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“The last paragraph, in which you tell what the story is about, is almost always best left out.” This was Irwin Shaw’s advice to young writers, and I think of it often. We are always tempted to [...]

If I were to give you a writing exercise challenging you to describe yourself, how would you go about it? What sort of information would you give? Well, of course I have no idea whatsoever what [...]

Douglas Adams, whose star shines brighter today than ever, is famous among writing and publishing communities for declaring that he “loved the sound of deadlines whooshing by”. In short, he was a [...]

Roll up, roll up, for the All About Writing August jamboree. We’re celebrating you, our writing community, next month, by giving you a week filled to the brim with free offerings. Festivities [...]

We recently had the unenviable task of advising someone that a manuscript needed to be rethought. It’s devastating advice. Believe me, I know. I’ve had to face that level of criticism in the [...]

Some wear it as a badge of honour because it seems to affirm their identity as writers. For others it is a curse that keeps them from fulfilling the mandate they feel is part of their DNA. And [...]

I tend to advise new writers against using the god-like omniscient point of view when they start writing. Using a distant narrator who comments on all the characters, and can see and understand [...]

One of the little-regarded spin-off advantages that writers enjoy, is that, through their writing, and through the stories they fabulate, they exercise a skill essential to us all, writers and [...]

When you become a writer, every sentence should be sacred to you. I give this advice a great deal in our mentoring programme. Pay attention to each word you use: does it say exactly what you wish [...]

How to fight your way out of a writer’s block: Free, live webinar  Douglas Adams, whose star shines brighter today than ever, is famous among writing and publishing communities for [...]

In 1953, a writer submitted a dog-eared manuscript to Faber and Faber. It was the seventh publisher he’d approached and he was not optimistic that it would be taken up. The writer was by all [...]

We don’t always have another willing eye to judge our writing dispassionately. It’s a big ask. Your friends will hate you for it, and your partner is usually the wrong person altogether. A [...]