fiction
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When you’re a writer, it’s not easy to switch off. Even when I was on holiday, I found myself drawn to various characters – their mannerisms, actions, expressions, words, dialects, smells(!) etc. It’s these aspects of people’s characters which, if put into a short story or novel, bring them to life and make them real…
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Say yes to rejection! The word of the week on my blog has been ‘rejection’ and how it’s something we all have to cope with if we want to be successful writers. My tip for you, and something which I’ve put into practice over the years, is for each rejection you get, set it aside…
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Yesterday, I wrote about receiving a rejection and how rejection is something we have to accept as writers. I don’t know of any writer, whether he/she’s famous or not, who hasn’t had a piece of work rejected. Though, it doesn’t hurt to dream: Things I’d Love an Editor to Say Please, please won’t…
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Contractions Building on my tip from last week, this week contractions is the subject of my top tip. A contraction is where words are shortened. As the words are being shortened, an apostrophe needs to be used to indicate the missing letters e.g. I’m is short for I am and so the apostrophe highlights that…
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It’s Or Its? We’re taught that an apostrophe should be used to indicate ownership e.g. ‘Sarah’s handbag’ tells us that the handbag belongs to Sarah. So surely the same applies the ‘it’s’? The answer is no (I know, our crazy English language!). So, the rule is, when using ‘its’, no apostrophe is necessary for ownership.…
Esther Chilton 