Firstly, I always think you need to know what type of story you are writing. Why? Because there are particular expectations for certain stories that we associate with each type. Typically these are known as ‘genres’ – so think Romance, or Mystery, Crime or Thriller. For each one readers will have particular needs that they […]
Recently, I was asked in a job interview to talk about something I am passionate about. And, perhaps it comes as no surprise that as a writer and someone who writes novels from a Plotting Shed that thing for me happens to be STORIES. But the more I delved into why stories are so significant […]
Because it takes work. You don’t wake up with unstoppable motivation to write every day – if ever. Instead it’s a battle of contrition – of chipping away at the manuscript and story word by word. There’s a certain futility to the action to begin with because the finish line seems so far away. And, […]
As writers, we have active imaginations. We stare out of the window and look beyond the landscape in front of us to paint a brighter picture of our future as we’d like it to look. You know the one – where we have a Plotting Shed with a Writing Desk that we go to everyday […]
As a debut author, and a short story writer, it’s taken me a long time to accept that the only way I can share my stories with the world is to talk about them! It seems to be one of the final stages in the writer’s triathlon of self-belief. First you have to swim through […]
It’s every writer’s joy to discover a new idea – a spark of inspiration that sets off a chain of possibility in our brain. From seductive scenarios to compelling characters, we love creating that perfect story in our mind and spending precious time nurturing it into something amazing. Only the problem is, we still haven’t […]
Believing you can write a book is a bit like believing in fairies. You have no evidence they exist, but somehow you *want* to believe that they might. The problem is, as grown ups, we don’t believe in the same way as we did when we were kids. And that’s such a shame, because it prevents us from trying so many things.
Words can be impactful, so be careful how you’re using yours when reflecting on your writing year.
November means National Novel Writing Month. 30 days of frenzied writing activity happening across the globe as hundreds of thousands of writers commit to putting 50k words on the page! I love NaNoWriMo. I’ve been doing it for a decade and by now my writer-brain sees the changing colour of the leaves, and the feels […]
By exploring your character’s reactions to more generalised scenarios, you’ll be better equipped to comprehend how and why they’re going to respond to your specific plot points. Not only this, but it’s not just what they do, it’s how they do it.
