Excuse us for being a little quiet on the blogging front for a while! It’s been a busy year for most of the authors in our independent collective and we have also been discussing how best to share our news and tackle marketing as a collective! For the moment we have decided to stick to Facebook and this blog as they are both already in progress and it would be silly to stretch ourselves too much at this point. Our main goals remain the same! We are a tightly knit group of experienced independent authors who have come together to help support each other and improve our visibility.
Our author’s 2025 update and 2026 predictions!
K.M. Allan
After the completion of her compelling Blackbirch series, K.M Allan turned her hand to non-fiction in 2025 to share her expertise and experience with aspiring writers. Writing and Editing Checklists: Everything You Need To Take Your Book From First Draft to Publication was released in June 2025. This came with a companion book, Authoring Checklist Book, which is a free ebook listed on her website: https://kmallan.com/authoring-checklists/
She also put together an anthology of short stories and poems written by the young people who attend her creative writing groups and workshops and this was published in June 2025.
Finally, she has just set up the pre-order link to her next release, The Dark Finds You. This book, which can be read as a standalone but is also the final book in a connected universe of characters and stories, will be released on 9th January 2026 but you can ore-order it now:
Coming in 2026 for Chantelle Atkins: First up in January, will be the release of The Dark Finds You, followed closely by another anthology written by the young people she works with. Something Happened In Lakeside View… is a collection of stories and poems all set in the same strange little town! You won’t have to wait long after that for the release of the first in a five book folk horror series! Black Hare Valley Book 1 – 1996 was recently serialised and shared on Chantelle’s blog and Substack and will be released on May 1st 2026.
Richard Dee
Richard has been as prolific as ever in 2025 with the release of three exciting novels in 2025! You can find them listed below with their buy links.
Miriam has spent 2025 working on an ‘experimental’ novel, which we are all very excited about! Meanwhile, here is a link to a blog post she wrote for us on authors responding to the rise of AI, followed by the books Miriam currently has available.
Prolific and award-winning author Kate Rigby has been working on the third draft of her memoirs during 2025 but has found the time to contribute to the following publications:
Coming from Kate Rigby in 2026: Kate will continue to produce blog posts and poems, and hopes to be nearing the end of editing her memoirs!
Sim Sansford
Sim has been quietly working on the follow up to 2024’s YA slasher thriller, Welcome To Hollow Wood. You can find the link to that below and we look forward to reading part two, titled, Lie, Lie again in 2026!
coming soon!
Steven Smith
Steven has just released a collection of festive short stories and flash fiction just in time for Christmas!
Coming in 2026 for Steven Smith: Steven plans to work on a thriller in 2026 and may also get around to the third book in the Chronicles of The Crow saga!
Joining the discussion of the impact on AI in creative writing, this week we have YA author Sim Alec Sansford giving his views on the topic.
1- Do you currently use any form of AI to enhance or improve your books and if so how do you feel it makes your writing better?
Personally, I don’t use any form of AI when it comes to the creation or publication of my books. Save for the trusty spell checker that may catch the odd word or grammatical error for me that has slipped through the net (although this is not always accurate).
2. How do you feel about AI in the creative industries in general, eg art, writing, music, are you in support or are you against? Tell us why.
Whilst I agree that AI has its benefits, I strongly believe that it has little to no place within the Arts. The composition of music, the power of prose, and even the allure of artwork may well be enhanced by AI’s capabilities… However, I think we need to make a distinction between (for example) writing and CREATIVE writing. To me creativity is human creation and its purest form. To tweak or manipulate it means it is no longer a creative piece at all.
3. How often are you coming across AI content on the internet now and are you usually able to spot it?
Sadly, the majority of AI content I am discovering online is art based. Book covers and graphics created within a few simple clicks. Whilst this is cost-effective, and helps to inspire and add flare to a piece of work, I can’t help but feel for all my amazingly artistic friends (some of which have studied for many years to perfect their craft). What will they do once AI has dominated their spaces?
4. Do you know of any creatives who have already lost their job or seen their earnings decline thanks to AI?
Personally, I have not come across this yet. Though I would imagine a high number of graphic designers and cover artists are losing out on many opportunities and commissions due to the sheer availability of AI content.
5. Copy writers and translators are just two professions that have seen their earnings decline as companies switch to using AI. Who do you think will be next and is there anything we can do to stop it?
Sadly I think a lot of voice over artists are going to be losing out on work due to the many apps available now. I must confess that some of the AI voices I’ve heard reading my articles aloud, particularly over on Medium, sound incredible. Though I would never use AI to narrate a book I’d published. To do so would be a huge slap in the face to the many talented actors.
I also believe that motion captured actors and video game designers may experience challenges within their industry. A lot of their work can so easily be generated now within a few clicks, and they are already using people’s likeness within film, particularly for actors who have since passed away.
6. What are your gut feelings about AI in creative writing? Are you curious and excited by the possibilities, or do you think it spells the death knell for creativity and imagination?
Unfortunately, although AI can be harnessed to finesse work to a certain degree, the way a filter can sharpen a photograph, I believe its presence within any creative space only spells death.
Just like the filtered photo, AI altered writing is fake, it’s not the real thing.
7. Would you personally read AI content if you knew it was AI or do you aim to only read books written by humans without the aid of AI?
Whilst I am sure there are many entertaining stories that have been generated by AI; I much prefer to indulge in work created by human minds.
8. Where do you think AI will be in another 5, 10 years time?
It is my hope that within the next decade, AI will be policed to a greater standard. Currently it feels like its development is snowballing faster than anyone can control. I fear that if we cannot get a handle on it any time soon, AI will eventually rule all of our media. Particularly in the creative industry, and that terrifies me.
For the next few weeks we will be diving into the topic of AI and it’s potential impact on authors. We’ve asked our authors the same questions in order to gauge their views and feelings on AI. Up first, award-winning author Kate Rigby.
