It’s time for this month’s authors’ Round Robin, and author Robin Courtright has set us another excellent topic… How do you self-edit your books before submitting or publishing? When I wrote my first novel I knew very little about the editing process. In my naivety, I thought editing involved checking for spelling mistakes and picking…… Continue reading 7 tips for self-editing your book
When I’m editing fiction and making notes in the margins of a manuscript, there are a couple of comments I make more often than any others. One of them is ‘show, don’t tell’, and another is ‘focus on the story’. What’s my book about? A piece of advice I often give to writers is to…… Continue reading #Writing: How to keep focused on the central idea of your story, and why it matters
A belated happy New Year – and apologies for the gap in blog posts for a whole month. First there was Christmas, then a virus and then moving house. I’m really glad to be back on track, and ready for the first authors’ Round Robin of the year! And this month the topic is ……… Continue reading Developing secondary characters, and some classic secondary characters from film and literature
Creating a page-turning read is the topic for this month’s Round Robin… How do you develop the tension every story needs to keep the reader involved? This is such an excellent question. There are so many elements to this that at first I felt overwhelmed. Then I decided to follow my own advice in a…… Continue reading Three essentials for creating page-turning tension in your novel #amwriting #writetip
You’ve finished your first draft and typed ‘The End’. If you’re anything like me, you’ll feel a massive sense of achievement, along with relief. But then you start to read it over, and with a sinking heart you realise it’s utter rubbish. You force yourself to stop panicking. Of course it’s rubbish – that’s what…… Continue reading How to edit the first draft of your novel (without crying and deleting it) #writetip
I have to confess this month hasn’t been a good writing month for me. I’ve started a new novel and I’m about 30,000 words in. A few agents have seen it already, and their comments have all been along the lines of ‘stick with it’, ‘well written’, and one actually said, ‘the opening is brilliant’.…… Continue reading Writing is rewriting: how to be brave and persevere
Ryan Lanz runs the excellent blog A Writer’s Path – a great resource for writers, full of ideas and writing tips. I’m delighted to welcome Ryan here today with an excellent post on the do’s and don’ts of dialogue tags. I’m just in the process of editing my next novel, so his article has come at just…… Continue reading The Do’s and Don’ts of Dialogue Tags #writetip #amwriting
A while ago I got into conversation with an academic editor called Helen Stevens (@HelenSaltEdit) on Twitter. I’d been posting photos of Saltaire – the village where we live in Yorkshire – and we found we had a lot in common. We decided to meet IRL (or “in real life” – I’m down with the terminology :) ) and…… Continue reading Making a start in romance editing @TheSfEP @HelenSaltEdit #amediting
A very, very belated Happy New Year! It’s been a while since I last posted here. I love keeping this blog. I love the responses I’ve had to my posts and the people I’ve met in the five years since I first started blogging. But I’ve reluctantly decided I will have to cut down on…… Continue reading What does it take to actually sit down and write your first novel? #amwriting #writetip
Patience Bloom is a senior editor with Harlequin in the US, and I’ve been following her blog (Romance is My Day Job – great title!) for quite a while now. Although Patience doesn’t post very often, when she does it’s always useful, and I’ve picked up many a tip, especially on things to avoid when…… Continue reading Starting in the right place and staying focused on your story. 5 tips from Patience Bloom
Helena Fairfax 