Books by Suzanne Ruthven

Poor dialogue is one of the main reasons for a publisher's reader glazing over when reading a first-time novel, where the author has seen fit to include every superfluous utterance of every-day speech. The purpose of dialogue is to move the story along and to give added dimension to the characters through what they say, and often think. Creating Meaningful Dialogue helps to get rid of the dross from your typescript and retain the gold in the story. Try to incorporate the exercises given at the end of each chapter into your own writing where appropriate and see how it improves the flow of the dialogue by making the characters come alive. With added input from publishers and publisher's readers, this book is invaluable for all would-be novelists and fiction writers.

The horror novel has often been looked upon as the poor relation in the literary world, and yet some of our greatest writers have published novels under its banner. Horror writer (Whittlewood and The Wild Horseman) and former Gothic Society member, Suzanne Ruthven brings us a step-by-step guide to writing horror fiction.

All sorts of different people want to learn how to do different things getting a personal make-over, surviving health scares, business or career advice, self-help and improvement, travelling, living and working abroad, acquiring social skills, developing a hobby, creative writing the list is endless. And if anyone has ever asked for your advice, then you have a skill to write about. How-to writing can run from an article on how-to organise a successful car boot sale to a full-length, self-help book on exploring spirituality or coping with divorce. Your original idea will only be the tip of the iceberg. But by the time you ve completed the task you set yourself you will undoubtedly have become an expert on the subject, and this could lead to other things. WRITING FROM LIFE, Lynne Hackles