writing tips
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A story written in the first person can be very effective in creating a sense of atmosphere and making your readers feel as if they are part of the story, seeing and experiencing everything along with that character. Take the following example: I looked at the garden, at the weeds weaving their way towards the
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Think outside the box Whether you’re entering a themed or open-themed writing competition, don’t write about the first thing that comes to mind. Jot down several ideas. The first few will probably be themes a lot of entrants will write about. Ignore these and let your mind push you forward and onto something a little
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Here’s part six in my writing dialogue series. If you missed part one, click here. For part two, click here. For part three, you’ll find it here , for part four, click here and for part five, it’s here. Now for part six: At the end of a passage of speech, don’t add a full
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Here’s part five in my writing dialogue series. If you missed part one, click here. For part two, click here. For part three, you’ll find it here and for part four, here. Now for part five: If you’re using lots of dialogue, add in some action. What are the characters doing as they’re saying their
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Here’s part four in my writing dialogue series. If you missed part one, click here. For part two, click here. For part three, you’ll find it here. Now for part four: ‘He said’ or ‘she said’ are fine as dialogue tags. There’s no need for lots of variations e.g. he/she yelled, shouted, screeched, shrieked, expressed,
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Here’s part three in my writing dialogue series. If you missed part one, click here. For part two, click here. Tip three: You want your dialogue to sound realistic, but if you listen to people talking, every day speech is full of ‘um’s, ‘ah’s, ‘er’s, ‘you know’s etc. Don’t add these to your dialogue. The
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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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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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By e-mail or post? Most publications accept work by e-mail but some still prefer postal submissions, especially from someone writing for them for the first time. Even if you have had a few pieces published by a magazine, if they ask for submissions to be sent by post, send your work by post. You could
Esther Chilton 