst it can give you a boost, it can also make you feel low and leads people into pretending or putting up a front. In the end, I eventually figured out how to use it in a way I was happy with; everyone probably has a different relationship with it and needs to find their own balance. But I don’t envy teenagers (like Emma!) having to go through that. In hindsight, it was such a big part of my own teenage life that I knew I wanted to write about it in Editing Emma.

For your chance to win a copy of Editing Emma head over to Twitter 

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— Jess Hearts Books (@JessHeartsBooks) August 15, 2017

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Ask No Questions Blog Tour

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the Ask No Questions blog tour! Today I have a brilliant guest post from Lisa Hartley sharing her top writing tips for all of you budding authors out there.

Lisa Hartley's Top 5 Writing Tips 

1) Sit down and write.
Sounds obvious, but for a long time, I dreamed about being about being a writer without actually doing much writing. This turned out to be not the best way to achieve that dream. You might have the perfect plot, the most amazing characters, but if they’re in your head and not on the page, you’ve no way of sharing them. Sit down and write regularly, whether you manage five minutes or 50,000 words. I’m currently working on the second book in my new series. For me, this means writing at least 600 words a day. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s achievable even on the days I have other commitments. I usually manage a lot more, but even if I don’t, I’m always making progress towards a completed first draft.

2) Read. 
Other people’s words are inspiring. Read in the genre you’re planning to write in, but also more widely. Never plagiarise, but allow the ideas and themes you read about to encourage your own ideas.

3) Ask a trusted friend or a professional to give their honest opinion of your work.
I had always enjoyed writing, but realised that didn’t mean I had any talent for it. Once I’d (eventually!) finished my first full length novel, On Laughton Moor, I had no idea if it was any good. I couldn’t ask my partner or my mum for their honest opinion, because they would feel pressured to be polite and encouraging, as would friends and other relatives. What I needed was the opinion of someone who knew the publishing industry, a person who really knew what they were talking about. If I was ever going to make writing my career, I would have to get used to receiving feedback on what worked and what I needed to change. It’s a daunting thought, terrifying even. The project you’ve spent so long working on, your “baby”, being read by someone who will pull no punches when giving their opinion. But you need to learn to accept constructive criticism if you’re ever going to improve. This might mean approaching an agent or publishers, or there are also companies which offer critiques of manuscripts and other services. If you choose that route, research them as much as you can, ask around, and choose wisely.

4) Accept that not everyone will like your work. 
This perhaps follows on from the above, but the fact is some people will not enjoy your novel. This doesn’t make it a bad book, and it doesn’t mean you’re a failure as a writer who should sell their computer and go and find something more worthwhile to do.

It just means this particular person didn’t like your book.

For me, this was a huge thing to accept. A negative review can feel like personal attack. The trick is to read, shrug, and get on with your life. If someone offers advice you feel you can use, then brilliant, do so. As I said above, constructive criticism is vital, but someone just saying your book is “rubbish” (or whatever) isn’t going to help you improve. This person didn’t like your book, and that’s fine. Time to move on.

I’m the worst person in the world at doing this, though. When I received my first negative review, it upset me for ages. Eventually I learnt to accept it and move on. Easier said than done, I know, but necessary to save yourself some heartache.

5) Make your own way. 
Read reviews, blogs, and interviews with writers you admire. Go to book festivals, chat on Twitter with writers and readers. In the end though, keep writing whatever it is you want to write. Listen to advice, maybe follow the “rules” of your genre to the point where you realise you’re going to have to break some to tell your story. And keep reading.

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The Fourth Monkey Blog Tour: Guest Post and Giveaway!

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on The Fourth Monkey blog tour! Today I have a brilliant guest post from J.D. Barker on how to write a chilling serial killer and I'm giving three of my readers the chance to win a copy of the book over on Twitter!

How JD Barker goes about creating a chilling serial killer 

and what he thinks makes a great villain

Easy peasy –

I’ve known I wanted to write a serial killer thriller for a long time but the story had to be just so. The formula has been done to death and I needed something fresh. Years ago, I decided if I wrote this book, the killer should die at the beginning of the story. That created a few complex problems, the least of which was where to go from there. The story sat patiently waiting in my subconscious until a day back in 2014 when I was in line at the grocery store. There was a rather rotund woman in line ahead of me in one of those electric carts and a boy of about eight years old standing behind me with his father. The boy said something about the woman, I didn’t hear what exactly, then his father leaned down and said, “Speak no evil, son.” As soon as I heard that, a number of thoughts flooded my head – Who says that? What exactly is happening back at their house? By that night, I had the basis for my killer’s childhood and the story found its way to paper quickly.

I’ve always been fascinated with serial killers and the overall psychology behind them. What causes a person to kill? Is that urge hardwired from the moment they’re born or is it somehow a learned behaviour fueled by environment and upbringing? A combination of both? The more I studied, the more I realized that even the experts don’t really know. They love to pretend they do, psychologists love their labels and find peace in the various boxes they feel they can drop people into but that appearance of knowledge is nothing but a mask. I’ve known good people who grew up in bad places and bad people who grew up under the best circumstances. There are a lot of sociopaths out in the world and only a small fraction of them kill, not all killers are sociopaths. The world isn’t black and white but filled with gray and it’s within that gray 4MK was born. My goal was to write a book that not only entertained but blurred the line between innocent and guilty – I hoped people would not only empathize with the victims but also the killer.

