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Five Things: Creating an Atmosphere in your Writing
WritingKirsty Logan is a writer of fiction and journalism. Her debut collection, The Rental Heart and Other Fairytales, was published in March 2014. Her debut novel, The Gracekeepers, is a magical...
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Five Things: Ways to Keep Writing
WritingWriting a novel can be a long haul – and as all emerging writers know, getting that novel traditionally published can be even more daunting. Most of us will face rejection at some point, perhaps...
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Five Things: How to Write Compelling Crime Fiction
WritingFormer journalist-turned-crime writer Neil Broadfoot exploded onto the Tartan Noir scene with his debut novel, Falling Fast. As he releases his second novel, The Storm, he takes a moment to...
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Five Things: Writing a Short Story
WritingI love writing short stories. You can complete one in a matter of weeks, rather than the years it takes to finish a novel. You can try out new – often riskier – ideas (and sometimes, ironically,...
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Five Things About PR A Writer Needs to Know
WritingThe good, nay the great news, is that you haven’t visited this page because you have invented a new type of toilet brush, or because you want to know how to publicise an innovative pension plan...
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Five Things I've Learned While Getting My Debut Novel Published
WritingMy ‘first novel’ is not my first novel at all. Truestory is actually my second novel. My first novel, Chickendust, was short-listed for the inaugural Mslexia Women’s Novel Competition but...
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Five Things: Getting Started On Creating Comics
WritingAren't we lucky ducks!? We managed to pry Adam Murphy away from his busy life interviewing corpses and got him to tell us how to get started in the world of comics. Learn to draw!This might seem...
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Five Things: Tips for Writers Who are Scared of Twitter
WritingWriters! Social media isn’t as scary as you might think it is.Put simply, social media is an expression of natural, everyday human communication in a digital way. The only scary element of...
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Five Ways to Get Your Creative Thoughts Flowing
WritingClaire Wingfield is a woman who knows the business of writing. Lucky for us, we were able to track her down and get her top five tips for keeping the writing flowing. Take ActionPlot. This...
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Five Things I've Learned about Writing Killer Ghost Stories
WritingWe invited Dave Shelton, the Carnegie Medal-nominated author of A Boy and a Bear in a Boat and the terrifying Thirteen Chairs to sit by our campfire and let us know what he has learned about...
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Tips on Applying for the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship
WritingIn 2014 Stuart was a Robert Louis Stevenson fellow. He spent a month out in France, getting to know the area, writing and exploring. He's got a few great tips for those who are thinking of...
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Five Things: Creating a Sense of Place
WritingPlace is hugely important in setting up a story, which is why we tracked down the author of Elemental, Amanda Curtin (@lookingupdown), to get her take on the things that help create a sense of...
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Five Things: What We’ve Learned About Co-Writing
WritingYA co-authors Andrew Prentice and Jonathan Weil talk us through some of the most important points to keep in mind when collaborating. Walk the DogThis is an umbrella term for any physical...
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5 Things Writing and Science Have in Common
WritingThere is a myth that science and art are at two different ends of a spectrum; that it takes a different kind of brain to understand equations than it does to write a novel. I don’t agree with...
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Five Things I’ve Learned About Being a Less-Than-Published Writer
WritingBeing a less-than-published writer (as in, someone who is quietly working away with a goal of some level of public success) is hard. When you’re still waiting for your ‘break’ to happen, it can...
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Five Things: Essential Tips for Editing Your Own Novel
WritingBack to the Future was nearly called Spaceman from Pluto. Toy Story’s initial storyboards cast Sheriff Woody as a sarcastic bully who picked mercilessly on Buzz. In Melville’s first draft, the...
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Five Things: Creative Planning Techniques for Writers
WritingEmbarking on a new project and struggling to get stuck in? Here are five creative writing planning techniques that have always worked for me. Actors playing the partI often find that beginning a...
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Five Things: Using Pace in Thriller Writing
WritingPeople tell me I write pacy novels. While that’s lovely to hear, of course, writing a thriller is not all about breakneck forward momentum at the cost of all else. I don’t know about you, but I...
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Five Ways Improv Can Make You a Better Writer
WritingA couple of years ago I took some improv classes. I’d found myself stuck in a creative rut and needed something to well and truly shake me out of my comfort zone. Little did I know then how...
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5 Things: What Editors Look for in a Kid’s Book Submission
WritingMany people make the mistake of assuming that writing for children is easier than writing for adults. In fact, it can actually be more difficult as a number of factors – age range, language,...
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