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Bailey
Neil
Inside the story-making brain
Stories, strange ideas, science, nature, writing and the occasional piece of complete nonsense.
I'm interested in the things most people walk past without noticing. A strange behaviour. A scientific fact. Something growing where it shouldn't. A conversation that doesn't quite make sense. A question that won't go away.
Sometimes I write about them.
Sometimes I investigate them.
And sometimes they turn into novels.
Have a wander. You never quite know where a thought might lead.
The Story Laboratory
What is your writing process?
It’s an awkward question for a writer/author who doesn't really know. Hello, it’s me, I’m the author, it’s me. Unfortunately, it’s a question authors get asked quite a lot - "What is your writing process?" It sounds like a perfectly reasonable question. In fact, it sounds like the sort of question a proper author should have a very good answer to. Is there a notebook involved? Maybe a carefully planned routine. A particular time of day. A favourite chair. A certain number
Neil Bailey
Oct 88 min read
The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves
How much of who we are is actually who we think we are? We all have a story about who we are. “I'm not creative. I'm terrible with people. I'm not brave. I'm a failure. I'm the sort of person who always gives up. I'm not very good at making friends. I'm hopeless with money. I'm no good at speaking in front of people. I'm just not that kind of person.” Most of us carry some version of these stories around with us but whatse don't necessarily think about them very often.
Neil Bailey
Oct 87 min read
The strange paradox of being an author - why do we ask people who disappear into their heads to spend so much time talking about themselves?
There’s something slightly odd about being an author/writer. We can spend months, sometimes years, working alone making things up, becoming fascinated by people who don't exist, and conversations that never happened. Most of us even look forward to it (though there are moments where the laptop is close to be flung out of the window). Give a writer a notebook/laptop, a cup of coffee and an uninterrupted afternoon, and they'll be perfectly happy. Though they may well be grumpy
Neil Bailey
Oct 89 min read
Why do many still think traditionally published means better?
There’s something strange about the way people judge a book before they've even read it. I think it’s driven by a slightly awkward question sitting underneath the whole business of publishing. Now before I get started let me be clear; there are many wiser and more experienced people who know the ins and outs of the publishing industry than me. This is just my pondering on what seems to be happening. Also, there are many nuances and routes to publishing from traditional publ
Neil Bailey
Oct 87 min read
What if a story knew it was a story?
And what would happen if the characters found out? I've lately been pondering that a story is a strange kind of agreement between a writer and a reader. The writer creates a world that doesn't really exist and the reader agrees to believe in it for a while. Somewhere between those two things, something quite remarkable happens. People who never existed can make you laugh, frighten you, make you angry or leave you feeling strangely sad when you close the book. We all know t
Neil Bailey
Oct 45 min read
What happens when you stop trusting what you see?
How much of the world are you actually experiencing, and how much are you simply assuming? I once read that we don't really see the world around us. We see the version of it that our brains have constructed. That sounds like the sort of sentence that belongs on a motivational poster in a therapist's waiting room, but the more you think about it, the more unsettling it becomes. Look around you now. Pick something ordinary. A mug. A window. A tree outside. Your computer screen.
Neil Bailey
Sep 306 min read
Do trees talk to each other?
Image of a misty forest What if the forest knows more than we think it does? I love trees. Many people do, although most don't really think about them very much. People walk past them on the way to work, sit underneath them in parks, complain when their leaves end up in the gutters and occasionally swear at the one that drops a branch on the car. But spend a little time looking at a tree. It's constantly responding to the world around it. It reacts to changes in light and tem
Neil Bailey
Sep 296 min read
Behind the keyboard: A little glimpse into the summer of 2026
One of the oddest things about being an author is that, from the outside, it can look as though nothing's happening, especially if you are like me who struggles with social media updates and, dare I use the words, content creation. Months and even years go by without a book appearing on a shelf, yet behind the scenes entire worlds are being created. Characters are arguing with me (believe me they do), plot twists are refusing to behave (I think I’m going to coin the phrase pl
Neil Bailey
Jul 282 min read
First edits vs. Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD)
So, it's happening. After what feels like roughly one thousand years of writing, rewriting, second-guessing, deleting, undeleting, and waiting, my debut novel is going to be going through a proper editing process this autumn. I’m excited, curios and anxious, all simultaneously at a volume that most people reserve for natural disasters. And the reason is potentially a little more complicated than your average first-time author nerves. Three words: Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria
Neil Bailey
May 167 min read
The smallest flame
The tiniest flame However small However hidden Is still a flame With the possibility The potential To grow To become all consuming An inferno If given the right fuel The right air The right timing Where all comes together Forming the perfect mix To burn eternally. So don’t fret Don’t give up hope Let that tiny flame Glow within And flicker with light Until then Exist Live The best you can For it’s time will come.