What makes a great villain? Showing the good in them. Nobody is purely good or evil, we all just lean one way or the other. A good character should be no different.

 For your chance to win a copy of The Fourth Monkey head over to Twitter 

⭐️GIVEAWAY⭐️
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RT & Follow @JessHeartsBooks to enter
UK only https://t.co/iVrxBmJg3d#4MK #Giveaway #Win pic.twitter.com/NewOyhydtr

— Jess Hearts Books (@JessHeartsBooks) June 30, 2017

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The Summer House by the Sea Blog Tour

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on The Summer House by the Sea blog tour! Today I have author Jenny Oliver on the blog sharing a guest post on her top holiday reads.

My Top 5 Holiday Reads by Jenny Oliver

1.) My favourite pool-side read has to be Polo by Jilly Cooper. I remember when I was younger I’d take stacks of Sweet Valley High on holiday, then my mum told me there were these books called Mills & Boon which I then took stacks of away with me, then I saw my sister reading this giant book called Polo and, daunted by the size, I turned my nose up, only to discover it much later on and absolutely LOVED it! I am a huge Jilly Cooper fan – it’s the ultimate escapism.

2.) Last summer I read Nina is Not OK by Shappi Khorsandi and, while the story was completely different to what I was expecting, I couldn’t put it down. Hilarious, poignant, painful and brilliant.

3.) The People at Number Nine by Felicity Everett is the book I keep recommending at the moment. It shines a light on parenting, envy and middle-class snobbery in such a sharp, clever, insidious manner. I thought about it for ages afterwards. I think it would have me sizing up all the other people lounging by the pool.

4.) My favourite crime recently has been Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner. Intelligent and gripping with a great female detective.

5.) I’ve never met anyone disappointed with Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park – funny, touching and completely absorbing.

And of course, all the Jenny Oliver books you can cram into your suitcase! ;-)

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Summer at Conwenna Cove Blog Tour

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the Summer at Conwenna Cove blog tour! Today I have a brilliant guest post from author Darcie Boleyn on why she writes romance.

Why I Write Romance by Darcie Boleyn 

Life can be pretty full on at times, and reading is one of my favourite ways to relax. I enjoy all genres but when I want something to make me smile, something that I can rely on to lift my mood and to transport me away to another time and place, I turn to romance novels.

A romance novel takes readers on a familiar journey. That’s why I always smile when a novel is described as being ‘predictable’, because yes, romance readers do want a happy ever after. Or at least, a happy for now. And as much as I enjoy reading romance novels, I enjoy writing them. I love creating the complex main characters with their baggage, their lost hopes and dreams, and bringing them together. They might not always like the other character at first, but by the end of the story, they will do. However, the journey they go on mustn't be easy; there must be plenty of conflict, both internal and external, and there will always be a black moment, when the conflict is at its highest and it seems as though there couldn’t possibly be a happy ending.

I love the dance that the two characters perform… the will-they, won’t-they build up as their relationship develops. I love to build the physical and emotional tension between them, to convey how the other character makes them feel just by being close. I love describing how they feel when it dawns on them that they are in love, even if at that point it still seems like they can’t possibly be together. Because when they eventually do admit their feelings, it will be all the sweeter.

Most films and TV series feature at least one love story. Take Ross and Rachel, Monica and Chandler, Jim and Pam, Glen and Maggie, Carrie and Big, Harry and Sally, the list goes on. Many of us enjoy watching characters we like and care about getting together and reading romances is no different. We become invested in the stories and in the characters’ lives and want them to be happy.

The point of a romance isn’t just that everyone has someone, but that everyone is fulfilled, and when I write romances, I want the characters to evolve to a state where they don’t need someone else but are finally ready to be with someone. They have to be strong enough and confident enough and developed enough to be in a fulfilling relationship.

I want the reader to feel satisfied when they finish reading one of my novels, to believe that the two main characters have overcome the obstacles I put in their way and that they deserve to be together. I want the reader to feel happy and hopeful, because life is tough enough, and a happy ending in a romance novel can be something for them to hold close when real life is not quite so perfect.

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Guest Post: My Guilty Little Secret by Cat Clarke

I've been a huge fan of Cat Clarke's books since her debut Entangled was released back in 2011 so I'm chuffed to bits to have her on the blog today to celebrate the release of her new novel Girlhood. Today Cat is telling us all about her guilty little secret and the role guilt has to play in her books.

My Guilty Little Secret by Cat Clarke 

I tend to write so-called ‘dark’ books, often dealing with subjects like death, grief and depression. But something I keep coming back to again and again is guilt. It features in almost everything I’ve written, most notably in Torn and A Kiss in the Dark. My guilty little secret is my obsession with guilt.

In my latest book, Girlhood, Harper feels guilty about the death of her twin sister, Jenna. Her guilt is so deeply felt that it’s completely intertwined with her grief; it threatens to drown her. The guilt isolates her from her parents, who are too busy grieving to even realize. It isolates her from her best friends, since she’s never talked to them about the circumstances surrounding her sister’s death. When the new girl arrives, Harper finally feels like she’s found someone she can confide in. Of course, this is a story written by me, so things don’t quite work out as planned.

