Tag Archive for: writing

Writing on the Back of the Book

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Having got his pictures, Jason is weaving his magic to turn raw images into the cover picture, and I need to decide on the words for the back of the book.  You might have thought this would be straightforward – it’s writing, after all!  But it’s not easy, to give a flavour of a whole novel in around a hundred or so words; to say enough about the story to entice a reader to want to know more, without giving any spoilers; to use a style that is in keeping with that of the book, so that readers know what they are getting, and yet serves a totally different purpose.

So I’ve got three versions of the blurb for the back of the book, and I’m posting them all here on this blog, and inviting you to make any comments you feel are appropriate, either at the end of this post, or on my facebook page if you prefer.
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New Skills for Old Writers

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The trouble with deciding to self-publish a book is that it can load you up with a whole load of tasks that are not writing, and which are well outside my natural comfort zone.
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My Writing Life

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I’m certainly not one of those writers who always knew that this was the career for them, who had six novels in their desk drawer by the age of ten, who wrote for their infants’ school newspaper, or had winning stories in junior magazines.  Writing was something I did as and when necessary:  essays for my studies, reports and manuals for work, letters to absent family members and shopping lists were the limit of my not so creative writing endeavours.  So what changed?

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