I think that one of the golden rules of writing is that every word should do its job and it can make for a brutal editing process for the writer. It’s a process I have recently finished with the latest DCI John Blizzard mystery.

Over the years, I have found my novels becoming shorter. Not because I am not inspired by the stories and the characters that drive them - you wouldn’t put in all that work if you weren’t - but because I am acutely conscious that words must earn their place on…

A little reminder that the latest DCI Jack Harris mystery is out and riding high in the Amazon Kindle bestseller charts (it’s also available in paperback).

The Killing Line is published by The Book Folks and is my nineteenth published crime novel. In the book, a schoolgirl is found dead after taking drugs, the second death in a few…

The second DCI Jack Harris boxset has been published by The Book Folks in Kindle format, including books four to six in the series.

DCI Jack Harris loves the peace and solitude of the rolling hills of the Pennines in the north of England. So, when criminals interrupt his quietude, he makes no qualms about catching them,…

I am delighted to be one of the crime writers supporting this brilliant initiative.

The month of May sees the return of National Crime Reading Month (NCRM), a unique, UK-wide literary festival designed to connect authors and readers and promote the crime genre.

The festival, which is a major annual initiative co-ordinated by the Crime…

Britons are turning to books in lockdown, with one in three reading more since Boris Johnson told the country on 23 March to stay at home, according to a new survey.

The survey marks the annual World Book Night tonight (Thursday April 23) and saw the Reading Agency question more than 2,000 people in the UK, finding that 31% were reading more…

I am fascinated about the writer’s ideas process. It is something that I include in my online creative writing courses and, as part of the research, I came across a quote from American crime writer Patricia Highsmith, who when asked where her ideas came from said: “Ideas come to a writer, a writer does not search for them. Ideas come to me like birds…

One of the key things that I tell my creative writing students is that the opening lines of their stories are crucial.

Why? Because harassed publishers, overworked agents and readers with a mass of choice all need grabbing within moments of picking up the book/short story/manuscript.

It is like the writer reaching out of the page, clutching the reader by the lapel and saying ‘don’t you dare go away, this is going to be good!’

The first rule of opening lines is that they…

A reminder that, in addition to the various free things I do with writers, one of the paid-for services I offer is one that supports writers through online mentoring.

But why should you hire a professional writing mentor? Isn’t it enough to attend a class/workshop or a writing group? Well, yes, it can be but not everyone can get to a group,…

I am working on the latest DCI John Blizzard crime novel for those excellent people at The Book Folks at the moment and the story is full of people falling out, each fighting their corner, defending what is important to them.

That is how it should be but why is conflict important in writing? Because stories need things to happen and that usually comes out of conflict - characters argue, fight, feud etc. It is through seeing characters in conflict that we see them at their…

Young people falling foul of drugs, dealers who don't care, a hill town in turmoil, it all adds up to a testing case for DCI Jack Harris, who has already got plenty on his mind as tough memories start to crowd in on him. You can find out more in the latest in the…

In addition to my crime fiction, I make the occasional foray into other genres, including humour. But how do you write humour? Well, here are some suggested rules:

The first thing to remember is that humour is subjective. What is funny to one person may easily leave another cold.

The best approach is write in your own style in the way…

Congratulations to author Keven Shevels, who is donating proceeds from sales of his comic novel The Haddock Flies at Midnight to St Teresa's Hospice in Darlington, County Durham, to help it through these difficult times. An adult comedy, the book recounts thirty days in the life of a town hall housing official in the north of England who joins forces…