#WritersCoffeeClub 04 April: Do you switch between past and present tense? How do you make it work? "A Summoning of Angels" spans a year. The hero arrives part-way through. I wrote the scenes before the hero's arrival in past tense and the scenes after his arrival in present tense. It seems to work

#WritersCoffeeClub Mar 26 How Much of a break or hiatus do you take between works? That's not something I plan. I'm two volumes into the current #histfic trilogy, and editing those is taking longer than I expected, particularly because I've got to get feedback from beta readers. Breaks just happen.

Learned today that I've been turned down for a bursary to fund a mentored writing course which could have been life-changing. I suppose it's best seen as just another rejection slip. More to come, I'm sure. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub AND #ScribesandMakers Day 28: How well did this short month go for you, in terms of writing? I think I'm at last getting my head around self-editing. I'm cutting out filter-words in both my manuscripts. Small changes making a big difference. #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub Feb 27: Do you edit while you write? Hardly at all on the first draft, but more and more on subsequent versions. Neither editing or #writing has a clearly defined endpoint. By the time the manuscript is close to final form, there'll be more editing, but the writing never stops.

#WritersCoffeeClub 15/2: How big are your settings? Volume 1 - Europe and North Africa during the first half of the 14th century. Volume 2 - An abbey in Oxfordshire, England during 1348/9 and the arrival of the plague. Volume 3 - Europe during the years after the plague. #writing #histfic

#WritersCoffeeClub 11: What time of day is most productive for you? Why? My muse has no particular favourite time of day or place of work. She has recently woken me at 5am with suggestions for rewrites. She is not under my control. I wish she was. #writing #histfic #writingcomminity #writesky

#writerscoffeeclub 02/09 Do you subscribe to "show, don't tell?" Whether I do or not is beside the point. Literary agents demand it and I would stand no chance of ever being traditionally published if I didn't adapt my style to that imperative. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 3/2: What signature marks your work as definitively and effectively yours? I write real-world historical fiction, no fantasy, no magic, no dragons. Just stories which might actually have happened. #writing #histfic #writesky #writingcommunity

#WritersCoffeeClub 1 Feb: How satisfied are you with your current writerly ‘voice’? It is what it is. I'm currently writing #histfic and I think it suits that genre. In my #writing group I've tried alternative voices and people have liked them. I'll stick with the one I have for now. #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 30/1: This month, how did you successfully navigate a challenge or a sticky point in your writing? I promised my beta readers I'd have a full manuscript for them by February. #writing #histfic #writesky #writingcommunity

#WritersCoffeeClub 25 Jan: What comes first? Character, setting, plot. What comes next? My first novel "A Summoning of Angels" began as an exploration of what might happen if I wrote the main character from Ray Bradbury's short story "Referent" into a medieval convent during the plague of 1348/9.

#WritersCoffeeClub 18 Jan: Are you comfortable making your readers uncomfortable? How far will you go? There are different degrees and areas of discomfort. I might go further in politically uncomfortable themes than sexually uncomfortable ones. Transgressive literature has limits #writing #histfic

#WritersCoffeeClub Jan 17. "What’s frustrating you, writing-wise?" The long slow climb of editing vol 1 to make it more "show" and less "tell". #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 12 Jan. How do you get to know your characters before you start writing? I invent them, so I know them. Some invent themselves as the work progresses. They all believe they are good people doing what needs to be done. Some of them are entirely wrong. #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub / #WritersTeaClub Jan 11: Name a poet who has influenced you. Not sure I can. I'm a fan of Jacques Prevert, but I wouldn't claim that he has influenced my #writing. I used a translated extract of a poem by Catullus in "A Summoning of Angels" but I can't imagine doing that again.

#WritersCoffeeClub 9/1: What’s your top tip for writing authentic dialogue? Know that "authentic" doesn't mean "realistic". If you transcribed a real conversation into text it would not read well. Too many "ums" "errs" and unfinished sentences. Write dialogue people can read. #writing #histfic

#WritersCoffeeClub Jan 4: Share a tool of your trade MSOneNote, which I use as a universal repository for Internet links, jotted notes, pictures etc etc. It synchronises across phone, laptop and tablet so saves me a lot of time. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub Jan 3. How do you come up with the titles for your works? As a newbie, I've been told that any title I choose is likely to be re-written by my publisher, so I don't spend too long agonising over titles. #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 2/1: Talk about something you've retold. The world's oldest fairy tale is about a smith and a fairy / demon / devil. I retell a version of the story in Vol 2 of the Cruz Espada Trilogy as 'The Smith and the Bog-fairy". It is available online here: wp.me/p2HMUy-6F #histfic

#WordWeavers 1 Jan 2026: What are your wildest (writing-related) dreams for this year? Ideally by the end of 2026 I'll have volume 3 of the Cruz Espada Trilogy written and ready for Beta readers at about 80k words. The wild part is finding an agent willing to take it on. #writing #histfic #WIP

#WritersCoffeeClub 1/1: What's the greatest benefit you've taken from the writing community online? The online community of writers has provided me with feedback, alpha and beta readers, links and referrals to useful writing resources and much more. #writing #histfic #WriteSky #writingcommunity

#writerscoffeeclub Dec 30. How much would writing by another means (by hand, digitally, audio transcription) change your prose? All my full length novel manuscripts have been written using MS Word. I couldn't write without the ability to move text around and delete/insert text. #writing #histfic

#WritersCoffeeClub 22 Dec What are mistakes or errors you know you’re prone to making? How do you avoid them? It's a longer list than I can put here, but the most consistent is that I need several rewrites to get from "telling" the story to "showing" the story. #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 21/12: Do your stories come to you fully formed? Or do they only develop along the way? My stories arrive like babies. All the parts are there, but they need time to develop fully. Then, when they are grown, they're sometimes a bit of a surprise. #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 18/12: Are there writing ‘traditions’ which ought to be preserved? Grammar. Spelling. Punctuation (hands off our semi-colons and em-dashes!). #books #writing #WriteSky #writingcommunity

