Develop a character’s voice well and we’ll immediately understand more about their world view and their place in the world. Last week, I spoke about the importance of voice for […]
Let me make a quite unremarkable observation that writing a story is, in its own right, a Hero’s Journey. Join me as I trace the Writer’s Journey over the course […]
Develop your character’s voice if you want us to share in their highs and lows, get to know them and care about them. But what does that really mean? Sure, […]
Primer is a little movie that was made (and written, and edited and starred in) by a guy called Shane Carruth. It’s one of those legendary stories that buzz around […]
I was asked this again just the other day, and my heart always sinks: “How can I get my book published?” I understand, I really do. I know the feeling […]
It’s called “argument by authority” and all the best rhetoricians frown on it. A bad argument, they say, is not improved by quoting an authoritative voice in support of it. […]
This month we’re going to stand up for the bad guy. Not only will our new competition back him, but we thought it worth giving a little thought to the […]
An excellent crop of entries for this competition. Remember what the challenge was? A reminder: “Your perspective character finds a body – he or she could be a detective, but […]
A character is running through a crowd. She elbows passers-by, bumps into someone, shoves aside a group… Okay, we know what she’s doing, but we’re not there with her. Not […]
All About Writing’s latest writing challenge offers the winner a mini book report on the first 5000 words of your manuscript (or detailed feedback on 5000 words of writing) worth […]
Book festivals are taking over the world – or at least limited patches of it. James Naughtie, who helms a number of book programmes for the BBC, was present at […]
Dr Adalbert Ernst was passionate about English, but became an anaesthetist. It was during a period of burn-out that he realised he’d been “robbed of something fundamental”. Gail Gilbride, [...]