I’ve been studying dialogue. There are certain techniques that really help that I will explore over the next couple of blogs. Just to recap, Friday is all about writing skills and the Tuesday posts are short-stories derived from popular song lyrics. So, this Friday and for the next couple of Fridays(I think), I will focus […]
Category / Writing skills
http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=2280 When I started this blog at the beginning of January, I was a little sceptical. Yes, it may be good for writing practice, but if no-one else is reading it, then what’s the point? Is it possible to be a writer without a reader? Well, of course it is, but I don’t want to […]
(Image courtesy link – I daren’t use a real Hockney ☺ ) I went to the David Hockney exhibition this week at the Royal Academy in London. It is absolutely, definitely worth the £15 entry fee if you are anywhere near London and I found the whole experience truly inspiring. Link to Royal Academy What’s […]
More learnings from the Crime Fiction book by John Scaggs that I referred to last week – I recommend this as a good research read for anyone attempting to write a crime novel. My novel is a crime thriller – a psychological thriller. He lists some findings and observations that are obvious when you state […]
I am writing a novel, working title The Home Signal. I have planned it out pretty comprehensively (I think!). It is useful to read and use ‘Nail your novel’ by Roz Morris. I also use Scrivener, which is brilliant for structure. More about all that in later posts. For research, I have started to read […]
Every Friday, I am going to post something about how my writing skills are developing, or not(!). Tuesdays will be writing practice – mainly narrative from song lyrics. The purpose of this is to get into the discipline of writing and blogging regularly and to keep track of my progression. Hopefully, you’ll find it interesting […]
I live by this. I have built my Scrivener template around this structure and it really works well for short stories. I’ve also worked my novel plot through the same structure (though that’s a bit more complicated). Please refer to Daily Writing Tips: the 8 point arc , drawn from Nigel Watts ‘Teach yourself Writing […]
I’m focussing on blog content rather than blog style. I figure style may come later – hopefully. Please be patient… I prefer character driven stories. I like trying to get inside the head of the characters. I know they need to be set in a place and follow a plot, but it is the interaction […]
This year the theme of this blog will emerge naturally, but it is important for me to set out the main idea of what the blog is about. The purpose of my blog is to focus on the creative side of fiction writing for authors, also covering my own story developments, as well as techniques […]
Here they are! Now, lets go do it. No. Goal Description Specifics Dates 1 Novel Well, this is why I’m here and the main aim. Write a 100,000 first draft. By 30th Sept 2 Blog Create a blog Improve the presentation and blog items related to the novel as it develops Every Tues and Fri […]