tips for writers
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My Guest Writer Spot gives writers the opportunity for their work to be seen and read by others. I’m happy to accept stories, poems, articles – in fact, anything and everything. All you have to do is make sure your prose is no longer than 2000 words and your poems no more than 40 lines.
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Top Tips… For Writing Anniversary Pieces Every day is the anniversary of a famous person’s birth or death, historical event or the invention of something which changed lives. Articles based on these anniversaries make for fascinating reading and a lot of magazines pay very well for them. Here are some tips to help your anniversary
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Smile and be happy! My tip for you this week comes at a time when you’re probably exhausted, hassled, running round like a mad thing, shopping, planning, wrapping etc. etc. Well, just think – this time next week, it’ll all be over! Seriously, when everything feels too much and you wonder if it’s all worth
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Slow Down! The last two weeks before Christmas are always full of mayhem in the frantic bid to get everything done – presents wrapped, food bought, decorations put up, Christmas drinks, parties and so on. Many of you may also be rushing to finish and send off that last article, short story, chapter etc. Take
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Have you thought about the good old Reader’s Tip? Readers’ tips are big business these days. More and more magazines are publishing them. Add to that the fact that for only a few words and a photo, you can earn up to £60 and readers’ tips are certainly not to be ignored. Do your research
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Funny Faux-Pas In the current economic climate there isn’t much to cheer us, so a humorous article or funny story comes as a welcome break. But whether you’re writing an amusing article, filler, letter or short story, don’t over-explain the humour. It’s very easy to feel as if you have to explain exactly why something
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Rejection Woes Most writers know what’s it’s like to have their work rejected. Even the most optimistic person feels dejected for a short while. Then comes the questioning. Was the writing not good enough? Was the subject matter wrong? Perhaps the article was too long… Your piece may actually have been spot on but the
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Remember the Research My tip for you this week comes in the form of a reminder. It’s not easy to fit writing into our busy lives, much less spend a lot of time on research. But researching the market you want to write for is so important. It’s no good writing a story or article
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Fabulous Five If you’re finding it difficult to come up with subjects to write a story about, clear you mind and then jot down the next five things that come into your mind. It can work wonders for kick-starting that creative writing process. Here’s the five things that came into my mind when I tried
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Capital Speech! Always use a capital letter at the beginning of a passage of speech e.g.: “Would you like to buy my book?” Most writers get this right, but, if ownership is assigned before speech, some writers become confused and don’t think a capital letter is necessary because the speech isn’t the start of the
Esther Chilton 