I will deliver two free talks in Dumfries and Galloway to celebrate Book Week Scotland in November, both of them looking at the conversation between writer and reader. The theme of Book Week Scotland this year is Blether and I will look at how you can’t always trust the writer to tell the truth!

What do I mean by that? Well, convention dictates…

Time and time again in my writing, I come back to the theme of conflict., It is what makes fiction work.

But why is it important? 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 truest, when their guard is…

The Long Dead (The Book Folks), a DCI Blizzard mystery set in the world of archaeologists and wartime  memories, has now topped 60 reviews on Amazon and it's held steady at four stars. You can find out more at…

What makes for good writing? Well, I think that good writing works because it triggers responses in its readers. The best writers get into the head of their readers (it is the theme of a creative writing course I am due to deliver in Kirkudbright, starting in a few days, and a ghost fiction workshop I am due to deliver in a haunted Scottish castle on Halloween).

I think writing works best when readers say ‘I have been in that situation, ‘I know someone like that’, ‘what a terrible…

Following on from my previous blogs on creating characters, a word about minor characters and the care you need to take when creating them.

But why, you may ask, spend unnecessary time on insignificant characters? Some may have roles so negligible that they won’t even warrant names: the servant who brought the drinks; the hotel maid who cleaned the room, the police officer who drove the car and so on.

They deserve attention, though, because, although the reader isn’t supposed to…

The latest DCI John Blizzard mystery, the seventh in the series published by The Book Folks, is up to 42 in the British Detective Stories section of Amazon Kindle.

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…

I am writing the latest DCI Jack Harris crime novel and, although I plotted it pretty carefully in advance, the characters are doing a lot of the work for me as I write, throwing up questions and hinting at secrets.

It reminded me how important secrets are to a crime writer. It is crucial that your characters are hiding things. They may reveal their secrets to the reader but it can be a very effective storytelling tool if the investigators are in the dark until the story comes to its…

I am delighted that the dates for the next creative writing course at Kirkudbright Galleries have been announced.

Writing Course with Author John Dean - October 18-December 6

Kirkudbright Galleries, Kirkudbright, Dumfries and Galloway

The course will examine ways in which prose writers, be it those creating short stories or…

Bookings are starting to come from authors after Buittle Castle and best-selling novelist John Dean teamed up to run a workshop on how to write…

I often tell my creative writing students to listen to the characters they create, to be alive to what they are saying.

To illustrate the point, I refer to the story of a crime writer who I taught a few years ago and who created a brilliantly-drawn character. When she had finished reading out the chapter in which this new character featured, she revealed that it was only a minor character and that the girl would never appear again.

I argued that the character had so grabbed her…

I am currently working on the latest DCI Jack Harris novel and already, 11,000 words in, I am creating scenes full of raw emotion and human passions ranging from rage to grief.

Now, I have not experienced all the situations I depict but I’ve gone through a lot of scenarios that were similar. For me, the line between real life and fiction is an…

Delighted to announce that the DCI Blizzard mystery A Flicker in the Night (The Book Folks) is now out in paperback as well as e-book format

You can buy it at…

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…

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…

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 19^th Century home set in rolling countryside on the weekends…

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…

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.…

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…

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…