As you know, I and many other crime writers do what we can to help libraries at a time when they are seen by many as a soft target as budget cuts bite. So I was delighted to hear that best-selling crime author Karin Slaughter is to write a short story to benefit libraries. The project will be a digital original short story titled "Thorn in My Side" from Amazon Publishing's Thomas & Mercer imprint, available exclusively as a Kindle Single on August 25th. One hundred percent of Slaughter's…

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Just announced the Summer Fling programme (Aug 30-Sep 3). Far too much going on to list it all here (music, dancing, readings, art fair etc etc) but you can find it at www.darlingtonforculture.org (click on the right hand box on the home page, which says wpshower, and all will be revealed)

Darlington for Culture (DfC), which was set up late last year to help save Darlington Arts Centre, has organised two writing workshops, one for adults, one for young people, to be held on Tuesday August 30.

The books and writing day will launch the week-long Summer Fling organised at the Vane Terrace centre by DfC, a Community Benefit Society, a type of co-operative. There will be a range of events, including a book fair and appearances by local authors.

The…

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The Secrets Man, my tenth novel with Hale, will be published in September. It features John Blizzard and the team in a race against time to save the lives of local drug users - a race which evokes unpleasant memories for the DCI.

You will recall that some months ago, I wrote several blogs expressing concern at the impact on libraries of public sector cuts in the UK.…

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Spent this afternoon doing a writing workshop as part of the UK's National Crime Writing Week (more on www.nationalcrimewritingweek.co.uk) and spent a lot of time talking to a writer about her work. It's always fascinating hearing how different writers approach the task in hand but one thing that came home chatting to this particular writer was that everything she wrote was rooted in personal experience. She was not telling her own story… Continue

The countdown is on to National Crime Writing Week, which is organised by the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA). National Crime Writing Week will run between June 13 and 19 and members of the CWA will take part in readings, discussions, readers’ group events and workshops in bookshops, libraries, arts centres and other venues.…

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Darlington, where we are based, hosted the annual conference of the Crime Writers' Association over the weekend. For two days, some of the finest crime writers in the world attended a series of talks and events devoted to the world of crime. I was the organiser and what shone through time and time again when listening to the delegates was that they share a passion for their art, a passion for their genre and a passion for constantly learning and developing their craft. And that made for a…

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Interested how one issue keeps coming back time and time again for the writers using this site - and it is one that fascinates me. The question asks how much of ourselves do we place into our fiction? It's back at the top of our forums sections at the Global Short Story Competition's social networking site after one of the members started a discussion on the subject. A similiar discussion that we had a few weeks ago was equally fascinating.

My personal view has always been that, as…

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I teach aspiring writers all over the world and one thing that comes through is a strong sense that just about all of them recognise that they are still learning. I think most writers feel that. They will continually criticise their own work and learn from the experience.

It's a fine line between that approach and a lack of confidence, which you see in writers at classes who say 'I do not really want to read this out because it is not as good as everyone else's.' I understand that. I…

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I have, as some of you might know, been involved in the campaign to protect UK libraries at a time of budget cuts, which has reinforced for many writers the passion their readers feel for books and those who supply them. Well, according to the…

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I am a big football fan, and just as big a rugby fan, and it has always been clear that the teams that can finish are the ones that succeed. Without producing too twee a link, it is the same with writers and writing. Why do I say this? Well, twice in recent weeks, I have read stories which promised much and did not quite deliver.

One was a novel which had a terrific idea but which announced an even better one in the final pages - then stopped without developing it. The second was a…

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The hugely influential Publishers Weekly has identified Scandinavian crime writer Stieg Larsson as the stand-out author of 2010, based on his phenomenal performance when it comes to the bestsellers charts. Larsson‘s books have sold in huge quantities since his death in 2004 from a heart attack, suffered at the age of 50.…

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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.

Before I explain where I think sense of place fits into the creative process, let me take you back three years to a hillside in the North…

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