writing
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It’s Thursday and time for a new five-word challenge. For this week’s challenge, can you tell a story in five words, using the word Milk in it somewhere? Last week, your story needed to contain the word Lost. You sent in some brilliant stories. Here they are: Kim Smyth: I’m lost in a yarn. Been…
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Wonderful Weather The weather is a useful tool for producing a certain type of atmosphere. A gloriously sunny day immediately conjures up feelings of warmth and joy, where something happy is about to happen. This may be the atmosphere you want to create for a wedding in your story. Though, perhaps it’s a wedding doomed…
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Here’s a new five-word challenge for you. For this week’s challenge, can you tell a story in five words, using the word Lost in it somewhere? Last week, your story needed to contain the word Toy. You sent in some very clever stories. Here they are: Kim Smyth: She toyed with her hair. He buys…
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My Guest Writer this week is the delightful Debbie Ioanna, who I met at the UK Indie Lit Fest recently. Debbie kindly agreed to write a guest post for me about her writing journey: I have always wanted to be a writer. That is such a cliché, right? To be honest, I haven’t always wanted…
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Clarity is key However you’re planning to draw your short story/novel to a close, make it clear. It’s no good having a character who’s been killed off earlier on in the story suddenly turning up at the end alive and well without any explanation. As the writer, you know exactly what’s gone on but your…
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I’m almost at the end of my Harrogate Crime Festival trip. Click for parts one, two and three if you missed them. Last week, I left you with thoughts of another encounter with Harlan Coben. Well, it really hadn’t been enough that he’d spoken to me on the Friday and asked me how I was…
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Last week’s challenge is also this week’s challenge! So, if you haven’t yet had the opportunity to send me a five-word story, with the word Toy in it somewhere, there’s still time! ***
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Perfect Paragraphs If you’re writing an article or story for a magazine, think about your paragraph lengths. When you send your work out, your pages are A4 size. The lengths of your paragraphs may look short on a page that size but imagine them in a newspaper or magazine. You can fit about 16 words…
Esther Chilton 