Lots of people feel guilty following the death of someone we care about. We feel we should have treated them better, told them we loved them. In extreme situations, we might even blame ourselves for the death. It would never have happened if… If only I’d…

‘If only’ is a very powerful thought. A pointless, toxic thought, but one that we all have from time to time, because all of us feel guilty about something. I think it helps to talk about guilt. To confess, if you prefer to look at it that way. If you choose the right person to talk to, chances are they’ll reassure you and help put things in perspective. If you can’t face confiding in someone, then imagine your best friend, or someone you love, confiding in you. You’d reassure them, wouldn’t you? (Unless you’re an evil monster, in which case, what are you doing reading Jess’s lovely blog? Be gone, monster!) It never ceases to amaze me that we’re so much harder on ourselves than we are on other people. Humans are weird like that.

Of course, being an evil author, what interests me most is what happens when you confide in the wrong person… And you can read Girlhood if you fancy finding out.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today Cat! 

For more from Cat you can follow her on Twitter @cat_clarke 

Girlhood is available to buy now in all good bookshops

Dreaming of Venice Blog Tour

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the Dreaming of Venice Blog Tour. Today I have a guest post from author T.A. Williams on how much of him he writes into his books.

Me in My Books by T.A. Williams 

Well, they say you should write about what you know. And I suppose I should know lots about me. So it’s pretty inevitable that I’m going to transpose stuff from my life onto my characters. Let’s take a look at Dreaming of Venice, my second book for publishers Canelo. Where does Trevor Williams rear his bald and wrinkly head? For starters, like with my previous books, I didn’t make it easy for myself. I once again chose to write this one from the standpoint of the main character, Penny. Penny is a woman. I’m not. So not much chance of overlap there, I hear you say. Well, that’s not strictly correct.

You see, first of all, Penny falls in love with a black Labrador called Gilbert. My old Lab definitely slotted in straight after my wife and daughter in my affections (outstripping both of them on occasions, but don’t tell them I said that).

Second, Penny has dreamt all her life of going to Venice. Well, many, many years ago, I spent eight years living and working in Italy and, since then, I have returned to visit Venice on a number of occasions, most recently just before last Christmas.

Unsurprisingly, Penny shares my love of that wonderful city. I hope my description of it manages to do justice to somewhere that will always be very dear to me. If I wasn’t married to the only Italian in the world who prefers to live in England rather than in Italy, I would, without doubt, be writing this in a little house somewhere in Italy, hopefully not too far from La Serenissima, Venice.

So that’s the dog and the city. Now, what about the story? The main premise of the story is that Penny has to put her thespian hat on and act the part of reclusive billionaire, Olivia. Now, I’ve never done any acting, but I know only too well how hard it is to go to meetings and receptions, a smile permanently bolted on and a ready supply of small talk to hand. Poor Penny comes right up against it when she has to go to a cocktail party for the rich and famous and she feels like a fish out of water. I know the feeling.

Penny is an artist and I’m not, but my wife is. All the details of famous artists, painting with oils, compositions and exhibitions are gleaned from her. I’ve never lived in London, but my daughter does. So, when she gets round to reading Dreaming of Venice, she won’t be totally surprised to find some of the places being described strangely familiar. As for Penny’s love of Venice, that is definitely all me. I love the place.

In my previous book for Canelo, Chasing Shadows, the action takes place on the pilgrims’ way to Santiago de Compostela. I did that whole trip myself on a bike a few years ago and inserted any number of incidents that actually happened to me. In Dreaming of Venice, lots of events, like getting lost in the narrow alleys of the old city, actually happened to me. Penny loves champagne and Prosecco. Snap. Like me, she speaks Italian and is fascinated by history and the history of art. And we both like rabbit stew.

Above all, however, I would like to think that Penny is like me in the way she faces up to the problems that life throws at her. She doesn’t drop her head into her hands and spend a week or two sobbing. She takes a deep breath and gets on with it. It isn’t easy for her with her long-distance boyfriend, her struggle to break into the London art scene, or having to share her accommodation with a big, bold rat. But she manages. Penny, like so many of my heroines, is a very determined character. I suppose you could probably say that about me, too.

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Never Forget Blog Tour

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the Never Forget blog tour. Today I have a guest post from author Richard Davis on his top five favourite crime/thriller novels.

Richard Davis's Five Favourite Crime/Thriller Novels 

1.) Stephen King’s The Running Man. Although this is a dystopian novel, it is also the epitome of thriller fiction. An insanely exciting cat-and- mouse tale.

2.) G. K. Chesterton’s The Man Who Was Thursday. An incredibly bizarre and funny thriller that is both an entertaining story, but also a metaphysical tract. It’s the novel that got me into thriller fiction in the first place.

3.) Patricia Highsmith’s The Glass Cell. Highsmith is interested in the psychology of the people behind crime, and The Glass Cell is probably my favourite of her standalone novels. An intense, disturbing, slow burn of a tale that looks at the horrors of prison, and the circumstances that drive individuals to commit unspeakable acts.

