1 Decide when in the day (or night) it best suits you to write, and organise your life accordingly. 2 Think with your senses as well as your brain. 3 Honour the miraculousness of the ordinary. 4 Lock different characters/elements in a room and tell them to get on. 5 Remember there is no such […]
Roddy Doyle’s Ten Rules for Writing Fiction
If you’ve never read any Roddy Doyle, you’re in for a treat. From the exquisite Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha to the more famous Commitments from The Barrytown Trilogy. Roddy has the ability to inhabit his characters so seamlessly that when I read The Woman Who Walked into Doors I was convinced the author was female. Then […]
15 Ways to Fall in Love with Writing [All Over Again]
If your love for writing, much like our ebbing summer’s sky, has lost its glow, its colour, & warmth—try these tips to ensure you fall in love with writing again, no matter the weather outside. Just as we feel displaced as writers if we’re not writing, if we’re not regularly engaging with the act itself, if a specific story or […]
15 Writing Tips & Touchstones to Return to Each Time Your Momentum Slows or Stops
No matter how much you love a writing project — whether a novel, anthology of short fiction or poetry, memoir, screenplay, non-fiction book, series or course — sometimes after the initial buzz of inspiration and flurry of work, things shift. Maybe you hesitate because of doubt or that nagging feeling that what you’re doing is no good and that unease filters into your work.
Anne Enright’s Finest 10 Tips for Writing Fiction
In this humble offering before the next longer post, author Anne Enright, who was named the inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction, won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction for her novel, The Forgotten Waltz, and won the Man Booker Prize for her novel, The Gathering, shares ten writing tips gleaned from her fiction writing […]
9 Potent Ways to Use Music to Enhance Your Writing
Amp up your creativity and your sounds with these nine ways to enhance your writing using music. Plato said that ‘music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything,’ while Nietzsche believed that a “life without music is a mistake.” Much like writing, it can transport us to a […]
Are You an Introverted Intuitive Writer? Why the 2 Most Common Pieces of Writing Advice Probably Won’t Work for You
Delighted to welcome the endlessly inspiring Lauren Sapala, novelist, author of The INFJ Writer & writing coach like no other. If you too are one of the rarest personality types, introverted, sensitive, even feeling a little misplaced in our extroverted world, read on to translate what you may have until now seen as flaws or hindrances to your writing into your […]
5 Essential Writing Habits I Learnt Ghost-Writing Bestsellers By Roz Morris
Delighted to welcome Roz Morris, novelist, speaker, writing coach, ghost-writer & author of the inspired Nail Your Novel series, with her 5 essential writing habits to inspire your process & prose. Before I ever had a byline of my own on a book, I wrote books for others. I’m a novelist, speaker, blogger and writing coach, but as well […]
Vulnerability In Fiction: Teaching Jaded Characters How To Trust By Angela Ackerman
Delighted to welcome Angela Ackerman of Writers Helping Writers & One Stop For Writers, writing coach, speaker, & co-author of many bestselling resources, including one of my all-time favourite fiction writing book series, which if you’ve been in your writer’s garret for the last few years, are so invaluable, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without. Here Angela offers her potent & equally invaluable writing tips on vulnerability […]
A. L. Kennedy’s 10 Rules for Writing Fiction
A. L. Kennedy’s 10 Rules for Writing Fiction These writing tips were gleaned from an interview A. L. Kennedy gave to the Guardian. Writer and performer, Alison Louise “A. L.” Kennedy is the author of 17 books: 6 literary novels, 1 science fiction novel, 7 short story collections, and 3 works of non-fiction. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and […]