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Adam Dickson Posts

Ask the Author

This month’s Q & A features novelist Lisa Conway, who writes historical fiction under the pen name Elisabeth Conway. Her trilogy, The Strands of Shining Gold, is set in 19th Century Singapore. How did you start writing? I’ve always been involved in writing, but up until a few years ago it was mainly non-fiction and documentary film scripts. I started…

A Waltz through the Dark Wood

My volume of short stories, A Waltz through the Dark Wood , will be published in August 2023. To mark this occasion I thought I would tempt readers with a brief description. The Girl A forty-something, angst ridden screenwriter meets his much younger girlfriend at a cafe, and hears a startling revelation. The Lover A married businesswoman meets a charming…

Art imitating Life

Strange things happen when you embark on a life writing fiction. Your characters start to come alive in your imagination, developing quirks and attitudes you hadn’t anticipated. Your sleep is hijacked by new ideas and insights which come to you in the dead of night. Novels are notoriously difficult to write – or at least to stay the course long…

Tales from the Woodshed

Q & A with author Nicky Shearsby What drew you to writing initially? I have always been fascinated by words, how stories can come to life on paper and last forever. From an early age I knew that I wanted to be a writer, crafting untold stories so that a little piece of me would live on when I’m gone.…

A Waltz through the Dark Wood

My father was a voracious reader, and introduced me to writers like Guy de Maupassant and Ernest Hemingway. I was particularly struck with Maupassant, whose short stories are masterpieces of character and detail. His classic tale of snobbery and manipulation, Boule de Suif, is my favourite. Set during the Franco-Prussian War, it tells the tale of a French prostitute who…

How much is enough?

Novels are often criticised for their lack of research, a laziness on the part of the author. Which begs the question, how much is enough? I always imagine a stone-faced historian peering over my shoulder while I’m writing, and his scornful look at my audacity. Hollywood has always revealed a shameless disregard for history, a fact which incenses many scholars.…

Woman

Most men spend their lives in search of the material, a way out of the conditions they’ve been born into. Status, wealth, opportunity. All these might come their way, causing them to rejoice at their good fortune. Even better if they’ve won the love of a good woman to share the journey. For centuries, man has taken on heroic struggles…

Collaboration

I’m currently writing my fifth novel, so I’m familiar with the process, what it takes to get through the periods of isolation and self-doubt that’ve plagued the writer since time began. So when the chance came to collaborate on a screenplay, I agreed- albeit with some trepidation and more than a little curiosity. Fast forward several years and I’m still…

Persistence

The first and last word in any undertaking is persistence. Without it there can be no breakthrough, no fanfare, and no remuneration for the years of wasted effort. Until success comes along, the dream lies buried, a vain and preposterous hope that might never be realised. Most people give up because the road is too long and the work too…

California, 1939. A young couple sail off the coast on board the yacht Indigo. We don’t know much about them, but soon realise things aren’t quite as they seem. The yacht isn’t theirs. Something’s happened to the previous owners, but even this isn’t clear. There’s a sinister element at play, an undercurrent that drives the couple away from their troubled…