4.) Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy. I’m cheating here, since this is really three short novellas. Although the tone of these stories falls very much into a Chandleresque hard-boiled tradition, Auster – by intentionally undermining the expectations of the detective genre, and thwarting attempts to draw neat conclusions – turns these stories into provocative philosophical meditations. The New York Trilogy, through its subversions, gets you thinking about how the plots to crime and detective novels work.

5.) Lee Child’s Killing Floor. Child’s first book is a cracking read. It builds slowly, shocks frequently, and is always exciting.

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The Elisenda Domenech Investigations Series Blog Tour

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on The Elisenda Domenech Investigations Series blog tour today I have a guest post from author Chris Lloyd on the journey from draft to finished copy.

 From Draft to Finished Copy by Chris Lloyd

The process of writing a book is not an exact science. Not the way I go about it, anyway. I’m still learning the best way for me to write, but this is pretty much how I do it now.

The idea for the next book is always swirling around inside my head while I’m writing the current one, so much so that I have to fight the temptation to make a start on it until I’ve finished the one I’m doing. I just have to be happy with making notes as stories or characters occur to me. I’ve got a rotten memory, so I’m an obsessive note-taker; you can’t imagine the number of brilliant plot twists I’ve thought of in the shower that have gone by lunchtime.

The first month or so of a new book I spend on getting the story straight in my head, getting an idea of the characters who are going to appear, trying to think of the key moments and picturing a sequence. I don’t always worry about the ending just yet, as that usually comes into focus after I’ve started writing. It’s also a good time to be really critical and try and find holes or inconsistencies in the idea and in the way the sequence is coming along. That way I don’t have to backtrack so much to unpick something after I’ve started writing. The next step after that is a short time putting the key scenes into some sort of an order. I usually end up giving up on trying to find the later ones as I know they’ll change in the writing, and I’m starting to get impatient to get on with writing it. What that means is that I know the first three or four major moments in the story and I have a rough idea of how things will develop after that; the rest will fall into place later.

Then it’s the scary bit: writing. The blank screen is pretty daunting, but getting the first few words down is just the best. I don’t know if other writers do this, but I normally start with the second chapter. I write a few notes and a couple of ideas for opening lines for the first chapter, but I like to leave it at that until I’ve finished the book so I know exactly what the opening has to do once I’ve got the whole story in place. As I’m writing, the later key scenes start to take shape and I sketch them out. These scenes are useful as they show me what needs to happen between one key moment and the next – I usually have a couple of pages of notes for each of these sections, which I add to as I write. I use Scrivener for the first draft, by the way. It takes a bit of setting up, but then it’s great for taking care of the structure and format, leaving me to get on with telling the story.

Once the first draft is down, including the first chapter, I export it to Word and start working on redrafting. That’s when I see all the bits of fluff or the most glaring inconsistencies and I can get rid of them. In an ideal world, I like to be able to leave a couple of weeks between drafts, but there’s this thing called a deadline… After this bit, I print the manuscript and go through it with a red pen and make notes all over the pages. I’ve learned to make proper notes that I’ll be able to understand a few weeks later – I can’t count the number of times I’ve looked at a scrawl in the margin and wondered how much I’d had to drink that day. This is usually the stage when I have to delete long sections and add bits that I haven’t made clear. I nearly always have to trim the dialogue a fair bit. Another thing I’ve learned is that the quicker I write a scene at first draft stage, the more I have to cut in subsequent drafts – you can get on too much of a roll; and the longer a passage takes me to write, the more I have to add to it, as I’ve given myself the false impression that it’s going on too long.

That whole redrafting process is repeated until it looks like something I wouldn’t be too afraid to send to my publisher. I email it to both my editor and my agent, and then I sit back and stare feverishly at my inbox for a week or so. They both then send the manuscript back with notes and suggestions, which I stare at glumly for a while and then start working out how to go about doing the redraft. Oddly, I love this stage. So much of the first drafts was done in solitude that I find I enjoy this collaborative aspect. There are always doubts in my mind about scenes or strands, and their feedback normally ends up confirming what I’d thought, but they also find ways of improving the book that I’ve missed. It’s easy to get too caught up in it and I need someone else’s vision to help me sharpen the story. The final part of this stage is the copy-edit, which is also perversely enjoyable. The copy editor sees all the repetitions and clumsy phrases that have slipped through the net so that I can put them right – it’s very satisfying honing your words.

Now we get to the sexy bit. One of the best moments of all is seeing the cover design. There are lots of emails back and forth about what should be on the cover and some sample images, but even though I have an idea of what it’s going to look like, there’s still nothing like the thrill of seeing the finished piece. Something that’s strangely exciting is seeing the lettering – the three Elisenda books have a very strong cover font and it’s the coolest thing to think it’s how my books are identified.

And then, finally, the really scary bit: publication. It’s great fun getting lovely messages from readers, bloggers and other writers, but it’s still a daunting moment when your darling is released into the wild and you wait for the first comments to come back. It’s still worth every minute of everything that came before it, though. And, of course, there’s the bottle of red wine to celebrate it. That feels pretty good too.

Lastly, thank you Jess for hosting me on Jess Hearts Books today.

