CLARE FLYNN

Novelist Clare Flynn discusses how good, supportive mothers actually undermine dramatic tension in storytelling—protagonists need challenges and setbacks, not loving parents ready to solve their problems.

Clare Flynn discusses the research she undertook when writing her novel The Star of Ceylon, and gives her tips for historical research

I’ve only visited Canada once – a road trip in 1999 to the Canadian Rockies. Memorably, I decided early one morning to leave the main...

Clare Flynn stays at Galle Face Hotel, a key location in two of her Penang Series novels.

Sadly, I never met either of my grandfathers – they both died in the 1930s when my parents were still children. My paternal grandfather,...

Evening at the beach When I was in Sri Lanka recently, I started writing what would have been my seventeenth novel. At that stage, I...

People sometimes ask me why I enjoy writing retreats. Surely you can write just as easily at home, or in a library or coffee shop? Isn’t it an unnecessary indulgence to travel somewhere else simply to sit with your imagination and put words on a page? Perhaps it is. But in my experience, a change of place can open creative floodgates that had previously been firmly closed. I’m writing this beside a palm‑fringed beach in Sri Lanka. I’ve been working all morning. On palm‑fringe

When I think of the Victorians I get visions of Dickensian smoke-clogged cities, widows’ weeds, funeral coaches with black-plumed horses,...

I can’t believe I’ve never been to Ditchling before. Less than twenty miles from me, it used to be home to artist Frank Brangwyn, and...

I had a writing drought for three months. Not what I’d expected when I set off to sail around the world in one hundred and thirty days, hoping to get my next book written.  With all that time and having finished my previous book I was certain I would have the next one complete by the time I landed back in Britain. But despite (or because of!) visiting so many wonderful places, I didn’t feel inspired and my laptop gathered dust as I whiled away sea days knitting, reading, draw

I’ve visited Istanbul several times – once in the mid 90s on holiday and several times on business with the odd weekend tagged on.  I...

I’ve been doing writing retreats for ten years. Not the sort with tutors but ones where you can hunker down and do some serious writing...

I’ve just spent a delightful three days staying in Rye. I rented a house at the top of Mermaid Street in the heart of the old town with...

Recently I visited Ireland for a family wedding. Whilst there, enjoying an evening in a local pub, I was reminded of one of the inspirations behind part of my book Storms Gather Between Us - an inspiration I'd entirely forgotten about until now!

I love writing retreats. Not organised ones with tutors, but small gatherings with other authors in attractive or new surroundings to...

This morning I was rereading a short story from the Discovering Diamonds: Stories from a Song  series — a collection of pieces inspired by music and written by authors from around the world. The story was The Hunter written by the award‑winning novelist Jean Gill, who lives in France and, among many other things, keeps bees. I really enjoyed reading her fantasy tale of a brave woman scaling a cliff on which her father had perished the previous year, in order to harvest the w