Tag: writing tips
Making Time for Writing
My life is full. I like it like that, mostly. So how do I find time to write? The fact is that the busier I am, the more I am inspired. These days the job that pays the bills is a job-share. I’m “half-time” GP / family doctor in Cambridge. I try hard to squeeze […]
How to Plan a Box-set
Late last year, I collaborated with six other members of the Alliance of Independent Authors to create a limited edition box set of novels. While collaborative efforts like this have been fairly common among genre fiction authors, we were not aware of another multi-author collection of contemporary novels. Why? The idea was simple. We wanted […]
Seven Fiction Writing Rules
Overwhelmed by fiction-writing advice? Me too, and I’m an editor as well as a writer. Everyone and anyone who has a blog or website seems to be keen on throwing in their penny’s worth. A lot of it is genuinely good advice. But what works for them won’t necessarily be right for you. Want proof? […]
Q&A with Trisha Ashley
1) What are your top five writing tips? a) Writer’s block (and see question 3): if you come to a stop in your novel and can’t see a way forward, then employ lateral thinking and walk around that big rock, or tunnel underneath it, or do a sharp right turn and go somewhere else. But […]
Write for Victory!
Apologies in advance for starting this post with a negative thought, but it has to be said: there is a lot of disappointment in the business of writing. It is an inescapable part of the job which can make it difficult (to say the least) to keep moving forward, to keep trying, to keep writing. […]
Survival Guide to Writing an (e)Book Series
There have been many interesting things I’ve discovered about being a published author over the past twelve months, and many challenges that I wasn’t expecting, including the amount of time edits take, the need for exhaustive promo and the sheer amount of hours required at the laptop. Last summer I was presented with one of […]
Don’t Say I Didn’t Warn You
Okay, ladies: It’s almost springtime. You’ve spent the winter tightening up that manuscript, writing the (gulp!) first 30 drafts of your query letter, and you’re ready to hit “send.” It’s Agent Time. And you, fellow writer, are on your way to getting published. No, no, wait. Not yet. DO NOT SEND THAT LETTER. Read this […]
Finding Your Writer’s Voice
A writer’s voice is a tricky thing. Every writer knows that they should have it, every publisher is certain that they want it, and every reader needs to trust it in order to be able to enjoy the reading experience. And yet it is also a nebulous thing, a curious thing, and an instinctive thing. […]
How to write good, realistic dialogue
Best-selling novelist Isabel Wolff offers her tips on how to write good, realistic dialogue. Dialogue is what happens when two or more characters talk to each other. We’ve all read novels in which that conversation is conveyed very awkwardly and this clumsiness pulls us out of the book. Good dialogue, on the other hand, is […]
What to do when the fire of your first draft has gone out
“Writing is finally about one thing: going into a room alone and doing it. Putting words on paper that have never been there in quite that way before. And although you are physically by yourself, the haunting Demon never leaves you, that Demon being the knowledge of your own terrible limitations, your hopeless inadequacy, the […]
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