Thank you so much for being on the blog today Chris 

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Perfect Remains Blog Tour: Who Killed Helen Fields? Clue Number 10

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the Perfect Remains blog tour! Today I have the next chilling clue to help you find Helen Fields' killer. Make sure you follow the rest of the blog tour to discover all of the clues and solve the case!

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Perfect Remains is available to buy now from all good bookshops

The Things I Should Have Told You Blog Tour

Hello everyone! Today I'm so excited to be kicking off The Things I Should Have Told You blog tour. I absolutely love Carmel Harrington and am thrilled to have her on the blog today sharing a guest post on the time she met one of her own favourite authors, Jilly Cooper.

Meeting Jilly Cooper by Carmel Harrington 

I’ve always been a self professed, proud, book geek. As a child my favourite place to visit was our local library and every night I transported myself to new and exciting worlds, with just a flick of a page. Then, one rainy Sunday afternoon, when I was fifteen, I picked up a copy of Rider’s, by the author Jilly Cooper. I had to hide this one from my mother, who wouldn’t have approved. That cover, with the cheeky hand! By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked. I couldn’t get enough of the shenanigans of Rupert Campbell Black. Like a child given just one chocolate button, I craved more. You see, Jilly Cooper’s raucous romps set in the beautiful English countryside, are glorious. Her writing is witty, funny, romantic, corny, sexy and unputdownable.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that one day I’d get to meet her. But guess what? I did! Brace yourselves, there’s no way around this, I’m going to have to get all boasty mcboasty for a bit….

You see it all came about because I was shortlisted for a BGE Irish Book Award in 2016, for The Things I Should Have Told You. I can’t explain how much that meant to me. But then, to top that, news leaked that Jilly Cooper was being honoured with a LifeTime Achievement Award and my giddiness levels skyrocketed.

On the awards night, holding Charlotte Ledger’s hand, (my gorgeous editor), we made our way to Jilly’s table. A crowd had formed around her, as other writers and publishing folk took their turn to say hello.

L-R, Carmel Harrington, Jilly Cooper, Charlotte Ledger

Finally she turned to us. I think we both curtseyed. I know I did. We were meeting book royalty after all.

I breathlessly told Jilly how much I adored her books, how I devoured them as a young adult, how loved she was here in Ireland, how much I loved her.

And do you know what she did?

She leaned down and kissed my hand, then said in that beautiful, terribly posh, lilting voice, ‘Oh you are heavenly.’

Me. Heavenly. Words that she would have used to describe beloved characters like Taggie. I shall never forget that.

I didn’t win an Irish Book Award on the night. But I didn’t walk away empty handed.
I met one of my heroines and she didn't disappoint one tiny bit. 
To rob her phrase, she was heavenly.

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Chasing Shadows Blog Tour

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the Chasing Shadows blog tour. Today I have a guest post from author T.A. Williams on writing a blind character.

T.A. Williams On Writing a Blind Character 

I’m not sure when or why I decided to make the main protagonist of Chasing Shadows blind. Normally with my books I can recall some seminal moment in which an idea occurred, but with this one, nothing. It just sort of happened. I think it makes the book a lot more powerful as a result, but, for a writer, it certainly threw up a load of unexpected problems.

Firstly, there’s very little body language or non-verbal communication that doesn’t involve the power of sight. Yes, there are squeezes on the arm, clicks of the tongue, murmurs of approval and whistles of surprise, but so much revolves around visual clues. In a story where one person is blind, there are no nods of the head, no shrugs of the shoulders, no knowing looks. In fact, as I wrote it, I found myself realising for the first time just how difficult it must be for blind people not just to find their way around, but to interact with other people. In Chasing Shadows, Amy, the blind heroine, reflects on this point.

Her mind strayed to the Welsh nurse. What was her name? Nicky? Jackie? She couldn’t remember exactly, but she recalled the occasion. It was when she was sent home from hospital. Or, more precisely, when she was sent back to a near empty house, echoing with the memories of her family who would never again share the house with her. The visiting nurse had told her the problems she was encountering with her boyfriend, Wayne or Duane or some such. 

Throughout the whole sad story, Amy had listened sympathetically, while deep inside her she would have given a lot for a Wayne or a Duane of her own. But when you’re blind - or at least recently blinded - there are very few occasions to meet Waynes and Duanes. And even if you ever did, the chances of them treating you as a normal girl are as good as non-existent. The chance meeting, the casual coffee, the proverbial glance across the crowded room were all things of the past. And as for a casual affair… Being visually handicapped, she had learnt early on, could also mean being physically handicapped in other ways.

The other difficulty that Amy’s blindness threw up as far as the writing is concerned, was the whole question of description. Luke, her companion on the journey, has to describe everything to her as they go along, and that includes such vitally important matters as where the toilet paper is situated in the bathroom and how hot the food looks. Of course, it also gave me the opportunity to imagine myself in the position of a blind person, using her enhanced senses to locate a car even though the engine is turned off, find a coal shed in a blizzard or try to determine what sort of wood a table is made of, by touch alone. It was a fascinating, and sobering experience and I am greatly indebted to Darren from local sight loss charity Devon In Sight for his input.

