Ruth’s Blog
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How do we learn to write?
Times have changed, or else my memory of childhood has faded. Was I taught to write at school? I must have been, but have no recollection of it. I remember writing, and loving it, but not being taught the mechanics of writing. My grand-daughter, well schooled towards...
What do readers want to read in a blog, or a novel?
I probably know the answer to this question as well as you do: any mention of SEX usually creates a spike in the visitors to any web site, but you can't talk about SEX all the time. So in between we bloggers have to talk about less stimulating - sorry - things such as...
‘Forgiven’: the middle child of the trilogy
I'm beginning to think of 'Forgiven' the second book in my trilogy 'Between the Mountains and the Sea' as the middle child, quite quiet, somewhat overshadowed by its more noticeable siblings. The eldest child, 'A Good Liar' was the first, long awaited, with a troubled...
Me and my editor
In the world of self-publishing there's always talk about the importance of a good editor, and what editors can do to improve the quality of your work. Over the past few years I've been fortunate to work with an editor who is also a long-standing friend. You might say...
What’s in a name?
I'm ploughing on with the outline of book no.4 and once again trying to think of new and interesting names for my characters. Some of them are already decided, drawn through from the previous books, but others keep changing as I change my mind. 'Find and Replace' is...
‘Writing a novel starter pack’ : what to include?
I love teaching, always have, and since 1982 I've been working with adults as learners rather than younger students. Having recently struggled myself to learn the basics of starting, finishing and publishing a novel, what I'd love to do now is 'teach' some of that to...
Delectable authenticity
In the great scheme of things, few people really care about absolute authenticity, but I'm one of them. We notice the glaring anomalies, like the plastic water bottle on a recent photo of the Downton Abbey set, but to appreciate much of we see or read in historical...
Diverse approaches to writing
For two days I've been in the company of writers, at the first Borderlines Book Festival in Carlisle, and my mind is almost too busy to cope. I arrived here by car, plane and train from the Outer Hebrides on Friday night, made my own small contribution to the event...
Opening paragraphs
At the very beginning, when I was starting my very first novel, I wanted to 'set the scene' for my readers, and began with a long description of a time and place - actually Barrow-in-Furness in 1916 - which I thought was pretty damn good. Considering what I was...
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