BESTSELLING Black Country author Miranda Dickinson offered Stourbridge students some valuable insight and tips on how to pursue writing career recently.

Miranda, who grew up in Kingswinford, visited the Stourbridge campus of Birmingham Metropolitan College, to inspire young writers to follow their dreams.

The romantic writer has appeared on the Sunday Times best sellers list with all five of her novels and was keen to meet students and share her expertise.

Jo Butler, the college's learning resources centre co-ordinator, said: “I met Miranda at a local library and asked whether she would like to come in and speak to some of our media, communications and English language students. It was really useful for them to hear, first hand, how to pursue a writing career and we’re really pleased that she was able to give up some of her time to engage with our students.”

Miranda, who now lives in Lower Gornal, added: “It was really rewarding visiting students at the Stourbridge campus to talk about my books and the publishing journey. I believe there is a great deal of undiscovered writing talent in the Black Country and I hope to inspire young writers to follow their dreams.”

Sasha Oliver, 17, studying English Language and Literature A Level at Stourbridge Campus, was impressed by the author, who has sold more than 500,000 copies of her books.

She said: “The talk was really inspiring. I’m currently working on writing a short story as part of my course and this has really helped me focus on what I need to do to create a story that will appeal to people.”