Kate Rigby – photo belongs to the author
1- Do you currently use any form of AI to enhance or improve your books and if so how do you feel it makes your writing better?
I’m assuming you mean generative AI, as I think we’ve all been using a form of AI for years without even considering it as this eg filters in Photoshop or other photography apps to enhance book covers, Word processors programmes like Word that use basic grammar, sentence correction/improvements and so on. For poetry, for instance, instead of physically cutting up pieces of paper you can get AI to ‘cut up’ sections for you.
Recently I tried using ChatCBT or similar for a short story synopsis as I didn’t know where to start and synopsis writing is not one of my skills! As this isn’t creative writing in the same sense (more highlighting themes and summarizing) I feel differently about it and see it as a useful tool. Even then, the summary that AI came up with I just used as a starting point.
2. How do you feel about AI in the creative industries in general, eg art, writing, music, are you in support or are you against? Tell us why.
Apart from the above uses eg as a tool, I’m pretty much opposed to it as are most ‘serious’ artists (in the wider sense) who have often taken years to hone their craft. I was horrified to see an ad come through my newsfeed from Amazon advertising about writing books with AI. As if there weren’t too many of us already trying to chase an ever-shrinking audience as it is!
I have heard one or two neurodiverse authors say they have used AI and it’s helped them but I feel very uneasy about it. Surely creativity comes from something that has moved and inspired us to create and convey a feeling or human experience? For me it would depend on whether they are using it as an aid or to generate content. I feel too many people just think of it as an easy and fast way to make money and have instant success without putting in the hard yards. That isn’t art, but painting – or writing – by numbers. Besides which, I’m hugely opposed to it on ethical grounds. It’s been trained on all the content out there without permission so it’s theft of intellectual property.
There’s also the environmental toll of using AI and how much energy is needed.
3. How often are you coming across AI content on the internet now and are you usually able to spot it?
I sometimes see eg in writers’ forums people posting their book covers and asking for feedback. Luckily, a lot of the contributors in the discussion can spot AI a mile off and frown upon its use. The people I’ve seen posting are quite open about using it and maybe haven’t thought of the moral arguments. But it’s already becoming harder and harder to spot as generative AI becomes more sophisticated. Most people say they can tell because there is something soulless about it eg book covers. The same has been said of writing. For this reason, I’m very glad I write non-genre fiction which is less formulaic, ergo harder to generate. It’s the same with poetry. AI will come up with rhyming poetry rather than free verse. (See last question). So if you write more quirky stuff, you are ‘safer’. At least, for now.
On the other hand it may have uses for audiobooks. Many authors are prohibited from converting their books to audio books because it’s time consuming and labour intensive and ergo very expensive. This would be good work for actors but notoriously difficult to find the right reader. At the moment AI isn’t up to the mark for generating spoken content for audiobooks, especially where accents and dialect is concerned. But I could possibly see benefits in the future (but see below re performance art).
4. Do you know of any creatives who have already lost their job or seen their earnings decline thanks to AI?
I think it’s a creeping thing. I’ve heard of eg editors and proofreaders getting less work. I’m sure the same is happening with book designers and certainly there was the whole issue on Hollywood where actors and performers were on strike because they were no longer being paid for their work. AI generated voices were used instead.
I once entered a poetry competition where the feedback was generated by AI! Though a lot of the feedback was uplifting I felt uneasy about it. I don’t know how much of it was used for the judging. Did the human judges assess first or did they rely on AI to weed out the long and short lists?
I notice some online publishing sites and stock photography sites don’t accept the AI images. However such sites are having to rely on trust from contributors as it gets ever more and more sophisticated and hard to tell apart.
5. Copy writers and translators are just two professions that have seen their earnings decline as companies switch to using AI. Who do you think will be next and is there anything we can do to stop it?
There’s a big discussion in the music industry as well as the other creative industries. We are already seeing how the sound and voices of real musicians can be replicated very convincingly.
6. What are your gut feelings about AI in creative writing? Are you curious and excited by the possibilities, or do you think it spells the death knell for creativity and imagination?
I fear it to be honest. I do see potential for audio books because if we could, many of us would produce these ourselves if we had the time and equipment so wouldn’t be taking jobs away from others. I think it’s fine to use as AI as a tool but never as a replacement or to generate something from scratch. But I can see boundaries becoming more and more blurred.
7. Would you personally read AI content if you knew it was AI or do you aim to only read books written by humans without the aid of AI?
I would like to think I would only read that generated by humans but I know of someone who’s quite openly mentioned using AI for poetry. I was quite shocked although I know this person to be honest and with integrity. People who’ve grown up with it may not have the same moral dilemma as older people do.
8. Where do you think AI will be in another 5, 10 years time?
I’m hoping that changing the copyright laws may at least go some way to retstrain it although it may be very difficult to prove as the genie’s already out of the bottle. But at the moment it’s like the wild west with no protections or limits. I think we have no choice but to accept it and work with it as it’s here to stay.
9. Do you think AI in creative writing will ultimately be a bad or a good thing for writers?
I guess we have a chance to make it work for us rather than the other way round. There was an interesting podcast which was summarised recently in Disability Arts Online looking at the pros and cons particularly for disabled people.
10. Use this last question to voice any concerns about AI specifically in creative writing
I think I will show here rather than tell. Out of curiosity, I fed in a few lines from my notebooks on two separate occasions a year or so ago and asked AI to write a poem based on those few lines which were:
light spillage
echolocating animals emit calls out to the environment and listen to the echoes of those calls that return from various objects near them
This was the resulting AI poem. I will leave readers to make up their own minds:
In the realm where darkness lies,
A symphony of sound takes flight,
Echolocating creatures take their aim,
To navigate a world untamed.
With calls that pierce the still of night,
They unleash waves of sonic might,
Through vast expanses they explore,
Guided by echoes they adore.
Like beams of light, their calls spill forth,
Bouncing off objects, revealing their course,
In the reverberations, secrets unfold,
A tapestry of knowledge, yet untold.
