Clare Flynn’s Blog
The Sea, The Sea!
It only recently occurred to me that I have at least one scene involving a voyage by sea in every single one of the nine books I’ve written. As I write this post I am getting ready for my own major sea voyage – a round-the-world cruise for four months. This has to be...
A conversation with Elizabeth Morton of A Greater World
To mark the publication today of the new digital edition of A Greater World by Canelo, here's an interview with the main character, Elizabeth Morton.First of all, Elizabeth, can you give us a brief introduction to yourself – who are you and where are you from?I’m the...
Swooping Magpies!
I'm delighted to welcome as my guest this week, Liza Perrat, who's going to tell us about the perils of magpies, to coincide with the release of her 1970s medical drama set in Australia, The Swooping Magpie. Never having heard of this scary form of magpie I asked Liza...
Interview with Margaret Kaine
I'm so pleased to have Margaret Kaine as my guest at last. Margaret is a multi-award-winning author of romantic fiction – and also happens to be a member of my writers' critique group. I was lucky enough to get to read an advance copy of Margaret's latest novel, The...
Interview with author, Margaret Skea
I'm delighted to welcome award-winning author, Margaret Skea, to the blog today. I first met Margaret as we are both members of the Alliance of Independent Authors, or ALLi - and then I discovered she was also in the Historical Novel Society. Margaret was the...
Introducing The Silver Sex Kittens!
I'm delighted to welcome authors Jean Gill and Karen Charlton to the blog today. They are both members of the Historical Novel Society (you might catch a glimpse of them doing the Gay Gordons on my blog post about the HNS conference) and they have recently joined...
Meet Author Linda Huber
I'm delighted to welcome psychological suspense author, Linda Huber, onto the blog today. Linda grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, but went to work in Switzerland for a year aged twenty-two, and has lived there ever since. Her day jobs have included working as a...
Remembering the civilian dead in Eastbourne
One of my novels, The Chalky Sea, is set here in Eastbourne during the Second World War. This is a book that I never planned to write – until two years ago, when I moved back to the town where I spent my teens and discovered something I'd never known then – that it...
The Golden Age of Cruise Liners
I was in London for a meeting last week and had some spare time to kill before my train home so I headed to one of my favourite places, the Victoria and Albert Museum. I always enjoy wandering around the galleries or sketching the marble sculptures, but this time I...
Bringing location to life on the page
Often the trigger for me in writing a book is its setting. My imagination is captured by a particular location. There will be something specific that is the source of its appeal to me as a writer and then I think how I can bring it to life on the page. I then dream up...
The Alien Corn – Why I wrote a sequel for the first time
I love to write standalone stories. Maybe it's because I have a very low boredom threshold, but I want to move on at the end of a book. I felt the same way when I finished The Chalky Sea, but then as the days went by, I kept thinking about Jim, one of my two main...
Interview with author Antoine Vanner
I’m delighted to welcome Antoine Vanner, author of the "Dawlish Chronicles" series of naval adventures. The series is set in the late Victorian era when technological progress was more rapid than at any previous time in history. This time is also one of growing...