August 2019 Blog Posts (9)

Authors given chance to write a Halloween ghost story in a haunted castle

Buittle Castle and best-selling novelist John Dean have teamed up to run a workshop on how to write a ghost story in the spooky surroundings of the Medieval Tower House near Dalbeattie, Dumfries and Galloway.

The event, which will take place between 3-8pm on Halloween, Thursday October 31, 2019, will help writers to tap into their reader’s…

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Added by John Dean on August 29, 2019 at 9:36 — No Comments

Welcome to my world

 

As a writer, I am always inspired by a sense of place. Whether it be a gloomy city or a stunning hillside, a glass-strewn council estate or a majestic waterfall, something about my surroundings repeatedly triggers ideas. It’s been the theme of a series of creative writing workshops I have recently been delivering.

Let…

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Added by John Dean on August 27, 2019 at 15:04 — No Comments

Best-selling author announces 2020 writing workshop dates

Best-selling crime novelist John Dean has announced the 2020 dates for weekend writing workshops at his home near Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway.

John, author of 18 novels and currently published by London-based The Book Folks, is the creator of the popular DCI John Blizzard and DCI Jack Harris series.

He will run two courses, based around sense of place and the mechanics of storytelling,  from his 19th Century home set in rolling countryside on the weekends…

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Added by John Dean on August 27, 2019 at 11:47 — No Comments

Go on, keep moving

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Added by John Dean on August 21, 2019 at 10:27 — No Comments

New DCI John Blizzard title is published

The latest DCI John Blizzard is out, the seventh in the series published by The Book Folks.

In A Flicker in the Night, a spate of murderous arson attacks evokes bitter memories for stalwart detective John Blizzard…It was a defining moment in DCI John Blizzard’s early career when he caught a notorious arsonist on a killing spree.

Yet…

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Added by John Dean on August 20, 2019 at 9:32 — No Comments

When you cannot trust what you are being told

I am currently teaching a creative writing course, part of which focuses on the unreliable narrator, a character who tells a story that the reader cannot take at face value.…

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Added by John Dean on August 15, 2019 at 9:40 — No Comments

Detail, detail, detail...

What turns a story from good to very good? For me, it is that extra something. That attention to detail on the part of the author.

Whether it be the description of a place that makes you shiver because you feel the chill air coming off the hills, or a portrayal of a character so…

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Added by John Dean on August 12, 2019 at 13:41 — No Comments

Stay with me, dear reader, this is going to be good!

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…

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Added by John Dean on August 6, 2019 at 10:42 — No Comments

Second collection is published

The DCI Blizzard Murder Mysteries Books 4 to 6 is out.

This is a collection containing the second three books in the DCI John Blizzard…

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Added by John Dean on August 1, 2019 at 13:59 — No Comments

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An exciting character

Author Ian Robinson has a new crime novel out - and it’s attracting plenty of glowing reviews. Criminal Justice (The Book Folks) introduces undercover police officer Sam Batford, a man who walks the narrow line between successful detective and corrupt cop. The novel sees him sent to work with a serious crime team in London in an investigation which sees him play the good…See More
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Authors highlight different ways of starting to write a book

I have just started writing my next crime novel and I have more time to concentrate on it now that Kirkcudbright Book Week, which I help organise, has come to an end for this year.In fact, the subject of how best to begin a story cropped up during Book Week, not least when I chaired an in-conversation event at the Selkirk Arms, featuring crime writers Traude Ailinger,…See More
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Tackling the dreaded blank first page

 I am working on a new DCI John Bizzard crime novel for my publisher The Book Folks, and that means being faced with the dreaded blank first page.So, how do writers get going under such circumstances? How do they start writing their story? Well, in this hectic world, I have always felt that there is a lot to be said for holding back and allowing myself a little time to…See More
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