Claire Dyer's Writing Toolkit

WRITING TOOLKIT gives you an idea of an author's writing process through the tools they use. The tools can be anything (real or virtual) that they think is essential for their writing - serious, fun or even a fetish (that they're willing to own up to)! 

I am delighted to welcome 

CLAIRE DYER

AUTHOR OF THE LAST DAY

TO SHARE HER WRITING TOOLKIT

FOR HER BLOG TOUR

The Last Day was published on 15 February 2018 by Dome Press. 

Swimming

I swim every other morning and find it invaluable for clearing my head. As I swim, all I do is make sure I know which length I’m on and then let my mind wander. Many plot points or next sentences have come to me this way.

Silence
I don’t like noise when I’m writing: the best place for me would be a cottage on a remote hillside with only sheep for company. Unfortunately, real life isn’t like that and so I normally have to contend with building noise, traffic noise and when my husband is working from home, his music!

Footrest

I couldn’t write without this. It’s been invaluable in getting me to sit up straight when I’m at my desk. 

Sleeplessness
I love that moment when the day is over, the house is quiet and I’m lying in bed staring into the dark. Like with swimming, these are the times that I see things more clearly and in the quiet, can listen to what my characters are telling me.

Facebook and Twitter
Keeping in touch with people on social media is such a comfort. Being able to provide support to others and seek it for myself reminds me that I’m part of one big writing community.

TV
I obviously value my friends but I also love watching ‘Friends’ reruns on TV or, if I have a bit more time, I adore murder mysteries such as Morse, Lewis, Poirot, Foyles War, etc. For me, watching these programmes is like kicking off my shoes, getting under a blanket and having forty winks.

My characters
I couldn’t write without them. There’s that marvelous moment when I’m writing (at about 40,000 words) when they move in to my head and my heart and it’s almost as though they start dictating the plot. I see and hear them so clearly that when I reach ‘The End’ I find I mourn their going.

Boiled eggs and soldiers
This is what I promise myself after swimming and after a daily target of 1,600 words. If I’ve done both of these things and ‘Friends’ is on TV, making myself boiled eggs and soldiers is a little slice of heaven!

THANKS FOR TAKING PART, CLAIRE!

About Claire Dyer

Claire Dyer’s novels, The Moment and The Perfect Affair and her short story, Falling For Gatsby are published by Quercus.

Her poetry collections, Interference Effects and Eleven Rooms, are published by Two Rivers Press.

She has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London and teaches creative writing for Bracknell & Wokingham College. She also runs Fresh Eyes, an editorial and critiquing service.

In 2016, Claire penned and performed a poem for National Poetry Day, called The Oracle, for BBC Radio Berkshire. 

Find Claire on her website, on her Facebook page and on Twitter - @ClaireDyer1

About The Last Day

Published by Dome Press (15 February 2018)

Publisher's description

Every ending starts with a beginning; every beginning, an end. 

Boyd and Vita have been separated for six years when Boyd asks if he can move back in to the house they both still own, bringing with him his twenty-seven-year-old girlfriend, Honey. 

Of course, Vita agrees: enough water has travelled under enough bridges since her marriage to Boyd ended and she is totally over him; nothing can touch her now. Boyd and Honey move in and everyone is happy - or so it seems.

However, all three are keeping secrets.

Here's a snippet of my review: 'This was one of those books that I had to read out loud at various points to appreciate the author's well-crafted words and beautifully observed character descriptions and interactions. It's tightly plotted, with a underlying sense of mystery about events to come.'

Read my full review here.

Follow the Blog Tour

Emma Curtis' Writing Toolkit

WRITING TOOLKIT gives you an idea of an author's writing process through the tools they use. The tools can be anything (real or virtual) that they think is essential for their writing - serious, fun or even a fetish (that they're willing to own up to)! 