With every echo, the world they perceive,
Each sound a clue to help them achieve,
Survival’s dance in shadows deep,
As echolocating wonders they keep.
Oh, let their example light your way,
Let inspiration guide you each passing day,
Embrace the echoes, let them be your guide,
In this vast universe where wonders reside.
Thank you for inviting me to be part of this important discussion.
Today we’re joined by Award-Winning author, Chantelle Atkins, to discuss her latest release, The Mess of Us. A gripping sequel to her 2016 novel, The Mess of Me, this book dives back into the world of Joe and Lou and these of identity and resilience… Let’s get started!
The Mess of Me was a huge success, what inspired you to return to this story after a decade?
A. A sequel was in the pipeline years ago. I had always wondered what happened next to Lou and Joe. The first book ends with a sort of happy ending, but with lots of questions about what would happen after the dramatic and violent events of that book. A few years back I started writing the sequel when I got the idea of a teenage pregnancy. I was fascinated with how they would both cope with that on top of recovering from the events of the first book. It then took me a whole to get around to writing it due to other projects, but it was the teenage pregnancy idea that really sparked off the rest of it. That, and always wanting to explore Leon’s character more. He is the villain of the first book and I always feel like villains have a story to tell. How did they become that way, for example? Are they capable of redemption? So I felt like he deserved a story.
How has your writing style or approach changed in the past ten years?
A. It’s probably the same! I still start with loose ideas in my head that eventually end up as notes in a notebook which I’ll then add to whenever I get more ideas. Eventually there will be enough plot to get started so that’s what I do. I rarely plan the whole book in advance, but I always know what’s going to happen for the next few chapters at least. I’m probably better at self-editing and being ruthless with the word count though. I think I am better at that now.
Did you always plan to write a sequel, or was there a moment when you knew this story wasn’t finished?
A. I didn’t plan a sequel at the time, no. It was years later that I got the idea for the teenage pregnancy and the rest grew from there. Plus, Lou is like a lot of my characters. She would chat to me from time to time. I’d tune into her and wonder how life was going. If that keeps happening, it starts to feel like a sequel is inevitable.
What challenges did you face in reconnecting with the characters and world after so much time?
A.I reread the first book before I started the sequel. I then revamped and republished it! That pretty much gave me what I needed to pick those characters up again. Plus, they had never really left me, so it was not hard to tune into them for the sequel. As for the world, these books are part of a bigger inter-connected universe of books and I was still writing books in that universe, so again, it was not challenging to reconnect with it. It was a pleasure! I know them all so well it felt like coming home.
Were there any major plot points or character arcs that surprised you while writing the sequel?
A. No, I always had it in mind that Leon would come out of prison and Lou and Joe would have to deal with that. Would Joe want to see him, for example? Would he want to forgive him? What would Leon be like now? Worse, or a reformed character? I was really curious about that and really excited to further explore Leon’s character and back story. Parts of the plot revealed themselves to be as I wrote it, but it all felt natural so I just went with the flow.
How do you think readers’ perceptions of the first book will shape their experience of the sequel?
A.I hope they like it! A few people have read it without reading the first one so I have every confidence it also works as a standalone, but I really hope readers of the first book enjoy it too! There were a few readers that often mentioned it was their favourite book of mine and they’d love a sequel, so in some ways I had them in mind while writing it. I expect they’ll know what’s coming in terms of the gritty storylines and references to eating disorders, self-harm and drugs. They’ll also know it’s another diary style format.
Have your own life experiences over the last decade influenced the themes or direction of this book?
A.Yes. To be honest, Lou is the character most based on me. I have suffered with eating disorders in the past and the truth is, they never really go away. They follow you about and haunt you and wait for opportunities to take control again. They’re like little voices in your head that want to convince you to trust them, that they can make everything all right again. I’m much older than I was when I had these issues, but as Lou finds out in The Mess of Us, often when things go wrong, those little voices come back. So you have to be wary and careful. You can’t let your guard down. Forms of self-harm can be addictive and can be coping strategies you come to rely on. I have also experienced a miscarriage, which is another hard-hitting storyline in the book. That part was very hard to write but I hope I did it justice.
What kind of balance did you try to strike between nostalgia for longtime fans and accessibility for new readers?
A.That was the aim, to give readers of the first book a sequel they would enjoy and let them find out what happened next, but also write a book new readers could enjoy on its own. That meant Lou and the other characters had to sometimes mention or explain what had happened previously, but you have to be careful not to make it boring or repetitive for the original readers, so it is hard!
If you could go back and change anything about the first book, would you?
A.I would probably make it shorter!
Do you see this sequel as the end of the story, or is there potential for more in the future?
A.It’s the end of the story for Lou and Joe, as far as I know anyway! But it is not the end of the story for Leon. He will be back in a new book towards the end of the year. We will finally have his point of view and his full story. The book will be called The Dark Finds You and I’d describe it as a crime thriller. It is also a crossover book which will be enjoyable to anyone who has read the books in the shared universe. If you’ve read The Holds End trilogy, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side series, Elliot Pie’s Guide To Human Nature or The Mess Of Me and The Mess Of Us, you will find characters from all those books returning!
Thank you, Chantelle!
The Mess of Us is one book in a connected universe made up of various series penned by Atkins. You can grab your copy of The Mess of Us by clicking here.
Or start the journey from the beginning today with the groundbreaking 2016 novel, The Mess of Me.
Writer’s block is something most writers experience at some time or another and it is something that writers tend to dread. I’m not a fan of the phrase ‘writer’s block’ because there is something about it that sounds so hard and final, like a literal brick wall. I prefer to think of it as simply being ‘stuck’. And writers get stuck all the time and for many different and complex reasons. Here are just a handful of ways writers can get stuck along with tips to get unstuck again!
