Blog
Back Again!
Yay, I am back online! As some of you may have noticed, my website was hacked some time ago, and my provider’s technical support, who had apparently been switched to a team in India, made things worse until I was only left with a 404. Annalisa, my writing coach,…
Meet the Monsters of 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺
Paranormal City has given me the rare and slightly alarming pleasure of populating an entire dark urban fantasy world with creatures the Muse seemed determined to invent without any of my prior approval. I thought it was about time I introduced a few of them properly;…
Plotter vs Pantser vs Plantser?
I talk about Pantsing often enough on this site that I thought it was worth properly laying out the whole spectrum — Plotter, Pantser, and the increasingly popular middle ground people call a Plantser — and being honest about where I actually sit, even if it’s not…
37 Books, One Brain
Somewhere along the way, the number of books I’m ‘working on’ crept past thirty and kept climbing. Thirty-seven, give or take, depending on how you count the ones still a little more than a few thousand words and a strong feeling. People ask, not unreasonably, how on…
What I’d Say to People Who Look Down on Self-Published Authors
I’ve heard the sneer before, even if it’s rarely said quite so plainly: self-published isn’t ‘real’ publishing. It’s the consolation prize for people who couldn’t get a traditional deal. I understand where the attitude comes from — there’s a lot of variable quality…
Five Things About Me Most Readers Don’t Know
Readers tend to know the headline facts — the word count, the Pantser confession, my Muse, the Writers Forum award, and the cold-dead-fingers sign-off I trot out at the end of nearly every talk I give. So I thought it might be fun to dig a bit deeper and share some…
Things People Ask Me at Book Talks
I’ve now done enough talks — the WI, the U3A, Rotary, radio, and various podcasts along the way — that certain questions have become old friends. I thought it was about time I collected the regulars in one place, with the answers I actually gave, rather than the…
Writing Fairy Tales for Grown-Ups
I’ve written about how, among other genres, my fairy tales sometimes wander into darker, stranger territory than the traditional versions (https://stephenoliver-author.com/genre-mashup-confessions/). I wanted to dig a bit deeper into why I think fairy stories belong…
I May Be a Pantser, But My Muse Is Definitely a Plotter
This is a contradiction that’s taken me years to properly notice, let alone admit to in public. I’ve built an entire identity around being a committed Pantser: no outline, no plan, finding out what I’m writing as I write. And yet, the longer I do this, the more…
The Edit That Wouldn’t Die
Every writer has one. A story that should have been finished months ago, that you’ve read, revised, edited, washed, rinsed, repeated more times than seems reasonable, and that still… still… it isn’t quite done. I have several candidates for the title, if I’m honest,…
Another Wordsmiths Thursday
I am writing this today simply because I wanted to write it on the day of the meeting. It’s that time again. Wordsmiths Thursday rolled around once more today, the first Thursday of the month. It means a lunchtime spent in the company of the Whittlesey Wordsmiths…
Why Dark Humour and Horror Make Good Roommates
People are sometimes surprised to find a joke sitting in the middle of one of my horror stories. I understand the surprise. Horror is meant to be the genre where you hold your breath, not the one where you snort with laughter at an unfortunate turn of phrase. But in…
Genre Mashup Confessions
If you’ve looked at my bio, you’ll have spotted the list. Science fiction, space opera, urban fantasy, horror, fairy tales, noir, detective fiction, dark humour, to name but a few. Often more than one in a single tale, I always add, because that’s the genuinely…
Where Do You Get Your Crazy Ideas?
Every writer gets asked this eventually. I’ve had it at WI talks, U3A talks, Rotary meetings, in interviews, and at least once from an interviewer at Fenland Youth Radio who looked genuinely suspicious of my answer, as if I were holding something back. I wasn’t. The…
What Winning the Writers Forum Award Actually Changed
In 2023, the Writers Forum named me the author of their Book of the Year, with a joint award for Shuttlers and Paranormal City. I don’t remember exactly where I was when I found out, but I do remember the slightly ridiculous grin that took up residence on my face for…
Why I Came to Writing Late in Life
I get asked this a fair bit, usually with a slightly puzzled tone, as if the maths don’t quite add up. Someone discovers I’ve written well over two million words, am working on something in the region of thirty-five books, and have a couple of awards to my name — and…
Where the Idea for Shuttlers Came From
People assume that if you’ve written a space opera novel about beings who can slip between alternate realities, you must have had it all plotted out in advance. A nice, neat outline. Maybe even a spreadsheet. I did not have a spreadsheet. I didn’t even have a plot…
A Day in My Life with the Muse
People often ask me where my ideas come from. The honest answer is that I haven’t the foggiest idea. That’s not me being modest — it’s just that the Muse doesn’t leave a forwarding address. Nor does she give away her secrets. I know many who wish they had a consistent…
Unleashing Your Dreams
In March, 2024, I gave a talk to the local U3A (University of the 3rd Age) in Whittlesey, where I’m a member. The subject was “Unleashing Your Dreams… how to make them come true,” based on my book “Unleash Your Dreams: Going Beyond Goal Setting”. I think I entertained…
Setting the Record Straight
Some time ago, someone told me that a poster on Reddit was accusing my writing coach, Annalisa Summea, of being a fraud. This was the gist of the reply I posted in the thread. ****** Last week, I became aware of some people badmouthing Annalisa and the Writing Gym…
New Video Page
As part of my recreation/update of my website, I’ve decided to add a page with my videos on it. These will include book trailers and other incidentals that are not directly interviews. Here’s the newest one.