A reminder that bookings are open for my crime writing workshop taking place on my return to Darlington for the Darlington Arts Festival in May.

Title: An Introduction to Crime Fiction – Writing workshop

Event details Best-selling crime novelist John Dean is to run an Introduction to Crime Fiction creative writing workshop. John, author…

Further to my previous blog on words, they are our tools and, as with any tools, you need to select the right ones for the job.

For me, it is best to keep it simple and effective: write what you want to say. Don’t be tempted to use different words just for the sake of it.

Sometimes it’s not necessary to find alternatives. It can make a…

The use of words is something dear to all our hearts as writers. They are, after all, our tools of the trade and we should wield them with all the care taken by an artisan when using a chisel.

I once came across a web page published by the Now York Times, saying that the titles of every book published in English in and around the 19th Century — 1,681,161 of them - were electronically scoured by American researchers for key words and phrases that might offer insight into the minds of…

Good writing works because it evokes reactions in your reader though the use of triggers - words, phrases, images, places, sensations that reach deep into the reader’s mind.

That reaction will be based on something the reader has actually experienced, or maybe something that the reader dreads ever having to experience. It is why horror and…

We are proud that our weekend writing courses are helping to attract people to Scotland. You can check out our VisitScotland page at

https://www.visitscotland.com/info/see-do/inscribe-media-ltd-p2100651…

What a brilliant programme for this year's Darlington Arts Festival in May - looking forward to being part of it!…

Delighted to say that the DCI Blizzard mystery The Railway Man (The Book Folks), set in a world of veteran railway workers  and seedy boxing clubs, has reached 50 reviews on Amazon.

You can read them at…

Funny how ideas work their way into a writer’s consciousness. The idea for my recently-published DCI Jack Harris novel To Honour the Dead (The Book Folks) came, in part, from my father recounting a tale from his National Service days when a soldier won a medal for valour but was drunk at the time.

The story got me thinking about the thin line…

One of my Darlington Arts Festival events, taking place during National Crime Reading Month in May, will be a talk looking at the role of conflict as an inspiration for crime writers.

Conflict fascinates crime writers, regardless of where it happens, and one of the novels that gave me the idea for the talk, and to which I shall refer, was my…

The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA), of which I am a member, has created the role of Festival Liaison Officer, which is intended to strengthen connections between crime writers and literary and arts festivals. Authors Isabelle Grey and William Shaw will share the…

I do a lot of creative writing teaching and I always contend that, despite the many elements of fiction, it comes down to a triangle, three things that come together to make the story work right from the off - story, character and…

The DCI Harris crime novel Dead Hill (The Book Folks) is at 23 in the Amazon Kindle Crime Fiction chart - with some truly brilliant novels for company - you can check out the full list at…

I was recently interviewed for the Middlesbrough Council magazine Empower Middlesbrough (many thanks to my old friend Ian Cross for the opportunity). My responses may interest

Tell me your story about becoming an author. What inspired you?

I always wanted to tell stories and had written from a young age, banging…

Libraries across the country are being hit hard by government cuts to local authority budgets.…

Best-selling crime novelist and creative writing tutor John Dean, who is based in Dumfries and Galloway, is still running an…

Thinking of writing a crime novel? Then you need to consider that to write a good crime story, you need to:

* Create a strong story (even with a short story, it is worth mapping out a synopsis because crime stories are often complicated and you need to get it right).…

The McIlvanney Prize is launching a new award for 2019…

Delighted that four of my novels, including Death List, are in the best-seller Organised Crime Amazon Kindle charts - check out the full list at …

Best-selling crime novelist John Dean is returning to Darlington to stage a couple of events as part of the literary line-up during Darlington Arts Festival in May.

John, the former chair of Festival organisers Darlington for Culture, left the town after 26 years at the end of 2017 to live in South West Scotland.

The author of 17…