How do you write a novel? Practising novelists and teachers of creative writing reveal their working methods and offer practical advice. Subjects covered range from magic realism to characterisation, surrealism to historical fiction, via perspective, plot twists and avoiding being boring, among many others. This book is for creative writing students writers and readers of novels teachers of creative writing With contributions from Leone Ross, Tom Bromley, Jenn Ashworth, AJ Dalton, Nikesh Shukla, Stella Duffy, Mark Morris, Alison Moore, Nicholas Royle, Alice Thompson, Kerry Hudson, Toby Litt, Livi Michael, Joe Stretch, James Miller, Sarah Butler, Will Wiles, Graeme Shimmin Featuring Eighteen specially commissioned essays Creative writing exercises Top tips Lists of recommended novels

Ancient Gods begin to stir and demand resurrection... A naked and crazy holy man leads a young warrior into the realm of the dead... In fear for his life, a young member of an evil race flees his home... An uneasy peace has settled upon Jillan's remote corner of the Empire, but he cannot return to his previous simple life. Tricked into a bargain with the manipulative God of Mayhem, he is forced to embark upon a journey that will leave his hometown undefended. Unsure of his fellow travellers, pursued by assassins and spies, he must discover the means by which to raise up the old gods and defeat the cruel Empire of the Saviours. Meanwhile, the Empire's vast army of Saints and Heroes descends upon Godsend. Jillan's beloved Hella and a few loyal companions resist the dark magicks used against them for a while, but the Saviours cannot allow such resistance to go unpunished... And from another realm, the Declension watches. Their servants, the Saviours, have suffered setbacks. The God of Mayhem is loose. A young boy with wayward powers is on his way to Haven, where he may find a way to destroy them. A renegade member of their race is rampaging through their realms. Everything is going to plan.

The gods will see you brought down... The spirits of your ancestors will have their revenge upon you... The Saviours will drain you of your very soul. In claiming a place in the world, mortals have won many enemies for themselves. The ancient gods are jealous and conspire against them. The King of the Dead looks to lead his armies into the land of the living. In their own realm, the mighty Declension watches and waits, as events begin to unfold precisely as they had always planned. Jillan and his companions are beset on all sides, yet are plagued by self-doubt and internal division. When the final battle for survival begins, both they and their gods face extinction. They are easy prey for the warriors of the Declension, who are intent upon stripping Jillan of his magic and raising up their empire once more. His friends and beloved Hella taken from him, Jillan is captured and tortured. He is ultimately broken and condemned to work in a mine, to see out his days labouring in misery for the enemy he has fought against his entire life. He is a man without hope.

The demon realm is rising... The Demon-King is coming... These are the last days of mortalkind. Weakened by internal division and recent struggles, the gods are no longer able to protect the mortal realm from either the enemies that exist within or the terrors that exist beyond. Demons begin to break through into the mortal realm and Saltar and his companions start a desperate battle to stem the tide. When Saltar is tragically poisoned, there are none left to prevent the Demon-King from leading his army into the mortal realm. So begins the rule of the Demon-King. Necromancer's Fall is A J Dalton's third work of metaphysical fantasy. It gives us a world of epic scale as a backdrop to the intrigues and magic of the darker side of the human psyche. It is told with a vividness normally only expected of film. The action and pace leave the reader breathless, exhilarated and hungry for more. "A stunning and relentless novel from first word to last line I didn't want it to end." Paul Rhinebeck "An awesome scale of vision. Undoubtedly the best of British fantasy." Kate Sultrow

An innocent child is spirited away during an attack on a palace. A remote temple is desecrated, its priests slaughtered and its relics plundered. An ancient enemy stirs. One by one, the gods begin to fall... As chaos descends upon the kingdom of Dur Memnos, its leader, Saltar, has no choice but to pursue his son's kidnappers. Meanwhile, his wife Kate and her followers fight to preserve the realm, but are apparently powerless against the dark magic at work. Saltar is drawn inexorably towards a wintry fastness in the north, where a terrible secret awaits. Can one lost soul tip the balance when the gods use the earth for a battlefield? Necromancer's Betrayal is A J Dalton's second work of metaphysical fantasy. It gives us a world of epic scale as a backdrop to the intrigues and magic of the darker side of the human psyche. It is told with a vividness normally only expected of film. The action and pace leave the reader breathless, exhilarated and hungry for more. "I don't know how A J Dalton's done it He's not only surpassed his first book, but the very genre itself." Paul Rhinebeck "The power of A J Dalton's writing left me shaken and inspired. I don't think I'll see the world in the same way again." Kate Sultrow

A dead hero opens his eyes. To his horror, he finds he has been raised from the dead to serve as the undead minion of a desperate necromancer called Mordius. Our hero's body has been stolen from a battlefield contested by two kingdoms that have been at war for generations. No one knows why warfare is now the way of life, but what is apparent is that dark forces vie for dominion over the entire realm. Our hero has no memory of who he was when alive, and knows only that he was a soldier called Saltar. or so Mordius tells him. Like all the undead, Saltar craves the warmth of life and reluctantly accepts a bargain proposed by the necromancer. Saltar agrees to guard Mordius and help him retrieve an unholy artefact that will give the necromancer absolute sway over death. In return, Mordius promises to restore Saltar to full life... Necromancer's Gambit is a work of metaphysical fantasy, revealing a world of epic scale as the backdrop to the intrigues and magic of the darker side of the human psyche. It is told with a vividness normally only expected of film. The action and pace leave the reader breathless, exhilirated and hungry for more.

This is a story about family, community, and the lives that they lead. Deception, adultery, murder, revenge, romance, betrayal, mayhem, love, and justice, just to name a few, all take place in "D.C. Heights." Richard Cobb, a world-class manipulator and a control freak, is the CEO/Owner of RLC, Inc. This is the story of him and the people around him--some good, some bad, and some misunderstood. There's only one thing that could possibly matter in his life other than money and power. That's his true love, Veronica Boyd.

It is also the story of Christian and Cynthia Barlowe, and Jake and Rita Warner, hardworking, loving neighbors who have had their share of problems. Last, but not least, there is Helen Braxton, Amanda August, and Lela Gregg-Black. The three can't stand each other, but there is one thing they share in common: "DECEPTION."

This story has all the trappings of good story telling, well-developed characters, and CHAOS Enjoy

A STORY ABOUT LIFE THAT YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO MISS A MUST READ

In the Empire of the Saviours, the People are forced to live in fortified towns. Their walls are guarded by an army of Heroes, whose task is to keep marauding pagans out as much as it is to keep the People inside. Several times a year, living Saints visit the towns to exact the Saviours' tithe from all those coming of age - a tithe often paid in blood. When a young boy, Jillan, unleashes pagan magicks in an accident, his whole town turns against him. He goes on the run, but what hope can there be when the Saviours and the entire Empire decide he must be caught? Jillan is initially hunted by just the soldiers of the Saint of his region, but others soon begin to hear of his increasing power and seek to use him for their own ends. Some want Jillan to join the fight against the Empire, others wish to steal his power for themselves and others still want Jillan to lead them to the Geas, the source of all life and power in the world. There are very few Jillan can trust, except for a ragtag group of outcasts. His parents threatened, his life in tatters, his beliefs shaken to the core, Jillan must decide which side he is on, and whether to fight or run ...