With the publication of THE MEMORY THIEF, the MISS CHARLOTTE QUARTET is now complete. A series of four short stories featuring the witch Charlotte Southill from my Witches of Woodville novels. Sign up to the Woodville Village Library newsletter and grab your FREE...
How can you write more effective bad guys? Give them a bigger sword? A more evil cackle? Or could the key to unlocking great villains be in your hero? Shock twist! TRANSCRIPT: Hello, folks, I’ve got to the point in the draft of this book when my traitor is about to be...
Each scene or chapter in your story should have some kind of tipping point where a decision is made. How can you use these to make give your characters more agency and drive the story? TRANSCRIPT Hello, folks. I’m now about halfway through the first draft of the third...
The middle act of a story is where it can really start to lose its energy. So how can we keep writing with a sense of urgency that will keep the reader turning the page? TRANSCRIPT: Hello, folks. As discussed last week, I’m still in the middle act of this novel, still...
Is it okay if the first draft of your novel or screenplay is a little rough? I like to think so. Here are few tips that will help you get to the end of a messy first draft, not least the one thing you should try and get right first time… TRANSCRIPT: Hello, folks, when...
The Druid at Thieves Holm is part three of The Miss Charlotte Quartet and is FREE to all subscribers of the Woodville Village Library Newsletter. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP. Parts one and two — I’ll See You In My Dreams and The Last Night of the Witchfinder — are also...
I’ve just hit 22,000 words on my new novel, and this is where things can get a bit sticky. To make our way through the muddy middle of a novel, it helps to understand the basics of three-act structure, so here are a few pointers… Here’s a link to part 1…...
Here are some tips for making the dialogue in your novel or screenplay feel real without the waffle… TRANSCRIPT: Hello folks, one day to the haircut. Right, before that, let’s talk about dialogue. There’s a knack to writing dialogue, and some people have it, and...
What is your story’s theme? How can you figure out what it is? And how will knowing your theme ensure that you’ll never get stuck again… Here’s the transcript of the Craig Maizin episode of Scriptnotes:...
