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Janice Hally - Janice Hally

Janice Hally is a Scottish screenwriter with more than 300 hours of prime-time television drama to her credit. She has also written fiction and non-fiction books. She lives in France with her husband, best-selling author, Peter May.

Janice's latest book, "Ask No Questions", was commissioned and published by Hachette's Editions Didier in November 2011. It is the follow-up to "Distant Echo" published in June 2010. Both books are psychological mysteries featuring the lead character of French doctor Alexandre Lelong.

Current commissions include the big screen adaptation of Peter May's "The Killing Room" for a French film production company, The French Connection.

Her latest non-fiction title to be published is "Freelance Writing: how to make a living as a freelance writer" available now on Kindle.

JANICE HALLY - full bio

International Playwriting Award

Janice Hally began writing as a theatre playwright. Her first play, written while she was still at university, won the ISPC international playwriting award and was professionally produced by the Tron Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland, the year that she graduated from Glasgow University with a Master of Arts in English and Drama.

Best New Writer to Television

The play, "Ready or Not",was subsequently adapted for television, and its production led to her nomination - at the age of 23 - in the category of Best New Writer to Television in the British PYE Television Awards.

Prime Time Television Drama

During the 15 years that followed the award, she went on to become one of Scotland's most prolific television writers, responsible for some of the most highly-rated drama in her homeland. As creator and scriptwriter she collected more than 650 credits for drama series, single screenplays and children's drama.

Non Fiction Writing

Janice's involvement in children's drama led her to write "Modelling and Acting for Kids" a handbook for young people and their parents on how to avoid the pitfalls and make a success of the modelling and acting business.

Novels

Janice has also written fiction in prose. A romantic comedy "Looking for the Zee" was published in the USA by Miramont Media. French publisher Hachette recently published Janice's psychological mystery "Distant Echo" as part of an new series of books by various authors published under the umbrella title of "Paper Planes" which the imprint Editions Didier intend to use to break in to the English language market in France. Janice's second book in the series, "Ask No Questions" features the same main character, French psychologist Dr Alexandre Lelong and was published in Autumn 2011.

Personal Life

Janice met her husband Peter May, more than 25 years ago when they were both young writers on Scotland's top-rated TV drama at that time. They were married in 1990. With the start of the new millennium, they left their native Scotland to live in South West France where Peter now concentrates on writing novels. Accompanying him on the research trips for his award-winning China Thrillers means that Janice has traveled extensively in China and the USA, and his current Enzo Files series meant a lot of travel in France and western Europe.

Peter's latest book, "The Blackhouse", is the first in a trilogy of books set in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. Published first in France, it was hailed as "a masterpiece" by the French newspaper L'Humanité. It has won three major French literature awards and made it into the Top Twenty UK hardback list in February when it was published to critical acclaim in the UK in February 2011. The paperback was published at the beginning of September 2011 and was chosen for the Richard and Judy Book Club. The Blackhouse entered the UK paperback charts at #14 after being on sale for just 3 days, and spent 10 weeks on the best seller list.

Peter's writing and touring commitments have meant a temporary suspension of their highly successful writing course, Kick Start Your Project in France, but they have stated that they will offer it again it if a window appears in their schedules.

Janice has received thirteen Editor's Choice Awards for her Suite101 articles and her latest non-fiction title to be published is "Freelance Writing: how to make a living as a freelance writer" available now on Kindle.

Editor's Choice Awards:

• What is a Freelance Technical Writer?
• How to Spot Writing Scams - Writing Competitions
• How to Win Bids on Freelance Writing Sites
• How to Deal with Rejection as a Freelance Writer
• How to Conduct and Write an Interview
• How to Avoid Grammatical Errors - Using Cases
• Finding Inspiration for Characters
• Writers' Rituals - Betty Webb
• Writers' Rituals - Elizabeth Zelvin
• Writers' Rituals - F M Meredith
• Writers' Rituals - Aline Templeton
• What Every Ghost Writer Should Know
• Creating Characters for Stage or Screen