Esther's Blog

An inspiring visit to the Bronte house in Haworth where I got to write a tiny part of the manuscript of Wuthering Heights being recreated for display. This is a question I have asked myself plenty of times. In fact, it is often after just being inspired to begin a new story that I suddenly get attacked by a bout of writer's block. Normally I find that I am inspired to begin a new story very soon after I had published a book. Yet after thinking of the new plot and even plannin

As an artist and with a love of drawing, photography and painting, I find turning to art very inspiring when I come to writing. This is something I discovered when I wrote The Secret Weapon, my first complete novel. As my first foray into writing, this project was something of a learning curve. I felt that I wanted to get to know my characters better. As such, I began to draw them, to give them faces as well as names. I created character profiles to give them a personal histo

Loki and Lando Writing can be a lonely business. But one of the blessings I have is two dogs. Someone, and I forget who it was, once said that I should write a dog into one of my stories. This point of view, I am fairly certain was also in the mind of my dogs! See the video evidence below…when I was writing there was a definite appeal from the eldest of my dogs to be featured in print. Loki making a bid to appear in a book... So…I did it! Now those of you who have read my boo

This book began as I stood on the shores of Mallaig, looking across to the Isle of Skye. Driving through the Highlands was making my creative senses sparkle and having this time, on a relatively quiet day, meant that I was able to start drafting the characters. You cannot get far into the Highlands without hearing about the Jacobites. I knew nothing much about them until this trip. But standing on that shoreline, I was fairly certain that I wanted to use Prince Charles Stuart