Approaching a new piece of fiction is like entering a maze. There are many entrances to consider and whichever one we take has a bearing on how clearly we can see other aspects of story. If you began at the entrance with a board that read ‘setting,’ the perfect one(s) may have been obvious from…
Tag: #worldbuilding
Choosing a Character’s Name
If there’s one certainty about characterisation, it’s that names don’t exist in isolation. It’s tempting to think: do they really matter all that much? After all, our parents chose our name simply because they liked it. Isn’t it enough to do the same with our characters? While this is true to an extent, fiction is not…
How to Get Fiction Inspiration From Your Family History
As I write this article I’m holding a hairdryer, trying to melt a block of frozen soup away from its non-microwavable container. I’m sure my ancestors had a better system, but then again they didn’t have freezers. Often unconscious of the fact that Caveman Joe, Erik the Beardless and Sophie Hairdryer Soup Queen are the…
10 Fine Websites for Writing Tips
As creative writers, we’re well acquainted with the more familiar websites for writing tips, from Writer’s Digest to Write to Done. There are however, hundreds of other websites offering equally good advice, many of which (in my opinion) offer more original insights than the top dogs. Here are ten of my current favourites to share!:…
Should We Write What We Know?
After reading Andy Weir’s Artemis (2017), I revisited the maddening maxim that’s haunted me for years. It’s the sentence written on the blackboard before the professor’s even turned around: Write what you know. Or even more confusingly: Don’t write what you know! The reason why Artemis stimulated this age-old debate is because; while I didn’t…
10 Halloween Creative Writing Exercises to Chill and Thrill.
I think I could possibly be Halloween’s number one fan. Watching the leaves change colour and the apples drop ready for a steaming autumnal pie are just two of my favourite seasonal delights. A time when the ancients believed the veil between the world of the living and the dead was so fine, humans could…
10 Romantic Creative Writing Exercises to Beguile and Inspire
Writing about love is not my forte; in fact I don’t think I’ve ever attempted it other than in fat-lettered diary entries from when I was twelve. Due to a current project it’s something I need to work on however; so I sat down and wrote these exercises to warm the cockles of my pen….
Characterisation in Jaws Part 2
Welcome back to the Jaws universe and the second part of my characterisation study. I trust that you haven’t had any shark problems between then and now…I’ve been swimming in the sea between posts and managed to thoroughly creep myself out at the sight of a triangular shaped buoy! Part one focused on two important…