Category: Writing


  • Radio Tees Interview

    Last week I spent an hour with BBC Radio Tees presenter Bob Fischer on his show. We talked about animation, comics, Doctor Who and writing. Here’s a short clip from the interview when we talked about Sorrowline. Niel Bushnell Radio Tees Interview from Niel Bushnell on Vimeo.

  • The Big Reveal!

    The Big Reveal!

    It might seem like a long time to next March but it’s amazing how far ahead publishers have to work. They need time to promote a new title and sell it in to the shops so even though it’s more than six months away my next book, Timesmith,ย is finished, copy-edited and typeset. Even the cover…

  • MWAHAHAHAH! Ten Sure-Fire Tips to get your book published!

    So now I’m a published author I must have all the answers, right? Right! I’ve been given the secret code to the secret door to the Super Dooper Secret Club Of Super-Evil Published Authors, or SDSCOSEPA for short, but as no one could agree how to pronounceย SDSCOSEPA everyone calls it MWAHAHAHAH! When you’re initiated intoย MWAHAHAHAH!…

  • Just keep plodding on!

    I don’t like Taxi drivers talking to me. I prefer them to keep looking at the road and keep the conversation to its bare minimum. Why? Well, if we get talking they usually end up asking what I do for a living. When I say I’m an animator (I’ve not hadย theย courage to say I’m a…

  • Jack Morrow and the Grave of Time!

    One thing I’ve learned is that things take a long time in publishing! Way back in September 2011 the German publisher Heyne ย (part of Random House) bought the German rights to Sorrowline and Timesmith. This was my very first book deal – the UK rights sold a few months later. So you can imagine I’ve…

  • Adventures into Blitzpunk!

    Labels are always tricky things. As soon as you give something a label you run the risk of pigeon-holing it and limiting itsย potentialย  This is true with books as much as anything. When Sorrowline was published in January it was recommended for 9-11 year old readers – aย labelย which I feared might put off older readers.…

  • Being an author is a bit like being in a war where you can’t quite see over the ridge ahead of you. Sometimes it feels like nothing is happening, other times it’s an adrenaline-fuelled mad rush with everything coming at you all at once. Fortunately no one is shooting at me, so that’s where the…

  • Is it that time again?? So what’s been the best bits about this week? Getting some lovely target-reader reviews from the Discovery Club reading group at Waterstones, Southampton. “I loved it from the first page.” – Zoe 11. Check out the Waterstones Bookseller reviews tab for more. And more reviews on the Love Reading 4…

  • After waiting 15 months the day finally came! PUBLICATION DAY!! With getting copies from Amazon early it was something of a vague date to celebrate, but it was still the official Publication Day and deserved marking in some way.We’d planned a family day in York, so by 9.30am we were settled in First Class on…