fiction
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Headless Chicken! This and ‘two steps forward and three steps back’ are words which come to mind this week. As any self-employed person, or most employees for that matter, knows, it’s not easy trying to get up straight when you’re taking a week off. It’s half-term next week and I’ll be away (as will my…
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Three dots is plenty! My top tips have included advice on not overdoing exclamation marks as well as dashes. Now it’s the turn of the three dots… An example of when this is used is where a character’s words trail off in speech e.g.: “I need some time to think about it…I’ll let you know…”…
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My writing exercise for your this week is to write a short story in the form of e-mails. Who is e-mailing who and about what is up to you. Two old school friends could be parted by distance but stay in touch via e-mail. Perhaps something happens to one of them, or there could be…
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I don’t know about you, but this time yesterday, the working wasn’t going well and I was ready to a) hurl my laptop across the room b) burst into tears or c) both. Thankfully today things have gone smoothly (so far) and I feel like I’m getting somewhere. My market for your this week is…
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My tip this week applies to all aspiring writers and that’s to never give up. It can be very disheartening to receive rejection letter after rejection letter or not to hear back at all – I know, I’ve been there. But I kept going, researching markets, reading others’ work, building on my punctuation and grammar…
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The words ‘there just aren’t enough hours in the day’ are certainly on the tip of my lips this week but that seems to be the pace of life these days. Though, I have a job I love and a great family so I really shouldn’t moan. For the writers amongst you, how is all…
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In my blog, I’ve covered various ideas and suggestions for coming up with short story ideas. One fun and excellent way, is to have a list of items and those items have to fit in somewhere in your story. Here’s five items for you: Yellow War Dolly Cardigan Cakes Give and it an go and…
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Are you entering a short story competition and can’t think what to write about? Perhaps you want a story that will stand out and so you’re looking for that unusual hook. A story in diary form can work very well. As diary entries are in the first person, the reader gains an intimate insight into…
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My feet literally aren’t touching the ground this week. I’ve deadlines galore and the tutoring is always busy. I’m also undergoing a test for a new role so while it’s hectic, it’s also very exciting. My market for you this week is ‘Crystal Magazine’. It’s a small press publication aimed at new and established writers.…
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My name is? It’s so easy to fall into the trap of changing a character’s name half way through a story. For example, your story might start off being about a boy called Joshua only for him to morph into a character called Jason towards the end of the story. This shows that you’ve been…
