The most important page of any book is the first. Those first few paragraphs and that first sentence can make or break the book. How many times have you picked up a novel, read the first page, and put it back down? I had the good fortune to take a seminar with best-selling author Jody…
If you’ve ever read any of my books, you might notice that I LOVE a good magic system. The Witch of Cheyne Heath series has three, and my upcoming series, The Shining Continent, has five, with even more planned for future installments. There are a few things I always think about when creating a magic…
The Annual Gold Bullion Hunt One of the most delightful and whimsical annual events in Cheyne Heath is the Spanish Gold Bullion Hunt that happens every summer solstice on the heath. In the late 1800s, Robert Louis Stevenson made reference in a letter to an acquaintance of a substantial sum in gold bullion stolen from…
When creating a dynamic character to carry your story, it’s important that they be strongly motivated to drive the plot forward. It makes them more interesting, and the story a lot more fun. When I was writing the first novel in The Witch of Cheyne Heath series, Waking the Witch, I was researching psychological models…
The Library of the Damned For the witch that loves a stroll through a museum or art gallery, Cheyne Heath has a few excellent options. Foremost among them is the delightfully-named Library of the Damned. Tucked away among the mansions of Gore Street, this magnificent specimen of Georgian architecture houses the foremost collection of Chaos-Kissed…
The Spheres of Influence and the lords and ladies that rule them.