I am delighted to welcome 

EMMA CURTIS

AUTHOR OF ONE LITTLE MISTAKE

TO SHARE HER WRITING TOOLKIT

Writing space

I don’t attach much importance to where I write; it tends to depend on weather and who is living in the house. Currently both kids are renting flats with partners (Hurray!) so that frees up their bedrooms.  I also have a writing shed, which though perfect in Spring, Summer and Autumn, can be a cold in winter.  It’s also used for a – ‘where shall I put this, I don’t want to get rid of it but’, items and outside furniture.  So, it’s not always conducive.  The essential thing is to feel uninhibited and because I write using Voice Recognition (more of this later), it can be difficult to find that space if my husband is home.

Creative writing books

I keep my favorite creative writing books in the bathroom to dip into when nature calls, a habit that bemuses my husband.  I love Stephen King’s On Writing, Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark’s hilarious How not to Write a Novel, Harry Bingham’s How to Write.  You think you know it all when you get your first book deal, but you really don’t. You’re only scratching the surface.  It pays to be humble and learn lessons.

Dragon

I use Dragon Voice Recognition to write my first draft because I have chronic pain in my hands, arms and shoulders.  It’s great for pounding through those chapters, but unfortunately it slows down the editing process to such an extent that I end up getting angry and pulling the plug.  It can also be tricky when you need to write a sex scene.  I wait for an empty house for that task.  Not that I write many!  I am very much a ‘less is more, use your imagination,’ author.

Silence

I can’t bear being able to hear the radio, my husband on the phone, sneezing or merely breathing near me.  I can handle noise that I have no control over – like those pesky parakeets and squirrels who enjoy a prolonged screeching session, but if I can put a stop to something, I can’t ignore it.  This morning there are builders outside my window.  I’m doing my best to blank them out.

Healthy eating

Food is definitely part of the writer’s toolkit, and a tricky one to balance.  The weight crept on.  I started 2017 with a hashtag #ThisWritersArse to motivate myself to lose it and get healthy again.  I have strict rules (I am an all or nothing person). No eating between meals, no carbs.  I have porridge for breakfast, a huge salad for lunch and for supper meat and veg – no potatoes!  It’s worked. I’m now down to a respectable ten stone.  Chocolate after lunch and supper, is my pat on the head for keeping my hand out of the biscuit tin. I keep a supply in the fridge and can become disproportionately upset if it vanishes.

Clothes

I think my most important material item for writing is clothes.  I dread neighbours turning up unannounced (which they do all too often) because I look awful in baggy old sweatpants and hideous jumpers.  But I just cannot cope with anything that fits snuggly.

A good night's sleep

I don’t work in the evenings because I have trouble sleeping so avoid over-stimulating my brain.  A TV drama followed by a couple of chapters of whatever I’m reading, usually does the trick.  I don’t like box sets because they go on for so long.  I prefer English serials like Missing, Doctor Foster and Paula and love Scandi Noir.

THANKS FOR TAKING PART, EMMA!

About Emma Curtis

Emma Curtis was born in Brighton and brought up in London. Her fascination with the darker side of domestic life inspired her to write One Little Mistake, her first psychological suspense. She has two children and lives in Richmond with her husband.

Find Emma on Twitter - @emmacurtisbooks

About ONE LITTLE MISTAKE

Published by Black Swan (15 June 2017)

Publisher's description

YOU TRUSTED YOUR BEST FRIEND . . . YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE.

Vicky Seagrave is blessed: three beautiful children, a successful, doting husband, great friends and a job she loves. She should be perfectly happy.

When she makes a split-second decision that risks everything she holds dear, there's only person she trusts enough to turn to.

But Vicky is about to learn that one mistake is all it takes; that if you're careless with those you love, you don't deserve to keep them . . . 

Gill Paul's Writing Toolkit

WRITING TOOLKIT gives you an idea of an author's writing process through the tools they use. The tools can be anything (real or virtual) that they think is essential for their writing - serious, fun or even a fetish (that they're willing to own up to)! 

