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Hey there
Hello, guys, Sorry there’s been a few weeks of quiet but with finishing the book and the wedding I haven’t had huge amounts of time for blogging and also I’ve been taking a writing break to detox...
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Essentials for editing the first draft
After I finished my book I waited six weeks before I looked at it again. The idea is to forget as best you can the story you’ve just spent a year writing. At the same time eight of my friends are...
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The 100 Word Novel: Thirty-Nine: Watch
Joe stood on the walls watching the privates douse the storage hut with gasoline. A huge smile halved his face. ‘Finally,’ he muttered. ‘Something worth watching.’ The privates circled the hut...
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Writing = Done, Reading = Done, Editing = Pending
Last night I finished my read-through of my book. Some of my beta readers have finished and some are still trying to get finished before the deadline of the 31st August when we all meet together and...
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Ideas and How to Grow Them
Book One is finished. Still needs some polish and I still need to hear from my readers what works and doesn’t work but from my own read and from the first reviews that have come in it hangs together...
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Elmore Leonard’s Rules for Writers
There is an article that was in the Guardian I read a few years ago and I find myself going back to now and then just to hold my hands over the creative spark and breathe a little air on it to fuel it...
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After the Beta Reading
Last Friday I had my big reading circle and my friends critiqued my book while I made notes. It was like sitting in a dentist’s chair for three hours, but it was discomfort that was necessary. It...
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The Big Rewrite
Started changing the pronouns today, but while doing it started to re-plot in my head and now, changing it from 1st to 3rd before re-writing feels like a waste of time. So the schedule has changed....
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The Fifteen Page Plan
Tomorrow morning I will rise at 6am (or 6ish…maybe more like 7am…8.30am, anyway it’ll be early for a Saturday) and start the rewrite. The idea is to do, what I call, the Fifteen Page Plan. The FPP is...
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How To Write Good by Frank L. Visco
My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules: Avoid alliteration. Always. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They’re old hat.) Employ...
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