The aim of all fiction is to induce emotion in the reader. While immersed in your story, a person should be encouraged to enter its reality, so that, for the...

I was asked recently how I came up with the character of Kay Kelly. For those who have not read the book, Kay Kelly is the first-person narrator of my...

What if something happened in my next-door neighbour’s house, and nobody knew? What if we’re all so busy at work every day, and minding small children at night, and we...

Get ready to lie. Crime fiction is surfing a wave of evolution right now. The highest-selling fiction genre has always carried with it similar dark themes, gripping story arcs and...

In 2009 I was making a documentary for RTE television and, as part of the shoot, the crew and I ended up in the beautiful English village of Dorking.  We...

When you consider the books that are your favorites, what comes to mind immediately? Is it the setting, or the fascinating plot? The descriptions? These pieces are important, of course,...

If you are lucky, every now and then you get a light bulb moment while writing. Suddenly the murky waters clear, and you can see clearly what you are trying...

There’s a scene towards the end of Muriel Spark’s The Finishing School where Rowland Mahler, a frustrated creative writing teacher, lectures his class a few days after the burial of...

Last year, at the launch of my second book, I pulled a stunt on my husband. He was approaching a big birthday, his fiftieth, the following December. The launch was in...

Whenever I’m asked what it is that sets a book, a movie or a piece of theatre apart, my answer always has to be: the characters. While the plot and...