Novels demand more than ideas—they require structure, persistence, and the discipline to see a story through. These posts explore the full landscape of long-form storytelling: writing, publishing, marketing, and the realities of bringing a novel to readers, whether examining others’ work or my own.
Anger demands action, but writers can make better use of it. Save the clenched jaw, cruel thought and flash of primitive justice. Distil those sensations into characters, motives and psychological tension. On the page, frustration becomes more than an emotion. It becomes fuel for fiction that knows where darkness hides.
How to Save Your Anger and Frustration—Then Turn Them into Dark Fiction Read More »
AI hashtag generators can scan an image and produce suggestions in seconds, but speed does not guarantee relevance. For authors and book bloggers, the trick is letting artificial intelligence identify possibilities without surrendering judgement. The machine may recognise the photograph, but only the writer understands the story hiding beneath it.
Save Writing Hashtags. Let An AI App Take Care Of That For You. Read More »
A compelling thriller should feel like forbidden chocolate: sweet enough to tempt, dark enough to disturb and impossible to put down. Michael Forman explains how moral ambiguity, persuasive villains, earned twists and unresolved endings can turn a familiar plot into something deliciously dangerous that readers cannot resist or forget afterward.
Sweet, Dark and Deadly: The Chocolate Recipe for a Thriller Plot Read More »
DNA does not frighten me. It merely rewards patience. Investigators can catalogue every trace I leave, but a profile without a name is only a ghost. Between storms, I smile at neighbours, kiss my wife, and wait for another secretive stranger to mistake Mr Average for someone safe at night.
Disrupting The DNA Chain. Getting Around the Science (if neccessary) Read More »
Author Michael Forman joins Bree Hartley to bring Linda J Bettenay’s Secrets Mothers Keep to life through theatrical readings. A year after discovering Linda’s search for an actor at Araluen, Michael returns to the gardens for the release of Wishes For Starlight, where he celebrates and enjoys the wine too.
Book release for ‘Wishes For Starlight’ Read More »
Sweeney Todd is remembered for razors, blood and some deeply suspicious meat pies. Beneath the spectacle, however, lies a darker question: when does understandable revenge become chosen evil? The musical draws us towards a wronged man, then leaves us wondering exactly when our sympathy turned into complicity with his crimes.
Sweeney Todd: Moral Ambiguity Behind the Bloody Horror Read More »
SEETHINGS is available far beyond Smashwords and Draft2Digital. Readers can find the trilogy through familiar retailers around the world, including Amazon, Apple Books, Kobo, Waterstones and many more. I’ve created a country-by-country guide with direct retailer links, making it easier to buy eBooks and paperbacks locally without creating another account.
Where to Buy SEETHINGS: Find a Retailer in Your Country Read More »
Should independent authors load the car with books and sell them face to face, or build an audience online? Drawing on two very different author events, my own publishing choices, and years of digital promotion, I examine the costs, rewards, missed sales and long-term reach of both marketing paths today.
Should Authors Sell Books in Person or Market Them Online? Read More »
Visit Michael Forman’s Latest page for writing news, book updates, podcast notes, travel stories and the occasional distraction from Mandurah. It is the informal corner of the website, where works in progress, refreshed posts, personal observations and minor disasters appear before the darkness returns in his fiction and novels again.
Michael Forman’s Latest Author Updates and Dark Writing News Read More »
Noir is more than rain-soaked streets and dangerous women. It explores flawed people, hidden motives and choices made under pressure. In SEETHINGS, moral ambiguity turns intimate relationships into unstable territory, where pain, resentment and desire blur the line between victim and villain—and truth depends on who is telling it.
What Is Noir? Morally Questionable, Dark Choices and the Truth Beneath the Shadows Read More »