inspiration
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Stuck for something to write about? I often find a photo starts the creative juices flowing. Here’s one of an old ruined abbey. What happened there all those years ago? What about now? Could there be a ghost haunting the ruins? Or perhaps a homeless person stays there – what could their story be? Let…
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Four years ago, I found myself wandering around outside The British Library, in London, trying to look casual, while out of the corner of my eye, looking for fellow bloggers, who were gathering for the first Annual Bloggers Bash. Could I see any? No. Perhaps I’d got the date wrong? Or maybe I was in…
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Hospital Waiting Rooms, Horrendous Halls and Farm Parks How many times have you moaned about hours spent hanging round hospital waiting rooms as your appointment runs late? Take a notebook with you next time and put those wasted hours to good use. Or why not take/download a book and see what’s making it into the…
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Make sure you’re up-to-date Whether you’re working on a short story, article or filler to send to a magazine, in order to ensure that you know exactly what the editor is looking for, you must analyse the publication carefully. An up-to-date copy is essential. It’s no good borrowing a two-year-old copy of one of Aunty…
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Fabulous Photographs If you’re writing an article for a magazine, always make sure you have clear, high quality photographs to accompany it. These can often be a deciding factor in an editor accepting your article. Even if you have written an entertaining and informative piece, if you only have drab, grainy photos to accompany it,…
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Involve Your Reader Not sure how to open your short story? Try addressing your reader directly. It instantly makes them feel part of your story. Here’s an example: Just one more, that’s all I was going to take. You know that, don’t you? You understand. Well, they didn’t. And they wouldn’t listen. Looked at me…
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This week’s Guest Writer is the fabulous Geoff Le Pard. Geoff has written several books, including novels, a memoir and short story collections. He has another entertaining collection of short stories coming out at the end of the month – Life in a Conversation, which is available to pre-order now. You’ll find a brilliant story…
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I’m enjoying reading about all the things that make you happy (my challenge set last week) so I’d like to give more of you the opportunity to tell me your happy thoughts, whether it’s a place, person, work, hobby…anything that makes you smile. ***
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If you’re writing something funny, don’t over-explain the humour. It’s very easy to feel as if you have to explain exactly why something is funny. You don’t. Keeping it brief and to the point will ensure the humour comes through. Too long and windy and the humour is lost. *** And here’s a tip from…
