Helping authors to make their stories shine … Editing Services for fiction and memoir
The 2025 Christmas book list features fifteen books, including eleven incredible books from authors I’ve interviewed throughout the year and four of my own – two Jade Riley mysteries and two anthologies, each featuring one of my short stories.
The genres range from romantic comedy to psychological thriller, so find something to suit your loved ones’ tastes … or treat yourself. Continue reading Christmas Book List 2025
Bella’s latest novel, The Swimming Group (April, 2025, Joffe Books), is a gripping, twisty mystery/psychological thriller that keeps you guessing until the very last page. Today, we chat about swimming, writing ensemble stories, plotting great twists, Cape Cod and more. Continue reading Bella Ellwood-Clayton on The Swimming Group
In my debut novel, The Godfather of Dance, I used song titles to name each chapter, which suited a novel set in the ballroom dance world. Reader feedback about this was positive, so it made sense to continue the style for the second Jade Riley mystery, A Killer Among Friends. It also matched the story because the second point of view character is a drummer in a rock band. Continue reading Writing a Mystery: Chapter Titles/Playlist A Killer Among Friends
When I first started writing The Godfather of Dance, I made each chapter title a ballroom or Latin American dance type: samba, waltz, pasodoble, etc. As the number of chapters grew, I ran out of dances, so I switched to song titles, which gave me more freedom. Continue reading Writing a Mystery: Chapter Titles/Playlist The Godfather of Dance
In the first part of this blog series, Writing a Mystery: Introducing Jade Riley, I introduced the protagonist for The Godfather of Dance. A journalist by trade, Jade hails from Melbourne and has a past tinged with the tragedy of her best friend’s death. Today, I share how I am developing the Jade Riley Mystery Series, and how I envision future books. Of course, this will almost certainly change along the way due to factors beyond my control or my evolving creative preferences. Continue reading Writing a Mystery: Crafting a Series
I am thrilled to announce that I’ve signed a publishing deal with Wings ePress for my novel, The Godfather of Dance. As my long-term readers know, this has been a lengthy process. To celebrate, here’s a fun post about responses from publisher to submissions. Continue reading The Enormous Difference Between BUT and AND
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