Writing a novel is like fishing without a rod or a net or a boat. Or arms or legs or a body. Fishing as a ghost… Nothing You Haven’t Seen Before You might be wondering exactly what we mean by ‘skip ahead’, so we thought we’d clear that up first. We refer to these as […]
Category / Writing Tips/Insights
Writing A Novel: Don’t Wrestle With Futility
Writing a novel is like navigating the world in eighteen days, on foot, and you’re blind, and you have no feet. Too Much Thought Writers around the world share the exact same problem: they overthink like crazy. It’s no huge secret… the community is filled with this evidence. But, that doesn’t make it an acceptable […]
Writing A Novel: Do You Need A Prologue?
Writing a novel is like journeying the ocean… But in this instance, you’ve no boat, no equipment, and you can’t bleeding swim! (That, our writing friends, is a very English expression…) An Ever-Growing Debate It’s a topic we see a lot in the community: in heated discussions on Twitter, rage-infused debates in Instagram comments, back-and-forth […]
Writing A Novel: Dealing With The Paralysis Of Writer’s Block
Writing a novel is like skydiving. The only problem is, you don’t have a parachute. Where There’s A Will… …there’s an over-stressed writer. Look, we know how it gets. You get a project in your mind, you plan it out, you think it through; you become utterly obsessed with every single aspect of it. You […]
A Poetry Prompt: Smiles
The Purpose This week’s prompt is here, and its mission is to spread the happiest of happy vibes. We’re all about the positivity here, and we wanted to kick things off this week with a truckload of it. From a writing skills perspective, we’re going to use this one to work on our emotive writing. […]
NaNoWriMo: Five Tips To Help You Win
Ah, NaNoWriMo. It’s that wonderful time of year where writers around the globe tear an extra clump of their hair out every day for a month. Each new day equals a new clump of extracted hair. We figured it could be more aptly names. National Balding Month seems much more fitting… And guess what? It’s […]
Writing A Novel: What Is An Anti-Plot?
Writing a novel is like painting. Only… you don’t have paint, you don’t have a brush, and you don’t have any artistic skill at all. You just have your brain, the alphabet, and a big ole blank page. Yup. We think that pretty much sums it up. Previous Discussions We’ve already talked a lot about […]
Writing A Novel: Arch-Plot Vs Mini-Plot – What’s The Difference?
Writing a novel is like… trying to open a series of locked doors in under a minute while being chased by an angry group of rabid geese. Oh, and you also don’t have the correct key. For any of the doors. Yeah… we think that just about covers it. Structure Is Important We’re sure you’re […]
A Poetry Prompt: Clarity
The Purpose This week’s prompt has arrived. This one is designed to make you focus on the bigger picture in your writing. You have freedom with the structure here. There’s no specific rhythm or pace to attempt – just go with the flow and see where it takes you. The main thing to take into […]
Writing A Novel: The One Page Plan Of Storytelling
Writing a novel is like frying an egg. You’re going to curse incessantly, get sweats from the heat, and create a whole lot of mess before you ever get it right. The Concept Of Planning There are many resources online that go into great detail about how you should plan your novel. Some say you […]