I am delighted to welcome 

GILL PAUL

AUTHOR OF 
ANOTHER WOMAN'S HUSBAND

TO SHARE HER WRITING TOOLKIT

Post-its

I go through dozens of packs of these per novel, usually (but not exclusively) yellow ones. I rip each post-it into three raggedy pieces and use them to mark paragraphs I want to remember in my research books. The best books end up with hundreds, like a bizarre kind of plumage. It saves writing on the pages, which I hate, but it’s a real pain taking them off if I decide to donate books to a charity shop. 

'Work hard' sign

This hangs behind my desk as a reminder. I used to have a hand-scrawled sign until a lovely friend painted this on wood for me. My dad was a workaholic and I think he’s passed on a bit of a gene because I’m not good at taking days off. Even on holiday I’ll be doing research or scribbling notes on odd scraps of paper. 

Notebooks

I carry these around and make notes like “Henry needs to be more charismatic”; “don’t forget about the camera”; “how does she find out?” Either that or I’ll describe things I notice as I wander around during the day, like pigeons having sex on the path in front of me, or a ravaged couple smoking a crack pipe on the top deck of the 24 bus.

Herbal teas in big mugs

There’s always a tea beside me as I write, and wandering to the kitchen to make the next one helps me to think of the next line. Twenty cups a day would not be far off the mark.

Swimming cozzie

Most days I toddle up to the Pond on Hampstead Heath to swim with the ducks, heron, kingfishers and other women. This is where I’ll work out plot points, character traits, and what is going to happen in the next chapter. The changing room is useful for finding experts on a wide range of different subjects.

Writing desk

If I showed you a photo of my desk, Louise Beech (author of Maria in the Moon) would have a conniption fit so I’ll describe it instead. It’s got an iMac in the middle, a big industrial printer on one side and a scanner on the other, several open books lying face down, umpteen scribbled notes to myself, a mug full of pens that don’t work, a box of tissues (Sainsbury’s Basics), a spotlight, an exploding address book and diary, a globe, dozens of business cards from people I can’t remember, several general stationery items and a thick coating of dust.

Thanks for having me on your wonderful blog, Vicki!

THANKS FOR TAKING PART, GILL!

About Gill Paul

Gill Paul is an author of historical fiction, specialising in relatively recent history. Her new novel, Another Woman's Husband, is about links you might not have been aware of between Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, and Diana, Princess of Wales. 
Gill’s other novels include The Secret Wife, published in 2016, about the romance between cavalry officer Dmitri Malama and Grand Duchess Tatiana, the second daughter of Russia’s last tsar, who first met in 1914. Women and Children First is about a young steward who works on the Titanic. The Affair was set in Rome in 1961–62 as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton fell in love while making Cleopatra. And No Place for a Lady is about two Victorian sisters who travel out to the Crimean War of 1854–56 and face challenges beyond anything they could have imagined.
Gill also writes historical non-fiction, including A History of Medicine in 50 Objects, and a series of Love Stories, each containing fourteen tales of real-life couples: how they met, why they fell for each other, and what happened in the end. Published around the world, this series includes Royal Love Stories, World War I Love Stories and Titanic Love Stories.

Find Gill on her website, on her Facebook page and on Twitter - @GillPaulAUTHOR

About Another Woman's Husband

Published by Headline Review (2 November 2017)

Publisher's description

Two women who challenged the Crown.
Divided by time. Bound by a secret...

1997
Rachel's romantic break in Paris with her fiancé ends in tragedy when the car ahead crashes. Inside was Princess Diana. 

Back in Brighton, Rachel is haunted by the accident, and intrigued to learn the princess had visited the last home of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, only hours before the crash. Soon, the discovery of a long-forgotten link to Wallis Simpson leads Rachel to the truth behind a scandal that shook the world.

1911

At the age of fifteen, carefree Mary Kirk and indomitable Wallis Warfield meet at summer camp. Their friendship will survive heartbreaks, separation and the demands of the British Crown until it is shattered by one unforgivable betrayal...

To read my review, click here.

To read more Writing Toolkit features, click here.