Why is it when women get revenge they're called man-hating bitches, men are called heroes?

We need more strong women like The Walking Dead's Michonne and Carol in fiction.

I wrote Hell To Pay because I was sick of the way women are portrayed in
fiction. Whilst TV shows like The Walking Dead (has there ever been a more kick
ass woman in a TV show as Michonne) and Person of Interest (hey, we're spoilt
with three strong women in one show) have cottoned onto the fact that women are
just as likely to punch a mugger as hand over their handbag, fiction seems to be
trailing behind with far too few exceptions like the excellent Detective DD
Warren series by Lisa Gardner and Tess Gerritsen's Rizzoloi and Isles.

In Hell to Pay, office worker Nancy Kerr comes home to find her parents
tortured and murdered. The culprits, two men repeatedly rape her and leave her
to bleed to death on the floor after they've repeatedly stabbed her. Nancy has a
breakdown and when she recovers she has just one goal - to get revenge on the
men who ruined her life.

The response I've had has fallen into two camps -
the overwhelmingly positive with people saying it's about time women got
revenge just like men (and many of the readers saying that have been men) and
the ones who dismiss Nancy as a man hating bitch.

The second opinion surprises me and after spending time thinking about why a woman who goes after her parents killers and the men who raped her and left her for dead, should be described as "man hating," I've come to the conclusion that women just aren't meant to get their revenge.

Nope, they're meant to turn the other cheek and forgive their attackers and just move on with their lives. They're certainly not allowed to use violence. 

I've interviewed women who've survived rape and the one thing that seems common to
 them all is the guilt they feel. When they were attacked, they were powerless. There was nothing they could do, yet they blamed themselves. They believed there was something they could have done; they should have fought more. For some of them that feeling was so intense that they took their own lives or became terrified to go
out. 

Out on April 28th

That's why I wrote revenge thriller Hell To Pay, the first in a series of books I've
called the Crime Files. I wanted to have some escapist fiction where a woman
does get her own revenge, because let's be honest here, the conviction rates for
rape are pitiful.

Why don't you read Hell To Pay and tell me whether Nancy Kerr is really a "man-hating bitch" or an avenging warrior?

I'd be interested to know what people think.
You can read an excerpt here

Order links for Hell to Pay (Crime Files Book 1) on Kindle

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com.au

****Coming soon in paperback***

Books 2 and 3 coming out on May 12th and May 26th.

There's somebody outside the door...Introducing Don't Come for Me (Crime Files #3) (out May 26th)

THERE'S SOMEONE AT THE DOOR...

Crime thriller, Don't Come for Me is based on something that's probably happened to us all.

You're alone at night, in the bathroom when you hear a noise outside the door.

And there's this tiny part of you, the primaeval part of you that thinks there's someone outside that door.

SOMEONE WAITING

TO GRAB YOU

SOMEONE WAITING

TO ROB YOUR HOUSE

In almost every case, there will be nobody outside that door. Or, it'll be your cat/dog who's knocked down some furniture.

But, what if someone is out there?

What do they want?

Who are they?

That's how the idea for Don't Come For Me came about.

You can find out what's outside Nancy Kerr's door, by reading Don't Come for Me.

Released May 26th, 2015 from Limitless Publishing (Book 3 in the Crime Files)

Check out the other books in the Crime File series

Tips for writing a successful novella

I stumbled onto writing novellas by accident. I saw a snippet of news in Writers' News magazine. It said that a publisher was looking for revenge novellas and was struggling to find women to write them. It was one sentence, but it caught my eye.

Three years later, I have a contract for two novellas in my *Die Hard for Girls series and a publisher interested in the first novella I ever wrote. At last, I had found my niche.

*Note - the Die Hard for Girls books  will be relaunched and re-released by my new publisher, Limitless Publishing as the Crime Files in April and May 2015. 

Here's my top 5 tips on writing novella -

1. You need to be able to pitch your novella in one sentence. Any more than that and it's probably a novel you're writing.

2. Short chapters are ideal for novellas. They keep readers interested. 

3. Your main character's goal should be the main theme of the novella. For instance, the theme for Hell To Pay (the book will be relaunched and re-released by my new publisher soon) is revenge and how Nancy Kerr avenges her parents' murder and her rape.

4. End every chapter with a revelation, a question or a shock that will have readers racing to the next chapter.

5. Your main character should be someone readers will want to go on a journey with, usually a heroine or a hero. If he or she is a villain, make some part of them sympathetic. If you don't, it will put readers off.

For more tips on writing a novella, check out the piece I wrote for Words With Jam. To read it click here

Happy writing:)

Whatever you do, don't start your novella like Snoopy.


Book 1 in the Crime Files
Available April 28th

Coming soon from Limitless Publishing - the Crime Files