Novel Kicks Writing Room: The Sensory Snapshot
Hello and welcome back to the Novel Kicks Writing Room.
Today’s exercise is called The Sensory Snapshot.
This exercise will hopefully help you create vivid, immersive descriptions without complex plotting.
First, choose your moment –
Pick a simple, everyday moment you remember well. Keep it as small and ordinary as you can. It doesn’t have to be interesting, just write whatever comes to mind. For example,
- Sitting in a café
- Walking into your bedroom
- Standing at a bus stop
- Eating your favourite snack
- Waiting in a doctor’s office
- Playing with a pet
Now, before writing anything else, think about the following questions (you don’t have to answer all of them, just what you remember) –
- What did you see? (colours, what was happening)
- What sounds did you hear?
- What did it smell like?
- How did things feel? (hot, cold, soft, scratchy)
- Was there anything you tasted?
by 
Book Extract & Q&A: Time Clocks by Yoav Avni
Please join me in welcoming Yoav Avni to Novel Kicks as we shine a light on his book, Time Clocks.
The present is theirs—if they can reach it. And stay. A story of mystery, suspense, and an unexpected love—both timeless and new.
When Boaz is summoned to a furious dismissal meeting at the company where he has spent years developing FocalAI, better known as the nation’s AI, everything in his familiar, comfortable office feels like a personal possession -even the door, the window, the air, the time that had passed. By nightfall, he is cast out into the desolate industrial zone outside his office, stripped of his phone, his car, and perhaps soon his relationship.
The future looms, threatening and uncertain. Then, three strangers appear, raising questions not about the future but about the past: a police officer who lost her memory in the ’80s (and maybe it is just as well), a flamboyant French dandy from the nineteenth century, and a wounded shepherd from biblical times, clad in armor and tassels. As his own life unravels, Boaz feels compelled to discover why these three have arrived at his side. Why now and why him? What role do they play? And what role might he have? As their stories unfold, Boaz realizes he holds three fragile threads, with only one chance to weave them together – through a single loop in time. By their side, the present grows more surprising by the moment.
Yoav tells us about his typical writing day and favourite word below but first, he has shared an extract from Time Clocks. We hope you enjoy.
beginning of extract
Chapter 1
Among the Threads, Three Arise
It was not a live broadcast. The show was scheduled to air on Saturday night — and Boaz watched the unfolding scene on the small screen mounted on the wall of the room where he was waiting.
Soon he would be called onto the glittering stage, where he would find himself wishing he could turn back time. Not to buy a winning lottery ticket or stop one of history’s worst tyrants from ever being born. No. Boaz Grand would return to this Thursday afternoon, to this very moment, and inform the production team of Easy Does It that he, regretfully, could not participate. Any excuse would suffice — just to avoid sinking into that plush, lulling armchair and revealing something he should never have said.
by Book Extract: Invisible by Heleyne Hammersley
I’m very excited to be welcoming Heleyne Hammersley to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, Invisible.
An icy morning, a muddy riverbank. The body of a promising swimmer is found in the River Don close to Thorpe. Returning from a six-month absence, DI Kate Fletcher leads her first murder case since she nearly lost her own life to a desperate killer.
Grappling with her own doubts and insecurities, she has to negotiate a team transformed by differences in staffing and in attitude. Everything has changed and nobody is comfortable.
A second body leads to a strong suspect, but the evidence is circumstantial and far from clear cut. Kate’s ex-Detective Sergeant finds the breakthrough they need to help track down a cunning and meticulous murderer who has no conscience and no fear of consequences.
But can Kate act in time to prevent more deaths?
Heleyne has shared an extract with us today so grab that comfortable chair, the beverage of your choice and enjoy.
(Trigger warning: description of crime scene).
beginning of extract
This extract is from Chapter 17. After the discovery of a body in the River Don, DI Kate Fletcher is keen to establish any connection to a recent murder behind a pub in Doncaster.
An icy puddle marked the entrance to the alleyway, the surface a kaleidoscope of red and blue lights. A lone PCSO stood guard next to a line of blue-and-white tape which stretched from the corner of the pub to the wall opposite. He clutched a clipboard as though it were a talisman granting him permission to be there or warding off whatever evil lurked in the gloom behind the pub amid the overflowing bins and the graffiti.
by A Moment With… Olivia Lockhart
I’m so pleased to be welcoming Olivia Lockhart to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, Private Devotions.
Destiny promised Hanna Bailey her soulmate, but delivered a divorce instead. So, when the career opportunity of a lifetime comes calling, she’s ready to answer. Alone.
Joining the tour of rising rock band His Locked Heart is her chance to start again. Sold-out shows, endless miles, and the freedom to leave her past behind
But fate has a habit of rewriting the lyrics.
Behind the spotlight, the band’s brooding songwriter, Nathaniel Cole, is about to become the one person Hanna never expected. As friendships deepen and long-buried truths surface, Hanna finds herself torn between the life she built and a love that could burn the whole thing down.
Some songs are written in secret.
Some loves refuse to stay hidden.
And sometimes you get the chance to rewrite your own story.
With a special letter to women like Hanna, it’s over to you, Olivia.
Private Devotions has some painful and real memories in it, some my own, some heard from other women. Living through my forties has taught me a lot, and I wish I could go back and tell my younger self … but I don’t know if she’d believe me or understand. She’d probably scoff at the middle-aged woman who seems so dull and lifeless.
There’s a little bit of all of us in Hanna, and I hope you’ll read and identify with her. But in the meantime, a letter to all the women like me …
Dear friend,
There is something I wish you had known from the beginning.
You were never the problem.
by Book Extract: You Too by Katharine Light
Please join me in welcoming Katharine Light to Novel Kicks and the blog tour for her book, You Too.
Anna has finally got what she longed for.
After years of focusing on her career—ignoring the quiet, insistent need for a child—a chance encounter with Rob led to an arrangement that changed everything.
Now she’s pregnant.
But nothing about what comes next is simple. This was never meant to be a relationship. As her pregnancy becomes more difficult, Anna retreats, unwilling to face Rob, or the feelings she can no longer ignore.
Because wanting a baby was one thing. Letting someone in is something else entirely.
Rob always knew their arrangement had limits. He didn’t expect Anna would quickly become the one person he can’t walk away from.
Now, both must decide what they’re willing to fight for. Can they overcome the complications of their own backgrounds and truly build a family together?
Or was their connection never meant to last?
Kathatine has kindly shared an extract with us today. We hope you enjoy.
beginning of extract
The first time they meet in this book, once Anna is pregnant and suffering with severe morning sickness.
What was Rob doing now, she wondered, for the nth time that day.
She had fielded his texts with brief replies, forcing him to shrink his enquiries accordingly. ‘Plans for the weekend?’ he’d asked. ‘Sleep!’ she’d replied.
Her biggest problem was her absolute inability to open the fridge without the inevitable retching and vomiting. She couldn’t face food. Couldn’t look at it. Couldn’t plan, shop or cook. Anything she tried turned to dry lumps on her tongue. The most she’d held down were some morsels of dry toast. Her sense of smell seemed to have magnified alarmingly, and the slightest odour sent her rushing to the loo, slicked with sweat, saliva flooding her mouth.
by Book Club
