People new to writing novels sometimes think that the words should flow straight out on to the page perfectly first time. This…
Editing Your First Draft
Too Clever?
In today’s creative writing tip, I’d like to mention an issue that some of you may have noticed either in novels you have read, or perhaps TV programmes or films you have…
The Best Way to Beat Overwhelm
If we want to build a wall, there’s no other way than brick by brick. Or if you’re more into cakes than walls (I’m thinking of Roald Dahl’s Matilda), the only way to eat
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…
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…
More Creative Writing Fun!
Following on from last week, I have some more creative writing fun for you! (To get the most out of this exercise, you really need to …
Writing for Fun
Writing should definitely be fun! If you have a gift for writing, it will at times flow out of you as if you were born to it, and make you smile. Of course, there will be days when you have
5 Reasons to Choose Third Person Narrative
Last week we considered five reasons we might choose to write our novel in the first person narrative voice (I, we, us.) If you’d like to go back and take a look at the post, you can find it here.
Will You Be Successful?
Few authors make big money with their writing, but that doesn’t mean to say you can’t be successful. It depends…
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…