In the course of the book, Amy seeks to establish some sort of equilibrium in her life and to come to terms with her handicap. As I wrote Chasing Shadows, I learnt a lot about just what it means to be blind. So, next time you see one of those lovely Labradors wearing a hi-viz jacket walking down the road, spare a thought, and some time, for the person holding the reins. That person could be you.

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Christmas With Chrissie Manby

Today I have Chrissie Manby on the blog talking about her new Christmas book A Fairy Tale For Christmas and how she celebrates Christmastime. So grab a hot chocolate, turn on your Christmas playlist and spend Christmas with Chrissie Manby...

1.) What can readers expect from A Fairy Tale for Christmas?
Christmas cheer and classic British comedy. A Fairy Tale for Christmas follows the members of an amateur dramatic society as they rehearse and perform in a production of the pantomime Cinderella. There’s plenty of mayhem behind the curtains and lots of romance too as Kirsty, who is playing Cinderella, finds herself torn between her own Prince Charming, director Jon, and single father Ben, who is roped in to play Buttons.

2.) How do you get into the festive spirit to write your Christmas stories? 
I burn orange and spice scented candles and eat mince pies, if I can get hold of them. Since the supermarkets seem to start stocking their Christmas food in September now, it isn’t hard!

3.) If you could play any part in the NEWTS pantomime what would it be?
I’d like to play the Fairy Godmother. You get a good outfit and you’ve got the audience on your side. I suppose I should say Cinderella but I’ve always thought of her as a bit of a drip. Fancy marrying a man who could only recognise you by the size of your feet!

4.) Can we expect any more stories from the Bensons in the future?
I hope so. Falling Leaves and Fireworks, which came out in October, is a novella featuring the Bensons at Halloween and Bonfire Night. Next year, I’m planning to at least put out a Christmas short featuring the gang. Maybe a novel, if I can write quickly enough!

5.) What’s your favourite thing about Christmas? 
My favourite thing about Christmas is spending time with my family. Dad died suddenly at the end of August, so this year it’s more important than ever for the rest of us to get together. I know we’re going to miss him terribly.

6.) Do you have any Christmas traditions? 
Every year I try to persuade my brother-in-law that we should set up a company called ‘Christmas Crappers’, selling crackers with rubbish presents inside them. Then we remind ourselves that crackers always have rubbish presents inside them. Does that count? I also always hate the John Lewis ad. The music. The mawkishness. Ugh!

7.) Favourite Christmas food and drink? 
Whatever my mum and my fabulous sister Kate are cooking! I love satsumas too.

8.) Favourite Christmas movie?
Got to be White Christmas for me. My favourite thing to watch at Christmas however has to be the Christmas episode of The Royle Family in which Denise and Dave defrost the turkey in the bath.

9.) Favourite Christmas song? 
For a weepy, I love The Coventry Carol. For a party, I love The Waitresses’ Christmas Wrapping. 

10.) What does Christmas mean to you? 
That’s a big question. A time to draw your loved ones close and wish for Peace On Earth even if it seems increasingly unachievable? How about that?

 A Fairy Tale For Christmas is available to buy in all good bookshops now. 

 Add A Fairy Tale For Christmas on Goodreads here 

 Follow Chrissie on Twitter @chrissiemanby

Christmas With Lisa Dickenson

Today I have Lisa Dickenson on the blog talking about her new Christmas book Mistletoe on 34th Street and how she celebrates Christmastime. So grab a hot chocolate, turn on your Christmas playlist and spend Christmas with Lisa Dickenson...

1.) What sparked the idea for Mistletoe on 34th Street?
I love New York at Christmas (I mean, who doesn’t?) and so when I decided to do another Christmas book it seemed like a natural fit. The actual storyline however was inspired by my own stay in New York in December of 2010, when my (then boyfriend) Phil and I were on the last stop of a year-long round the world trip. He proposed on our “last night”, but then the UK had a huge snow storm and we were stranded in NYC with Christmas Day, which we’d been so looking forward to getting home in time for, creeping closer and closer.

2.) How do you get into the festive spirit to write? 
I listen to soooooo many Christmas songs! Christmas music is the soundtrack to many of my summer months while I try and conjure up images of twinkling lights and crunchy snow. It helps that I do love a bit of Nat King Cole and Mariah, though.

3.) If you could spend Christmas in New York what would you get up to? 
I would walk around Central Park – a lot – because it’s peaceful and beautiful and great for people-watching. I’d go to Rockefeller Plaza and see all the angels because it’s my favourite part of New York during the holidays. And I’d eat absolutely everything because a) American food is yummy, and b) if you can’t stuff your gob at Christmas, when can you?

4.) What are some of your favourite books/movies set in New York?
I adore Home Alone 2 and Elf for the Christmas in NYC factor, but I also love How To Marry A Millionaire and Catch Me If You Can. Book-wise, I Heart New York by Ms Kelk or The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld.

5.) Which of your characters would you most like to kiss underneath the mistletoe? 
I couldn’t possibly; my leading men are all taken ;)

6.) Do you have any Christmas traditions? 
Oh lots, I love Christmas traditions! I love to watch all the Christmas movies, listen to all the music, eat all the chocolate oranges and see as much family as possible.

7.) Favourite Christmas food and drink? 
Chocolate oraaaaaanggggggge and mulled wine, pleasezz and thank youzz.

