As a published author, I’m regularly asked for advice about writing – anything from how to get published to how to handle rejection. I thought I’d expand on the writing tips section of my site by giving you some more insight into the world of creating books. I hope you find this useful if you’re an aspiring author and interesting if you’re simply an interested reader.

Bernardine Kennedy

July 16, 2012

I would love to be able to say that my Way of Writing is disciplined, motivated and focused but sadly it isn’t, well not as much I’d like it to be. I do try but it can be hard to turn the creative process on and off as required, sometimes the juices flow and it’s easy to get a few thousand words onto the page and I just want to carry on for hours but equally sometimes even a couple of hundred words of nonsense is a struggle and I have to force myself to stay in front of the computer scr...

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Wish It Were Mine – The Mystery of Mercy Close

July 16, 2012

So, yeah, I’ve got to confess to having a To Be Read pile that would probably do me serious injury were it ever to topple over near me. But that doesn’t stop me coveting more books. So here’s the latest one on ‘Wish You Were Mine’ list The Mystery of Mercy Close The Mystery of Mercy Close I think Marian Keyes is a fantastic storyteller and my favourite of her books have been: Rachel’s Holiday, Angels, Last Chance Saloon and The Other Side of the Story. The others are grea...

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My little helpers – The Sticky Stuff

July 13, 2012

Don’t think I could have written my novels without the humble Post-it/ Sticky. With my first three books, I used notecards cut in half with each plot point written on and then moved around until I had the plot in the correct order. Nowadays I use Post-its because they’re easier to move around and plus I can use different coloured ones for different characters. That’s particularly helpful with multi-character novels because I can look act my noticeboard and see if part of the book is too...

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Writer’s Read – Becoming a writer by Dorothea Brand

July 13, 2012

When I was younger – a lot younger – and had dreams of being an author, this was my bible. It was written originally in 1934 but her advice is still relevant today. I used to read it almost obsessively for the advice it had on committing yourself to the writing process. For example, she advised that if you need to find time to write, then commit yourself to a time to do it and then do it. No excuses – except a genuine emergency – write. If you want to be a writer that’s one of the t...

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  • Bernardine Kennedy
  • Wish It Were Mine – The Mystery of Mercy Close
  • My little helpers – The Sticky Stuff
  • Writer’s Read – Becoming a writer by Dorothea Brand