Watching #Brassic on #Netflix and realised that if it was literature rather than TV, it might be classified as "magical #fantasy". It exists in a world where there are no rules and anything can happen. #writing

#WordWeavers 12. Are bodily functions omitted or discussed in your stories? In one of my stories - set during the Black Death - they are relevant, so they get mentioned. Otherwise no. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

Today, I am a member of the #5amwritersclub. There was a scene in Volume 1 that I wasn't happy with. 1344 AD. The Pope's intelligence and security chief was recruiting a new candidate into "the Entity." Hard to find the Stasi/KGB ambience - I've never lived that life. #writing #histfic #writesky

#WordWeavers Dec 10 Who is your most chaotic character? I included a neurodivergent character in my 14th-century #histfic. His behaviour seems chaotic and upsets the people around him who don't understand his condition. #writing #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 12.10 — Is it ethical to base characters on real people? What is the limit? Living people? Not if you name them. Dead people? No problem if they've been dead for 600 years. Just one of the advantages of #writing #histfic set in the 14th century. #writesky #writingcommunity

#WordWeavers 8 Dec: Does your world have any weird laws, practices or beliefs? In 14th-century western Europe the Catholic church was the only church. The worst punishment short of execution was excommunication, and to be accused of sorcery or witchcraft could result in a death sentence. #writing

#WritersCoffeeClub Dec 7.: What future writing goals are you working towards with your present work? I'm about to start #writing Volume 3 of my "Cruz Espada" #histfic trilogy. The three books are set before during and after the Black Death, so I'm currently researching the 1350s. #books #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 6 Dec How has your past writing shaped your present writing? My past #writing was articles for glossy sports magazines and various blogs. Nothing longer than 2k words. Now I write novels and am currently two books into a planned #histfic trilogy. It all helped. #writingcommunity

#WordWeavers 4/12: 1hat’s the worst thing about the world of your story? The 14th century? Plenty to choose from: plague, political and ecclesiastical corruption, lethal antisemitism, wars, the Inquisition. You wouldn't have liked it. #writing #histfic #books #writingcommunity #writesky

#WordWeavers 3/12: What’s the best thing about the world of your story? The fact that for the purposes of my fictional plot, I imagined the Papacy having an "intelligence and security" department - and then discovered that it really did! #writing #histfic #books #WriteSky #writingcommunity

#WritersCoffeeClub 3/12: Do genre conventions provide an essential framework, or stifle original storytelling? Depends on the genre. Fanfiction is a straitjacket. Historical fiction is constrained only by reality, and not even reality if you add fantasy into the mix. #writing #histfic #writesky

#PennedPossibilities 861 — Has your MC ever committed a crime? If so, what have they done? He's not a violent person, but he is a trained member of a military order serving in the security and intelligence service of the Papacy. He has killed in the line of duty, and (once) for personal revenge.

#WordWeavers 2/12: What does your MC’s home smell like? His childhood home smelled of orange blossom early in the year, then thyme and rosemary in the heat of summer. And sometimes leather, when his father brought his work home. #writing #histfic #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub 2 Dec What do you dislike as a reader and thus avoid in your own work? The easy answer is "bad writing". The more nuanced answer is writing which is trying too hard for a popular style or genre and getting it wrong. The best books don't have comp titles. #writing #histfic #books

#WritersCoffeeClub 1/12: From where did the inspiration for your current WIP come? From my previous novel. The main male character clearly had an interesting life-story behind him, and it had to be told. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky

#WordWeavers 30/11: When writing, do you consider your topics to avoid book bannings or fallout of any sort? I've never given book bans a thought. #writing #histfic

#writersCoffeeClub Nov 30: Share some good things about how your work went this month! Feedback from my beta readers has been good. More work to do, of course, but making solid progress. #writing #histfic #books #writingcommunity #writesky

#WordWeavers Nov 29: When writing gets hard, what keeps you going? Hope. Hope that one day, a literary agent will read my work and see what I see. A growing library of #histfic stories transferable to #cinema, #TV and #computergames. #writing #books #writingcommunity #writesky

#WritersCoffeeClub Nov 28: In what ways do you see yourself reflected in your own work? It isn't me reflected in my work. It's my tastes and preferences, my choices and my aversions. The things I write about and the things I avoid shape my work, but I would not say they create a reflection of me.

Latest blog - on the common pattern emerging from the process of #writing: unexpectedangles.wordpress.com/2025/11/27/p... #books #writesky #writingcommunity

#PennedPossibilities 854—What genres might you try outside of your chosen one(s)? Is there anything specific you would like to work on? I think I'll stick with #writing #histfic, but I'd like one day to write about ancient Rome. I'd need to do much more research first though 🤔 #writesky

#WordWeavers 27 Nov When it comes to your writing, what are you thankful for? My alpha and beta readers, and the fact that I don't have to rely on my writing to pay my bills. That said, I do hope that one day I'll be published and earning some money for my work. #writing #histfic #books

#WritersCoffeeClub 27 Nov Do you prefer writing serialised, sequential, or standalone works? Why? I'm currently writing a #histfic trilogy, a biography set before, during, and after the Black Death. After that I have plans for a series linked not by a character but by the organisation he worked for

#WritersCoffeeClub 23 Nov What's your niche? Real-world historical fiction novels based on actual events and without dragons, magic, or other fantasy elements. Current WIP is a trilogy set in the 14th century before, during, and after the plague. #writing #histfic #writingcommunity #writesky