Melissa is a contemporary female fiction writer from Kent, with a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Canterbury Christ Church University. She has recently moved to Essex with her partner and their toddler, who also enjoys books - but mostly chewing on them.
Melissa self-published her first novella, The Snow Killer, in November 2013, and has been writing all over the internet ever since; ranging from fashion blogs to poetry, to her journey into motherhood.
Ordinarily writing mixed-genre novellas, Melissa enjoys writing about the complexities of everyday life and how adding a psychological event can trigger extraordinary behaviour in even the mundanest lives. She also manages - no matter the book's core subject - to include a lot of tea-drinking.
When she isn't writing, Melissa is a full-time mother and part-time Optical Assistant.
Find her on social media:
Twitter: @melholdenbooks
Instagram: @melholdenbooks
Facebook: facebook.com/MelissaHoldenAuthor
I discovered Dr Suzie Edge on TikTok earlier this week; and I was hooked from the first video. In the first video I saw, she was teaching the internet why there are so many royals with the same name – all with a pen and paper. No fancy graphics or edits required. Just the sharing of a wealth of knowledge.
I love royal history – namely from the Tudors (our Bloody King Henry VIII) onwards, through to Queen Victoria. So, when I found Dr Edge on #historytok, I couldn’t resist.
What I found interesting, is her lack of glossing over gruesome details – her medical background lends itself perfectly to the deconstruction of royal deaths and medically interesting historical figures. They are rarely beautifully sad, respectful moments. Kings get fistulas too. Queens get left in chapels for decades. It happens.
Dr Edge has a hauntingly beautiful, calming-yet-authoritative voice, causing me to spend hours listening to her videos, as she told story after story of European monarchs, aristocrats, and disastrous maladies and morose burial mistakes.
One of her TikTok’s was a response to a comment “you should read audiobooks – you’ve got a great voice for it”, or something to that effect.
At this, Dr Edge kindly let her newer followers know; that she actually has several books – even audiobooks.
Well, I think we all know what I did next! I downloaded ‘Vital Organs’ last night, and finished the whole thing in about 8 hours.
It was like an anatomy lesson via famous hidtorical figures. French kings with fistulas, English monarchs with gout. Marie Curie being killed by the very radium she beloved. A man’s nose cut off during a duel. Van Gogh’s ear – need I say more?
Well I can say this: I can’t WAIT to read ‘Mortal Monarchs’.
I know it’s nearly March… (oops!) but here is my book round-up for January 2022!
1. The Prison Doctor – Dr. Amanda Brown
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Star Rating: 4/5 ✨
Format: audiobook
Quick Review: this book follows the career of an English GP who leaves her successful village practice and takes up working in a boys correctional prison.
Dr. Brown talks about trying to make a difference in the inmates lives, but also the scary moments; being threatened and harassed by dangerous prisoners.
If you’re a fan of true crime books, true life stories, and factual tales from medical staff/prisoners/criminals etc, this is the book for you.
2. The Secret Barrister – The Secret Barrister
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Star Review: 4.5/5 ✨
Format: audiobook
Quick Comments: an anonymous investigation into the life of a UK barrister and the fundamental flaws in our legal and justice systems.
3. Fake Law – The Secret Barrister
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Star Review: 4.5/5 ✨
Format: audiobook
Another really interesting dive into British Law. An educational read without feeling like you’re being lectured to.
4. Talking with Serial Killers: Sleeping with Psychopaths – Christopher Berry-Dee
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3.75/5 ✨
Format: audiobook
Quick Review: It’s an interesting read, hearing his theories behind why people sleep with, stay with and even marry serial killers. However, Berry-Dee doesn’t put much stock in psychology, so he doesn’t delve far into the true reasoning.
Every writer/blogger/project-lover plans. You can’t avoid it. And everyone has their own methods, their own ideas on how to plan a project/article/book.
I feel like I’ve really honed my planning technique with this book, so, I thought I would share how I planned my latest novel: A Crown of Sea & Stone.
The Initial Idea:
Whether you’ve had it in the back of you mind for months, or you wake up one day with it, we all gets ideas. When I get an idea for a novel, I like to go with the flow; write the idea down as it came to me, and see what it looks like.
Isthere something interesting there?
Can I work with it?
Is this a good idea for a novel or a short story?
Is it total rubbish?
Often at this point, I like to read the idea aloud, whether to myself or someone else, and see what changes as I attempt to explain my (very raw) idea. This usually helps me flesh it out/work out the major plot holes.
Getting It On Paper:
Next, I flesh it out on paper. In the initial process, I usually make rough notes, but I use this next stage to really fill in the blanks. I usually write 2-5 pages summarizing the story to myself in linear order.
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Notebooks:
I do all of my notes, planning, character and location descriptions in one notebook. That way, I’m not frantically searching for random pieces of paper or documents.
I will continue to use this notebook the whole way through the writing process, and during publication too.
