Laura Powell's Blog

Feisty: active, forceful and full of determination. (Cambridge Online Dictionary)

I was wondering the other day why male protagonists are never described as "feisty". There are plenty of heroes who match the description above. But as soon as you get a Strong Female Character you get the F-word. There's something so darn cutesy about it. Whenever I find a heroine described this way I picture a sexy gun-toting gal in hot-pants, who'll slap the hero round the chops in one instance and snog his face off the next.

read more

Being presented with a book cover is a bit like waking up one day and discovering a new tattoo. You're not quite sure how it got there. Yet the image is about you, it's irrevocably fixed to you, is there for all to see and judge ... and it's left a funny tingling sensation...

Well, I love my latest tattoo. I mean book cover. Flames! Towerblocks! Kick-ass cover girl! Maybe I will get it inked across my shoulderblades after all.

Every other day, I get asked for my opinion on e-books and the future of print publishing. I wish I had clever answers, but I'm still trying to get my head around the issues myself. One thing's for sure: the digital revolution poses some big, scary dilemmas - as well as opportunities - for everyone in the book world.

read more

The American edition of The Game of Triumphs will be published in August and I am already getting ridiculously excited about it. For one thing I LOVE the US cover. Sexy and sinister! Hurrah!

The big issue about the US book is that the text is somewhat different to the UK version. It's not been radically altered, but some new material's been added, and other bits have been taken out or moved around. This will also be the case for the sequel. In fact, I'm doing the American revisions for Master of Misrule right now.

read more

Well, the editorial comments have arrived in my in-box, and the manuscript of Burn Marks (working title for "the witch project") has been sent back with lots of pencil scribbles in the margin. Not too many scribbles, actually - it seems that the first draft is actually in pretty good shape. PHEW.

read more