8.) Favourite Christmas movie?
Muppet’s Christmas Carol and It’s A Wonderful Life and Home Alone (soz for choosing three)

9.) Favourite Christmas song? 
I can’t decide on just one for this question either! I love Sleigh Ride, Last Christmas, Let It Snow, All I Want for Christmas Is You, The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year, and (wildcard) Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande.

10.) What does Christmas mean to you? 
It means being kind. No matter your religion, your political views, your beliefs, your loves, it’s just about coming together and being kind to each other. And eating chocolate for breakfast.

 Mistletoe on 34th Street is available to buy in all good bookshops now. 

 Add Mistletoe on 34th Street on Goodreads here 

 Follow Lisa on Twitter @LisaWritesStuff

Christmas With Cathy Bramley

Hello everyone! Last Christmas I hosted a new festive feature "Christmas With..." and it was so popular that I decided to bring it back again in 2016. Once again it's time to get into the Christmas spirit by snuggling up with some Christmassy reads so I am inviting some lovely authors who have Christmas books out this year to come on the blog and have a little chat with us about all things festive!

Today I have Cathy Bramley on the blog talking about her new Christmas novella Comfort & Joy and how she celebrates Christmastime. So grab a hot chocolate, turn on your Christmas playlist and spend Christmas with Cathy Bramley...

1.) What made you decide to return to the Plumberry School of Comfort Food at Christmas? 
I love all the locations of all my books, but there is something about the village of Plumberry and the cookery school that has really stuck with me. The chance to go back and see how all the characters spent their Christmas was too good an opportunity to miss!

2.) How did you get into the festive spirit to write? 
Ha, good question! The weeks I chose to write this book were the hottest we'd seen in England for years! I made a Christmas playlist on Spotify and played it in my office, in the car and even when I was cooking to get in the mood!

3.) If you could spend Christmas with your characters what would you get up to? 
I'd get Tom cooking the dinner, Mags mixing up one of her cocktails and I'd sit down by the fire with Verity for a good old chat!

4.) Which festive food would you most like Verity to whip up for you?
Mince pies! I love mince pies but mine always burst and the mincemeat always bubbles over the lid. Perhaps I'm adding too much brandy to the mix...?

5.) What’s your favourite thing about Christmastime? 
Oh gosh, can I only choose one thing? Okay, well I'd have to say getting together with my family on Christmas Eve, when all the shopping and wrapping has been done and we know we've got a lovely day to look forward to together.

6.) Favourite Christmas movie?
The Holiday. I could honestly watch this on a loop. I love everything about it (except Jack Black - wrong choice)

7.) Favourite Christmas song? 
It used to be 'Last Christmas' by Wham! Now I like to cry buckets at 'Wherever you Are' by the Military Wives Choir

8.) What does Christmas mean to you? 
For me it's a family time, a chance to switch off from normal life and relax and have fun together. I can't wait...

 Comfort & Joy is available to buy as an e-book now.

 Add Comfort & Joy on Goodreads here

 Follow Cathy on Twitter @CathyBramley

A Very Merry Manhattan Christmas Blog Tour

Welcome to my stop on the A Very Merry Manhattan Christmas Blog Tour! Today I have a guest post from author Darcie Boleyn on Christmas memories. Enjoy!

Christmas Memories by Darcie Boleyn 

One of my earliest Christmas memories is of making sweet mincemeat with my grandmother. She lived in a small terraced house with a tiny kitchen, so we had to drag her foldable table into the centre of her living room in order to have enough space to work. 

My grandmother, or Granny as I called her, was a tiny lady. I’m only five foot but she was even smaller. She’d been a primary school teacher and a deputy head teacher, but she retired well before I arrived. Despite years of dealing with children under twelve, Granny had more patience than anyone I have ever known.

My Granny had an old-fashioned grinder that she attached to the side of the table and we passed a variety of ingredients through it. It wasn’t easy, as we had to turn the handle and it became tiring after a while, but we kept going until we had a large bowl full of sweet, fragrant minced fruit. She added a generous amount of brandy and spices and the mincemeat was almost ready.

The final product was then spooned into jars that we sealed with wax paper and string and secreted away at the bottom of her pantry (yes – she had a pantry!) for a few months to mature.

The whole process took the best part of a Saturday afternoon but it was really enjoyable. I loved spending time with my Granny and preparing for Christmas in advance; it built up the excitement that led to my magical childhood Christmases. These days, I try to capture similar experiences with my own children and I hope that one day I might be lucky enough to do the same with my grandchildren. Time is so precious and we all lose loved ones at some point, but memories and traditions help keep those we’ve lost alive.

Thanks for this touching post Darcie.

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Guest Post: Online Relationships – the Pros and the Cons by Lucy Sutcliffe

Today I have the lovely Lucy Sutcliffe on the blog sharing her experience with online relationships to celebrate the release of her book Girl Hearts Girl.

Online Relationships – the Pros and the Cons

I first met Kaelyn on Tumblr way back in 2010. It was a blisteringly hot day in June – the kind where you sleep on top of the duvet with the windows open all night – and the sunset that evening was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. I'd been scrolling through Tumblr listlessly all night, unable to sleep, until a post from a girl whose blog I followed suddenly caught my eye.