1.Plot Stuck #1- one of the most common and one of the hardest to get through. There are a number of ways you can get stuck when it comes to your overall plot and we will discuss two of them here. The first is the most frustrating and it happens to me a lot. You know exactly what you want to happen in your plot because you have planned it all out, created your character bios and maybe even written all your chapter outlines. You know what is going to happen, so it should be simple, right? Nope. The most frustrating thing about writing a story or a novel can be knowing what you want to happen but not knowing how to do it. I think one of the reasons we feel like this sometimes is a lack of confidence in our writing. We have a good idea, a solid plot but think maybe someone else could write it better. That’s not usually the case. You just have to accept it’s going to be hard work and a long slog to get it right. Eventually, you will bring in beta readers and editors to help point out where things could be improved and believe me, as further drafts are written and rewritten, you will eventually figure out the best way forward. Writing is largely rewriting after all!
The Solution – sadly there is no easy fix for this problem. It may involve lots of long walks and time spent thinking about your plot and how to move things forward. Sometimes the answers come when you least expect it. It may mean you have to go back to your chapter outlines and remind yourself of the plot, perhaps inspiring a way forward. Sometimes you just have to write it anyway. Put the characters where they need to be, write the dialogue, advance the story and worry about fixing it later. When you know what to do but not how to do it, the important thing is to just push through and get it done. It will probably be ugly and clumsy and you may very well figure out a better way to do it later on but don’t let that stop you.
2. Plot Stuck #2 – This is when you simply don’t know what to do next. This mostly happens to writers who don’t plan or outline their stories before they start. There is nothing wrong with that approach at all. It can be really fun and invigorating to just start writing and see where the story and the characters take you. But it does increase the risk of getting stuck eventually. You run out of steam. The plot trails away or misbehaves. You don’t know what these characters are doing. You’ve run out of ideas. It can be really scary to feel this way and many writers will give up at this point and start something else, but there is a way to solve it!
The Solution – Sometimes the only way to solve this one is to embrace planning and plotting. Go back to the start and remind yourself why you wanted to write this story, what the driving idea or concept was. Remind yourself of any important themes you wanted to explore. Take a look at your characters. Are they developed enough? Maybe they need more work to bring them to life, which again means giving in and embracing some planning. If this fails, there are other things you can try. I am a strong believer that taking long walks in nature dislodges ideas in our brains. Any time I have every been stuck with a book or a story, I have usually found the solution during a walk with my dogs. Some people find taking a long bath or shower can help or maybe another immersive task such as gardening or cleaning. Get away from the screen or the notebook and do something else for a while. Another thing worth trying is asking other people. Ask your friends and family or even people online what they think about your plot so far. This has also worked well for me in the past. I’ve often used a family member for a sounding board of everything that is annoying me with my work in progress. Often they will mention a few things or suggest something that actually really makes sense. Don’t be scared to ask for help or find inspiration around you.
3.The elusive ‘right’ words – another really common one and one I can sympathise with. Sometimes you’ve got everything else in place – the characters are fully formed, the plot is advancing well and you know what to do but then words and phrases start to elude you. When writing a first draft we want to get it right, it’s only human nature to want to try our best and achieve something good first time around. The words hide from us and its like we are looking for those perfect, right words to make our sentence really fly off the page, and they just won’t come. I hate it when this happens as it can really disrupt a good flow of writing. It’s a case of partly knowing what to say but not how to say it and partly being a bit of a perfectionist who wants to get it right first time.
The Solution – You can try some practical things like asking for help, consulting a thesaurus or dictionary or bringing in a beta reader or fellow writer to help you find the ‘right’ words. Or you can do what I do…use the words you have and move on. At some point you will come back to this passage and rewrite it. As we have already established, writing is mostly rewriting! Sometimes we just have to write the best sentence we can at that moment, shrug it off as imperfect but at least done, and move on. Remind yourself that you will come back later to fix it and more than likely the right words will be there as if by magic!
4.Not Enjoying It Stuck – Sometimes we get stuck because something is wrong. It may be a mix of all the things mentioned above or it may be something bigger. As writers, when we have already committed many hours to a story we are sometimes reluctant to admit it is just not working. I recently experienced this. I was writing a book, dedicating myself to a chapter every night, but it felt very forced. I was forcing myself to do it and that didn’t feel right to me, because writing should be fun! It took me a while but I finally figured out what the problem was, and yes it is going to involve a heck of a lot of rewriting but I am not stuck anymore! I had to admit what was wrong and set about fixing it. If you are not enjoying your writing, you will continue to get stuck or blocked so you need to work out what the problem is.
The Solution – Don’t give up. Don’t bin it just yet! You might need a break from it, in which case put it somewhere safe and come back to it another time. Write something else. Write a short story or a blog post or a poem. Give your frazzled mind a break from what has been frustrating it. This can work because if the idea is strong enough it will eventually push back through. But also, you need to figure out and admit what is wrong with it. Very often it lies with the characters. Perhaps they are not strong enough, not believable enough or developed enough. Go back to scratch with them and put more work into developing them into real people with flaws, quirks, wants, needs, mannerisms and back stories. Sometimes it might be the point of view. Try switching from third to first person or vice versa. Sometimes it might be the tense. Try it in present tense if it’s in past, and so on. Sometimes it is the audience – did you set out to write a thriller or a mystery or a romance? If you did, the chances are all the other books in that genre are sitting on your shoulder watching and adding pressure, along with the perceived tropes and expected elements of that genre. It is useful to know your audience before you write, but it can also sully the writing and make it feel like you are writing to order. Write for yourself first and foremost. Write the book you would like to read. This will bring the enjoyment back and you can figure out the rest later!
Over to you! Have you ever experienced writer’s block and if so, what was it like for you? In what ways do you tend to get stuck with your writing and have you figured out a way to get unstuck?
We hope you have enjoyed our post about writer’s block or being ‘stuck’ and have found the tips useful. If you have anything to share or add, please feel free to leave a comment!
