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Frequently when we’re asked to assess someone’s manuscript, or help a writer brainstorm a story idea, we have to begin by stating a fundamental principle of fiction. It is, we […]

I continue to mine George Saunders’s A Swim in the Pond in the Rain for practical writing wisdom, and found myself rereading a section on revision, which I think is […]

We thought we’d escaped the worst effects of the latest cold spell to grip these emerald isles. In December, ten days of sub-zero temperatures left the lake on which our […]

I’ve started off the new year with a close and thorough examination of a list of the four hundred plus literary agents of the United Kingdom – in search of […]

This month hundreds of thousands of people around the world have settled themselves down at desks or in commuter trains, in the cramped quarters of tourist class in jet airliners, […]

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 […]

I want to talk about voice today; the voice, specifically, of a dead restaurant reviewer who developed his very idiosyncratic, caustic manner into an art so addictive that hardly anyone […]