You’ve Got to Have a Problem

You’ve Got to Have a Problem

Suppose it’s a lovely sunny day, and William and Izzy go with their family to the beach. If they have fun making sandcastles, enjoy swimming in the sea, searching rock pools for crabs, have a delicious ice-cream, then go home happy, readers might feel cheated…

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Choosing Names for Your Characters

Choosing Names for Your Characters

When you are writing your stories, you also have the privilege of choosing names for all your characters. This can be a bit of a headache, and you don’t necessarily have nine months to mull over your choices! I’ve previously written about how to choose names, so I won’t repeat myself, but here’s an idea to help you choose…

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Essential Stuff!

Essential Stuff!

All characters need to be ’rounded’, especially your protagonist. Of course, they need to be inspirational, but they also need to have flaws and issues. They need to get despondent when things go badly – or even get to the point of despair. They shouldn’t always be…

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Getting Pace Right (Video)

Getting Pace Right (Video)

Some tips on getting the pace right in your story:

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Voices for Your Characters

Voices for Your Characters

Dialogue is an essential part of every story, and readers need to know who is speaking! Of course we have dialogue tags to help us (e.g. he said; she replied), but there are other ways to help readers differentiate between our characters…

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30 Fun Creative Writing Prompts

30 Fun Creative Writing Prompts

Writing should be enjoyable, right? As there’s not so much fun around right now, here are 30 fun creative writing prompts for you, to spark your imagination and release your creativity. 🙂 Why not do one a day for the next 30 days? If you write stories from a Christian perspective for children/teens, you will love this…

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Is your laziness preventing you from writing? 6 Steps to Defeat this Enemy!

Is your laziness preventing you from writing? 6 Steps to Defeat this Enemy!

But for those of us who suffer from the I’d rather sit on the couch than get up and switch on my computer syndrome from time to time, even if you’d really quite like to write, and feel guilty if you don’t… this is for you, my friend!…

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Descriptions: Taking it All In

Descriptions: Taking it All In

I am fortunate to be able to walk out of our house into country lanes. With the roads being quiet, it allows for reflection. Yesterday, as I was passing through an area of woodland, I did this exercise, and I recommend it to you…

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Nine Tips for Writing in a Time of Uncertainty

Nine Tips for Writing in a Time of Uncertainty

If you find writing your novel too overwhelming right now, write something parallel. For example, write a letter from your protagonist to another character, write a snatch of dialogue that comes to mind (even if it’s not in the chapter you’re writing), write…

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Beating Imposter Syndrome

Beating Imposter Syndrome

Here are some of the signs you are suffering from Imposter Syndrome: you feel you’re not good enough, can’t do it, don’t belong there, shouldn’t be there… you feel a fraud, and that people will judge you. In your head you hear people saying, Who is he to be doing that? Who does she

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How to Make Sure You Achieve Your Writing Goals for 2020

How to Make Sure You Achieve Your Writing Goals for 2020

This week I have a slightly different type of exercise for you, to do with goal setting. Setting concrete goals is an excellent thing to do, because goals help us stay on track. Even if we don’t achieve everything on our list, we will probably have accomplished more by the end of the year than if we didn’t set any goals! So now is the time…

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Put Your Talent to Work in 2020

Put Your Talent to Work in 2020

The course includes teaching, assignments, reading, and access to a private facebook group (so you can join other writers in the Write for a Reason community, ask questions and make comments). The course is hard work…

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Tension – the Ebb and Flow

Tension – the Ebb and Flow

Are you good at building up tension in your story, then letting your readers relax again? It’s an important skill for story writers. It’s like stretching a piece of elastic… just when it’s about to snap, you let it go. Phew! This process helps…

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Children Save the Day!

Children Save the Day!

Hello again my writer friends, and yes, it’s Monday again, so time for a new creative writing tip! This week I wanted to write about something which will help you with your stories, so I picked a topic which is essential…

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Three Reasons You Might Receive a Rejection Letter from a Publisher

Three Reasons You Might Receive a Rejection Letter from a Publisher

Everyone hates rejection letters. Nobody likes being rejected! As a publisher, I hate writing rejection letters, because I know how much time and emotion an author has invested in their book, and I understand how tough it is to have

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‘Show Don’t Tell’ Practice

‘Show Don’t Tell’ Practice

We look at ‘show don’t tell’ a lot here at Write for a Reason, because it is an essential technique for writing engaging stories…

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3 Reasons You Need Prayer Support

By the end of the Write for a Reason Academy you will not only have all the tools you need to write your best stories ever (for example, how to craft your beginnings and endings, create engaging characters, choose your narrative voice, weave your theme…

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Three Things You Really Need to Know About Stakes

Three Things You Really Need to Know About Stakes

We’ve all heard the expression the stakes are high… but why do they need to be high in your novel? I don’t think I’ve ever written a blog post specifically about stakes (not steaks, hehe!) before… but stakes are a vital part of any story, so here are three things you really need to know:…

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Editing Your First Draft

Editing Your First Draft

People new to writing novels sometimes think that the words should flow straight out on to the page perfectly first time. This…

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3 Reasons to Set Your Novel in a Place You Don’t Know

3 Reasons to Set Your Novel in a Place You Don’t Know

A couple of weeks ago I posted a writing tip with 7 reasons to set your novel in a place you know. This week we’re going to look at three reasons you might want to set your novel in a place you…

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What do cooking smells, fresh flowers in a vase and a polished table have in common?

What do cooking smells, fresh flowers in a vase and a polished table have in common?

Showing not telling is a great way to add X factor to your novels. We’ve discussed it before, but there’s no harm in mentioning it again, because if you can use…

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How to Find Your Writing Voice – 7 Quick Tips

How to Find Your Writing Voice – 7 Quick Tips

Mark, a writer-for-a-reason, recently requested input on developing a writing style/voice as an author. This topic can cause anxiety, and it’s something I don’t think I’ve ever covered, so really pleased to give you seven…

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Small Beginnings – Everyone Has One!

Small Beginnings – Everyone Has One!

Whatever we do, we have to start small. Babies babble, then say a word or two, then gradually their vocabulary increases. We were all there once!

It’s the same for everything we do – we have to start small, learn how to do it, and persevere. There’s no other way to get anything done! You can’t just sit down…

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Dialogue Tags

Dialogue Tags

The latest Write for a Reason course has just come to an end… as always it’s been lots of fun, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know the students. One issue that has cropped up once again, as it often seems to, is the use of dialogue tags. I’ve mentioned this…

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7 Gleanings from Reading a Stack of Books

7 Gleanings from Reading a Stack of Books

We all know that if we want to be writers, we have to read. We can glean all sorts of things from other people’s stories – both good and bad. Having recently read a stack of books I was sent to review, I’m going to share seven…

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3 More Things to Beware of when Writing Stories for Children

3 More Things to Beware of when Writing Stories for Children

Last week I mentioned seven writing issues I noticed when reading a stack of children’s novels, that could have been avoided. Since then, I’ve found some more! So here they are (on to something more positive next week, I promise)…

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7 Things to Beware of when Writing Stories for Children

7 Things to Beware of when Writing Stories for Children

Over the last few months I have been reviewing books for a charity that puts Christian titles into libraries and other public places. So I have had the joy of having to read. 🙂 How about that for an excuse to read – sorry, can’t do that, I absolutely have to finish these books….

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