writing tips
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I still can’t believe that it’s a week until Christmas Eve! Where is the time going?! I’m sure, like me, your head is full of Christmas this and Christmas that. So surely now’s the time to write about Christmas? Yes – and no. If you want to write an article about how to make presents
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Be Accurate Facts and statistics are used in articles all the time. They often enhance an article, adding authority to it as well as interest. But those facts have to be right. You may have a deadline you need to meet, or it might be Friday afternoon and you want to get your article off
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Dynamic Dialogue Dialogue is good for imparting information, but only use it to impart necessary information. The reader doesn’t need to know every little detail e.g.: “I thought you were having your hair cut today,” Sally said. Her eyes narrowed, running over her daughter’s hair. “I was, but they had a water leak. That was
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Want to grab your reader’s attention right at the beginning of your story? Try shocking them: I knew she was dead even though the dull eyes stared back at me, mocking me, tempting me to raise the knife once more. This thrusts the reader right into the story and makes them want to read on.
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Four and no more! Too many characters in a short story can lead to your reader being confused and the characters can easily become two-dimensional with no substance to them. In a short story, you only have a limited number of words in which to tell your story so make sure every character has a
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What’s in a name? It’s so easy to fall into the trap of changing a character’s name half-way through a story. In the opening few paragraphs, your main protagonist might start off as Sarah. Then, as you build towards the end, she may find herself morphing into a character called Sally. This shows that you’ve
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Keep it Short and Sweet Whether you’re writing an article, short story, or novel, think about your opening paragraph very carefully in terms of length. Often, as writers, we’re keen to get going and ideas are flowing, so we don’t stop and pay attention to our paragraph lengths. But, think about it from the reader’s
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Alone and Aloud As writers, it’s so easy to become immersed in our work. Often we know our own stories so well, which means that when we read our writing to check for errors, we miss spelling mistakes, a word here and there, a comma etc, because we know what it should read. So try
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Now for instalment number fourteen in my writing workshop series. I’ve covered the short story ending as well as the opening. I’ve guided you through dialogue and focused on the importance of taking time to do things properly. I’ve also given you a competitions refresher and some general advice on the art of the short
Esther Chilton 