Esther Chilton

  • Markets For Writers

    Writers’ Forum is a monthly writing magazine offering advice and inspiration to writers. They accept articles on all sorts of aspects of writing, but they prefer an idea in the first instance. To find out more about exactly what they’re looking for, take a look at their submission guidelines. ***

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  • Winning Ways

    Have you entered a writing competition recently and not come anywhere? You’re not alone. I remember that sinking feeling, when I clicked on a link to the shortlisted entries and my name wasn’t among those on the list. But I wasn’t about to give up and kept studying prize-winning stories. What was it about them…

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  • Here’s part two in my writing dialogue series. If you missed part one, click here. Tip two: When more than one character is speaking, you must place each character’s speech into different paragraphs. Otherwise it can be difficult to work out who is saying what e.g.: “How much is that dress?” Sian asked the shop…

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  • As many of you know, my book of short stories, A Walk In The Woods, recently came out. I loved working with my illustrator and watching my ideas for the cover slowly take shape. I wanted the cover to reflect the first story, and to have a woodland scene as well as the little girl…

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  • It’s five-word challenge time again! For this week’s challenge, can you tell a story in five words, using the word Scandal in it somewhere? Last week, your story needed to contain the word Aliens. You sent in some great stories. Here they are: Trent’s World: It wasn’t me! Really! Aliens… Sanandi-jacq: Aliens permeate fabric of…

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  • Markets For Writers

    I know that many of you are inspired by a theme so here’s one for you from The Fiction Desk: Houses and homes. Want to know more? Here’s what they have to say: ‘There should be plenty here for short story writers to get their teeth into: from domestic dramas to haunted houses, it’s an…

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  • Funny Of The Week

    Cows never listen, do they? Photo credit: Ivman’s blague

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  • It isn’t easy to write convincing dialogue and it’s something many writers struggle with. Even if you get the words right, there seem to be so many rules and regulations concerning how it should be set out, the punctuation etc. Over the following few weeks, I’ll be giving you some tips on how to build…

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  • I don’t know about you, but I love browsing a good bookshop and choosing a new book. And there are so many to choose from. So how do you pick a new book from the plethora out there? Are you drawn to the cover? Or do you always go for a particular author/genre? Perhaps you’ve…

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  • For this week’s challenge, can you tell a story in five words, using the word aliens in it somewhere? Last week’s challenge was to write a five-word story where one of the five words had to be flabbergasted. Here are your clever stories: Keto For Beginners: Two pounds gone? I’m flabbergasted!! Sanandi-jacq: May resignation. Dumbfounded.…

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