A question we often get asked at writing clubs or workshops is how do you write a book? Often someone will have a good idea for a story, and possibly some characters developing but are unsure where to go from there. It’s an intriguing question and one I personally love to talk about so we figured it would make an interesting blog post. It’s different for everyone and if you research how to write a novel you will find a mountain of advice, tips and strategies to use online. Not every approach will work for you. Part of the fun of writing is working out what suits you and your idea. So this is mine. This is how I write a book.
Start with an idea – This is the most important ingredient. You need a solid idea OR a character. For some people the plot comes first and then they have to create and develop characters to go with it, and for others, it’s the characters they think up first. Either is fine and you might find it works differently each time. For me personally it is usually the characters that come first. They will start to develop in my mind and as their personality comes alive, they will start to suggest their back story and their main story and the plot will start to grow from that. Sometimes it works the other way around and I will get an idea for a story first and then have to devise the characters to fit it.
Let it grow – To start with, I let the idea percolate in my mind for a bit. I write down anything I don’t want to forget, but most of it stays in my head. It will swirl around in there for a while, popping up when I least expect it, developing and swelling and growing tendrils! I think it’s important to let this process take its course. I don’t want to force anything. Usually I will already be working on another project so there is no hurry to jump to this new idea. I leave it be and let it grow naturally.
Get a notebook – Now, when the real ideas start to flow, and by this I mean characters, personalities, back stories and possible plots and storylines, it becomes too much to contain in my head. I must start writing things down or something will get lost. I might start off tapping a few thoughts into my phone but eventually I get a new notebook and dedicate it solely to this idea. I start off writing down any notes I already have and everything else that has been growing in my head. Character bios, dialogue, action scenes, possible titles, character arcs, possible endings and so on. It won’t be a full plot yet and the characters will not be fully alive either, but I am paying attention to this idea now. It has its very own notebook.
Work on characters – For me, the characters are always the most important aspect of books I read and books I write. It’s different for everyone, but I want to love the characters, feel fully engaged by them, root for them and care for them. I can’t enjoy a book if I don’t care about the characters and equally I can’t write a book if I am not fully in love with these people I am creating. So, I will start to write detailed character bios into the notebook. They might start with the basics: name, age, physical appearance, occupation, home, family etc and then they will get more complex. What do they want? Who do they love? Have they been hurt? What are their regrets? What are their flaws? I want to get under their skin and know them inside out. This will be a long process and I won’t fully know them until maybe draft three, but I want to put the work in now.
Write a basic plot outline – This will start as a kind of mind-map of possible ideas. Ideas tend to spark of other ideas or questions, so I will note this all down. It all goes in the notebook. It’ll be messy and chaotic but it is all safely in one place. I’ll also bullet point what I consider to be the main storyline and jot down any ideas for sub-plots and character development. Most of my books are quite character driven so developing the characters alongside the plot is important to me.
Write basic chapter outlines – I won’t usually know everything that is going to happen but I will outline as many chapters as I can in the notebook so that I have a starting point and something to refer back to. Inevitably, extra, unexpected chapters and scenes will work their way in between what I initially lay out and once I get past a certain point I will probably then know the next few chapters. I then work a few chapters ahead, so I will usually always know what I want to happen in the next few chapters at least.
Start writing! – The fun bit. Also the scary bit! But by now I will be desperate to get going. If I have been working on another book, this idea may have had to wait for a while so by the time I get to it, I am very keen and excited to get started. I won’t know exactly where I am going and I don’t plan or plot every detail. I like to see what happens to a certain extent.
Write a chapter a night – Obviously, life gets in the way sometimes and sometimes the writing just doesn’t flow but my goal is always a chapter a night. That’s roughly 2-3 pages of a Word document. I treat it like work, like a commitment and push through the tough bits and the bits that don’t flow too well and I just keep going. I don’t mind how messy or awkward the first draft is, I just aim to get the gist of it, the basics of it done. This usually takes three months.
Second draft – I read it through, reminding myself of what I have done. I amend glaring typos but I don’t really edit much on a second draft, it’s more of a read through to see what I have got.
Third draft – a more serious read through and edit. I add bits, delete bits, amend typos and errors. I will know the characters better by now so might add bits to them, their speech, their back story and so on.
Fourth draft – I keep a list as I read through and edit and make notes of bigger things to fix like plot holes or inconsistencies in character or storyline. Whenever I go over another draft I check off these things on the list until there is nothing left.
Fifth draft Kindle read – by now I feel like I can’t do much more, so I send it to my Kindle and read it on there. It’s amazing how many typos and errors are picked up when you read your book on an ereader! You feel a bit less connected to it and can tackle it in a different way. I keep the notebook handy as I read and write down notes for each chapter in turn, typos, grammatical errors, plot holes, questions, anything.
Sixth draft – back to the laptop to amend the edits picked up on the kindle read
Beta readers – I am very lucky that I have some fantastic people available to read my work at this stage and tell me what they think. I might want specific feedback ie is it fast paced enough, is this character interesting enough etc, or I might just hand it over and say very little.
Seventh draft – editing based on beta reader feedback
Send to editor/proofreader
Eight draft/final – amend anything they picked up and that’s it. Done!
The amount of drafts will very much depend on the type of story, the length of the book and the feedback from beta readers. Sometimes my first draft attempt will evolve into something very, very different and sometimes it basically stays the same!
Feel free to add your thoughts on how to write a book. Everyone has a different process and there is no correct way to do it.
But, I hear you protest, isn’t that a solitary pursuit? An activity for introverts and loners? Won’t that just make it worse?
No, and I’ll tell you why.
I remember standing outside school when I was about four or five, trying to understand why I was only me. Why my thoughts and feelings were limited to just mine. I looked at my friends and my mother, and stared into their eyes and realised I could not climb into their heads and become them, I could not occupy the space behind their eyes and see the world as they did. I vividly remember thinking how amazing, strange and sad this was.
But I soon found out that this does not really apply to writers. If you are a writer, you are not limited to being just one person or living just one life. As a writer, I discovered that I was never just me, and I was also, never, ever alone.
