It’s NaNoWriMo time again! Where writers from all over the world flex their typing fingers and prepare for frenzied word sprints and quite possibly a few late nights. If you’re unfamiliar, NaNoWriMo (Nano for short) stands for ‘National Novel Writing Month’ where participants from all over the world commit to writing everyday throughout the month of November. The goal is to have a 50k word novel by the end. It will be my fourth time participating in Nano so as you
This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk about editing – another in my writing craft series. Specifically, at what stage in the writing process to start editing or rewriting your WIP (work in progress). I’ve been controversial about this recently. In the last couple of weeks, I seem to be entering the editing mindset. I haven’t even finished the first draft yet! This might well go against the grain of lots of writing advice. There’s the common adage ‘write
This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk about inciting incidents, the latest in my writing craft series. It’s not a coincidence that I often end up blogging about things I’m trying to work out in my own writing as I look again at the beginning of my novel. What is an inciting incident? An inciting incident is the main event that kickstarts the narrative of your story. It might be your main character receives word that an unknown relative
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been mindful of my characters. Specifically – that it’s getting to be a pretty big cast. I’m writing what will hopefully be my 4th historical fiction novel (More info about my published books here!). It’s partly because I’m introducing a new narrator. My first 3 books in the series are 1st person from Daniel’s point of view, my new project is dual 1st POV – between Daniel and another character, Imogen. This has made
This week on my blog I thought I’d talk about writing groups, the latest in my Writing Craft series. I recently joined one on Google Hangouts, most of whom I ‘knew’ virtually. It’s been great to connect with them and I’m sure my writing is improving already as a result. The other writers are based in the US so while it is mid morning their time, it’s mid- afternoon for me here in the UK. This has worked out really well
This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk a bit about tension. This topic isn’t entirely of a coincidence- it’s been a pretty dramatic twenty-four hours for me! Yesterday evening, I along with much of the rest of the world watched the football. England reached the final of a competition since 1966. Tension ran high as Italy and England battled it out neck-and-neck before Italy finally won on penalties. Then, my emotions ran much higher this morning when our dog
This week in my writing craft series, I thought I’d talk about handwriting. Writing technology has developed a lot in the last century – even now I’m writing this blog post on my laptop, directly onto my WordPress site. However, I’m not sure I’ll ever move on from the simple joys of handwriting. I love jotting down ideas in my notebook and also writing things in my planner to organise my goals and writing progress. Here are some reasons why I
I thought it was about time for another blog in my ‘writing craft’ series – this week, we’re thinking about plot twists. Plot twists can be a great tool for writers to hook readers. It’s great when they leave readers shocked and on the edge of their seats wanting more. However, can they ever be overdone? I was watching a series on Netflix recently – I won’t name it, as then you will expect a massive twist! The series starts out
This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk about trying new genres, or writing different genres. From posts I’ve seen in the #writingcommunity on Twitter, writing in different genres seems a bit controversial. Some writers say the more genres the merrier, whereas others say it is good for an author to have one focus and one way to build up your market audience. It seems to be a mixed bag, too, for whether publishers will accept an author’s work in
This week on the blog, I thought I’d talk about the ‘murky middle’. If you’ve not heard the term, you can probably guess what it means. It’s talking about when you might start to run out of steam or lose your in the middle of your novel. Things can get a bit, well, murky. It can happen to everyone, whether you’re writing or editing, whether you’re a plotter or a pantser (head here if you’re not sure what this distinction means!).