Tag Archives: writing advice

Everywhere I go I meet people who say ‘I’d love to have the time to write’. The implication is often that I obviously don’t have enough going on in my life or I’d never be able to do what I ...

Fans of SFF works have a bad reputation for being nit-picky, especially when it comes to the details of world-building. Strong world-building, however, is a big part of why readers are drawn to science fiction and fantasy. If we were ...

Chuck Wendig sets his readers weekly writing challenges. This week’s challenge was to write an essay on why you write. To me, this is one of the most challenging writing assignments I have ever been set. While I pride myself ...

Part of developing your writing craft is reading… A lot. While practice is one thing, exposure to different styles and examples of writing is another. If you never bother to read a novel, how could you possibly write one yourself? ...

NaNoWriMo is all about quantity over quality. Quality comes later. As any writing course will tell you, your first draft won’t be good. No matter how awesome you think you are, you just aren’t that good. Sure, I wish everything ...

If you are in the northern hemisphere, winter is finally approaching (‘Winter is coming!’, I hear you shout!). What does this mean for us bookworm types? Well, beyond the obvious cup of tea (or coffee, chocolate – whatever your hot ...

There are many reasons to attend a writing festival or conference. You may be going to meet other writers, to test the waters of what its like to put your work out there to be read by others, to network ...

I have started seeing a lot more about online creative writing courses in the past year. Last week, I received an email from Random House’s own programme, The Writers’ Academy, pitching their newest online course. The email highlighted three main ...

With the shifts in technology and the economy (and even to some extent the shorter attention spans of the public), the publishing industry is changing. It had to change. Some of these changes are good news, others not so much. ...

I was listening to Lorde belt out ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack when I had a thought: ‘By Jove, she’s right!’ It isn’t like the song is new – or one I’m unfamiliar with ...