When I started to write stories, they were about animals, lost and neglected, looking for love and embarkiing on adventures. I became them. I was them just as much as I was Chantelle. I had to quieten them and hide them when people asked something from me. I had to climb back out of their minds and fully inhabit mine. But I would try to get away with not doing this in full. I’d be eating my dinner, sniffing the air, sure I had picked up the scent of trouble, my eyes darting from side to side, planning an escape. I wasn’t just me. And then when dinner was over, the stories would continue and I would slip back into character.
Throughout my life, I have been all the people I have written about. I have not simply created them, written their stories and then cast them aside. It doesn’t work like that at all. These people come to me, somehow, for some reason. They start off small and grow bigger and bigger, louder, more complex, more real. They are all from me. It blows my mind. It’s like they find me and ask me to tell their story, but that’s not really it. Somehow, they come out of me, because they are me.
And then I am them. I become them in order to write their story, in order to feel what they feel, and do what they do. I think about them so much, picture them, hear them, study them. I lie awake at night, and they are there. Characters from books already written, and characters still developing in my head for future books.
When I least expect it, they pop up and start talking or arguing. They are helping me to write the book. I learn new things about them every day. I will be washing up or making dinner, and suddenly there they are. Because of these people, I am never, ever lonely. I don’t know what it feels like to be bored or alone. Because of them, I don’t know how to have just one train of thought in my head. I don’t know how to have a quiet mind.
Yet, to those that know me, I am often described as quiet.
Sometimes I think the people in my head are the best thing about being a writer. Creating worlds and weaving plots, sharing your work with readers, getting reviews, these are all fantastic, magical things, but being more than one person who is never, ever alone, has to be the best and maybe the most unexpected.
My advice to anyone feeling lonely is to write.
Don’t overthink it. Don’t write for anyone else. Don’t write to get rich or famous. Don’t let anyone stop you. Ignore the naysayers and their frowns of doubt. Write whatever you want. Bend the rules. Break the rules. Make up your own goddamn rules. Write for fun, for frivolity, for yourself, write as if no one is looking over your shoulder. Let it out, whatever it is. Release. Feel better.
How can you ever be lonely again? You can weave words and create worlds. You can listen to the voices in your head then allow them to live, to be alive just like you! You can create whoever and whatever you like.
You will never be lonely now. You have a head full of ideas. Everywhere you go new ones will pop up. Everything you see, hear, smell, taste and touch will become writing material. Conversations, eavesdropping, people-watching — these are your new hobbies! Everywhere you go there is possible content. Stories are everywhere. Everything is a story.
But that is not all. You’re feeling less lonely now but it can go further. To finally cure your loneliness for good, you have to share your words with the world. Release the stories and the poems, the thoughts and the dreams, the hopes and fears, the people you created, the worlds you invented. Share them, spread them, set them free and you will never be lonely again.
And it doesn’t even end there.
There is no need for loneliness as a writer. You can collaborate with others. Share ideas. Throw them around. Join writing groups. Read and support other writers. Share in their journey, give and take, feedback and congratulate, support and take pride in their success too.
You are not alone. You never were.
Written by Chantelle Atkins and previously published on Medium. Chantelle’s latest release, The Mess Of Us can be preordered on Amazon now!
I worked for many years using creative writing as a therapeutic tool to enable survivors of all manner of traumatic experiences to heal from their memories and to find a creative way to express the traumas they had been through and had survived.
Forget those well-known tales for children, whether the moralistic literary fairytales by the likes of the Brothers Grimm, or the saccharine Disney cartoons. I’m talking about the dark violent oral tales that stretch back into prehistory and can be found all over the world in mythology and in folktales. These are the stories that reflect our darkest experiences and the traumas so many people have been through and still go through today.
When you have lived through severe trauma it’s likely that you will find you have no language to give a direct and coherent account of your experiences, and that to write about it is too painful and disturbing. This is where myths and fairy tales, or dream imagery, or visual clues such as photographs or postcards (all of which I have used in my work) or any indirect way into writing, can help by making the whole process safer and easier to control.
Ancient myths and tales can help us to explore our past experiences, and as I began by saying, forget the modern saccharine fairytales. The original oral tales I’m talking about were told to help people (adults as well as children) cope with the dangerous world around them; both the natural world of dark forests holding wolves, bears, wild boar and other wild animals, and also the dangerous humans from other tribes or villages etc. that threatened to attack, enslave or murder them. These stories were about survival so the protagonists had to find their own means of resisting danger rather than relying on others, e.g. Red Riding Hood, in tales found across the globe, outwits the wolf or other beast (a bear in China) by using her own intelligence and ingenuity.
Besides the potency of these tales, the magical transformative aspect of fairytales can provide us with a means of exploring past traumas while taking back control over them through the creative use of language and imagery, to create something in words that is powerful – even beautiful – out of painful and traumatic memories. It’s a cathartic and healing process, allowing survivors who have been silenced in the past the chance of reclaiming their own experiences as told in their own words.
Whatever you have been through, it is likely you will find a myth, a folk or fairytale that reflects your experiences: e.g. if you were sexually abused, think of Philomel who was raped by her brother-in-law, then had her tongue cut out to silence her; or if you’re an incest survivor, read about Donkeyskin who had to run away from her home and live in disguise because her father wanted to marry her. Asylum seekers or refugees, like fairy wives, mermaids or selchies, find themselves trapped in an alien, often hostile society that does not understand their language and regards their cultural norms and values as strange and wrong; children who are outsiders for any reason in society – these days we call such children neurodivergent but throughout history they’ve been given various labels, in the old folktales they were called changelings and seen as goblins or other beings lacking immortal souls, left in the cradle by their supernatural kin as secret replacements for real children smuggled away to fairyland. Then there are other children who feel they are outsiders in their own families, or children who feel rejected by their parents, like Cinderella, or Hansel and Gretel.
