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NinaMilton

Sabbie Dare and Friends

I have been writing fiction since my reception teacher, Mrs Marsden, put a paper and pencil in front of me. I can remember thinking; What? Do real people write these lovely books? I want to do that! I gained an MA in creating writing and sold my first books for children; Sweet’n’Sour, (HarperCollins) and Tough Luck, (Thornberry Publishing), both from Amazon. I also love writing short stories and they regularly appear in British anthologies. I now write crime fiction, published by Midnight Ink. The idea for In the Moors , my first Shaman Mystery came to me one day, in the guise of Sabbbie Dare. She came to me fully formed and said; “I'm a young therapist, a shaman, and sometimes I do get very strange people walking into my therapy room. Honestly, I could write a book about some of them...” I am a druid; a pagan path which takes me close to the earth and into the deep recesses of my mind. Shamanic techniques help me in my life - in fact they changed my life - although, unlike Sabbie, I’ve never set up a therapeutic practice...I’m too busy writing and teaching creative writing with the Open College of the Arts. I’m a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Although I was born, educated and raised my two children in the West Country, I now live in west Wales with my husband James. IN THE MOORS, the first Shaman Mystery starring SABBIE DARE was released in the US in 2013 and UNRAVELLING VISIONS will be out this autumn, but you can already reserve your copy on Amazon. Join me on my vibrant blogsite, http://www.kitchentablewriters.blogspot.com where I offer students and other writers some hard-gained advice on how to write fiction.
Today
March
19
October 2017
31
text: THE POWER
Is the reader as important as the writer? Does their opinion of what they read count as much as what the writer believes abou...
October 2017
30
read
reviewed: DO NOT SAY WE HAVE NOTHING
Praised by Alice Munro (whose name is on the back cover), Do Not Say We Have Nothing earned Madeline Thien the Canadian Autho...
finished reading:
October 2017
15
read and rated
text: Writng Advice - Questing your Plot
Questing your Plot I've been writing for the Open College of the Arts Creative Writing Degree again. This time, I've ...
text: Writing Advice - Getting Going
A Five-finger Exercise for Writers When I was a small child, just starting school, my favorite moment in each day w...
text: Writing Advice - Info Dumps
Clear Up Your Writing Info Dumps In her latest post for the Open College of the Arts, Nina Milton is writing on the infor...
finished reading:
started reading:
September 2017
30
text: Get all Moody with your Crime Writing
If people are saying they ‘couldn’t get into’ your writing, or that your characters felt a bit lifeless, then it might be tha...
August 2017
17
reviewed: On the Road by Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy is known for his gratuitous violence – blood, gore, screaming pain and horribly inflicted death. I’ve seen th...
May 2017
14
read and rated
text: Off the Peg; how Ottessa Moshfegh wrote Eileen
If you’ve been thinking of dashing off a thriller in the hope of great success in the book market, then I would have been the...
finished reading:
April 2017
24
reviewed: Dracula by Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker's Dracula I was holidaying in Whitby when I first realised that Bram Stoker’s Dracula was a surprisingly modern...
April 2017
20
quote:
"In the Moors is a dark thriller, dealing with chilling serial crime but, due to the skill of the author’s writing and the hum..."
April 2017
17
text: Writing Advice - Making a Drama of it
One of the most useful techniques writer can stuff under their belt is the ability to control tension and create drama in the...