I’m Alison Morton and I’m polishing my first novel – an alternate history thriller with a strong heroine – in which a 25 year old crosses culture, battles with an entangled emotional life and defeats a relentless, vindictive pursuer. Of course, there’s a twist in the tale…
So what makes my book gripping, page turning, a ‘must read’?
- A strong female lead
- The ordinary person menaced by an unknown outside threat
- An element of fantasy/alternate reality or time
- Universal human needs and goals: survival, security, love, self-knowledge, a place in the world and the urge to make things right
- A personal quest/progression
Simple stuff, then 
Up to now, most of my published writing output has been about France, property, business and translation. After selling my translation business at the end of summer 2009, I started writing almost full time.
I’ve always been a ‘wordsmith’. Translating professionally for much of my career has made me pretty nit-picky about words, grammar, punctuation, document cohesion, theme and structure.
Oh, the qualification stuff: BA in Modern Languages Studies (French, German and Economics), post-graduate Diploma in Translation (Business & Legal options), MA in History (with a distinction!) and Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.
I joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association under the New Writers’ Scheme in 2010 and have found it supportive, collegiate and brimming with knowledge and experience. The July 2010 conference was not only good for the famed parties and networking opportunities, but above all for the wealth of high quality talks and workshops. Ditto the July 2011 one, but I added in quite a bit of Roman exploration while I was at Caerleon.
I completed a six day writing bootcamp in June 2010 at the Circle of Missé and a week’s Arvon Foundation course on popular fiction in October 2010 followed by taking part in the Festival of Writing at York in March 2011.
My day job is finding gorgeous property for buyers in the Loire Valley, France. I moved to France in May 2010 but as all my friends and colleagues know, I’m always back and forth to the UK.
Oh, and I’m the ‘hand of Philofaxy‘.
Contact details: alison [at] alison-morton.com
