Ruth’s Blog
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How will I react to the first review of ‘Cruel Tide’?
I'm off to London this weekend so I'll do this post now, and hope it doesn't get lost in the Twitter and FB clutter that seems to fill my timeline and probably yours too. I'm surprised to say that having waited years for a decent review of any of my books, I'm both...
Where do plots come from?
I'm sure anyone who writes a novel is asked the question: 'Where do you get your ideas from?' I can't speak for anyone else, but thinking back on the books I've written so far, there seem to be a few places where plot ideas come from. My own experience, things that...
‘Writer’ or ‘presenter’? Am I allowed to be both?
I can tell when a plot is forming when I start looking inside my head and lose track of what's happening around me. It makes me terribly bad company, and not fit be with people until I make a conscious effort to haul myself back to reality. That's where I am right...
Dreadful Downton dialogue
I watched Downton Abbey the other night, for the first time. Before that, my only contact with it had been sitting next to Hugh Bonneville in the Business Class lounge at Los Angeles airport, and that was only because Air NZ lost my luggage for nine days on the way...
Writers, agents and publishers: are all of us flogging a dead horse?
Let's make some assumptions: first, that not every writer aspires only to the ebook publishing route; second, that agents and publishers have a genuine interest in finding good writers; third, that the publishing business is as much driven by fashion and trends as is...
What do readers want to know?
It's been a busy week for meeting readers, and I'm always interested to discover what they want from me and from the books. Here are a few of the questions that crop up most frequently: Q. Do you base your characters on people that you know? Do you people-watch...
Interview on BBC Radio Cumbria
I'm really grateful to my friend Eric who managed to squeeze this 16 minute interview on to my website. You'll find the link in the My Books section on ruthsutton.co.uk, and it should work if you click on it. The BBC Radio Cumbria interviewer Paul Braithwaite asked...
The art of being interviewed
I've been waiting to write this post until the most recent interview I did on local radio was able to be linked in, but it's not ready yet so I'll go ahead anyway. It made me think about the Q&A of a good interview, and what I learned from from the many oral...
Do I need a specialist crime fiction editor?
Two things have prompted this question. The first was a response from a well-known crime writer I asked to read 'Cruel Tide' a few weeks ago. I was pleased that he said some positive things about it, but he ended his note with words to the effect that I needed a...
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