“I’m thinking of coming out to my parents soon. A few of my friends know. I’m 22 and getting ready to leave the country for the next four years for veterinary school. I think I should come out to them before I leave. But I’m terrified.”

My heart stopped. I, too, had been struggling with my sexuality for as long as I could remember. 'This is fate,' I remember thinking. 'I have to reach out to her.' I sent her a quick email, and, well... the rest is history. 

The rush of meeting someone so utterly perfect for me was quickly met with the crushing realisation that she was 4,000 miles away on a different continent. There's no way to sugar coat it – it was tough. Really tough. We spent over a year messaging back and forth, Skyping each other multiple times a day and posting each other little letters and packages every now and then. After thirteen months, we finally, finally got to meet in real life.

Meeting each other for the first time was the most incredible thing I have ever experienced. We spent five glorious days together, roaming along beaches, eating at fancy restaurants, going on movie dates – the things that most couples take for granted. I think that's what made saying goodbye at the end of the trip that little bit more painful. I'd become so used to having her by my side that the thought of having to say goodbye again was something I couldn't bear thinking about. When the time came for her to drop me off at the airport, we didn't want to let each other go. 'Just a couple more months, and we'll see each other again,' I remember her whispering. 'We can do this.'

We went back and forth between continents for just over four years. Saying goodbye never, ever got easier – but we did learn to cope. And, believe it or not, long distance does have its perks. Without face-to-face interaction, you're forced to come up with new ways to communicate, and new ways to express love. We sent each other dozens of love letters. We made each other videos and wrote endless, heartfelt emails. We mailed each other surprise packages and gifts. And most of all, we talked. We talked for hours. And when all you want to do is hold someone's hand but you can't, the next best thing is being able pour your heart out to them. 

Of course, sometimes, all you want is to fall asleep cuddled up next to the person you love. Sometimes, all you want is to walk down the street arm in arm, or share a pizza on the sofa in your pyjamas. But when there's a distance between you and you can't do anything about it – make the best of it. Use it as an opportunity to try harder, be better, be stronger. While online relationships are difficult to say the least, they are most certainly not impossible.

Being able to finally move in together and close the distance between us for good was the most triumphant day of my life. And you know what? I wouldn't have changed it for the world. The struggles we went through made us stronger in the long run. We never stopped fighting for each other, and because of that, we had no choice but to keep going. That's the best thing about love – once you've got a hold of it, it's impossible to let go.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today Lucy! 

For more from Lucy follow her on Twitter @LucyLiz 

Check out Kaelyn and Lucy's website here

Lying in Wait Blog Tour: Liz Nugent's Top Tips on How to Write a Gripping Thriller

Hello everyone and welcome to my stop on the Lying in Wait blog tour! Today I have Liz Nugent's top tips on how to write a gripping thriller to share with you. It's an absolute must read for anyone in the process of writing a thriller or who wants to know how to build suspense in their writing!

I’m afraid I cannot speak for all writers, but these are the things that have worked for me. Every writer is different though. I reckon that if there is a book in you, it will come out of you.

1. The first thing I would suggest is to read lots of books, of all genres and none at all. They will all add to your experience when you go to write. You might find that you set out to write a thriller but ended up writing a comedy caper. Do not despair. You can only write what you can write. It’s fine!

2. I like to start a novel in the middle of a dramatic incident or its immediate aftermath. Something huge has just happened. What is our protagonist going to do about it? I learned this from Shakespeare. The opening scene of Macbeth happens immediately after a bloody battle in which Macbeth has been victorious. The three witches are discussing his fate. You can’t really improve on that!

3. Know your characters really well. You don’t have to put all this in the book, but you should know what they want in life, what scares them, what is their weak point, what would they do when they are at home on their own on a Wednesday afternoon? You really need to know them inside out to be able to draw on those fears, strengths and vulnerabilities when you need to.

4. Give your characters choices, but have them make the wrong decision. Therein lies the drama! When you know your characters well enough, this will be easy.

5. Defy expectations. Don’t take the next logical step in the story. Find a reason for that not to be possible.

6. End each chapter with a hook that will make the reader want to turn the page. ‘…and then they went to sleep’ does not make me want to turn the page unless I know that there’s an axe-murderer behind the bedroom door.

7. If you are featuring a murderer, the reader will want to know why he/she is a murderer. It’s easy to write about a murderer who goes about killing young men on their 25th birthdays, but we want to know why. What is the significance of the pattern? Have that worked out before you start to write the character.

8. Pace. I can’t underestimate how important this is. You must always be building towards a big revelation of some kind. There may be several times when the bady guy/gal is going to be caught, but something gets in the way. Make this as unexpected as possible. Your story is a pressure cooker. It’s ok to let some steam off now and then, but we need an explosion at the end. The best part of a game of Jenga is when all the bricks you have carefully constructed come crashing down.

9. Don’t try to write another Gone Girl or to write like another writer. Find your own unique voice. You really don’t want to sound like anyone else. They already exist.

10. Keep the kettle on. This requires gallons of tea.

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For more from Liz follow her on Twitter @lizzienugent 

Lying in Wait is available to buy in all good bookshops as of the 14th July