The value of beginning your story with a fairytale or a myth is that you can identify yourself with that tale and begin by writing about your own life, but indirectly through the structure and plot of the chosen tale so that if it gets too painful, you can concentrate upon the folktale and take it somewhere else through your imagination until you feel safe enough to return to your own experiences.
Personally, I’ve always been especially drawn to tales of changelings and I have written several stories using a central character who feels alienated by the world around them, whether in a modern-day novel or in a fantastic fairytale setting. This December you will find a short tale, ‘The Changeling’, first published by Pyramid Press in an anthology, To Her Naked Eye, that you can read for free on my website: https://miriamhastings.com/
My novel The Dowager’s Dream, besides containing a fierce mermaid, has more than one character who feels rejected by the society around them. Over Christmas week, this novel will be 99p on kindle.
There’s little in the fiction world that generates more polarised views than this: past tense vs present tense fiction.
Author Kate Rigby – photo is hers
Recently I was in a Facebook Writers and Readers’ Group, when one member asked if she was the only one who didn’t get on with books written in the First Person Present.
I must say I don’t mind what tense a book is written in as long as the writing is good and the book engaging. But present tense does lend a book immediacy. Now I get that it’s not everyone’s cuppa, that’s fine. But it’s an opinion, a taste. That’s all.
However the discussion got quite heated, with one reader becoming quite dictatorial about it. This veteran reader was doling out advice of ‘stick to the past tense…unless you are…’ (named authors I’d not heard of). As I say he was a seasoned reader but he had no time for seasoned authors who might not write in his preferred tense or genre. He then went on to make some comment about ‘alienating readers at your peril’ but from his comments, I doubt that any of my books would have been of interest to him, since they employ the very devices he doesn’t have time for. I write literary fiction, not commercial fiction, and frequently employ present tense if the story demands it. If you read and write in the literary tradition writing in the present tense is second nature.
Another author also joined in the debate with the advice that ‘writers should stick to the past tense’. Really? I tried to debate this by arguing that there was no ‘should’ about it – that it’s a personal preference for a particular narrative style but she wasn’t having it at all. She justified her stance with ‘Did Stephen King or J K Rowling use present tense? I rest my case.’
Personally I’ve not read J K Rowling and although I’m sure her books have adult appeal too, they aren’t really my bag. At the same time I totally admire her success and her ability to tap into an archetype at the right time and turn it into a commercial success. Kudos to her and anybody who has success on a mass scale. But, not everyone is setting out to write books with mass commercial appeal. Many of us write niche.
The two reactions described above are by no means unusual. Some readers and authors demand tradition. However this wasn’t a present tense vs past tense debate at all. It was a commercial vs literally fiction debate. Literary fiction authors often use first person present. The author in the above-mentioned debate went on to say how she does a blog on writing tips. This concerned me, that she is telling new authors how to write.
Of course there are rights and wrongs of writing. Some novice authors will often switch between present and past unknowingly. In another part of the discussion tense-switching among inexperienced writers came up, and yes, this is a fair criticism. Unwittingly slipping into past tense when writing a book in the present tense is a mistake of the inexperienced. The key question is – was it intentional? Many experienced authors switch tense as a device. Many write in past and present tense in the same book and it won’t always be an obvious use of them either. I have seen accomplished authors write about the recent past in past tense and the more distant past in the present tense. It works. I have seen accomplished authors, not only switch tenses purposefully to great effect, but also switch from first person to third and even to second in the same book. This is a common narrative technique with literary fiction.
Once again, in this debate, many critics of both first and third person present, tended to think it was unusual or gimmicky or new, because of books like The Hunger Games (I’ve not read them) or because of WattPad. However, seasoned readers of lit fic will know it’s neither new nor unusual. The following authors have all used present tense in their books – many of them award-winning: Kate Atkinson, Margaret Atwood, Jessie Burton, Eimear McBride, Emma Donoghue, Jon McGregor, Hilary Mantel, Wyl Menmuir and many more.
If people don’t like present tense, it’s their prerogative, just as it’s mine not to like Westerns or Paranormal or things with werewolves, as long as they know that it’s purely subjective. But to dismiss all present tense books out of hand, for this reason and this reason only, is a bit like dismissing all pop songs in third person past tense.
If you’ve stumbled onto this post without reading part one, Author Lessons: Writing Community, Social Media, Newsletters, and Support, you can find it here. Part two covers the rest of the lessons I’ve learned in the last nine years. They are based on my own experiences and may be different from yours. I’m just sharing what I know in case it’s of help to any other writers traveling the same path.
image belongs to K.M. Allan
Author Lessons
Indie Publishing
Like most writers, I took my shot at traditional publication. I queried for several years, got rejections, 2 full requests, and even signed a small press contract.
In the end, all books published under my name so far have been indie published by me. There are many ways to do this, and a quick Google search will no doubt give you step-by-step blogs by more seasoned professionals.
As this post is about my author lessons, this is whatmy experiences in indie publishing have taught me.
Four years ago, I went with IngramSpark. Nowadays, good practice is using Ingram or Draft2Digital to go wide (all retailers but Amazon), while also publishing directly with Amazon.
I’ve recently heard rumblings you can now also go direct with Apple, and Barnes and Noble, etc, but I suspect that’s a US thing.
When I was researching publishers to go with, I did look at Draft2Digital, but they don’t have a printing facility where I live, and Ingram does. This means it only takes mere days to get physical copies of my books. I also found that the print quality of paperbacks is better with Ingram than Amazon, which is another reason I chose them.
Ingram used to charge to publish books. Now they don’t, but if you need to make changes, such as fixing typos or updating your book content, it will cost you. I have heard Amazon allows you to update your files without incurring a cost, but again, I currently have no personal experience with the inner workings of publishing through Amazon.
Another tick in the going with one publisher box was not wanting to check separate places for sales. Ingram has one dashboard, and it’s easy to run reports from.
