I have just completed a 13410 word draft of “Electricity”, a spicy, not-quite-horror, not-quite-fantasy love story (I’ll probably go with it being a magic-realism love story.), I absolutely loved creating these characters: Sam, Francesca, Annabelle and Creature. Aly
Novella drafted
Sorted! My latest short story has gone through several changes of title (it was ‘Cold Numbers’ but is currently ‘Eve of Tomorrow’) and grown to be the novella it was always meant to be. Draft completed at 27,715 words. It is the second story written for my collection “All One People.” and my first proper […]
February writing update
It’s been an on-off month writing-wise. I’ve mainly been concentrating on stories for my ‘One Beautiful People’ collection. One of these is Cold Numbers, a rare Sci-Fi offering originally conceived as a separate piece but that has refused to be tied down as a shortie. It is now novella length and still has a few […]
Authors, Mothers, characters, daughters and all their imaginary friends
Minds of their own To begin with, writing requires the ability to disassociate oneself from true reality and go with the version that is inside one’s own head. We often call this imagining of other worlds and non-existent people ‘fantasising’, but for writers, it is more than idle imagination. We have to craft at it. […]
January writing update
So what am I working on? Well, it’s high time I finished The Throne of Hades, book 7 of the Forgotten Wings series. The book is basicaly written and I am starting the second wave of edits now. After that, I have plans for three other collections along the lines of Arrows at the Rainbow. […]
Latest on my Goodreads page
A big thank you to all those who have read and rated my books, particularly to those who have taken the time to write a review. It can be hard work getting any kind of traction in the book market, particularly if, like me, you don’t have great marketing skills or resources to plough into […]
The wonder of naming your characters
Naming a character is the author’s act of creation, of giving a soul to a concept born from the ‘DNA’ made of a chain of her words. Introduction Characters can’t breathe until they have a name that you believe in, and they can’t walk, talk or impact the world you are imagining them in unless […]
Website Icon selected
I have today designed a new icon for my website. It is based around the O-O in my 2nd surname (Brooker) which are looped together in my favourite font that I use on book covers and webpage headers. Hopefully, it will be more identifiable and memorable! Aly
Three
Here is a short story dug out from my archives. Enjoy! Knock. Knock. Knock. Jack Mallard waited to hear the “Come in”, pushed open the door and entered the office of Hilary Bennett, MD. After brief introductions he took the offered seat in front of a tidy, modern desk and told the doctor why he […]
Award system for struggling authors
If you write, then you deserve credit. Every word counts. So do you.