It took me a long time to work out why the life of the party Sal was known as Killer! As a crime writer I thought I had a story straight...

I have a profound respect for anyone who can get up on a stage, inhabit a character and entertain an audience. Or perhaps I just envy...

I have a friend, who I shall call Freddy. He is a wonderful human who does incredibly good work, loves his family and is generous to his...

Back in 2014 I asked my dear friend, Michael Flynn, if I could use his name for a character in this novel I was writing. The character...

This isn’t an existential question nor a biological one. Nor a practical one about why everyone goes to the supermarket at the same time....

Yearning and Zeal Yearning is a feeling of intense longing or wishing for something that you may not be able to have or may have...

Wonder and Xenodochy I wonder why we wonder so little anymore. Perhaps it’s because we have seen all that there is that we might...

Uneasiness and vulnerability In a complex world uneasiness is almost unavoidable. That feeling that isn’t panic, anxiety or stress but...

Sorrow and Tenderness I think the first is one we try to avoid and the second we fail to practise enough. What is sorrow? Is it embodied...

Quixotism and Regret Q was rather hard to find in the emotional register. Qualmish and quizzical? But the wonders of quixotism was the...

Optimism and Patience Sounds easy? But both have some challenges. Some people are genuinely mistrustful of optimists. They seem to think...

Two similar emotions with overtones of sadness, wistfulness, and reflection. Melancholia is almost a ubiquitous trait in powerfully...

What would be the most logical of emotions in the K and L lists? Kindness or keenness? L might obviously look at love or loyalty or even...

Irritability and Jealousy. I don't have pet peeves; I have whole kennels of irritation. Whoopie Goldberg Irritability! Hardly a noble...

'Guilt is the very nerve of sorrow.' Horace Bushnell It’s a tricky emotion guilt and it has a number of guises. You commit a crime, and...

Empathy is a much-used word these days. We know we should be less judgemental and more empathetic. We know it because it’s taught in...

This week’s emotions are contentment and doubt. ‘True contentment is not having everything but in being satisfied with everything you...

Last week I wrote about emotions providing a landscape for characters to exist in and made a half-serious suggestion that we give finding...

Writers create emotional landscapes where characters play out the gamut of human feelings. Those feelings need to be real and resonate...

For those of you who read the Lily O’Hara series it would be hard not to note that the titles all begin with the letter W. What Remains,...