Inspiration is a tricky thing to pin down, I think, but it’s the commonest question you find yourself asked as an author – ‘What’s the inspiration behind your story?’ So...

Writers are often asked where they get the inspiration for their work. When did they begin to write the story? How did they develop it until it became a publishable...

It might come as a shock to some people when they read my gritty books that I actually started out writing women’s fiction. Back then, my inspiration came from authors...

“Resistent! It’s the German spelling. They want to rename your book for the German market-and re-design the cover too. I think we should agree.” That was the good advice of...

Doing research for a novel is a trap – a gorgeous honey-trap you set for yourself. It is work, or a form of it, but it can easily undermine the...

‘Crime writers are the loveliest people’ is a phrase I’ve heard many times over, most recently at Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. I write psychological thrillers, which comes under the crime...

Last month, I stood on a station platform and made my farewells to a host of friends. They never looked back and, truthfully, I felt only relief as their train...

As a child, books fascinated me because they were compact objects with people and worlds in them. My parents read to me when I was too little to read to...

My ideal writing day begins at ten, after a leisurely breakfast of something freshly baked and an hour alone with the newspapers. After that, I settle in with a pot...

Combine what has never been combined before. I don’t remember who said this or where I read that quote but it inspired me. When I first started writing my novel...