Inspiring the Uninspired
Have you ever been there? Perhaps, like me, you're there right now. You've been hastily writing the exciting start of your novel, powering through as your ideas flood the pages. But then...the middle. Suddenly things slow down. And before you know it, you're completely stuck. You may have an idea for the ending, but not… Continue reading Things to do when you’re stuck in the middle of your novel
The first of December is upon us, and National Novel Writing Month is over for another year. If you took part, and are wondering what next?! here are a few tips for you: Celebrate (whatever your word count!) NaNoWriMo is not all about the word count. Despite the 50,000 word target, the real aim is to get… Continue reading Things to do Post-NaNoWriMo
Writers often have an odd relationship with the first draft. It's that mixture between excitement and fear, motivation and doubt. It's easy to pile on the pressure, putting ourselves under a certain level of strain and expectation. That's why I wanted to share this things to remember while you're writing a first draft. The writing… Continue reading Things to remember when writing a first draft
NaNoWriMo is a great form of motivation for many writers. And getting words down on a page is so important while writing the first draft, even if those words aren't the best. That's what editing's for! The project I'm working on is the one I have planned the least. I'm very pro-planning, although there are… Continue reading Reasons to Stop Planning and just WRITE
Last week I posted about things you should do at a writing event. So this week, I thought I'd offer some advice on how to find writing events near you, should you want to attend one. Google Of course, this tends to be everyone's first option, and why not? It's probably the quickest and easiest… Continue reading How to Find Writing Events Near You
On Friday I attended a writing event in Cardiff. I've been to a couple of events like this now, and have spoken on here before about reasons to attend one. But this time I'd like to discuss the things you must do while at a writing event - to ensure you squeeze the most out… Continue reading Things You Have To Do At A Writing Event
Writing can be hard to fit in to your day, and many creatives are prone to procrastination. But sometimes the excuses are valid; work, school, children, housework...these are all things that need to be done. I started a new job 2 weeks ago, and the past fortnight has been mostly focused on settling in there,… Continue reading How To Fit Writing Around Your Full Time Job
Prologues can be a contentious issue. Everybody has a different opinion on them. I've known of readers who love them, agents who hate them, and everything in between! The last novel I wrote started with a prologue, even though as a reader I'm not a huge fan of them. Sometimes you just have to do… Continue reading The Pros and Cons of Prologues
Notebooks, notebooks, notebooks. How many have we filled? And how many have we bought and not used yet?! As writers, notebooks are so important. They're great for jotting down observations and inspirations, for keeping ideas safe until you're ready to grow them, for moving your novel forward. As I writer, I'm obsessed with notebooks and… Continue reading Places All Writers Should Keep a Notebook
For the past couple of weeks I've been focusing on query letters, and they've been the subject of my previous two blog posts. So now we've discussed things to include in a query letter, and things to leave out, I thought I'd share my step by step approach. Please note, as with my synopsis writing… Continue reading Writing a Query Letter – A Step by Step Method
