As part of my ongoing research for The Tarnished Crown series, I’ve been going through my photo archives. I take many, many photos - some to capture a moment I wish to remember but, more often than not, as a resource upon which to draw when I’m putting together a scene, or to add to a catalogue of information. What can an image tell the viewer and what does it say about the one who takes it?

I started March with a poem about crows by the nineteenth century Northamptonshire ‘peasant’ poet John Clare (1793 - 1864), and now I shall end the month with another: Sonnet: ‘I love to hear the evening crows go by’

Plots are the backbone of a story, setting fleshes it out, but characters bring it alive. Consider your favourite books, the ones that embed themselves in your psyche, and then think about what makes those books stand out from the many others you have read. Chances are that characters play a factor. Whether protagonists or antagonists, it is people we tend to remember over any other aspect in a story. But why?

Find out more in today’s Writing Tips: Characters or Caricatures?

Just over nine years ago already, but memories of attending Richard III's memorial service are as clear now as when first imprinted. I sat a few feet from the coffin in a packed Leicester Cathedral, his discovery, exhumation, and reinterment on the 26th March 2015, an extraordinary series of events I never imagined I would see in my lifetime.

What’s in a title? In today’s Friday Poem find out which seventeenth century poem supplied just the right phrase for my debut novel.

Choosing a title for a novel can be a strangely personal thing for authors. Some come in a flash of inspiration; others after a grindingly long process. Finding a title for a debut book is particularly fraught, especially when it is the first of a series. So what does a poem by George Herbert and my first book have in common? Have a look at this short blog to find out more.

Deadline, deadlines, deadlines: my writing tip for today reflects severe time restraints as I work on a couple of chapters.

A glossary of medieval clothing: carmignolle.

You have come up with a fantastic idea for a plot, but will it be of interest to anyone else? This is one of those deep-seated anxieties many authors face. One way of testing the validity of your proposed project is to run it through a series of questions. But what questions do you ask and what happens if you don’t like the answer?

NEW 5* REVIEW!

It’s a happy author who wakes up to a new 5* review.

‘Great reading, a vast breadth and depth of historical knowledge worn lightly and a cracking story. I can't wait for the next one in the series! Highly recommended.’

Friday Poem: The Foddering Boy by John Clare.

This run of mild, wet weather can turn on a sixpence, rendering known ground inhospitable and alien. Here, John Clare sums up a bitter winter day two hundred years ago, but for those who work the land, no doubt this scene is all-too familiar.

When I looked out of the window first thing this morning, I was met with a scene Noah might well have recognised: a sky so dense with rain it blended with the sea, and hills shrouded in low cloud so their green crowns looked topped in snow.

While I might welcome the odd rainy day of uninterrupted writing, not everyone feels the same way. So is this writer’s weather or is it just too fowl for words?

Covid invaded my family shortly into the new year. If anyone tells you that Covid is an inconsequential sniffle, let me assure you that its effects can be long-lasting and, in the case of some, fatal.

It no longer makes the headlines, but are we deluding ourselves that the virus - now endemic - is also somehow more benign than in the early, scary days of the pandemic?

‘Story is king’ Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse series once told me, and while some people are bursting with stories, others struggle to come up with ideas for the next book.

What can you do to make the process easier?

The good news is that there are many ways to find that gripping new story. In today’s blog, I look at just a few to get you started.

Having escaped COVID until now, it caught up with me shortly into the new year, stealing my energy and laying me low. Having said that, I managed to finish the final editorial queries for Sun Ascendant and I am about to send it back to my lovely editor.

Plus I’ve been further cheered by another 5* review for Wheel of Fortune.

What better way to start the new week than with a 5* review for WHEEL OF FORTUNE?

'This was a great start to the Tarnished Crown series, it had a strong historical feel to it and I loved the mystery of this novel. All of the characters felt like they belonged in this time-period and left me wanting more. C.F. Dunn has a great writing style and I can’t wait for more from the author.'

Reviews are vital for both author and other potential readers, so thank you to anyone who takes the time to read and review a book; your effort is greatly appreciated.

I’ve said before that poetry has a way of getting under my skin in a way few other art forms - except music - can do. It also informs and inspires my writing, no more so than the poetry of the seventeenth-century Metaphysical poets John Donne, George Herbert and Andrew Marvell, introduced to me as an A-level student and never forgotten.

The following wonderful poem by George Herbert is one of my favourites, and features in Rope of Sand - the third book in The Secret of the Journal series. This tender, wistful poem accepts the inevitability of death, but chooses to frame it as Life.

The word genre is flung about like there’s no tomorrow. Ask many authors what genre they write in and some will come back with a definitive answer. ‘I’m into romance’ one might beam, while another will sweetly reply ‘I like crime’. Some writers find defining their genre more difficult because they write in multiple genres or are ‘cross-genre’. So, before even thinking about a story, how do you go about finding what genre you want to write?

I've always enjoyed poetry and found in it the ability to touch the soul in a way other forms of literature might not, stripping life of the fluff and baggage that obscures human experience and lay it bare. Poetry has the ability to stir emotions, make me laugh out loud, probe my conscience, expose my inner thoughts.

The Northamptonshire poet, John Clare, wrote about the landscape he knew and loved, but was never shy of the rawness of rural life, as revealed in his poem Winter Fields.

Ever wondered where ideas for stories come from? Ever thought about the difference between story and plot? If so, you won’t be alone. In this brief post, I take a look at the point of plot in a novel and why we can’t do without it.