Category: Writing
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Second draft of my first full-length novel ☠👨🍳
With a few interruptions along the way, it’s taken me two years to get to this point… First draft (i.e. getting it down) Plotting, planning, and scheming kicked off in February 2019 before I started the first draft two months later. What followed was seven months of tippity tapping away on the train to and…
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Podcast with my book cover redesigns, website, emoji use, and quiche 👨🍳
The Marks are at it again! Duck and Dive‘s cover refresh and my website are briefly discussed on the latest episode of the Bestseller Experiment podcast, along with how I’ve used emojis to give potential readers a flavour of what to expect. But, to put it in context I’m going to back it up for…
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What do you think of these book covers?
I’d love your thoughts! I’ve decided to update my first two book covers because I don’t think they communicate well what they’re about – they’re not genre-appropriate. I realised I needed to better signal to potential readers what they might find inside. My target genres include: Gay Comedy Romance Contemporary. I’ve pulled together some comparison…
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Short story: My New Routine
This is my latest short story, a competition entry written on the theme of ‘Lockdown’. Based on the previous year’s competition winning stories, the judges were expecting an uncompromising literary sign of the times. This story is not that. Not one bit. After a year of Covid-19, the last thing I wanted to do was…
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My book on the Bestseller Experiment podcast 🎧
That’s right! My gay romcom novella Over and Out scored a brief mention on this week’s episode of the Bestseller Experiment podcast. Following a fantastic interview with thriller author Linwood Barclay, the hosts Mark Stay and Mark Desvaux discuss some recent wins from their regular listeners. You can listen to the full interview yourself by…
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Over and Out is out now 🥳
This is it! Over and Out is the third outing for Arthur and Gabriel. And it’s likely to be their final, at least for now. Are you keen to see where they end up? Grab a copy of Over and Out now on Amazon Kindle: 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 🇦🇺 🇨🇦 🇩🇪 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 🇮🇹 🇳🇱 🇯🇵…
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Over and Out cover reveal (and what it’s about!)
Over and Out is the third – and final! – outing for these boys. The final for now, at least. And this time, we’re not only in Arthur or Gabriel’s head, we’re flip-flopping between the two! Everyone gets a turn. Such a versatile arrangement – it’s only fair. ⏰ Release date: next week 😱 I…
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Second draft: butchering time
The short version: It’s been a few weeks since I completed the first draft of my latest book, the third in my Rise and Shine series. Now I’m ripping it to shreds, and stitching it back together again. I’ve been through to check it all hangs together and decided it needs quicker perspective switches as…
G. B. Ralph 