“Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me want to buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address,” said Joe Fox in the 1998 rom-com You’ve Got Mail. While it’s not fall, a new year has a similarly uplifting effect on the writers among us. The first month on a freshly printed calendar or the blank opening … [Read more...] about 10 Gifts To Treat Yourself To in the New Writing Year
Write Your Novel
Write Your Novel – Novel or Novella?
I know I'm always banging on about keeping on writing until you finish your book, but what if you've written your story all the way to 'The End' but it's only 30,000 words? Or 20,000? Well, perhaps you've written a novella – and there's nothing wrong with that! I strongly believe that the story should be the length it's meant to be; if you … [Read more...] about Write Your Novel – Novel or Novella?
Write Your Novel – Building The Habit
Think about things that you do automatically every single day: Making a cup of tea in the morning or brushing your teeth before bed. You don't have to think about these tasks and you never (or hardly ever) miss them out. However ingrained and natural these behaviours feel, you weren't born doing them. Somewhere along the way, you developed the habit and now they are … [Read more...] about Write Your Novel – Building The Habit
Write Your Novel – The Doppelganger Antagonist
Last week, I talked about super-charging your story with a motivated, compelling antagonist. This week, I want to introduce a specific type of antagonist; the doppelganger. A doppelganger antagonist is like the evil twin of your protagonist. It's a wonderful (fun!) device that can open up all kinds of possibilities for showing character and character growth. In a nutshell, … [Read more...] about Write Your Novel – The Doppelganger Antagonist
Write Your Novel – Antagonists Need Love, Too
If you’re not familiar with the term, an antagonist is someone who, according to the Oxford Dictionary, ‘actively opposes or is hostile to someone or something; an adversary’. In creative writing terms, the antagonist refers to the character who opposes your protagonist, driving the plot forward. They are the serial killer in a gritty crime book, the evil Queen in the fairy … [Read more...] about Write Your Novel – Antagonists Need Love, Too