Category: How To and Tips
Why Is It So Hard For ‘Strong’ Women To Ask For Help?
Asking for support, even when offering something in return, teaches you much, not least about yourself. Having been fiercely independent ever since flying the nest, having been diligent in every job from waitressing to building my own PR business (from unfunded scratch), nothing came harder than to ask others to help finance a venture about which […]
From Newspaper Column to Novel
Back in the day when I left school (far too many years ago to tell you how long ago!) I dreamed of being a journalist but for a variety of reasons my first job was as deputy secretary to the librarian at Bristol University. But I continued to devour all the ‘how to’ writing and […]
Chaos to Order When Writing A Novel
I am staring at the blank screen unable to write. I am simply paralyzed by the notion of writing my first novel. My desire to be perfect, much like my desire to be organized is a strive for unattainable perfection. I begin to think about my most challenging organizing jobs, the ones that I can’t […]
I Now Call Myself A BAME Writer
I never used to call myself a writer – let alone a black, Asian or minority ethnic one. I kept my writing private, confining it to a world that consisted only of my laptop, the occasional scrap of paper, and me. When I started my first novel I knew things would have to change, and […]
Writing in Disaster’s Wake
In January 2013, less than three months after Hurricane Sandy struck the East Coast, an audience of volunteers studied the diagram on the screen. Titled “Emotional Phases of a Disaster,” the figure resembled a tremulous, lopsided W, each point labeled with a stage in a community’s typical reaction to catastrophe: Pre-Disaster, Impact, Heroic, Honeymoon, Disillusionment […]
What Makes Readers Open Their Minds and Bodies to a Story?
A reader who believes in a story opens to it, mind and body. Novels have to work harder than films or television dramas to induce this openness; they can’t dismantle defenses with mood music and explosions. But they must induce openness, in order to get readers to climb aboard their carnival rides and stay until […]
The Importance Of Listening To Your Editor
I am currently co-editing an anthology of short fiction. I also supplement my paltry writers’ income with freelance editing projects. I’m not a proof reader; the edits I offer are structural, though I will pick up on any punctuation that has gone awry. Editing is something I enjoy. The idea of helping a writer to […]
Can You Write a Biography With Limited Sources?
I think most people who come across anecdotes about the seventeenth-century English noblewoman Frances Coke Villiers, Viscountess Purbeck, would find them fascinating. Commonly told stories include the drama surrounding her marriage. Her parents disagreed on who their daughter should marry, kidnapped her back and forth, until the king and the law stepped in and enforced […]
Blowing Up Your Point Of View
POV. Point of view. I started paying closer attention to point of view when I read a few reviews criticizing master romance writer, Nora Roberts, for mixing her POVs. “Shameful,” said one reviewer. “Incredible,” wrote another. How could she? Didn’t she know any better? All because Nora had the audacity to write this: “He needed, […]
Beware Of Positive Feedback
A few months ago I sent a short story to an established literary magazine. Months past and they didn’t respond, so I sent an email. They contacted me later that evening to confirm they loved the story, very much wanted to publish it and would have an editor contact me. I never heard from them […]
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