Neil Bailey
Mar 131 min read
Be Dough
To live to grow takes work. Like dough repetitive actions combine and stretch and mould. Too dry is no good. Too wet is no good. The key is time and patience to achieve and be elastic and stretchy malleable and flexible. However at times the work must stop. Be like dough to rise properly there comes a time when you need to rest.
Neil Bailey
Mar 31 min read
Green Screen
You’ve heard maybe seen in the movies of the green screen. Where the actor can be anywhere any time in any world only limited by the imagination of the creator of the images superimposed behind. Now move your thinking to the world outside the world of green of leaves and grass. A green screen of nature of your own to have your own adventures be in your own world. To be the actor in your own story only limited by your imagination. So get outside and breathe and absorb yourself
Neil Bailey
Feb 251 min read
Puddle
A silver mirror or muddy own? Either way, on a still day you reflect the world above and yet, do you? When you shimmer in the breeze, or a being has disturbed your slumber, do you truly reflect or represent a different world? If I put my face to you and lowered through your tensile surface, would I see a reflection of other possibilities, other places and times? Reflections have such power: a picture fed back, though back to front; showing a different view point. Even ripples
Neil Bailey
Feb 41 min read
Windy Wishes
Driving along low autumn sun through the windscreen making me squint and peer to see the road ahead. lined with golden trees as I drive through the maelstrom of blowing leaves some slapping the windscreen others whirling by. Pulling over I get out and peer up and down the road. No one coming empty and so I run laughing jumping spinning trying to catch as many wishes as I can. Still no traffic and pause stop still panting but this time waiting for the wishes to come to me. Wit
Neil Bailey
Jan 221 min read
It's a New Year update
Well now! It's been a while since I posted on my site and New Year felt like an appropriate time to give an update on what's been going on with my writing. My debut novel, The Awakening, through Rowan Prose Publishing, is due out in April 2027. It feels like a very long way away but I'm sure time will speed up once I receive my first edits toward the end of this year. My front cover is confirmed and signed off which makes it feel very real (and very exciting). Beyond that it'
Neil Bailey
Jan 183 min read
Dealing with writing scammer heartbreak
By Neil Bailey If you’re a writer who hangs around on X (or any social media site), you’ve probably seen this message pop into your DMs at least once a week: “Hello [your name], I came across your amazing profile! What are you currently working on?" Soon followed by, "I can connect you with my agent who’s looking for new authors!” Or maybe: “I’m a professional editor who’s worked with bestselling authors. I’d love to help polish your manuscript!” And for about half a second,
Neil Bailey
Oct 19, 20255 min read
Ideas for when you have too many ideas (Too many novels, too little time)
By Neil Bailey Weaving ideas together So here I am again. Another idea. Another shiny, exciting, completely unplanned story that’s marched into my brain shouting, “Write me next! You know you want to." Sound familiar? You try to ignore it. You tell yourself, “No. I’m busy with my current work in progress. I will not be distracted.” You scream to your new shiny idea like Gandalf, "You shall not pass!" But before you know it, you’ve opened a new document. You've spent hours co
Neil Bailey
Oct 17, 20257 min read
How to cope with query rejections (without giving up)
Let’s be honest. Rejection hurts. Especially when it’s rejection for something you’ve poured your heart, caffeine, and late-night sanity...
Neil Bailey
Oct 12, 20256 min read
Ten tips for sorting a messy plot
Many a writer has been there, including myself. You start with a brilliant idea. The opening sings, the characters feel alive, the...
Neil Bailey
Sep 19, 20256 min read
Galloping Free
White horses gallop free manes of spray whisked away in the wind Wave upon wave of equine splendour speeding by mouths foaming fountains...
Neil Bailey
Sep 17, 20251 min read
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