Mood Boards:
This book is the first time I’ve used mood boards, and I regret waiting so long! I really struggle with visualizing characters and locations, so this really helped. (Here are my boards for A Crown of Sea & Stone if you’re interested.)
Excerpts:
Despite my best efforts, I don’t always write my novels in linear progression. Sometimes, when I’m stuck on a scene, I move on to a different one further on in the story, and eventually the two pieces will meet in the middle.
This can backfire, and you can end up writing yourself into a corner and then having to spend ages correcting it, so approach this tip with caution.
Word Count Tracker:
I use social media (mostly my Instagram to hold me to the mark when it comes to word count. For this novel, I wrote the first 50,000 words during Camp NaNoWriMo 2020.
The next 15,000 came gradually over the space of 3 months, interrupted by lots of editing and re-drafting.
I like the pressure of being kept accountable by my friends and followers; knowing someone is aware that I am writing really helps me focus.
However that pressure can be quite intimidating, so do whatever makes you feel most comfortable.
Talk It Out:
This book would gathering dust on my hard-drive if I hadn’t had several chances to talk it out. My main sounding board was my best friend, but another surprising listener was my partner’s best friend.
Whenever he came over, he would ask how the book was going, and the poor sod would have to listen to me frantically try and piece the story together enough to explain it to another person. It really helps find the plot holes, the twists that don’t make sense, and to get another persons perspective on your characters.
The Drafting Process:
Now, depending on your method, the drafting and editing processes’ could easily be switched/intertwined here. I like to do a mini edit to each chapter as I go – it saves some embarrassing grammar errors being missed in the long run.
After I’ve got one complete draft, I comb through looking for more glaring errors, go back and correct a few plot holes, and then ignore it for at least a month. That way I am able to be more critical as I become more detached. You can’t spot most mistakes whilst you are writing.
Editing:
See above?
In fairness, I struggle to separate editing and drafting. Although, I would like to think I do different layers of editing: grammar, structure, plot, layout, character consistency, and location consistency (i.e.: a door has moved from one scene to another, a character’s hair has changed colour, etc.)
Once I am happy that the manuscript is finished, I send it off to a few beta readers and wait for feedback. Once I have collated their notes, I do a min (or major) redraft, and finish the book.
Cover Design/Visuals/Marketing/Release:
Yay! I’ve got a manuscript. Now, I’ve just got to publish it… ugh.
Personally, I prefer to self-publish using Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, but this would also be a great point to seek out a literary agent or publishers.
I do all the cover design, interior design and layout, formatting, publishing and marketing myself, (although this time my lovely best friend, Ash designed the book cover with me [thanks, Ash!]).
And that’s it, you’ve written and published a book. Wasn’t that easy?
****EXCLUSIVE**** extract from my new novel, A Crown of Sea & Stone:
Mercina could feel his eyes on hers, and she knew their colour took him. Even among mermaids, starry silver eyes were unheard of, and many people recognised the princess from her eyes alone. Many mermaids had red tails or pink hair, but none had the beauty of her shining silver irises.
Usually, Mercina became irritated whenever someone called her beautiful or pretty; seeing it as a veiled attempt to curry favour with a member of the royal family, but this was different. The human prince had no reason to assuage her, and so instead of annoyance, Mercina found herself staring back at him, taking in his beauty.
“You are the most beautiful man I have ever seen, my prince.” Mercina replied, and then smirked, “However, you are also the only human I have seen so closely, so perhaps you are an eyesore to the others of your kind. Even so, I think you are beautiful, and I thank you for deciding to spare me.”
Princess Marina wants nothing more than to live a peaceful life protecting the reef, instead, she is next Queen of Oceania. Rivalled only by her uncle, Lord Lucian, Marina knows her royal duties come before everything, even love.
When Marina discovers secrets to her families past in a lost shipwreck, it turns into a journey she thought she would never make… to the land above.
Can Marina finally unravel the families long-forgotten secrets and will a chance encounter with a stranger be her undoing?
I’ve put off reading the screenplay for ages, but I had a HP movie marathon last week and I just needed it continue.
It does not read like a Potter book. It is in script form, although has been formatted so it reads a little easier, but do not go into this expecting a novel.
I read the whole thing in less than a day (including several hours break). It’s easy to read, it’s nice to see the characters back, but it’s reads a bit cheesier/ a bit like a midlife crisis rather than a fun Hogwarts adventure.
I used a free library app, @borrowbox, so I didn’t pay for the ebook.
Disclaimer: I do not support JK Rowling’s current statements about the LGBTQ+ community, but HP is my childhood happy place, and I believe the movies and books have outgrown their author.
Written by Kate Katy nee Howard, wife of Ronnie Kray about his life in Broadmoor and the events leading up to his arrest. Focusing mainly on their marriage and what it takes to marry into the firm, Kate Kray shares letters, quotes and stories from the bizarre but loving marriage.
Melissa Holden, Writer 