The NaNoWriMo Review
NaNoWriMo has come to an end for another year. This was my first time, and after speaking about taking part before the event I thought I ought to share my experience.
writing tips
Real Writing Stories #3 – Caroline Barden
Real Writing Stories returns with a fresh instalment. Continuing with the series My Writing Day, I’m delighted to introduce friend and fellow writer, Caroline Barden. Caroline is a writer and professional proof-reader. Her work has featured in The Guardian newspaper and recently she was victorious in the Writing on the Wall flash fiction competition. If …
Real Writing Stories #2 – Forest Wells
Real Writing Stories returns for its second installment. This week, with the help of writer Forest Wells, I’m launching a new weekly feature called My Writing Day. Readers of The Guardian newspaper may have seen this before. A writer shares their average writing day—the process, the distractions, the strife, the achievements. The Guardian however looks at the writing days of more well-known writers only. They’re very insightful and inspirational pieces, but I think the stories of other writers at different stages in their journeys can be more interesting and relatable.
Real Writing Stories: Part One
The stories of fellow writers really inspire me to keep bashing away at the keyboard. Learning about other people’s journeys, the difficulties they’ve encountered and overcome, their unwaivering passion for writing, can help me get through days when I feel like giving up.
Music and Writing
A few posts ago I included a bit about listening to music while writing. I’m a lover of peace and quiet, but a few people came back to me with recommendations and since then I’ve experimented. Be it the grand classical music of Lord of the Rings, psychedelic jams or funky Latin rock, I’ve discovered a particular tune can really spur me on and help clock up all-important words.
Top Tips For NaNoWriMo
NaNoWriMo is once more upon us and the excitement is building. Here are a few of the best tips I’ve picked up from taking part to help you prepare to crush that 50k word target.
11 Essential Ways To Stop Procrastinating
Procrastination has been so widely discussed in the writing community I know it’s not just me that suffers from this curse. Countless hours lost to daydreaming, scrolling through mundanity on the web, reading news articles on subjects I’ve never once shown an interest in. Sometimes I sit there ready to go and a thought pops into my mind. I’ve not cleaned those fish tanks in a few weeks. Another forty minutes goes by. Think of all the words that could have been written?
What the hell is NaNoWriMo?
I’ve seen this acronym all over the place lately. It sounds like a daemon H.P. Lovecraft forgot to make. Then I read a very helpful post by mylifewithbooksblog and all became clear.
Expert Tips On How To Write A Villain
After my research post looking at reasons why people stop reading a book, poor characterisation ranked top. I come across many articles looking at protagonists, but few to do with the bad guys, and a poorly characterised villain is just as off-putting as a poorly characterised hero. In this short article, you’ll read a few simple ways to make your bad guys of pure evil more compelling, and your conflicted antagonists more intriguing.
Viewpoint, tense, and narrative distance
This week I’m taking us on a tour of something which gets taken for granted: viewpoint. Viewpoint, in a nutshell, is the perspective through which your story is told, the eyes observing what happens. Most would say there are three types of viewpoint, but to make things easier I’m going to say there’s four. Bear …