Can you now guess where I sell most of my books? Yep, it’s Amazon. A place where I’d get higher royalties if I was going directly with them (and that’s on me). I also have one reader who has so far bought every ebook I’ve released on Kobo, and occasionally I’ll get an Apple Books ebook sale.
As an indie publisher, you’ll set the recommended retail price, but Amazon and others don’t have to stick to it, and they usually won’t.
Sometimes you’ll see your books on sale and be able to tell people who will hopefully take advantage. Other times, you’ll see it so ridiculously priced that even you wouldn’t buy it. No one else does either, and months will go by with no sales.
As for advertising your books and marketing, this is the hardest part of publishing and is a constant uphill battle. I’ve heard mixed things about doing paid ads, particularly Facebook ads, and it’s not something I’ve waded into (yet).
My first book release was at the start of the pandemic when everyone was reading and I reaped the benefits. I’ve also released two books at the end of the pandemic when no one was reading or spending money and suffered the consequences—just like every other author.
I’m in two minds about Amazon. They seem to punish writers who aren’t using them. More than one release day has been marred by people not being able to order my books because Amazon listed them as “Unavailable”—all because they’re coming from Ingram and not them.
I can tell you from firsthand experience that if readers can’t buy your book when they want to, or they see a message that it’s not in stock and there is no date for when it will be in stock, you’ve lost a sale.
I’ve also read recent horror stories on Threads of Amazon suspending writer accounts and canceling pre-orders, which are sales most indie authors won’t get back.
I’m also sure I’ve had some sales they have never been reported to Ingram. That’s not to say Ingram is fantastic either. If you contact either company about lost sales, incorrect listings, missing covers, or outrageous prices well above the RRP, they blame the other companies and say everything is out of their control, leaving you with very little control.
I’d love to sell my books directly from my website, but the cost of postage makes it impossible, even within my own country.
Lesson learned: no publishing place is perfect, and all will frustrate you. Weigh the pros and cons for yourself and go with the company that’ll work best for you. Maybe one day there will be better solutions, but for now, we can only work with what we’ve got access to.
Burnout
Posting on social media consistently, writing manuscript after manuscript, being in the query trenches or on submission, and just being in an endless loop of waiting to hear what others thought of your MS/pitch/query/submission pages, and checking if your last post got enough views/likes/comments or was swallowed in the social media void yet again, takes its toll.
Doing all of that, being in that constant state of waiting, plus the internal drive to get better in an industry where you’re only as good as the last piece of content posted or book published quickly leads to disillusionment, burnout, and self-doubt.
Lesson learned: remember that you got into this because you love to write, that you keep trying because you love to write and you want others to read what you wrote, to connect with it like you do. If you find everything else is robbing you of that love of writing, take a break. Reassess things and always go back to writing.
Author Extras
The trend at the moment for author extras seems to be character artwork (made by fellow artists, not AI) and if that is something you can afford and want to include, go for it.
I haven’t commissioned such work, so I can’t speak on it, but I can say the author extras I’ve spent money on have been bookmarks, enamel pins, a tarot card based on one featured in my series, tote bags, mugs, and chocolate bar wrappers (this post contains some pics if you’re curious). These were done as giveaways to beta readers, book launch comps, and book launch swag.
I’ve also invested in business cards, which I took to my first writing conference in 2017. They were left on a table, along with everyone else’s cards. I still have a box of them sitting in my desk drawer. There haven’t been too many other places to hand such things out as COVID killed off a lot of in-person conferences.
If you go to such events often, it is a good idea to have either a business card, bookmarks, or other swag you can hand out. I suggest using a QR code on them so you can keep the info updated. My business cards have an old domain on them (which still works) but it makes me hesitant to hand them out as I know it’s not the latest and easiest info.
Lesson learned: if you can afford to get some author swag, do it. If you can’t, don’t. As much as social media would like you to believe that a release that doesn’t include sprayed edges, limited edition hardcover copies, or a candle that can be included in a giveaway box means your book will fail is all wrong. Make the best book you can. That’s the priority.
If you want extras and can swing them, go ahead. They may garner attention, but if the book is bad, a sticker of the cover art will not improve its standing amongst readers.
Control
One big lesson I’ve learned is that you have control over what you initially write. And that’s it.
The book those first few drafts will become is something you have less control over as feedback from editors and beta readers will change the book’s shape. Then, when it’s released, you’ll never have control over how it’s received, how and when it’ll be reviewed, how much it’ll sell, if your promo posts work, or if it’ll be picked by readers, let alone a bookstagrammer that will make it go viral.
Lesson learned: all you can control is the words, the next book you’ll work on, and your reaction to everything. Focus on those things, and learn to let go of everything else.
Writing Project Grief
One surprising thing I’ve gone through when finishing a writing project is a grieving process. Wrapping up a book series that was a part of my daily thoughts and life for a good chunk of time (twenty-two years) hit harder than I expected.
Often, a work in progress that spans years becomes part of your life as you write it while trying to figure out who you are. When you finish that project, that part of you is now also gone. So are the hopes you once felt for this idea that bloomed into something so big.
Some books achieve what you want—getting written. Others almost hit that ultimate writing dream. You may have landed goals you never dreamed of, such as signing with an agent, a publisher requesting a full, getting all the way to an acquisitions meeting, and signing a contract. Or you could have watched all those things happen to others as the years and luck passed you by.
Sometimes, even when books achieve more than you dreamed, they still don’t hit the specific expectation you wanted, so you grieve that too.
That writing project isn’t the breakthrough you’d wished for, but now a backlist book you hope will eventually be discovered by others.
Lesson learned: your next book may not live up to your wildest dreams, or it may surpass them. Write the books of your heart, adjust your expectations to reality, but always keep a little sparkle of big-wish hope. It’ll keep you going.
And those are my author lessons. I hope you’ve gotten something from these two posts, and if you have questions about what’s been written, or want to ask more, let me know in the comments.
Chasing Driftwood Books 