If there’s one myth about writing that I hate, it’s the myth that great novels were written in snatched 5-minute bursts. “Get up earlier and write while drinking your morning coffee! Write in your lunch break! If you’re not writing while simultaneously making a risotto and changing a duvet cover, you obviously don’t want it…
For guaranteed drama, take a leaf out a casting director’s book and use reality TV archetypes to build fascinating characters for your novel or short story. I’ve already outlined the lessons that writers can learn from reality TV. That was big-picture stuff. This is more granular, as I will outline specific types of people you’ll…
Here’s a writing assignment for you: turn on the TV! The reality TV casting process provides a devilishly fun way to improve characterization when writing your novel or short stories. Whether it’s Survivor, Big Brother, Housewives, or Love Island, your favourite guilty pleasure reality TV show doesn’t happen on its own. Every reality show is…
When I look back and try to identify the ONE thing that took me from slush pile to publication, it’s joining a writing group. Specifically, a workshop critique group. This was a big, scary step for me, because (like most writers) I haaate having my writing critiqued. At the time, it felt like someone was…
I made one (very simple) change to my writing process a couple of years ago that’s been truly transformative. Previously, when I had an idea for a story, I used to start with plot-related notes or an outline or just dive in to the first scene. Now I start with character. I commit to writing…
In the last month, short stories of mine have appeared in the Sunday Express S Magazine and The People’s Friend. When I got the brief to write a 980-word story for the Sunday Express, I was apprehensive. I like big plots (and I cannot lie). How was I going to fit a twisty, turny, plotty…
The path to getting your novel or non-fiction book published can be circuitous and confusing, so here’s my step-by-step guide to how the whole process works for first-time authors. Write the whole book first Many new writers cling to the idea that they can sell a book to an agent/publisher based on a great hook…
Even quiet stories can (and should) have that gotta-keep-reading quality to them. But how can we as writers make sure our novels and short stories are compelling the whole way through? I’m going to use the C word here. Gulp. I’m going to talk about making fiction commercial. ‘Commercial’ can feel like a dirty word…
This week marks my seventh short story published by women’s magazine The People’s Friend. But mine wasn’t an instant success story – I got rejected a lot in the beginning. Find out what I did differently to turn those rejections into acceptances. When I started writing short stories about five years ago, one of the…
It’s time to stop cringing when people ask if you’re a writer. It’s time to stop waving your hand when people ask what you write. For a long time, when people would ask if I was a writer, I would make a face. A full-on Kermit-style twist of the mouth. If I managed to grit…
I’m thrilled to be The People’s Friend’s Writer of the Week. Here’s a short interview from their blog. What inspired you to write “Like Father, Like Daughter” that’s appearing in this week’s issue? I was taking a stroll through my favourite park in Bristol, where I live, and I saw a dad at the base…
Joining a writing group is probably the best thing I’ve ever done, in terms of improving my writing. Getting other people to read and critique my work has forced me to look at my stories afresh. It’s sparked new ideas. And, uh, it’s stopped me from making completely boneheaded leaps of illogic in my fiction….
I’m a recent convert to audiobooks. For years, I never had much patience for them. If you’re a fast reader, one who can knock out a novel in a few hours, spending 10-20 hours on a single book can feel like some kind of sick joke. What d’you mean… I can’t skip over the boring…
