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.
You know that old saying – everyone’s got a book in them? So many people want to write a book, but never will, and if you’re a writer then I’m sure you’ve had someone tell you that they would LOVE to write a book too, but they just don’t have time. So, what makes the […]
It’s no secret I struggle with editing. But to find the joy in my writing, I have to ask the right questions and honour my need to create.
This certainty that we are not good enough bleeds into our writing. It makes us question ourselves, convinces us that we are terrible writers, and can eventually prevent us from putting words on the page at all. So what can we do about it?
Okay, I’m going to be honest here. Last year when I quit my job to become a writer and writing coach, and then I re-read the Spy Thriller that I wrote for fun in 2016 – I never expected to publish it. But here we are. It’s out there on Amazon Kindle for a reasonable […]
Characters. Love them or hate them, they are essential to any good story.Some writers start with them, and find an intriguing individual to cast as their main player to whom everything will happen. Others create a scenario and design the perfect stooge for their trap. Me, I’m a big fan of combining these and imagining a […]
Every writer will have their own writing routine arising from personal writing goals and what they believe they are capable of in any given time frame. I think we all have our peaks and troughs – sometimes we race on ahead and surprise ourselves with our enthusiasm for the novel we are working on, whilst […]
Despite the tough times that we’re all going through at the moment, I was reminded earlier today that I wouldn’t give up my opportunity to write – my love of writing – for anything else I could have in the world. I remember that I used to see people moving into their new houses and […]
The process of writing a novel is not something that can simply be taught. People can advise and suggest ways for you to get started or to keep your motivation going or even how to celebrate when you finish. But they can’t write the book for you, nor can they tell you what is best for the story you are trying to tell. All of that has to come from you.
