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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, people sometimes have speech quirks. [...]

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 the film industry for years: a [...]

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 of desperation to have a manuscript noticed. [...]

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. A good buttress, you [...]

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 person we all love to hate. Protagonists are [...]

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 doesn’t have to be. [...]

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 unless we see (and [...]

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 ZAR 2750. Here’s [...]

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 the Hay Festival to open the Beeb’s [...]

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, [...]